Alcohol abuse is a serious problem that affects many people. It can cause physical and mental health problems, as well as social and legal issues.
Alcohol abuse can lead to a wide range of health complications, including a number of cancers and severe, permanent brain damage. It can also increase the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome and birth defects in infants.
Treatment
Alcohol abuse can be a serious problem, and there are several treatment options. These range from counseling and support groups to medications.
Behavioral treatments (such as cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational enhancement therapy) may be used to change your thinking and behaviors that lead to heavy drinking. They can also help you learn coping skills, including how to deal with triggers.
Your health care professional will help you decide which of these methods is best for you. They will discuss your goals and expectations for treatment, and determine what will work best for you.
Counseling is an important part of treatment, as it can help you overcome underlying issues that may be contributing to your drinking. Your therapist will work with you to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and teach you how to use them to your advantage.
Some medicines, such as naltrexone and acamprosate, help reduce cravings for alcohol. They can also help treat withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and headaches. Medicines can be taken in pill or injectable form.
Prevention
Alcohol abuse is a serious problem that affects people's lives. It can happen to anyone at any age.
Preventing alcohol abuse can reduce the harm that it causes and help people with alcohol problems to get treatment. Prevention strategies focus on changing people's attitudes, behaviors and beliefs about substance use.
Talk with your health care provider about your drinking behavior and ask for counseling if you drink too much. Also, follow the limits for healthy men and women, which are no more than 4 drinks per day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
You can also prevent alcohol misuse by not having a lot of alcohol in your home. This can be easy to do, for example by removing any liquor or beer from the refrigerator.
Withdrawal
Drinking too much alcohol can be dangerous and lead to alcohol withdrawal, which is a serious condition. It can lead to headaches, tremors, seizures, hallucinations and other symptoms that can affect your ability to function.
In severe cases, withdrawal can be life-threatening. This is why it is crucial to get treatment and seek help before you try to detox on your own.
In some situations, you can use prescription medication to help ease withdrawal symptoms and prevent a relapse. These medications include acamprosate (brand name Campral), disulfiram and naltrexone.
Relapse
Despite their best efforts to stop using, many people who suffer from alcohol abuse will experience a relapse after recovering. These relapses can be difficult to deal with, but they don’t need to derail your recovery.
Relapse doesn’t happen all at once, and there are often 3 stages of relapse. Understanding these stages and taking preventative measures can help to keep relapse at bay.
Risk factors for relapse include psychological, social, environmental, internal, and behavioral issues.
Long-term solutions for relapse prevention involve avoiding people, places, and situations that used to be triggers for alcohol or drug use. Keeping your support network, whether through clinical or non-clinical resources, strong can also help to prevent relapses.
During emotional relapse, you may notice that your feelings are conflicting about sobriety, and you might be secretly thinking about how you could get back to drinking or using drugs. This is a warning sign that you are getting ready to relapse, and it’s important to be vigilant about it.
