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Alcoholism Facts

By: Dark Sith Many people fall in love with alcohol as much as they do with caffeine. However, alcoholism is a much worse condition due to the severity of the addiction, symptoms and effects.

Excessive alcohol consumption is an increasing problem not only in the United States or Europe, but in the world. More people are losing their battle with alcoholism and that number only continues to rise.

Alcoholism can be divided into two main classifications, namely alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency. Those who suffer from alcohol dependency often forget their social responsibilities. Instead, they prioritize activities that involve any kind of drinking. On the other hand, alcohol abuse is milder, only because it creates fewer social and health problems. Still, both are considered a serious condition that you can fight by being informed.

One of the factors that lead to alcoholism is habitual alcohol intake. If left untreated, alcoholism can become progressively worse that starts with a seemingly harmless fascination with alcohol that ends up taking over the alcoholic's life.

You can consider yourself an alcoholic if you drink heavily and frequently until a noticeable change in behavior, such as anger, violence, or depression. If you pass out often because of too much drinking, then you are an alcoholic.

The essential sign of alcoholism is when someone continues to drink after it causes him or her physical, mental, social, occupational, or legal problems. If drinking causes someone to miss work, neglect personal obligations, drive drunk or get in trouble with the law, then this person has a serious problem with alcohol.

Most patients battling alcoholism started drinking when they were teenagers.

Drinking alcohol can also cause permanent brain damage, loss of coordination, impaired judgment, poor vision and impaired memory.

Physically, alcoholism increases the body's vulnerability to life-threatening diseases. Some of the common physical symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea, swelling and numbness in the extremities.

Drinking alcohol can be fatal. Drinking large quantities of alcohol has often led to coma or even death (even after just one night of drinking).