Alcoholism FAQs

What Are Safe Drinking Levels?

Moderate levels of alcohol consumption can have health benefits. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), men can safely consume 2 drinks per day and women can safely have a single drink per day. Drinking at this level produces very few negative health consequences, but chronically exceeding these guidelines can lead to a host of serious or fatal medical conditions. Pregnant women should not consume any alcohol.

Men who consume 5 or more drinks within about 2 hours, or women who consume 4 or more drinks within that same timeframe, are binge drinking. Binge drinking increases the risks of trauma, assaults, legal difficulties and some acute health conditions.

A drink equals a single bottle or can of normal strength beer, 1.5 ounces of 40% alcohol liquor or a 5 ounce glass of normal strength wine.

What is Alcohol Abuse?

According to the Center for Disease Control, (CDC) drinking at a level that causes you problems in life constitutes alcohol abuse. If your consumption of alcohol regularly causes you problems at work, school or home; or you regularly get into dangerous situations while drinking (such as driving a car while intoxicated) you meet the criteria for alcohol abuse.

You do not necessarily need to drink exorbitant quantities of alcohol to be an alcohol abuser, what is more relevant is the effect that amount you do consume has on your life.

People abusing alcohol who continue to drink are at risk of developing alcoholism.
 
What is Alcoholism?

Alcoholics lose control over their drinking and the effect that alcohol has on their lives. Five characteristics of alcoholics are:

1. They require a large amount of alcohol to achieve intoxication (the presence of an alcohol tolerance)
2. They feel withdrawal symptoms when not drinking
3. They crave alcohol
4. Once they start drinking, they cannot predict how much alcohol they will consume (a loss of control)
5. They continue to drink, even though they can see the harms of their use (health, family, work etc.)

Most health professionals consider alcoholism a disease that has no cure, but believe that through alcohol treatment, alcoholics can learn to abstain from alcohol for long periods of time.

What Are Some Signs of Alcohol Abuse or Alcoholism (Do I Have a Problem?)

Ask yourself these 4 questions based on an alcohol screening test known as the CAGE test. The CAGE questionnaire is a very quick test that accurately indicates the presence of an alcohol use disorder.  Answering yes to 2 or more of the following 4 questions indicates a likely problem with alcohol.

1. Have you ever thought that you needed to reduce your drinking?
2. Do you feel annoyed when people criticize your drinking?
3. Do you ever feel guilty about your drinking?
4. Do you ever have a “hair of the dog” drink in the morning as a way to get over a hangover?

Are Some People More at Risk of Alcoholism?

No one who abstains from alcohol has any risk of alcoholism, but some people who choose to drink alcohol may be at a higher risk of succumbing to alcoholism than others.

Factors that may increase your risks include:

• Having a close relative with alcoholism
• Drinking heavily
• Being a man
• Experiencing childhood trauma
• Having a low response to alcohol (needing more than other people to feel the same effects)
• Starting to drink at a young age
• Having a psychiatric illness
• Chronic stress

What Are the Short Term Consequences of Heavy Drinking?

The largest single health risk from binge drinking is alcohol poisoning and/or fatal overdose.

Alcohol sedates the brain and can lead to very low blood pressure and decreased or absent respiration, which can lead to death.

Binge alcohol use can also cause a person to pass out, vomit and then choke on their vomit; which can also lead to death.

Drinking alcohol in large quantities, quickly (drinking games seem especially dangerous) leads to hundreds of senseless tragedies per year, often involving young and inexperienced drinkers.

Other short term consequences of binge drinking can include:

• An increased risk of trauma (falling down, getting into accidents, drowning etc.)
• An increased risk of experiencing violence, either as a victim or perpetrator
• Engaging in risky sexual acts, increasing the risks of unwanted pregnancy or STDs
• An increased risk of legal problems (drinking in public, DUI, fighting…)
• Family strife
• Memory blackouts
• Hangovers and a resultant poor performance at work or school

While moderate drinking may have some health benefits (and these are likely offset by moderate health risks, no one who currently abstains is advised to drink alcohol for health reasons) binge drinking has no benefits and increases your risks of injury or death, as well as social or legal difficulties.

What Are the Long Term Health Consequences of Heavy Drinking?

Few substances ravage the body the way alcohol does. Some of the long term health consequences of heavy drinking can include:

• Liver disease (such as alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis)
• Early dementia
• An increased risk for certain cancers, including liver, stomach, esophagus, lung, larynx and others
• Gastritis
• Pancreatitis
• Brain damage
• Brain shrinkage
• Depression
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
• Diabetes
• Others

What Is Alcohol Dependence?

Heavy, regular and chronic alcohol consumption can result in a physical addiction, also known as a physical alcohol dependency.

Alcohol makes us feel good by altering the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain. Over time, the brain evolves in response to the regular presence of alcohol with structural modifications that limit the effects of alcohol in the brain.

The brain responds to the near constant sedative effect of regular alcohol consumption by decreasing the effects of the endogenous neurotransmitter, GABA. GABA is responsible for inhibiting neurons (for slowing the brain down).

While the brain is near continuously exposed to the sedative (slowing) effects of alcohol, this reduction in GABA has little consequence, but when alcohol is absent, the brain accelerates, causing some very unpleasant and dangerous symptoms, known as alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

What Are Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms?

Once physically dependent on alcohol, sudden abstinence will result in a syndrome of withdrawal symptoms that can be very unpleasant and in severe cases, life threatening. The severity of the withdrawal symptoms will depend on the length of use and the amount of alcohol consumed daily, as well as on factors such as individual health and genetics and use of other drugs or medications.

For a heavy regular drinker, alcohol withdrawal symptoms can begin within 5 to 10 hours of a last drink. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms will increase in intensity for 2 or 3 days, and generally last for a week or so. Some symptoms, such as insomnia, emotionality and tiredness, can endure for months after cessation of use.

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can include:

• Irritability and jumpiness
• Feelings of anxiety and/or depression
• Emotionality
• Shakes
• Confusion
• Nightmares or insomnia
• Sweatiness, (face and hands)
• Feelings of nausea and vomiting
• Cold, clammy skin
• Headache
• Delirium tremens
• Seizures
• Fever

In severe cases, withdrawal symptoms can be fatal. Up to 35% of alcoholics who experience delirium tremens without treatment assistance die. With medical observation, that fatality figure (for those that experience this very severe withdrawal symptom) falls to 5%.

A period of alcohol withdrawal is life threatening; medical observation and care is always needed. Fortunately, medication can greatly reduce the dangers and discomfort of the withdrawal period.

What Are Some Alcohol Addiction Treatment Options?

A variety of counseling therapies, medications and supportive organizations are available to treat alcoholism.

Alcoholism is not yet a curable disease, but treatment for alcoholism works about as well as treatment for diabetes or hypertension.

Two very pertinent facts about alcoholism treatment are:

1. The longer a person participates in alcohol addiction treatment the greater their chance of continuing abstinence

2. The longer a person can sustain abstinence, the better their chances of continuing abstinence!

Treatment works; please visit alcohol treatment options for more information on alcohol addiction treatment options.