Blog - November 8, 2023

Symptoms and Signs of Alcohol Addiction: Am I Addicted to Alcohol?

Typically, a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder doesn’t require any other type of diagnostic test. There’s a chance your doctor may order blood work to check your liver function if you show signs or symptoms of liver disease. Alcoholism has been known by a variety of terms, including alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence.

What Is Alcoholism and How to Get Treatment

While intoxication doesn’t necessarily indicate the individual has a problem with alcohol, recurrent intoxication may signify alcohol misuse—or addiction. Individuals in the intermediate familial subtype are, on average, age 38 and are usually employed. About 50% of these individuals are from families with multigenerational alcoholism, and almost all have experienced clinicaldepression.

Steps to Treating Alcohol Use Disorder

When you drink too much, your liver has a harder time filtering the alcohol and other toxins from your bloodstream. Symptoms of alcohol use disorder are based on the behaviors and physical outcomes that occur as a result of alcohol addiction. Although the exact cause of alcohol use disorder is unknown, there are certain factors that may increase your risk for developing this disease. But it is also typical for people with liver conditions to excrete dark urine, Weine said. This signs of alcoholism is due to the buildup of bilirubin, which can turn urine into a dark orange, brown or amber color. If you’re drinking normally and still noticing issues with urine color, it could be a sign that something else is going on.

• Older adults are also more likely to be on several medications, including sleep medications and other drugs, which may be dangerous when taken in combination with alcohol.
• AUD has the perception of being more of a problem among men, and while they do consume more alcohol than women, that gap is closing.
• And medications and behavioral therapies can help people with AUD reduce alcohol intake or abstain from alcohol altogether.
• The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and AlcoholScreening.org offer more comprehensive self-tests.
• If you’re concerned about someone who drinks too much, ask a professional experienced in alcohol treatment for advice on how to approach that person.

What are the risk factors?

” self-assessment below if you think you or someone you love might be struggling with an alcohol use disorder (AUD). The evaluation consists of 11 yes or no questions that are intended to be used as an informational tool to assess the severity and probability of an AUD. The test is free, confidential, and no personal information is needed to receive the result. In 2021, 29.5 million Americans aged 12 or older met the diagnostic criteria for an AUD. A clear cause of alcoholism has not yet been identified.Alcohol use disorderhas been identified as something that happens when a person drinks so much or so often that it changes the chemical makeup of their brain. In the DSM-5, alcohol use disorder is further classified into categories of mild, moderate, and severe.

• Therapy is useful to help teach someone how to manage the stress of recovery and the skills needed to prevent a relapse.
• Many people with AUD do recover, but setbacks are common among people in treatment.
• The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
• Excessive and long-term alcohol use can cause many health complications, which may become severe and life threatening.

Symptoms

When is it common in society, it can be hard to tell the difference between someone who likes to have a few drinks now and then and someone with a real problem. Between 3 and 43 percent of alcoholics suffer from thrombocytopenia, a low level of platelets in the blood. Low platelet counts affect the body’s ability to make clots to stop bleeding. Alcoholics often have defective red blood cells that https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/making-living-amends-during-addiction-recovery/ die prematurely, which can cause a lower-than-normal red blood cell count. Gastrointestinal bleeding, a symptom some alcoholics experience, can also cause anemia, as can iron deficiency. Heavy drinking in and of itself doesn’t make someone an alcoholic.