How To Get Rid Of Alcohol Addiction

Strategies To Help You Stop Drinking Alcohol Every Night

If you dont have a dependency or addiction to alcohol, there are a number of steps that you can introduce into your evenings in order to stop drinking every night:

• Introduce a new evening routine write out a plan for each evening that contains activities to keep your mind busy so that you are less likely to feel the urge to drink
• Keep a dry house if you have been drinking daily, it is likely that you have done so in your home. Get rid of any alcohol in your house to reduce the temptation
• Tell people that you arent drinking alcohol every night if people are aware that youre cutting back, they will be more likely to help you do so
• Focus on the benefits – stopping drinking alcohol has numerous benefits. It can free up your time, improve your health, help you to sleep better and save you money. You can find out more about the benefits of giving up alcohol in this blog, which looks at how cutting out alcohol can help to improve your health and wellbeing
• Address the reasons why youve drinking if you have been drinking because of your job, relationship, stress or anxiety, low self-esteem or the past, take the time to think about what you can do to address this. Whether that is looking for a new job or seeking therapeutic support to deal with certain issues, there are things that you can do to help you feel better

Using Herbs In Home Remedies To Stop Drinking Alcohol

There are several herbs useful in home remedies to stop drinking alcohol. While the benefits of herbs in breaking the alcohol habit vary from person to person, they can be highly beneficial and natural ways to stop alcohol cravings.

Besides fighting alcohol cravings and breaking the alcohol habit, herbs can help the body repair itself. The following herbs are just a few natural ways to stop alcohol cravings.

Will I Need Other Treatments For Alcoholism

Like many other diseases, alcoholism affects you physically and mentally. Both your body and your mind have to be treated. In addition to medicine, your doctor may recommend psychosocial treatments. These treatments can help you change your behavior and cope with your problems without using alcohol. Examples of psychosocial treatments include:

• Alcoholics Anonymous or other support group meetings.
• Counseling.

• Dark urine.
• Yellowing of the skin or eyes

Talk to your doctor if you have a history of depression. Naltrexone may cause liver damage when taken in large doses. Tell your doctor if you have had hepatitis or liver disease.

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Alcohol Dependence And Withdrawal

Common signs of alcohol addiction, the physical and psychological effects and where to go for help.

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For some people alcohol can be part of many occasions but like many drugs its addictive, both physically and psychologically.

The NHS estimates that around 9% of men in the UK and 3% of UK women show signs of alcohol dependence1. This means that drinking alcohol becomes an important, or sometimes the most important, factor in their life and they feel theyre unable to function without it.

Know What To Do If You Relapse

The road to long-term recovery is usually a rocky one. If you do relapse, treat it as a learning experience and not a personal failing. The majority of people seeking out long term recovery will relapse at one point or another, so dont scold you if relapse occurs.

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Alcohol Abuse Or Alcohol Dependence

The terms alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are often used interchangeably, when in fact medically speaking, there is clear distinction between the two. Both involve the serious misuse of alcohol likely to cause real damage to health and wellbeing. But while people with alcohol abuse problems usually manage to carry on their lives with some semblance of normality, once dependence kicks in, the alcohol takes over.

Alcohol abuse refers to regular excessive drinking which has a more tangible negative effect on peoples lives2. Examples of this include failing to fulfil work, family or social obligations as a result of recurrent drinking encounters with the law or emergency services arising from excessive alcohol use or regularly combining alcohol with physically hazardous situations, such as driving or operating machinery.

If you are worried that you are abusing or misusing alcohol, visit our page on binge drinking.

How Dangerous Is An Alcohol Use Disorder

As previously illustrated, despite its acceptance as a normal, even harmless, activity, alcohol misuse and abuse is anything but harmless. Chronic alcohol abuse and long-term alcohol addiction can, among other things, result in:

• Serious heart problems, including abnormal changes in blood pressure and arrhythmia
• A weakened immune system that leads to an increased risk of infections and disease
• Disrupted communication within the brain, resulting in impaired judgment, motor skills, and emotional and behavioral problems
• Severe liver damage, including alcoholic hepatitis fibrosis, and cirrhosis
• A much higher risk of throat, liver, mouth, esophageal, and breast cancers
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, developmental disorders, and birth defects resulting from drinking while pregnant

These are just a small sampling of the ways that alcohol can permanently damage someones brain and body as well as kill them. These also do not account for the many ways that alcohol can cause serious harm to those around someone engaging in alcohol abuse, such as driving drunk, which accounts for roughly one-third of all traffic-related deaths in the country.

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How Can A Psychologist Help

Psychologists who are trained and experienced in treating alcohol problems can be helpful in many ways. Before the drinker seeks assistance, a psychologist can guide the family or others in helping to increase the drinker’s motivation to change.

A psychologist can begin with the drinker by assessing the types and degrees of problems the drinker has experienced. The results of the assessment can offer initial guidance to the drinker about what treatment to seek and help motivate the problem drinker to get treatment. Individuals with drinking problems improve their chances of recovery by seeking help early.

Using one or more of several types of psychological therapies, psychologists can help people address psychological issues involved in their problem drinking. A number of these therapies, including cognitive-behavioral coping skills treatment and motivational enhancement therapy, were developed by psychologists. Additional therapies include 12-Step facilitation approaches that assist those with drinking problems in using self-help programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous .

These therapies can help people boost their motivation to stop drinking, identify circumstances that trigger drinking, learn new methods to cope with high-risk drinking situations, and develop social support systems within their own communities.

How To Accomplish Your Goals

After youve set your goals to either stop or cut back your drinking, write down some ideas on how you can help yourself accomplish these goals. For example:

Get rid of temptations. Remove all alcohol, barware, and other alcohol-related paraphernalia from your home and office.

Announce your goal. Let friends, family members, and co-workers know that youre trying to stop or cut back on drinking. If they drink, ask them to support your recovery by not doing so in front of you.

Be upfront about your new limits. Make it clear that drinking will not be allowed in your home and that you may not be able to attend events where alcohol is being served.

Avoid bad influences. Distance yourself from people who dont support your efforts to stop drinking or respect the limits youve set. This may mean giving up certain friends and social connections.

Learn from the past. Reflect on previous attempts to stop or reduce your drinking. What worked? What didnt? What can you do differently this time to avoid pitfalls?

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What Is A Recurrance Of Use

Recurrence of use or relapse is when a person in recovery returns to using drugs or alcohol. Addiction is a chronic disease, and those in recovery constantly deal with the risk of relapse. However, it is common for a person in recovery to relapse at least once, if not more. In fact, it is considered part of the recovery journey.

How To Stop Drinking Without Aa

There are advantages to joining a support group, but if AA is not the right fit for you, there are other options. To begin with, other support groups exist, including SMART Recovery, Moderation Management, LifeRing, Women for Sobriety, and Secular Organizations for Sobriety . There are also online communities, such as Daybreak, and Sober Grid. Each of these options allows you to find allies, people with common goals, and a larger, sober community. None, however, require you to believe in a higher power, or work within the 12 steps.

There are also many options besides abstinence. You dont need to quit completely if that doesnt work for you, nor do you need to white-knuckle it using sheer willpower. Medications now exist that can let you cut back or quit gradually, and reduce your cravings. Not only can these make the process less stressful, they often have a higher success rate than AA or quitting without assistance.

The Sinclair Method is one strong example of this. TSM makes use of naltrexone to control cravings over time, and boasts up to a 78 percent long-term success rate. It doesnt necessarily involve community support, however. According to the American Psychiatry Association Guidelines for treating Alcohol Use Disorder, evidence-based therapy support centered around behavior change is recommended in combination with pharmacotherapy for alcoholism.

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How Do Alcohol Use Disorders Affect People

While some research suggests that small amounts of alcohol may have beneficial cardiovascular effects, there is widespread agreement that heavier drinking can lead to health problems.

Short-term effects include memory loss, hangovers, and blackouts. Long-term problems associated with heavy drinking include stomach ailments, heart problems, cancer, brain damage, serious memory loss and liver cirrhosis. Heavy drinkers also markedly increase their chances of dying from automobile accidents, homicide, and suicide. Although men are much more likely than women to develop alcoholism, women’s health suffers more, even at lower levels of consumption.

Drinking problems also have a very negative impact on mental health. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism can worsen existing conditions such as depression or induce new problems such as serious memory loss, depression or anxiety.

Alcohol problems don’t just hurt the drinker. Spouses and children of heavy drinkers may face family violence children may suffer physical and sexual abuse and neglect and develop psychological problems. Women who drink during pregnancy run a serious risk of damaging their fetuses. Relatives, friends and strangers can be injured or killed in alcohol-related accidents and assaults.

Make Your Intentions Known:

This is the last but very important out of the tips on how to get rid of alcohol addiction naturally that I would like to introduce in this entire writing and want my readers to learn and make use for good!

Tell your friends and family members that you are trying to quit alcohol and show them why you decided to do so. This way, you will be able to share your successes with your dears, and they will understand why you have started turning down trips or putting down alcoholic drinks when going to the pub.

Remember to remind yourself and the people close to you regularly why you need to quit alcohol because this can help to keep you on track, and even also encourage other people to cut down or give up drinking with you.

This is the list of the most effective tips on how to get rid of alcohol addiction naturally that might be very useful for readers of VKool.com who are also concerning about how they can get rid of the alcohol addiction naturally and safely without using any type of drugs, pills, or medications, as well as without concerning about any side effect they can get during the process. These home remedies are proven safe and natural so that people should feel secure about them.

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Other Resources For Your Loved One In Recovery

Numerous resources are available for people struggling with alcohol abuse issues, some of which include:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administrations nationwide treatment directory.
• SMART Recovery.

There may also be recovery resources available in your own community. You may want to inquire with your doctor, any spiritual or religious institutions you belong to, your local veterans administrations, your local gay and lesbian community center, or county or regional healthcare authority.

Think About Why You Drink

Maybe your concerns center around your reasons for drinking rather than the amount. Plenty of people use alcohol to numb emotional pain or face stressful situations more easily. Its common to drink to lighten tension on a first date or before a difficult conversation.

But when its hard to face challenges without alcohol, its worth considering whether drinking prevents you from finding more helpful ways of managing emotions.

Knowing why you drink is essential, says Cyndi Turner, LCSW, LSATP, MAC, a Virginia therapist who specializes in addiction treatment and alcohol moderation.

She goes on to explain that knowing the reasons behind your alcohol use relationship stress, trouble at work, insomnia, or anything else can help you explore alternative ways to address those issues more productively.

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• They suffer from childhood abuse or sexual abuse
• They have been drinking since they were young

Finnish scientists have decoded changes in the brain that make people susceptible to alcoholism. The brain tissue of alcoholics has a range of hormonal and neurotransmitters changes compared to normal people. One of the common changes in all alcoholics is the increase in the amount of dehydroepiandrosterone in the brain. Dehydroepiandrosterone is a steroid hormone that affects the central nervous system. Increased levels of this hormone may explain why alcohol does not produce a pleasant feeling for the person who drinks a lot of alcohol for a long period of time. In addition, all alcoholics have a reduced serotonin level associated with sensory and social awareness.

What Are Common Symptoms Of Alcohol Addiction?

Here are common symptoms of this condition:

• Drink too much alcohol and too often
• High alcohol tolerance
• When you do not drink alcohol, the symptoms you experience are tremor, nausea and vomiting
• Faint and cannot remember anything after a night of drinking

You may experience other symptoms not mentioned. If you have any questions about the signs of the disease, please consult your doctor.

Who Is At High Risk Of Alcohol Addiction?

When To See A Doctor?

Medication To Stop Drinking

Medication has been an option for many decades, and despite having a strong success rate it is not very well known. Fortunately, this is starting to change.

The original medication for alcoholism is disulfiram, also known as Antabuse. This prescription drug causes you to feel ill when you drink any amount of alcohol, and is now considered a fairly harsh way of quitting. Still, for some people, disulfiram remains an effective choice.

There are now milder options as well. Since the 1990s, naltrexone has been approved by the FDA to treat alcohol use disorder. This drug limits the pleasurable effects of drinking without making you feel sick. Naltrexone is a key component in the Sinclair Method, which uses targeted doses of this drug to help people moderate or quit over time. It is also available as a monthly injection , or as a daily pill.

For those who have already quit and want help managing cravings, there is also acamprosate, an abstinence maintenance medication that helps rebalance your brain chemistry. And beyond these, there are several off-label medications that can be useful, including gabapentin, topiramate, and baclofen. There is even research in progress to see if kudzu, an herbal remedy from traditional Chinese medicine, can help limit drinking.

Any of these medications can make a big difference in battling physical addiction, making the psychological parts of alcohol dependence easier to work through.

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How Long Does Alcohol Stay In Your System

While the intoxicating effects of alcohol will be experienced only for a relatively short period, traces of the substance will linger for much longer. Additionally, traces of alcohol will remain in your blood, urine, hair, and on your breath for various amounts of time. This can be relevant for people who must undergo various forms of drug testing and are concerned about their results, as well as for people who are concerned about their physical or mental performance abilities.

Various tests can be used to detect recent alcohol use. They include:

Alcoholism & Cardiovascular Issues

The American Heart Association lists numerous cardiovascular issues associated with alcohol use and abuse. In addition, there is conflicting research about potential benefits associated with mild to moderate alcohol use. AHA strongly suggests that despite some of these research findings, individuals should not begin drinking alcohol in an attempt to improve their cardiovascular health, and individuals with cardiovascular issues should stop drinking alcohol altogether.

Some of the potential cardiovascular issues associated with using alcohol include:

The same factors associated with recovery from neurological damage as a result of abstaining from alcohol apply to recovery from cardiovascular issues when one chooses to abstain from alcohol. However, in most cases, the full extent of the damage produced by chronic and heavy alcohol use on the cardiovascular system is not fully resolved. Typically, any reversal of damage occurs rapidly in the first months to the first year of abstinence and then slows down following that. Individuals need to also pay attention to other lifestyle factors, such as diet, exercise, getting plenty of rest, stress management, etc., in order to experience their full potential of recovery.

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