Alcohol And High Blood Pressure

If you think you might have a problem of alcohol, then the first thing you need to do is to take a minute to understand the problem.  Unless alcohol has really started to cause problems in your life, then the first warning sign that you have a problem is probably the guilt that comes with alcoholism.  Therefore, the first thing that you are going to have to do is acknowledge that the guilt comes as a result of alcoholism.  Once you have decided to tackle the guilt and the problem that caused it, then you can begin the process of treating yourself.You probably felt it all along, but kept hoping that you were wrong. The guilt might be building up, causing you a lot of stress and anxiety in other areas of your life. The more you try to push it away, the more it manifests in other areas of your life. Eventually, you will have to come to terms with the fact that you have a disease, but that doesn’t mean you should be embarrassed or ashamed. The disease I am talking about here is alcoholism, and it affects millions of people worldwide. Although there are several factors that contribute to someone being diagnosed with alcoholism, the truth is that it affects people in different ways. The truth is that it doesn’t really matter where it came from, but it does matter how you handle it.Clinically, the diagnosis of alcoholism is defined as the point at which alcohol starts to interrupt normal life. Now this is a rather vague diagnostic criterion, which means that the best person to diagnose alcoholism is someone in the person’s life that is close to them, rather than a doctor. Although a doctor can certainly help to treat the symptoms and the disease, the best person to diagnose alcoholism are the people closest to the person with the disease. Still, this doesn’t mean you can’t ask a doctor what to look for or share your concerns with them. Just knowing what the most likely signs are can really help you pinpoint the problem.Dealing with the mental aspect of alcoholism is just as important as dealing with the physical aspect of the addiction. One of the best things that you can do to help yourself deal with the root of the problem is to visit a counselor or psychologist. Many times, just having someone to talk to can make a big difference. Also, your counselor will be aware of several different techniques that can help you overcome your desire for alcohol and reduce the stress that comes as a byproduct of the cravings. They will also be able to help you understand why you turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism and might offer you some new ways to cope with any other problems in your life. They will be there week after week to make sure that you are following a program and are still mentally OK. The next place you can turn is to a program like AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). They use a 12 step program to help you overcome your problems with alcohol. The support group system is very helpful to let you know that you are not alone. The buddy system will keep you focused by making you support someone else, rather than focusing on your problem. In return, he or she will keep you honest with yourself too. Although AA may have a certain stigma attached to it, the truth is that it really does work for people that devote themselves to the system.

The classical use of medications for alcoholism is to encourage abstinence. Antabuse (also known as disulfiram), for instance, prevents the elimination of chemicals which cause severe discomfort when alcohol is ingested, effectively preventing the alcoholic from drinking in significant amounts while they take the medicine. Heavy drinking while on antabuse can result in severe illness and death.

Naltrexone has also been used because it helps curb cravings for alcohol while the person is on it. Both of these, however, have been demonstrated to cause a rebound effect when the user stops taking them. These do allow a person to overcome psychological addictions to alcohol, but they do not treat the neurochemical addiction.

In more recent studies it has been demonstrated that the use of naltrexone while the alcoholic continues to drink can result in extinction of the neurochemical addiction. Referred to as the “Sinclair Method”, this technique is used with good results some US states and in Finland but has failed to penetrate much of the world because of the long-standing bias against any treatment that doesn’t involve detoxification and abstinence.

Rationing
Rationing or other attempts to control use are increasingly ineffective as pathological attachment to the drug develops. Use often continues despite serious adverse health, personal, legal, work-related, and financial consequences.

Detoxification
Detoxification programs run by medical institutions often involve stays for a number of weeks in specialized hospital wards, where drugs may be used to avoid withdrawal symptoms. In severe cases, detoxification may lead to death. To that point, even a simple “de-tox” can involve seizures, if not properly monitored.

Post Detox Therapy
After detoxification, various forms of group therapy or psychotherapy are recommended to deal with underlying psychological issues leading to alcohol dependence. It is also used to provide the recovering addict with relapse prevention skills.

Aversion therapies may be supported by drugs like Disulfiram, which causes a strong and prompt sensitivity reaction whenever alcohol is consumed. Naltrexone or Acamprosate may improve compliance with abstinence planning by treating the physical aspects of cravings to drink. The standard pharmocopoeia of antidepressants, anxiolytics, and other psychotropic drugs treat underlying mood disorders, neuroses, and psychoses associated with alcoholic symptoms.

Group Counseling
In the mid-1930s, the mutual-help group-counseling approach to treatment began and has become very popular. Alcoholics Anonymous is the best-known example of this movement. Various branches are available for family members of the alcoholic or commonly referred to as the co-dependents. Other groups include LifeRing Secular Recovery and SMART Recovery.

Prevention
Some programs attempt to help problem drinkers before they become dependents. These programs focus on harm-reduction and reducing alcohol intake as opposed to cold-turkey approaches. One such program is called Moderation Management.

Nutritional therapy
Another treatment program is based on nutritional therapy. Many alcohol dependents have insulin resistance syndrome, a metabolic disorder where the body’s difficulty in processing sugars causes an unsteady supply to the blood stream. While the disorder can be treated by a hypoglycemic diet, this can affect behavior and emotions, side-effects often seen among alcohol dependents in treatment. The metabolic aspects of such dependence are often overlooked, resulting in poor results.

Return to normal drinking
Although it has long been argued that alcoholic dependents cannot learn to drink in moderation, research by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) indicates a small percentage of individuals in the US whose dependence began more than one year earlier are now drinking in moderation. In contrast, a high percentage who undergo naltrexone use-reduction therapy are capable of normal drinking habits. Use of Naltrexone involves taking the medication an hour before any drinking occurs in order to maintain this.

Societal Impact
Today, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are major public health problems in North America, costing the region’s inhabitants, by some estimates, as much as US$170 billion annually. Alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence sometimes cause death, particularly through liver, pancreatic, or kidney disease, internal bleeding, brain deterioration, alcohol poisoning, and suicide. Heavy alcohol consumption by a pregnant mother can also lead to fetal alcohol syndrome, an incurable and damaging condition.

Additionally, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are major contributing factors for head injuries, motor vehicle accidents, violence and assaults, neurological, and other medical problems.

Alcohol addiction is a treatable disease. If you are an alcoholic or are a family member of an alcoholic, contact your physician for the most current treatments available.

Alcoholism is a disease of the body, thinking, emotions and spirit. Progressive damage to these four aspects interact in various ways such that a person is increasingly compelled to drink. Also, once drinking starts they cannot ‘always’ guarantee when they will stop or how much they will drink.

The Body
A genetic predisposition. Fifty percent of alcoholics have an inherited genetic makeup that almost guaranteed they would become alcoholic when they began to drink heavily. For example, the brain chemistry of some children or grandchildren of alcoholics actually encourages heavier drinking.

Alcohol Metabolism. Alcohol is metabolized differently by some people. As a result the body and brain requires more alcohol to have the same effect than normal drinkers would need.

Cell alteration. All heavy drinkers undergo changes at the cellular level of the brain. Where the brain cells meet extra receptor positions grow to receive the heavy dose of alcohol related chemical messengers. When not drinking these extra receptor positions demand to be filled thus creating a craving for alcohol.

Brain damage. Alcohol, in any quantity, is poisonous to brain cells and kills off cells in their millions. The most critically affected parts of the brain are those that deal with short term memory, decision making and rational thinking. Women heavy drinkers develop brain damage with less drinking than men.

Liver Damage. The most common liver disease of alcoholics is cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver. This disease results in reduced and corrupted chemicals being sent to the body which can result in damage to other organs. Women suffer liver damage with less alcohol consumption than men.

Alcoholic Hepatitis (AH). AH is caused by other liver diseases most notably cirrhosis of the liver. More than 60% of persons who develop both AH and cirrhosis will die within four years. AH can cause changes in sleep patterns, mood, and personality; psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression; shortened attention span; and problems with coordination may occur.

Brain Chemicals. The body and especially the brain relies on the liver to filter important body fluids and excrete wastes. As a result of contaminated chemistry from a damaged liver the brain does not function properly. Typically a person will have cloudy and slowed thinking.

Heart Damage. Heavy drinking causes damage to the heart muscles. The heart pumps less blood and an abnormal heart beat may develop. Women suffer heart damage with less alcohol consumed than men.

Skeletal Muscles. Heavy drinking causes muscles in the arms and legs to shrink. For example, an alcoholic may have legs that are out of proportion, skinnier, than the rest of their body. Sufferers may become embarrassed about their body shape.

Cancer. The risk of cancer increases with greater alcohol consumption – more so in women. Cancer can develop in the upper airways, the liver, breasts and the bowels.

Sexual Organs and Sexuality. Heavy alcohol use shrinks the testicles. In men and women the breasts grow larger. Men produce more female hormones and women produce more male hormones. Men become less virile and women become less feminine. As a result a persons sexuality and libido is altered.

They may sense change in their sexuality and over compensate by becoming more sexually active. Indiscriminate or intoxicated sexual activity raises the risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases.

Thinking
As detailed before various damaged body organs and altered chemistry affect how the brain thinks.

This buildup of thinking changes occurs over an extended time period. These small changes are usually unseen by the sufferer. The person reacts by adjusting their reasoning and behavior to accommodate their new ways of thinking. Alcoholics always adjust their thinking in ways that are harmful to themselves. And further, they cannot see the impact of their new coping style.

Typically they begin to adopt a siege mentality. Inner-self feedback, and from other people, indicates they are not quite at one with their ‘inner’ selves or the person they once were. Their experiences seem to paint a picture to the sufferer that people around them are against them, or are better than them, or are just different from themselves. They become insecure, angry, ashamed, depressed and anxious about their altered attitudes and actions.

This siege mentality generates a self-centered perspective to protect their self concept. They become takers and non-givers. “I want what I want and I want it now”, sort of thing; “I need a drink, now”; regardless of the needs of others. And, when they do not get it they assert themselves even more, becoming more demanding as the disease progresses.

Alcoholics will increasingly try to cope by drinking more alcohol to take away the pain of their perception of being isolated in thinking and behavior. They slowly adopt a denial attitude to their real condition, which they eventually believe is reality for them.

The alcoholic drinks more due to a different brain chemistry and metabolism, has craving for more alcohol due to cell alteration and organ damage, and drinks more to cope with the effects of their changed thinking and behavior. They are drinking to feel normal.

The Emotions
From the above it can easily be seen that their emotions become strained and twisted. They become emotionally dependent on achieving and keeping a state of denial of their true situation. They deny it to themselves and others. If their alcoholism is in threat of being exposed or their alcohol supply is threatened they may protect themselves with anger, bluff, self-pity, manipulation, depression, running away & etc.

They ‘feel’ as if they must continue their current emotional and thinking stance at all costs. Alcohol has become their best friend and they are loyal to it.

The Spirit
The spirit of a person is the centre of their personality. If, as seen above, the person is not thinking, feeling or acting as their true self would, not aligned with their spiritual self, they are spiritually ill at ease; or dis-eased.

A Solution
The progression of the disease must be arrested by stopping drinking and restoration of health in all four areas – body, thinking, emotions and spirit.

It is the dis-eased spiritual state that is targeted by the most successful treatment service world wide – Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Through the Twelve Steps of recovery each person finds their inner, spiritual self by stripping away the effects of alcoholism and fixing up the wreckage of past thinking and actions. They begin to live a life of freedom from alcohol that has had them enslaved.

More information at; www.BriefTSF.com and www.SoberIsSexy.com

© Copyright Robin J. Foote 2006 – May be copied and reproduced as long as source and internet links are maintained.

Medications
The classical use of medications for alcoholism is to encourage abstinence. Antabuse (also known as disulfiram), for instance, prevents the elimination of chemicals which cause severe discomfort when alcohol is ingested, effectively preventing the alcoholic from drinking in significant amounts while they take the medicine. Heavy drinking while on antabuse can result in severe illness and death.
Naltrexone has also been used because it helps curb cravings for alcohol while the person is on it. Both of these, however, have been demonstrated to cause a rebound effect when the user stops taking them. These do allow a person to overcome psychological addictions to alcohol, but they do not treat the neurochemical addiction.
In more recent studies it has been demonstrated that the use of naltrexone while the alcoholic continues to drink can result in extinction of the neurochemical addiction. Referred to as the “Sinclair Method”, this technique is used with good results some US states and in Finland but has failed to penetrate much of the world because of the long-standing bias against any treatment that doesn’t involve detoxification and abstinence.
Rationing
Rationing or other attempts to control use are increasingly ineffective as pathological attachment to the drug develops. Use often continues despite serious adverse health, personal, legal, work-related, and financial consequences.
Detoxification
Detoxification programs run by medical institutions often involve stays for a number of weeks in specialized hospital wards, where drugs may be used to avoid withdrawal symptoms. In severe cases, detoxification may lead to death. To that point, even a simple “de-tox” can involve seizures, if not properly monitored.
Post Detox Therapy
After detoxification, various forms of group therapy or psychotherapy are recommended to deal with underlying psychological issues leading to alcohol dependence. It is also used to provide the recovering addict with relapse prevention skills.
Aversion therapies may be supported by drugs like Disulfiram, which causes a strong and prompt sensitivity reaction whenever alcohol is consumed. Naltrexone or Acamprosate may improve compliance with abstinence planning by treating the physical aspects of cravings to drink. The standard pharmocopoeia of antidepressants, anxiolytics, and other psychotropic drugs treat underlying mood disorders, neuroses, and psychoses associated with alcoholic symptoms.
Group Counseling
In the mid-1930s, the mutual-help group-counseling approach to treatment began and has become very popular. Alcoholics Anonymous is the best-known example of this movement. Various branches are available for family members of the alcoholic or commonly referred to as the co-dependents. Other groups include LifeRing Secular Recovery and SMART Recovery.
Prevention
Some programs attempt to help problem drinkers before they become dependents. These programs focus on harm-reduction and reducing alcohol intake as opposed to cold-turkey approaches. One such program is called Moderation Management.
Nutritional therapy
Another treatment program is based on nutritional therapy. Many alcohol dependents have insulin resistance syndrome, a metabolic disorder where the body’s difficulty in processing sugars causes an unsteady supply to the blood stream. While the disorder can be treated by a hypoglycemic diet, this can affect behavior and emotions, side-effects often seen among alcohol dependents in treatment. The metabolic aspects of such dependence are often overlooked, resulting in poor results.
Return to normal drinking
Although it has long been argued that alcoholic dependents cannot learn to drink in moderation, research by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) indicates a small percentage of individuals in the US whose dependence began more than one year earlier are now drinking in moderation. In contrast, a high percentage who undergo naltrexone use-reduction therapy are capable of normal drinking habits. Use of Naltrexone involves taking the medication an hour before any drinking occurs in order to maintain this.
Societal Impact
Today, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are major public health problems in North America, costing the region’s inhabitants, by some estimates, as much as US$170 billion annually. Alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence sometimes cause death, particularly through liver, pancreatic, or kidney disease, internal bleeding, brain deterioration, alcohol poisoning, and suicide. Heavy alcohol consumption by a pregnant mother can also lead to fetal alcohol syndrome, an incurable and damaging condition.
Additionally, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are major contributing factors for head injuries, motor vehicle accidents, violence and assaults, neurological, and other medical problems.
Alcohol addiction is a treatable disease. If you are an alcoholic or are a family member of an alcoholic, contact your physician for the most current treatments available.
This article is Copyright © 2006, Heather Colman. Permission is granted to reprint this article as long as no changes are made, and the entire resource box is included.