Is alcoholism a disease?
July 29, 2008
Is alcoholism a disease? Most people don’t believe so, because it simply doesn’t have that kind of aspect one assumes a disease would have. Diseases have to do with germs, not substances, right? Wrong. Alcoholism certainly is a disease, and has been recognized so by medical professionals and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
Because of this, nine out of ten primary care physicians in the United States fail to correctly diagnose alcohol abuse even when their adult patients present classic early symptoms, according to a survey by the Center on Addiction and Drug Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. The doctors responding to the survey cited lack of adequate training in medical school, residency or continuing medical education courses; skepticism about treatment effectiveness; discomfort discussing substance abuse, time constraints and patient resistance.
That is an example of a simple mental obsession — a thought process over which you have no control. Such is the nature of the disease of alcoholism. When the drinking “song” starts playing in the mind of an alcoholic, he is powerless. He didn’t put the song there and the only way to get it to stop is to take another drink. The problem is the alcoholic’s mental obsession with alcohol is much more subtle than a song playing in his mind. In fact, he may not even know it’s there. All he knows is he suddenly has an urge to take a drink — a physical compulsion to drink.
The severity of these withdrawal symptoms is usually dependent upon how “chemically dependent” the chronic drinker has become. Those who drink heavily on a daily basis of course have developed a high level of dependency, but even those who drink daily, but not heavily and those who drink heavily but not daily, can also be chemically dependent upon alcohol.
The scenario has been played over and over many times. After a particularly damaging or embarrassing binge, the hungover person will make an oath to himself and others to drink “never again” and quite often is sincere about quitting. But with the onset of withdrawal symptoms, also comes the “craving” for more alcohol. The body is telling the drinker that it “needs” alcohol. As the physical symptoms of withdrawal begin to increase, taking another drink simply becomes less painful than not taking one — or so it seems at the time.
There is no way to predict how any individual will respond to quitting. If you plan to stop drinking and you have been drinking for years, or if you drink heavily when you do drink, or even if you drink moderately but frequently, you should consult a medical professional before completely cutting yourself off from alcohol.
Some of the psychological symptoms are: feelings of jumpiness or nervousness; feelings of shakiness; anxiety; irritability or easily excited; emotional volatility, rapid emotional changes; depression; fatigue; difficulty with thinking clearly; having bad dreams. Some of the physical symptoms are: headache - general, pulsating; sweating, especially the palms of the hands or the face; nusea; vomiting; loss of appetite; insomnia, sleeping difficulty; paleness; rapid heart rate (palpitations); eyes, pupils different size (enlarged, dilated pupils); clammy skin; abnormal movements; tremor of the hands; involuntary, abnormal movements of the eyelids.
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