The word “alcoholism” refers to a disease known as alcohol dependence syndrome, the most severe stage of a group of drinking problems which begins with binge drinking and alcohol abuse. Alcohol problems occur at different levels of severity, from mild and annoying to life-threatening. Although alcohol dependence (alcoholism) is the most severe stage, less severe drinking problems can also be dangerous. Alcohol abuse becomes alcohol dependence when drinkers begin to experience a craving for alcohol, a loss of control of their drinking, withdrawal symptoms when they are not drinking and an increased tolerance to alcohol so that they have to drink more to achieve the same effect. Alcohol dependence is a chronic and often progressive disease that includes a strong need to drink despite repeated problems.
The cumulative effects of excessive alcohol consumption, especially when associated with a poor diet, affect every part of the body. The two main sites of damage are the liver and the nervous system: the liver may become progressively damaged through a condition known as cirrhosis, which may lead to liver failure, liver cancer and death. The nervous system may be damaged at many levels. The intellect can be damaged with anxiety and depression, confusion and dementia. The rest of the nervous system can suffer from loss of balance, impotence, numbness of the feet and hands, tremor and blindness. Apart from these two major sites of damage, alcoholism is also implicated in diabetes, inflammation of the pancreas, internal bleeding, weakening of the heart, high blood pressure and stroke, and is harmful to developing pregnancies.
Drunk driving is no accident. There were 16,885 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005 - 39 percent of the total traffic fatalities for the year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “A motor vehicle crash is considered to be alcohol-related if at least one driver or non-occupant (such as a pedestrian or pedalcyclist) involved in the crash is determined to have had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. Thus, any fatality that occurs in an alcohol-related crash is considered an alcohol-related fatality. The term ‘alcohol-related’ does not indicate that a crash or fatality was caused by the presence of alcohol.” The statistics reveal that most fatal alcohol-related crashes do indeed involve drunk drivers and far fewer of these fatalities involve intoxicated pedestrians or “bicyclists and other cyclists”. Nationwide in 2005, alcohol was present in 24 percent of the drivers involved in fatal crashes (BAC .01-.07, 4 percent; BAC .08 or greater, 20 percent). The 16,885 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005 (39% of total traffic fatalities for the year) represent a 5-percent reduction from the 17,732 alcohol related fatalities reported in 1995 (42% of the total). The 16,885 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes during 2005 represent an average of one alcohol-related fatality every 31 minutes.
Alcohol addiction causes so much suffering in marriage. Besides being physically and emotionally harmful to alcoholics themselves, addiction is also harmful to those whose lives touch them. Addiction makes people insensitive to the feelings of those who care most for them, and they will stop at nothing to feed their addiction. Alcoholics commonly engage in their most painful habits while under the influence. Acts of infidelity are common. The fact that he or she is drunk at the time is no consolation to a grief-stricken spouse. It can require a lot of strength for children to resist peer pressure and media influences. When it comes to alcohol and drugs, the most useful weapon that your children can have is facts and knowledge, instead of scare tactics and threats from their parents. Children’s trust in parents can go way up on the scale when they actually researched the topic of drugs with their parents. Many successful parents decide that one of the best ways to avoid their children being drawn into drugs, is to educate them, and learn together, rather than simply condemning the topic out of hand. If you do not want to create that taboo effect in your household, while you do not wish to condone alcohol and drugs, you should make sure that your kids know that they can talk to you about these issues at anytime they wish. Although many parents may disagree, but other say that if their kids are going to try alcohol then they might as well try it in safety at home. One advantage of this liberal approach is that in children’s minds, if it does not seem like things are “off limits” then they will not be attracted to doing it just because they are not supposed to.
Parents often struggle with what they should say to their kids about alcohol. They also struggle with when to start the dialogue. While no parent wants their child to grow up too early, parents unfortunately cannot afford to wait to address the issue. It is best to arm children with honest answers about health, safety and the dangers of underage drinking before they have fully shaped their attitudes and opinions about underage alcohol use. That means educating kids as young as six on how to protect themselves and make informed decisions about their safety.
Alcoholics often have a difficult time deciding whether or not to give up drinking. They feel that alcohol has been a companion to them, and wonder why they should give it up when it has helped them through so many difficult times. The truth is that alcohol was probably one of the underlying causes of those difficult times. Without knowing it, drunks can become a person they never knew existed, causing tension and creating friction in places where there wasn’t any before. Once sober, the alcoholic is forced to deal with the consequences and often does not know how, which is when they relapse back into drink. This is the reason for giving up alcohol: it ruins one’s mind, body, and life. Once identified as the cause of the ruination, the problem can be solved, as long as the alcoholic has the will to try. Becoming independent from drinking is a very difficult bond to break, which usually makes the results all the more satisfying.
If you have decided, for whatever reason, that you want to stop drinking, there is a world of help and support available. To get a better picture of where you are now, so that you can make an informed decision about how to proceed, perhaps the first person to talk with should be your family doctor. Sometimes admitting to yourself and others that you need help can be one of the most difficult steps to take on your road to recovery. As the The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) says in it’s information: Acknowledging that help is needed for an alcohol problem may not be easy. But keep in mind that the sooner a person gets help, the better are his or her chances for a successful recovery. Any reluctance you may feel about discussing your drinking with your health care professional may stem from common misconceptions about alcoholism and alcoholic people.