By: Laura Dryden
Alcoholism is a disease, or that's what the medical people say.
Alcohol caused the death of my mother, father, and uncle.
Alcoholic is often used to refer to a person with a serious drinking problems, whose drinking impairs his or her health, personal relationships, and occupational functioning. Alcoholism refers to a dependence on alcohol that seriously interferes with life adjustment.
"It is a chronic disease that lasts a life-time if not treated with proper help. There are four symptoms that are tagged to an alcoholic. These symptoms include cravings, loss of control, physical dependence, and tolerance. The cravings that an alcoholic feels for alcohol are just as strong as the need for water or food. An alcohol looses control and cannot stop drinking. They will continue to drink no matter what they go through."
Alcoholism affects many areas of an alcoholic’s life including: the family, health, career, and trouble with the law.
* The alcoholic doesn’t appear to be bothered by the destruction their choices have caused.
* The alcoholic becomes physically dependent upon the alcohol.
* They get sick and go through withdraws without it.
* They appear not to be able to function without a beer or a bottle.
* It becomes the only thing that gets them out of bed in the morning and helps them back to bed at night.
They build up a tolerance for it. Maybe when they
started out it only took them five beers or two shots of whiskey to get drunk, but as the
years pass by that tolerance built up so now it takes them a whole thirty pack or an
entire bottle before they are able to feel it. The risk for developing alcoholism is
influenced both by a person’s genes and by their lifestyle.
As sad as it may seem, alcoholism cannot be CURED as of now. Even if an alcoholic hasn’t been drinking for a long time, they can still suffer a relapse. To prevent this an alcoholic must continue to avoid all alcoholic beverages. It can be treated though. Alcoholism treatment programs use both counseling and medications to help a person stop drinking. Most alcoholics need help to recover from their disease. With treatment, support, and help they may be able to start building their life back and stop drinking.
Disulfiram (Antabuse) is a drug that causes violent vomiting when followed by ingestion of alcohol is occasionally used but not commonly prescribed due to side effects and lack of effective proof. Another medicine is Naltrexone, an opiate antagonist that helps reduce the "craving" for alcohol by blocking the pleasure producing effects of alcohol. studies have shown that the drug reduced the alcohol intake and lowered the incentive to drink for alcohol abusers but still have failed at completely eliminating the craving for it.
A person can
abuse alcohol without actually being an alcoholic. Alcohol abuse can be just as harmful. They may drink too much and too often
but still not become dependent on alcohol. Some problems of alcohol abuse may include:
social life, saying and doing things one normally wouldn’t do, not going to school or
work, not taking care of ones family responsibilities, wrecks, drunk driving arrests, and
alcohol related medical conditions.
There are
over 14 Million people in the United States alone that abuse alcohol or are alcoholics. Alcohol problems are the
highest among young adults ages 18-29 and lowest among those over 65. More men than women
are dependent upon alcohol or experience alcohol problems.
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You know what's funny? At times I love the smell of alcohol on a man/woman and other times it becomes a trigger of anger, hurt, pain, and resentment. And alcohol was the cause of my mothers death in 1992 (cirrhosis of the liver) and also my fathers on June 17, 2006 (due to near drowning/ coma/ and then ruptured intestines). My mother drank hard whiskey and my dad only drank beer. They both were alcoholics and depended on alcohol to make it through each day. BUT, It doesn't matter what type of alcohol it is. IT CAN KILL!!!!!!
Alcohol
Knowledge:
1. Moonshining is: illicit production of distilled spirits
2. Bootlegging is: secret/unlawful transportation & sale of alcohol
3.
Temperance: restraint/moderation in the practice of some bx. or use
of substances
4.
Abstinence: condition of not using a particular substance
5. Prohibition
is: forbidding of a certain act. 1920-1933= manufacture,
sale, transportation, & the importation of alcohol was forbidden by national law
6. Ambivalence is: perception of both positive and negative aspects occurring in the same thing at the same time.
7. Social
drinking is: a glass of wine or a beer when around others
8.
Congenuers are: nonalcoholic substance present in minute
quantities in alcohol
9. Equivalence rule is: the quantity of alcohol, 0.6, present in a standard
serving
10. Oxidations
are: process in which oxygen is combined with a chemical substance
11. Intoxication is: a temporary state of mental chaos & bx
dysfunction resulting from the presence of alcohol in the central nervous system.
12. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is: Birth defects & mental retardation
13.Co- Dependency is: unusual coping mechanisms, attitudes, & bx. The
family develops in response to a problem-drinking relative.
14. Dry Drunk phenomenon is: the alcoholic’s state of mind when they’re not
drinking
15.Detoxification is: removal of toxins from the body
16. Antabuse is: disulfiram, a drug that interferes w/alcohol oxidation and prolongs the presence of
toxins in the body, causing severe physical effects. Used to discourage drinkers from
drinking.
17. Potentiation is: drug interaction in which one drug intensifies the
action of another that originally had no clinical effect, resulting in an exaggerated
effect on the CNS
18. Phase 2 stage of alcoholism is: Chronic phase
19. You measure PROOF by multiplying the percentage by 2
*40% alcohol=80 Proof
20.
Abstainers are: drinks
nothing or fewer than 4 drinks a year
21.
Light drinkers: consumes
less than .22oz a day but at least once a month
22.
Moderate drinkers: consumes about .22oz a day (half a drink)
23.
Heavy drinkers: consumes
1oz or more a day (2 or more drinks)
24. The differences & examples between distilled and fermented beverages
are: distilled beverages are hard liquor that is distilled. Fermented is things such
as beer & wine that is produced by fermentation only.
25.
Things that sober people up are: food, pacing drinks, time,
26.
Short Term effects are: sensation & perception, emotions, sleep, kidneys,
liver, heart and blood vessels, motor skills, sex, & hangovers
27.
Long Term effects are: gastrointestinal system, liver diseases,
hypoglycemia, mental disorders, nutritional deficiency, nervous system disorders, &
cardiovascular diseases
28. Blood Alcohol Levels:
.08 = legal evidence
.10 = difficulty performing gross motor skills
.3 = coma
.6 = death