Symptoms of Alcoholism
Alcoholism is often simply defined by having problems with drinking too much at times. While over drinking times may cause problems, it doesn’t mean that you are an alcoholic. Someone who is a true alcoholic doesn’t just drink too much at times, but they become truly dependent on alcohol and cannot function without alcohol. A true alcoholic had a disease that is chronic and is normally a daily struggle to live with. The disease becomes progressive and over time you develop a dependency and preoccupation with alcohol. Alcoholics are constantly thinking about their next drink, when they are going to get it and how they are going to get it.Those who are suffering from alcoholism think that they do a pretty good job of covering up their illness; however, there are symptoms of alcoholism that are still easily noticeable if you just do some simple observations of the person that you think may in fact be afflicted with the disease. Symptoms of alcoholism that may be observed in an individual or that you may experience if you yourself are the alcoholic are as follows:
- Not being able to limit the amount of alcohol being drank. This means that the individual cannot stop after one drink.
- Feeling an incredibly strong need to drink an alcoholic beverage. This feeling can be so strong that it almost feels like a physical battle between the drinker and the drink.
- Experiencing black outs during a drinking binge. This means that so much alcohol has been taken in that an individual literally does not remember having conversations with others or even sexual activity with others.
- Over time being able to drink more and more alcohol at one time, without feeling the effects. This means that a tolerance is being built up to the alcohol.
- Hiding drinking from friends and family members. This means that a person battling alcoholism may choose to start drinking alone.
- Suffering from physical symptoms that indicate withdrawal from alcohol when the person does not drink. Such symptoms may include sweating, headaches, shaking and nausea when alcohol is not in one’s system.
The mentioned symptoms are just a few symptoms of alcoholism. Other symptoms of alcoholism that may be noticeable include insisting on drinking at the same time of day and becoming extremely irritable and moody if not able to drink, making sure that alcohol is accessible at all times by hiding it in places that are frequented by the person, and completely losing any interest in those things that use to interest you in an effort to focus all of your time on drinking.