The symptoms of alcohol withdrawal (abstinence syndrome) occur because once in the brain, alcohol affects chemicals called neurotransmitters that control the flow of information between brain cells called neurons, linked by synapses, and this neuroadaptation pathological causes alcohol, end, changing behavior, thinking and feelings of people.

With chronic alcohol consumption, these neurotransmitters are affected and the brain undergoes a change in its structure and functions, so that only “normal” with the presence of alcohol. The person whose brain is accustomed to alcohol needs to rise to increasing consumption (tolerance) for the purposes of the first times you had, with the result that abruptly stop drinking, brain disorders caused crop for consumption and that were hidden by the apparent “normalcy.” These disorders, which cause withdrawal symptoms diminish or disappear only when he turns to drink alcohol. For this reason it is difficult for an addict to stop drinking alcohol, when you know you will find a cure for his withdrawal due to alcohol consumption.

• Delayed frequent arrival to work.
• Frequent absence day after party or at least slow, slurred and irregular work. • frequent disappearances post without prior justification.
• Small absences for minor illnesses: Colds, flu, or minor accidents occurred with regularity at work, outside, on the road.
• Progressive change in attitude of the subject hitherto regarded as a good worker, discussions, reviews, small mistakes which seeks to justify, small accidents which offers or other material liable.
• Marked variations in mood, anger, loss of interest in the job.

The Three Stages Of Alcoholism

Every alcoholic drink in their own way, but all people with an alcohol problem have something in common:

• They can not control your drinking.
• At first, develop tolerance to alcohol. So, when taking endure much, compared with the other people who drink.
• Consequently, increasingly need to take to achieve the same effects as before.
• But this is temporary, it lasts forever.

Later, the opposite happens: the drinker needs very little alcohol, sometimes a single drink to get drunk. It becomes then, of those who can not tolerate anything. Although each alcoholic follows its own path toward the disease, one can say generally that all alcoholic goes through three stages.

First Stage

It usually takes about 10 years, but we must not take this as if it were a rule.

This stage covers the following:

• repeated promises to leave the alcohol that lead to failure, anxiety, guilt and consequently more drink.
• more frequent alcohol intake.
• Increased tolerance. The drinker ever take any more.
• Increased irritability, personality changes. Blackouts occur (forget what happened when you drink).

Second Stage

It creates a vicious circle: the person drinker goes from an uncontrollable desire to take the anguish and guilt for having done so and hence the isolation and frustration, which leads again into the drink and start the cycle again .

• The patient denied having a drinking problem or hide the fact, while for others it’s obvious her alcoholism.
• Take from the morning alone.
• Has permanent and visible signs of defects of alcohol, even at work.
• The drink becomes a necessity for him everyday.

Third Stage

Start utter ruin. The intoxicated person practically live and adds difficulties with family, friends and work, which leads her to suffer financial difficulties.

• You will fall in the desert. Avoid her friends and family, and these in turn try to get away from it.
• Live for drinking and hardly eats. Sometimes partial receive medical help to combat his anxiety and weakness.
• personality changes radically, their own friends and relatives do not know.
• You suffer serious disorders such as destruction, weakness and hallucinations.

When someone reaches this stage, is at a point where there are only two paths:

If you continue along the path of alcohol, expect the final collapse: disability, dying and death.

The other path is definitely quit drinking and begin a slow return to health. You can not combine the two paths. No way to keep drinking and cured to make. The only way to control alcoholism, is to achieve total abstinence.

Alcoholism can develop insidiously, often no clear line between problem drinking and alcoholism. Sometimes people experience long-term depression or anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, personal or work stress that lead to alcohol for relief, but often no extraordinary event has occurred that could explain the problem of drinking alcohol. People who are alcoholics have little or no control over the amount they drink or the duration or frequency of drinking alcohol. They are occupied with drinking, deny their own addiction and continue to drink even if they are aware of the dangers. Over time, some people become tolerant to the effects of drinking and require more to become intoxicated, creating the illusion that they can “hold their liquor.” They have memory lapses (black-outs) after frequent discomfort the next day (raw) that cause them to lose the day. Can you drink alone and start at the beginning of the day. Periodically stop drinking or change from hard liquor to beer or wine, but hardly the last time these periods. Severe alcoholics often have a history of accidents, marital instability and work and health problems related to alcohol. The Episodic violent and abusive incidents against spouses and children and a history of unexplained or frequent accidents are often signs of drug abuse or alcohol.

The family members can not always rely on a physician to make an initial diagnosis, although the signs of alcoholism are seen during a physical examination. Although 15% to 30% of patients who are hospitalized suffer from alcoholism or alcohol dependence, doctors often fail to examine the problem. Doctors may not recognize symptoms or may not want to confront the patients. It is particularly difficult to diagnose alcoholism in the elderly, where symptoms of confusion, memory loss, or the fall can be attributed to the aging process. Although alcoholism is identified, patients often do not receive treatment for addiction. In one study, 23% of patients in a hospital were found to have an alcohol problem, but only 7.4%, were given a diagnosis that could have led to a treatment.

Testing selective review.

Many selective examination papers are available to diagnose alcoholism, usually in the form of standardized questionnaires that the patient can take on their own or in the form of an interview conducted by the physician. Because people with alcoholism often deny their problem or lie about it, the tests are designed to elicit responses related to the problems associated with drinking rather than the quantity of liquor consumed or specific drinking habits. The quickest test takes only a minute, is called the CAGE test, an acronym for the following questions: © attempts to reduce (Cut) drinking, (A) discomfort (Annoyance) with criticisms about drinking, (G) fault (Guilt) about drinking, and (E) use alcohol as an eye opener (Eye-opener). In one study, 75% of people who responded “yes” to two or more of the questions were correctly identified as alcoholics. To screen pregnant women for alcohol-related problem, doctors can use the CAGE test but substitute a “T” for “G”, with “T” represents tolerance, the woman will be asked how many drinks can tolerate before you feel the effects. A response of more than two drinks indicates a potential health problem for both mother and baby. Other short selective review tests are the Test of Selective Review Michigan Alcoholism (MAST, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test), Test Alcoholism Test Selective self-administered (SAAST, Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test) and the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADES, The Alcohol Dependence Scale) [see table]. Longer tests are used to measure the consequences of drinking and level of self-knowledge of the patient. Adolescents may require different types of evidence from those given to adults. In general, these tests are exactly the same, and although no evidence of selective review provides a perfect diagnosis, are beneficial in several ways. Selective review tests often discover behavior which patients themselves are aware and can help to promote self-knowledge. They are useful in determining the severity of the condition and type of treatments that can be extremely useful.

Lab tests and other tests.

Tests for alcohol levels in the blood are not useful for diagnosing alcoholism because they only reflect a moment and not the long-term use. A blood test environment corpuscular volume (MCV, mean corpuscular volume) is sometimes used to measure the size of erythrocytes, which increase with the use of alcohol. Other blood tests may show elevated liver enzymes that are associated with alcohol abuse. A physical examination and other tests should be performed to find medical problem. Sometimes the results of these tests can help convince a patient to seek treatment, particularly if they reveal serious problems, such as a computerized tomography scan (CT) showing brain atrophy, reporting a blood test for liver damage, or levels of low testosterone indicate a risk for impotence.

Getting the patient to seek treatment.

Once a diagnosis is made, the next major step is getting the patient to seek treatment. This often requires a collaborative effort of physicians, family members, friends and employers. The group meetings between the patient and friends and family members who have been affected by the alcoholic behavior have been very useful. This intervention approach should be compassionate but direct and honest report for each person to describe specifically how they have been individually hurt by alcoholism. Even children can participate in this process, depending on their level of maturity and ability to handle the situation. Family and friends should express their affection for the patient and their commitment and full support for recovery, but should be strongly and consistently demand that the patient seek treatment. The patient and family should fully understand that alcoholism is a disease and that the answers to this disease, need, desire, fear of withdrawal symptoms, are not personal failures as well as pain or discomfort are symptoms of other diseases . They must also understand that treatment is difficult and sometimes painful, as well as treatments for other life-threatening diseases such as cancer, are painful, but this is the only hope for a cure. Employers can be particularly effective. Their approach should also be compassionate but strong, threatening the employee with job loss if he or she seeks help. Some large companies provide access to treatment programs for low or no cost for their workers.

The desire for alcohol during withdrawal, pain suppression and the high rate of relapse is due to adaptation and dependence on changes in brain chemistry caused by his long-term use of alcohol. Alcohol acts as a depressant on the central nervous system and causes relaxation and euphoria. In the brain, a small group of chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, is responsible for changes in behavior after drinking alcohol. Of special interest to researchers are the neurotransmitter gamma aminobutérico acid (GABA, gamma amino butyric acid), dopamine and serotonin.

Genetic factors.

In people with severe alcoholism, researchers have located a gene that affects the function of a nerve-cell structure known as the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2), which, in turn, influences the activity of dopamine. This gene is also found in people with attention deficit disorder, who are at increased risk for alcoholism, and is also present in people with Toilette syndrome and autism. The association of this gene with these neurological problems leading some experts to believe that the dopamine D2 receptor gene is not a primary cause of alcoholism, but that people with this gene is more likely to drink to treat behavioral and psychological symptoms of their neurological disorders. In addition, a main study did not find any connection whatsoever between the DRD2 gene and alcoholism. More work is needed in this area.

Depression and anxiety.

Some people drink to relieve anxiety or depression, and theories has been proposed on the fact that an inherited tendency for depression or anxiety can make people more susceptible to alcoholism. Studies have indicated, however, that when children of alcoholic parents raised by parents are not alcoholics, their risk for alcoholism but opportunities remain high for depression or anxiety are greater than those of the general population. Indeed, anxiety and depression are themselves caused by alcoholism can be reduced after the abolition of alcohol. Depression and anxiety can also play a major role in the development of alcoholism in the elderly and others who are subject to undesirable life changes like retirement, loss of a spouse or friend (a) and medical problems.

Physical Effects

Alcohol is not exposed to any process of digestion which mostly goes first to the small intestine before being absorbed by the bloodstream. Only a small portion goes directly into the bloodstream through the stomach lining. In the blood alcohol is metabolized (broken down to be removed or used by the body) through the process of oxidation. That is, it merges with oxygen and breaks down so that its basic elements leave the body in the form of carbon dioxide and water. The first oxidation is the liver, which breaks down approximately 50% of alcohol consumed in one hour. The rest remains in the bloodstream to be removed slowly.

Psychological Effects

Alcohol first affects the central nervous system and excessive and prolonged interference can cause brain damage. Popular belief that alcohol increases the excitement, but actually depresses many brain centers. The feeling of excitement is precisely because the depressed some brain centers reduce tensions and inhibitions and the person experiences feelings of sociability expanded or euphoria. Therefore it is said that alcohol “anesthesia, internal auditing.” However, if the alcohol concentration exceeds certain levels in the blood interferes with higher mental processes so that the distorted visual perception, motor coordination, balance, speech and vision have also suffered heavy damage. Large amounts of alcohol reduce body aches and pains and induce sleep. But continuous use irritates the stomach lining even to develop ulcers. Additionally tends to accumulate fat in the liver, interfering with its operation. In chronic alcoholics are raised serious brain disorders, liver (cirrhosis) and cardiovascular (increased blood pressure and thus the risk of a heart attack.) Even, there is evidence that alcohol increases the level of triglycerides (saturated fat or vegetable in the arteries) and thus also the risk of a heart attacks. Finally, as is well known, alcohol causes physical addiction and psychological dependence.

What damage alcohol causes in the body? At any given time depend on its concentration in the blood which in turn is determined by the following factors: amount ingested over a period of time, presence or absence of food in the stomach to retain the alcohol and reduce its rate of absorption, weight body, liver and efficiency of the person who eats

As alcohol consumption increases the anger and increasing tolerance to the effects at first, when you start eating, appeared relatively soon.

As they increase the dosage will increase the need to drink alcohol on a daily, include becoming continuous, if before he took occasionally throughout the day, end up consuming almost constantly.

This continued use will cause the person to lose control over alcohol, becoming the latter who controlled him. There comes a time when the person realizes they have a problem but the need for intake of alcohol is much greater than any reasoning to do and not to feel accused, blamed or have negative feelings that you’re doing, start drinking in alone or in places not known to others.

When he reaches this point the memory gaps are commonplace, can not remember where you’ve been or who has, or has seen someone … there is increasing in time and quantity, including periods of amnesia may occur.

All this, as is evident, causing problems at all levels, both in family and social life, including work if you keep getting to this point. Violent behavior that appear related to alcoholism are therefore problems when related to the rest of the people around him starts to become almost impossible.

Not only are these violent behaviors with alcoholism, but rose by almost constant bad mood, especially when you removed the alcohol issue and refer to their unquestionable problem, reactions that occur are very unpleasant and uncalled for.

They begin to be neglected especially when it comes to food, bad eating and this together with that alcohol reduces the ability to absorb vitamins properly, means an increase in food deterioration with consequent problems.

Physically, the most visible problems of alcoholism are nausea, vomiting, cramps, this adversely affects the stomach causing abdominal pains quite unpleasant. Presence of uncontrolled tremors, apparent confusion, the color of the skin becomes red accompanied with dilation of the capillaries of the face, so you can see a series of red veins around the nose and other parts of your face.

All this creates a clear fatigue because your body is being attacked by a product of these quantities is toxic to your body. Also present agitation, hallucinations, convulsions, tachycardia, sweating, they may have blackouts that may produce different injuries.