Confronting alcohol addiction
The first step in curing alcoholism is accepting that you have a problem. However, confronting addiction and confirming that drinking harms your life isn’t easy. But it is a critical step on the road to treatment.
However, if you have lost the capability to control your use of alcohol, then you have alcohol dependence or alcoholism. It is more important to quit drinking behavior and give up alcohol entirely. Your health consultant can support you make this change. However, they may recommend detoxification, counseling, medication, or other options.
How is alcoholic addiction treated?
However, there is no health cure for alcohol dependence or alcoholism. Reducing addiction can be a long-term process that requires personal dedication and many treatments or therapies. Your optimal treatment option hangs on your circumstances, including your:-
- Prior history of alcohol dependence
- Level of help from family and friends
- Personal dedication from family and friends
- Financial condition
However, if you can face your addiction, make an appointment with your health consultant. They will likely ask you a series of queries to determine your level of addiction. However, these queries can also support them in deciding which treatment option is best suited to your needs. Also, they may want to speak with some of your friends or families to gauge your addiction, symptoms, and treatment options.
Your health consultant or therapist may recommend one or more of the following treatment options:-
- Detoxification
- Behavioral modification
- Counseling
- Medications
Detoxification
Several treatment options begin with a detoxification program to support breaking your body’s physical addiction to alcohol. However, it is often performed in an inpatient therapy treatment center or health care center. This treatment option takes one week to complete. Because the symptoms of physical resignation can be dramatic, you may also be given medications to support treatment or cure:-
- Shaking
- Confusion
- Hallucinations
- Convulsions
Behavior modification
However, most people who misapply alcohol are often addicted to the act of drinking as much as the alcohol itself. Due to this reason, you may need to learn skills and managing mechanisms to support you avoid alcohol once you leave a treatment center or return to confidential environments where the urge to drink may be more robust. Your health consultant may refer you to a counselor or other treatment program to support you learn those skills and coping strategies.
Counseling
Your consultant may also refer you to one-on-one or group counseling. Especially support groups can be helpful when you are going through treatment for alcohol addiction. A support group can support you connect with other people who are confronting similar challenges. However, they can help answer questions, encourage, and direct you to support resources.
Medications
Several medications are used to cure alcohol addiction. They include:-
- Disulfiram is an alcohol-sensitizing drug that may lower your drive to drink by making you sick when you ingest alcohol. When integrated with alcohol, it can cause flushing, nausea, vomiting, and headaches.
- Acamprosate may support compact alcohol cravings by refreshing the balance of certain chemicals in your brain.
- Naltrexone bricks the feel-good effects that alcohol has on your brain. Without those feelings, you may experience less inclined to drink.
This medication is available in the form of an oral tablet or injection. Vivitrol is an injected form of the drug your health consultant can give you once a month.
Long term outlook
However, long-term recovery from alcohol addiction is a lifelong journey. You may look at relapses and temptations for most of your life. This addiction is not uncommon to slip in and out of sobriety as you work your way through your addiction. However, some people hit addiction the first time they try to become sober.
Alcohol addiction can take a physical toll on your body, causing various complications. For instance, it can raise your risk of:-
- Heart problem
- Many types of cancer
- Scarring of your liver is called cirrhosis
- Inflammation of your stomach lining is called gastritis
- Dementia and other neurological problems
- Erectile dysfunction
However, alcohol addiction often accompanies certain moods or psychological disorders, like depression or anxiety. Along with your treatment cure for alcohol addiction, you may need to seek medical treatment for other complications you feel.
