The Many Signs of Alcoholism

The Many Signs of Alcoholism

Signs of alcoholism are much severe than expected. Millions of people around the world consume alcohol on a daily basis. Almost daily, they feel negative after effects of drinking alcohol, but either they literally do not know the exact long-term effects or simply they cannot resist themselves from drinking.

Surprisingly, every drinker starts drinking as an occasional activity but when this becomes an addiction is not known to them. They literally do not know when this innocent activity when they start drinking socially becomes a bad habit. They start realizing it when it has created a total chaos in their physical, physiological, personal and professional life. Generally, alcoholic persons are less productive, lazy and loose tempered than their normal counterparts.

Though, the exact negative signs of alcoholism start after years with heavy consumption but some general negative signs start as soon as with the first drink. To stay away from total devastation in our personal and professional life we need to understand the signs of alcoholism. Practically, understanding alcoholism signs can help you determine whether there is alcohol abuse or dependency, so that proper measure could be taken for a normal life.

Physiologically consuming one or two drinks per day for healthy men and one drink per day for healthy non-pregnant women is generally considered acceptable consumption without any adverse health risks. Many people drink regularly this acceptable amount of alcohol live a normal life. However, that numbers of people are relatively small as with the passage of time the consumption increases eventually. With more consumption of alcohol, the warning signs of alcohol start creeping into the body, mind and even life.

Before we discuss various warning signs of alcohol, we need to understand clearly, what is considered as “heavy drinking”. The useful information in this regard is that according to the National Institute on AAA (Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism), drinking more than the amounts shown below would be considered heavy drinking:

• For healthy men under age 65, consuming no more than four drinks a day nor more than fourteen drinks a week.

• For healthy women under age 65 or healthy men over age 65, consuming no more than three drinks a day or more than twelve drinks a week.

Here one should remember that occasional or drinking an acceptable amount of alcohol can be considered as safe. Problem starts when a person becomes addict with heavy drinking. Heavy drinking is often termed as chronic drinking that eventually results in chronic disease or health problems.

Recurring and chronic heavy drinking can result in serious damage to the liver, heart, brain and other vital organs in the body. However, some of these damages can be overcome by stopping the alcohol intake while some even get worse after a person stops drinking.

Some of these severe physical (and, even mental) damages may be irreversible and result in serious illnesses or even early death. Knowing alcoholism signs is important to help oneself or others with a drinking problem.

As you know, the signs of alcoholism differ from person to person, so they cannot be listed in special order.

However, some general signs of alcoholism are:

loss of memory,
loss of working capacity/stamina,
drinking alone,
making excuses,
finding excuses to drink,
daily or frequent drinking needed to function,
inability to reduce or stop alcohol intake,
violent episodes associated with drinking like fighting,
abusing fellow drinkers,
family members or even strangers,
drinking secretly,
becoming angry when confronted about drinking,
poor eating habits,
failure to care for physical appearance,
trembling in the morning.