Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse

May 29, 2015

Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse: The Identification mechanism of alcohol addiction

Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse are very necessary in the recovery process

It may not be very practical for anyone to candidly talk about alcohol abuse if the individual is not privy to the information about certain common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse. It therefore means that you cannot purport to be dealing with the problem of alcohol abuse if you are not in the know of the signs and symptoms of the substance. This is what doctor Dalal Akoury is going to help us understand for a couple of minutes in this article and you don’t want to miss on the expertise of this great and experienced addiction professional of over two decades of offering lasting treatment solutions to her clients. You too can be part of her great team of fully recovered alcoholic and join in the long list of positive testimonies by scheduling for an appointment with her today for the commencement of your recovery journey. In the meantime let us get back to the subject of discussion. The following will be some of the indicators that you may be jumping into alcohol addiction at a very high speed:

If you have been repeatedly neglecting your responsibilities at home, work, or school because of your drinking. Like for instance, performing poorly at work, flunking classes, neglecting your kids, or skipping out on commitments because of your drinking hung over.
Using alcohol in situations where it’s both physically, socially, morally and psychologically dangerous like for example, drinking and driving, operating machinery while intoxicated, or mixing alcohol with prescription medication against doctor’s orders.
When you are ever experiencing repeated legal problems with the law enforcement agencies on account of your drinking. For example, being arrested for driving under the influence or for drunk and disorderly conduct.
Continuing to drink even though your alcohol use is causing problems in your relationships. Getting drunk with your buddies, for example, even though you know your wife will be very upset, or fighting with your family because they dislike how you act when you drink.
Drinking as a way to relax or de-stress. Many drinking problems start when people use alcohol to self-soothe and relieve stress. Getting drunk after every stressful day, for example, or reaching for a bottle every time you have an argument with your spouse or boss.

Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse: The path from alcohol abuse to alcoholism

Not all alcohol abusers become full-blown alcoholics, but it is a big risk factor. Sometimes alcoholism develops suddenly in response to a stressful change, such as a breakup, retirement, or another loss. Other times, it gradually creeps up on you as your tolerance to alcohol increases. If you’re a binge drinker or you drink every day, the risks of developing alcoholism are greater.

Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse: Signs and symptoms of alcoholism (alcohol dependence)

Alcoholism is the most severe form of problem drinking. Alcoholism involves all the symptoms of alcohol abuse, but it also involves another element: physical dependence on alcohol. If you rely on alcohol to function or feel physically compelled to drink, you’re an alcoholic.

Tolerance

Under normal circumstances, this is often the major warning sign of alcoholism. If your answer to these questions is yes, then tolerance is clearly observable. Do you have to drink a lot more than you used to in order to get buzzed or to feel relaxed? Can you drink more than other people without getting drunk? These are signs of tolerance, which can be an early warning sign of alcoholism. Tolerance means that, over time, you need more and more alcohol to feel the same effects.

Withdrawal

After tolerance withdrawal comes in second as one of the major warning sign of alcoholism and a gain if your answer to these questions is yes then it is easy to conclude that alcoholism is knocking on your door. Do you need a drink to steady the shakes in the morning? Drinking to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms is a sign of alcoholism and a huge red flag. When you drink heavily, your body gets used to the alcohol and experiences withdrawal symptoms if it’s taken away. These include:

Anxiety or jumpiness
Shakiness or trembling
Sweating
Depression
Headache
Insomnia
Irritability
Nausea and vomiting
Loss of appetite
Fatigue

Doctor Akoury notes it is important to take into account that in severe cases, withdrawal from alcohol can also involve hallucinations, confusion, seizures, fever, and agitation. It is therefore very important that as soon as these symptoms are identified, timely action must be taken because they can be dangerous; therefore schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury and let treatment begins without any further delays.

Other signs and symptoms of alcoholism (alcohol dependence)

You’ve lost control over your drinking. You often drink more alcohol than you wanted to, for longer than you intended, or despite telling yourself you wouldn’t.
You want to quit drinking, but something is just pulling you back making you to embrace the fact that you can’t. You have a persistent desire to cut down or stop your alcohol use, but your efforts to quit have been unsuccessful.
You have given up other activities because of alcohol. You’re spending less time on activities that used to be important to you (hanging out with family and friends, going to the gym, pursuing your hobbies) because of your alcohol use.
Alcohol takes up a great deal of your energy and focus. You spend a lot of time drinking, thinking about it, or recovering from its effects. You have few if any interests or social involvements that don’t revolve around drinking.
You drink even though you know it’s causing problems. For example, you recognize that your alcohol use is damaging your marriage, making your depression worse, or causing health problems, but you continue to drink anyway.

Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse: Drinking problems and denial

Finally doctor Akoury says that denial is one of the biggest obstacles to getting help for alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The desire to drink is so strong that the mind finds many ways to justifying drinking, even when the consequences are obvious. Therefore if you find yourself justifying your drinking habits by lying about them or refusing to discuss the subject, take a moment to consider why you’re so defensive. If you truly believe you don’t have a problem, there should be no reason for you to cover up your drinking or make excuses.

Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse: The Identification mechanism of alcohol addiction

Alcohol Use Disorder and Possible health Complications

May 29, 2015

Alcohol Use Disorder and Possible health Complications: Death in waiting

Alcohol Use Disorder and Possible health Complications begins in small way and the dangers spread very fast

Did you know that alcoholism can reduce your life expectancy by about 10 – 12 years? That is a whole decade of life wasted because of an addiction to alcohol. Can carry out a small assessment of what you can accomplish in twelve years. With that time you could take a medical student through his doctorate studies you could also give birth to your acting last born and see him or her up to secondary education, what about financial investment you could invest in a business and reap out of it for a decade. Are you willing to waste those valuable years all in the name of alcohol? We have to do something both individually and collectively. On our part as professionals from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center we have deliberately made a decision of creating health awareness to the public through this media and encouraging people to consult not just with us for treatment commencing but also even to other likeminded health professionals across the globe. It is because of this reason that we want to shade more light on alcohol use disorder and possible health complications. You may not know but with alcohol the earlier people begin drinking heavily, the greater their chance of developing serious illnesses later on, we must stop this by all means and so if you are already struggling with alcohol addiction, it is never too late to talk to the experts. You can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury MD and also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for a more professional advice and treatment.

Alcohol Use Disorder and Possible health Complications: Alcoholism and Early Death

It is evident that alcohol can affect the body in so many ways for it to cause premature death to its victims. Whichever way you look at it miss us of alcohol will only succeed in delivering destruction to human health and that has been confirmed by researchers across the globe. Doctor Akoury acknowledges that even though heavy drinking is closely associated with premature death, it is however not just about that but there are also some other higher risk of alcohol use that are more common and serious to health problems including heart attack, heart failure, diabetes, lung disease, or stroke. It is important for users of chronic alcohol to understand that reckless consumption of this substance may lead to many problems that can increase the risk for death; some of those situations may include the following:

People who miss use alcoholic drinks regularly have a higher rate of death from injury or violence.
A single alcohol overdose can lead to death. This is particularly dangerous with adolescents who may want to impress their friends with their ability to drink alcohol but cannot independently gauge the effects of the quantities they are taking. Nonetheless, it is important to note that alcohol overdose does not only occur from any one heavy drinking incident, but may also occur from a constant infusion of alcohol in the bloodstream says doctor Akoury.
Severe withdrawal and delirium tremens. Delirium tremens occurs in about 5% of alcoholics. It includes progressively severe withdrawal symptoms and altered mental states. In some cases, it can be fatal.
Frequent, heavy alcohol use directly harms many areas in the body and produce dangerous health conditions including the liver damage, pancreatitis, anemia, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, nerve damage, and erectile dysfunction.
Alcohol abusers who need surgery have an increased risk of postoperative complications, including infections, bleeding, insufficient heart and lung functions, and problems with wound healing. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms after surgery may impose further stress on the patient and hinder recuperation.

Alcohol Use Disorder and Possible health Complications: The Effects of Hangover

Although not traditionally thought of as a medical problem, hangovers have significant consequences that include changes in liver function, hormonal balance, and mental functioning and an increased risk for depression and cardiac events. Hangovers can impair job performance, increasing the risk for mistakes and accidents. Hangovers are generally more common in light-to-moderate drinkers than heavy and chronic drinkers, suggesting that binge drinking can be as threatening as chronic drinking. Any man who drinks more than five drinks or any woman who has more than three drinks at one time is at risk for a hangover.

Alcohol Use Disorder and Possible health Complications: Accidents, Suicide, and Murder

Earlier in the discussion we mention that alcohol consumption has nothing to offer humanity a part from destruction anarchy and sufferings. What can you allude to a substance like alcohol which plays a large role in accidents, suicide, and crime? Let us briefly discuss some of the roles it play and I hope that as we continue into the conclusion of this portion, you are also making very informed health decisions to greater transformation from addiction to soberness.

Alcohol plays a major role in more than half of all automobile fatalities. Every police department in every nation has in the past released very shocking statistics to this effect.
From those traffic department statistics, it is evident that alcohol-related automobile accidents are the leading causes of death in young people.
Fewer than two drinks can impair the ability to drive. Even one drink may double the risk of injury, and more than four drinks increase the risk up to 11 times. Therefore what is really good about this drink if all we have on records communicated the direct opposite of good health?
Alcoholism is the primary diagnosis in a quarter of all people who commit suicide.
Alcohol is implicated in over half of all murders.

Finally we can only say that the decision of Dr. Akoury to create a medical center whose main objective is to transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power shouldn’t have come at a better time. We all need this and now if we have to remedy the situation. Enough of all these premature death in the name of enjoying life, if you or any one you know is struggling with alcohol problem, then you can start the recovery journey today by scheduling for an appointment with Dr. Akoury’s whose practices focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms.

Alcohol Use Disorder and Possible health Complications

How Profitable Is It To Create Natural Addiction Clinics?

March 23, 2015

There are lots to benefit from when an addict decides to get treatment from a natural addiction clinic. To begin with, most of these natural addiction clinics are also holistic meaning they not only focus on treating the symptoms of addiction but focuses on whole person healing that entails correcting all the defects that might have been caused by the prolonged use of the drugs of abuse. This is just another great reason that make addicts go for natural addiction clinics as opposed to pharmaceutical prescriptions that may only address the issues of addiction related symptoms and cravings but will not focus on achieving whole person healing by healing the parts of brains and the entire nervous system that have since stopped coordinating well for optimum health of the addict. The profitability of natural addiction clinics is peaking in some parts of the world while in others it has already climaxed due to the embrace with which the addicts have welcomed the exceptional ability of nature’s healing powers. Today many addiction patients will prefer to get attended to in a holistic rehabilitation center that advocates for natural addiction treatment. This has led to the mushrooming of different natural addiction centers, some of which have stayed till now offering beneficial addiction treatments to addicts while some that sprang up with the sole aim of reaping big profits have disappeared. What does this tell us? Okay, creating a natural addiction clinic can be very profitable but you as a doctor needs to be more concerned with the wellbeing of your patients than your drive to enrich yourself. AWAREmed Health and Wellness and Resource is an example of an establishment that advocates of natural healing as they are holistic, this facility has remained till now because it was created with a mission to avail the best alternative treatments to patients battling some of the most common diseases that patients find a nightmare to treat such as cancer and addiction. This establishment is a living testimony of how profitable an establishment that advocates for natural healing can be profitable when founded on the stones of care and love for patients as well as laced with unending quest to avail better and safer treatment options to patients battling addiction.

addiction Clinics

Natural addiction Clinics can benefit all addicts

Another reason that has made natural addiction clinics more popular is the fact that these clinics are well equipped and are always founded by integrative doctors who are experienced in addiction treatment and hence know the extent to which specific drugs or substances affect the person and which option of treatments can best yield the much needed result. the natural addiction clinics employs some of the traditional addiction treatments that are known to be effective and goes a long way in achieving whole person healing as opposed to treatment of just symptoms and calming down some of the common side effects of drug withdrawals like depression and anxiety. There’s no requirement for attending these clinics except that participants must deeply desire sobriety. However, most participants have been through a traditional rehab program and not had the success they desired. Natural addiction clinic programs are considered alternative types of treatment because they don’t follow the traditional model, which focuses on psychotherapy, 12-step programs and other support groups but focuses on all the benefits that can be drawn from the nature’s natural healing powers to help heal an addict with minimal or no side effects at all.

The natural addiction clinics incorporate the use of herbs and specific diets to help restore the balance in the brain chemistry and quell cravings. The natural addiction clinics are not only for those who are addicted to drugs and substances alone but also for those with behavioral addictions like gambling, sex addiction and even pornography. Natural addiction clinics may offer such services as nutritional counseling, psychiatric support, massage, yoga, Tai Chi, herbal therapies and adventure-based therapies that cater to all manner of addictions, both behavioral and substance related. These centers also have staffs who are vastly experienced in handling addiction cases. They can also customize treatment to suit every patient’s condition belief and preferences all in a bid to restore the mind the body and the spirit. The fact that the natural addiction clinics are home for all addicts further opens great avenues for qualified doctors who opt to create natural addiction clinics.

Another factor that makes natural addiction clinics preferable is the environment in which most of them are located, natural addiction clinics are not mostly established in busy town centers but on the mountains, or by a lake or the ocean. The setting is usually peaceful and idyllic in order to promote healing. Most holistic addiction doctors believe that locating these clinics in such places helps the patients to connect with nature which further helps them to recover even faster.

Offers variety of treatment options

The extent to which a person is affected by drug use will warrant the type of treatment that he gets, it is also good to note that different people will react to a given treatment differently and this is why a specific treatment that worked for a given addict may fail to work for another addict. This is why most natural addiction clinics avail different treatment options that addicts can benefit from. Some of the traditional approaches to healing like meditation are god for an addict but if for some reason you are not comfortable you are often given the freedom to skip the session. It is your determination for sobriety that shouldn’t run out.

Finally, even if creation of natural addiction clinics were to yield supernormal profits, it is good to stay within the focus which is to avail better healing options for all addicts. Dr. Dalal Akoury of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource center has championed the use of integrative medicine in healing addicts for years; find her at Myrtle beach, South Carolina.

How Profitable Is It To Create Natural Addiction Clinics?

Alcohol Abuse Escalates Liver Cancer Risk

January 19, 2015

Alcohol Abuse and Liver Cancer

Liver cancer is a problem that has affected many people and lots is being done to help alleviate its effects on the world’s population. According to the American cancer society about 24,550 people (17,030 men and 7,520 women) will die of liver cancer. The number of people dying of liver cancer has increased greatly over the past decades. However, this disease has been found to affect men more than it affects women. On average a man’s lifetime risk of getting liver or intrahepatic bile duct cancer is about 1 in 81, while an average woman’s risk is about 1 in 196. On average people who are diagnosed with liver cancer are aged 63 with most of them being 45 years of age or older, the statistics state that more than 95 percent of those affected are aged 45 and above. About 3% are between 35 and 44 years of age and about 2% are younger than 35.

Liver cancer can affects anybody anywhere but researchers have found that it is more common in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia than in the US. In fact in most of the countries in these regions it has become the most common type of cancer. In the entire world it is reported that more than 700,000 people are diagnosed with liver cancer each year throughout the world. Liver cancer is also a leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, accounting for more than 600,000 deaths each year.

Basing on the statistics above, it is therefore safe to say that liver cancer is a cause for alarm, with the risk of liver cancer growing everyday bearing on the toxins that are present in our environments, it is important to eliminate all the possible risk factors to liver cancer. Alcohol drinking has been linked to liver cancer. It is therefore reasonable to reduce the rate of alcohol you take or better quit it completely, of course you will need professional help to quit it but all the effort will be worth it.

Despite these statistics that have shown that liver cancer is a serious disease that ought to be fought at all costs, there has been controversy on the subject of liver cancer being linked to alcohol use. Past researchers established that drinking alcohol moderately has very many health benefits. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines moderate drinking as consumption of 14 drinks per week for men and 7 drinks per week for women. Exceeding these limits increases your risk to other diseases, liver cancer included.

There has been controversy on this topic and this may be because of the fact that alcohol itself doesn’t cause liver cancer but when consumed beyond healthy limits and hence abused for many years it will cause liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis is a major cause of liver cancer and so if alcohol abuse causes liver cirrhosis then it will cause cancer in the long run.

Liver Cirrhosis to Liver cancer

Usually, a person who is addicted to alcohol will drink up to a point that he gets to suffer liver cirrhosis after stopping drinking he will develop liver cancer. Researchers opine that it is somewhat unusual for an actively drinking alcoholic to develop liver cancer. What happens is that when the drinking is stopped, the liver cells try to heal by regenerating. It is during this active regeneration that a cancer-producing genetic change (gene mutation) can occur, which explains the occurrence of liver cancer after the drinking has been stopped.

Alcohol abuse has far more ways to contribute to cancer however its links to liver cancer can majorly be apportioned to development from liver cirrhosis. The fact that alcohol is converted into a toxic chemical called acetaldehyde in our bodies may be considered though it hasn’t been linked specifically to liver cancer. Acetaldehyde can cause cancer by damaging DNA and stopping our cells from repairing this damage. The International Agency for Research on Cancer have classified acetaldehyde formed as a result of drinking alcohol as being a cause of cancer, along with alcohol itself. It also causes liver cells to grow faster than normal. These regenerating cells are more likely to pick up changes in their genes that could lead to cancer.

Alcohol is made up of other carcinogens and these carcinogens interacts with the liver, the liver being a vital filter organ through which every pint of alcohol consumed passes through. When these toxins overburden the liver, it becomes easier for infections that may later escalate into liver cancer to be initiated.

Drug addiction is a vice that should be fought by all means that is why we at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are committed to availing help to addicts and offering them a place to call home. We offer NER Treatment and Amino acid therapy that are the most effective approaches to addiction treatment and recovery. You call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) today and begin your journey to victory against addiction.

Alcohol Abuse and Liver Cancer

Binge Drinking affects Immune System

January 6, 2015

Binge Drinking Disrupts Immune System in Young Adults

Binge Drinking Alcohol when drank in recommended quantities can help one get varied health benefits. however as one continues taking alcohol he may begin to take more of the drink so as to enjoy its euphoric effects, the more alcohol a person drinks and the frequency at which he takes alcohol pave way for serious health complications. There are people today who have been maimed as a result of binge drinking making them dependent on their families as they can no longer work to supplement their own daily needs. The effects of alcoholism are far more than the economic gravity that often befall the addicts but it has more to do with their health. Binge drinking has quite adverse effects on the health of an alcoholic as it has been found to disrupt the immune system of alcoholics especially the youth.

What is Binge Drinking?

Binge drinking usually refers to drinking lots of alcohol in a short space of time or drinking to get drunk. Most researchers define binge drinking as taking more than 8 units or more in a single session. This however may not be so appropriate as different people have different levels of tolerance to the drink and even the speed at which people drink is different. Some people are bound to be fast drinkers while others are slow drinkers but the essence of binge drinking is to get drunk quickly. To avoid binge drinking it is important to space your drinks and to avoid drinking too much that you get drunk instantly.

New research that was led by a researcher now at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine has found that Binge drinking in young, healthy adults significantly disrupts the immune system.

During this study the participants drank four or five shots of vodka. The study also considered the weight of the participants against the number of shots of vodka they took. Twenty minutes after reaching peak intoxication, their immune systems revved up. But when measured again, at two hours and five hours after peak intoxication, their immune systems had become less active than when sober. Binge drinking making them more vulnerable to disease infections. This study led by Majid Afshar, MD, MSCR, and colleagues was published online ahead of print in Alcohol, an international, peer-reviewed journal.

Apart from the fact that that binge drinking has a negative effect on the immune system of youth involved in it , it has also been found that binge drinking increases the risk of falls, burns, gunshot wounds, car accidents and other traumatic injuries. Researchers have also found out that one-third of trauma patients have alcohol in their systems.

There is more harm to binge drinking than just increased risk of traumatic injuries as it also impairs the body’s ability to recover from such injuries. Previous studies have found that binge drinking delays wound healing, increases blood loss and makes patients more prone to pneumonia and infections from catheters. The study led by Dr. Afshar warns that Binge drinkers are also more likely to die from traumatic injuries.

Binge drinking is known to alter behaviors of drinkers but as Elizabeth Kovacs, PhD, a co-author of the study and director of Loyola’s Alcohol Research Program puts it “But there is less awareness of alcohol’s harmful effects in other areas, such as the immune system,”. This shows that most binge drinkers are not fully aware of its risks.

If what the definition of binge drinking by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism holds some water then there are many binge drinkers who do not even know they are binge drinkers. According to this institute binge drinking is drinking enough to reach or exceed a blood alcohol content of .08, the legal limit for driving.

This study included eight women and seven men with a median age of 27. Each volunteer drank enough shots of vodka, generally four or five to meet the definition of binge drinking. Dr. Afshar and colleagues took blood samples at 20 minutes, two hours and five hours after peak intoxication because these are times when intoxicated patients typically arrive at trauma centers for treatment of alcohol-related injuries.

Binge Drinking From the blood samples it was observed that 20 minutes after peak intoxication, there was increased immune system activity. There were higher levels of three types of white blood cells that are key components of the immune system namely leukocytes, monocytes and natural killer cells. There also were increased levels of proteins called cytokines that signal the immune system to ramp up. At this minute the immune system was higher than before they got drunk. However two hours and five hours after peak intoxication, researchers found the opposite effect- fewer circulating monocytes and natural killer cells and higher levels of different types of cytokines that signal the immune system to become less active signaling a drop in the immune system.

Follow up study

Despite the success of this study in showing the effect of binge drinking on the immune system, Dr. Afshar is still planning to do a follow-up study of burn unit patients. He intends to compare patients who had alcohol in their system when they arrived with patients who were alcohol-free. He will measure immune system markers from each group, and compare their outcomes, including lung injury, organ failure and death among other parameters.

Binge drinking has far worse effects on the health of an alcoholic, it is therefore safe to consider the pace at which a person drinks and avoid this dangerous habit. Dr. Dalal Akoury of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Center has dedicated her life to helping addicts restore their lives by use of integrative medicine. Call her on (843) 213-1480 for help.

Binge Drinking Disrupts Immune System in Young Adults

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