Alcohol Use Disorder: What It Is, Symptoms & Treatment

The consequences of not getting medical assistance could be fatal. You don’t need to have every one of these signs to have alcohol poisoning. It affects people differently but can become life-threatening very quickly. Let your loved ones know that if they see any of these symptoms, they should call 911 or get you to a hospital right away.

What to Know About Alcohol Use Disorder

• In its most severe form, alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening.
• Tailored for women with substance abuse issues, this support group meets either in-person or online.
• A professional may have to help loved ones — kindly, but realistically — talk to the drinker about the painful impact that drinking has on them.

If loved ones question you, you may lie about how much you’re drinking. You might also hear this called “pre-alcoholic.” At this stage, you might drink to escape something going on in your life or to relax and feel better about yourself. Drinking may become a regular part of your life, although it may not seem like anything to worry about. If you began drinking alcohol before the age of 15, you may be more likely to have AUD, especially if you’re assigned female at birth.

• Ongoing counseling and treatment with medicines can also play a role.
• Alcohol won’t have a large effect on your general personality.
• It encompasses the conditions that some people refer to as alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol addiction, and the colloquial term, alcoholism.
• Most programs involve therapy, support groups, education, and other activities.
• If left untreated, alcohol use disorders can be harmful to your health, relationships, career, finances, and life as a whole.
• Instead, experts follow the criteria for alcohol use disorder that are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V).

Consuming Alcohol With Illicit Drugs

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) recommends screening adults aged 18 years or older for alcohol misuse. Also, AAFP recommends teaching teens between 12 and 17 years old to avoid alcohol. Several evidence-based treatment approaches are available for AUD. One size does not fit all and a treatment approach that may work for one person may not work for another.

Risks of alcohol misuse

If you have it, you regularly drink heavy amounts of alcohol despite its negative effect on your life, health, and the people around you. With treatment, about 70% of people with alcoholism are able to decrease the number of days they consume alcohol and improve their overall health status within six months. On the other hand, most individuals who have been treated for a moderate to severe alcohol-use disorder have relapsed at least once during the first year after treatment. Those individuals seem to drink less often and lower amounts after receiving treatment compared with before treatment. After weaning from alcohol, medication in some cases can help reduce cravings. Two medications that fit in this category are naltrexone and acamprosate.

Black, Latino, and other ethnic groups who had a high school education or less and who were on Medicare or Medicaid were also less likely to get the more detailed screenings. This means people in these groups could be missing out on key preventive care and treatment. Treatment used to be limited to self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (established in 1935). Now there are a variety of evidence-based treatments, including psychotherapy and medication, to treat alcohol use disorders.

People who drink excessively may also engage in risky sexual behavior or drive when they should not. An alcohol abuse disorder is a serious and progressive condition. If you think you or someone you care about has a problem with alcohol, learn more about the disease and ask your doctor for help. If too much alcohol is harmful but some is beneficial, how do you decide how much is okay? The risks that come with drinking alcohol frequently outweigh the benefits.

In the past, light or moderate alcohol consumption was linked to health benefits or even considered safe. Newer analyses show that no level of alcohol consumption is considered to be safe or beneficial. The World Health Organization in 2023 published a statement in The Lancet Public Health stating that when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health. Alcohol use disorder can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the number of symptoms you have. The type of treatment you receive depends on how long you’ve been abusing alcohol and how much you drink. Whether you’ve been drinking heavily for years or a few months, both are damaging to your health, and you’ll need treatment to help you kick the habit.

What causes alcohol use disorder?

If your doctor thinks you need more support to stop drinking, they’ll likely refer you to a mental health provider, such as a counselor or therapist. Your risk of having AUD is three to four times drug addiction greater if a parent has it, although many people who have a parent with a drinking issue don’t develop one as well. Detox can be done on an in-person or outpatient basis and include intravenous (IV) fluids to prevent dehydration and medications to minimize symptoms and treat seizures or other complications of alcohol withdrawal. Furthermore, you may not recognize the signs of an alcohol use disorder in yourself or in someone else. Codependency is the tendency to interact with another person in an excessively passive or caretaking manner that negatively affects the quality of the codependent individual’s life.

Who is at risk for alcohol misuse?

An intervention from loved ones can help some people recognize and accept that they need professional help. If you’re concerned about someone who drinks too much, ask a professional experienced in alcohol treatment for advice on how to approach that person. For example, if you’re receiving treatment for a condition related to alcohol use, like cirrhosis of the liver, you should ask your healthcare provider about changes in your body that may be new symptoms. If you’re receiving counseling, ask your provider about handling high-stress situations when you may feel like you need some additional mental health support.

• During the post-eight-week session, people who took semaglutide drank significantly less than people in the placebo group.
• Alcohol misuse also plays a role in domestic violence and child abuse.
• Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can pose significant risk facts, as it can harm the developing fetus.
• If you’re worried about a loved one’s drinking habits, you may want to think about doing an intervention.
• So far, experts believe that it’s caused by a combination of the genes you inherited from your parents and your environment.
• Because denial is common, you may feel like you don’t have a problem with drinking.

You could have been drinking to excess for years or just for a few months; either way, this is still classed as alcohol abuse. You’ll likely know that drinking too much harms your help, but you can’t stop. As mentioned above, long-term overconsumption of alcohol has also been linked to many conditions, including cardiovascular disease; several types of cancer; neurological disorders (including Alzheimer’s disease); and stroke. In many organs, the effects of alcohol increase over time, and the damage becomes apparent only after years of abuse.