Signs of Alcoholism Behavioral and Physical Symptoms

Dr. Kevin Wandler of Advanced Recovery Systems describes how tolerance and withdrawal symptoms are indicators of alcohol
dependence. When alcoholism is severe, an individual may develop a physical dependence on the drug. Studies show that a large percentage of early-onset dementia cases are triggered by AUDs or alcohol abuse. More than 33% of the early-onset dementia cases researched were directly linked to alcohol. This relationship and correlation between dementia and alcohol abuse are strongest among women.

If you’re not consciously keeping track of the drinks you’ve chugged, it’s easy to go over these limits. For some of us, half a dozen drinks during a night out aren’t yet enough to faze us. And yes, you may feel great and energized upon waking up—but that doesn’t mean you didn’t have too much to drink the night before. Even if you’re not a wine drinker, the acid in alcohol eats away at tooth enamel, allowing any color from beverages to adhere to teeth, Dr. Timothy Chase, of SmilesNY, told Healthline. “It was just not pretty,” Grace said in one of her videos for The 30-Day Alcohol Experiment, her program that helps people reevaluate their relationship with alcohol. When Annie Grace was drinking glasses, if not bottles, of wine on a daily basis, she’d wake up with purple stains on her teeth.

Drinking in Risky Situations, Inviting Trouble, and Being Impulsive

Nonprofits like SMART Recovery are free and expert-endorsed routes to sobriety, and organizations like Sunnyside and Alcohol Change UK support people in simply reducing their drinking. While some medications and creams can help treat the sober house condition, in the case of alcohol abuse, they’re a Band-Aid for the underlying trigger. By Buddy T

Buddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism.

After a month or two of excessive drinking, MCV levels
rise. Elevated MCV is found in approximately 50 to 60 percent of chronic heavy drinkers. When people quit drinking, their
MCV levels typically return to normal within two to four months. The combination of increased MCV levels and elevated
GGT levels has a 90 percent sensitivity for detecting alcohol abuse, according to a study published in Current Psychiatry.

Physical Signs of Alcoholism

In fact, MRI scans of alcoholics show that an alcoholic’s brain activity at cognitive control regions is different than the activity in normal individuals. The first stage of someone quitting alcohol is detox and it’s important to make sure that people who drink heavily don’t detox alone. The seizures that can occur during withdrawal can be severe enough to be fatal without medical supervision. People who drink heavily or binge drink may find that their alcohol use has come to cause problems in their lives. These problems are a warning sign of alcohol use disorder or alcoholism, which SAMHSA reports affects at least 14.8 million people over the age of 12 in the United States. For most people who drink, alcohol is a harmless part of the evening — a beer after work, a glass of wine with dinner, or a drink or two with friends.

Chronic heavy drinking can cause alcoholic hepatitis, which is the inflammation of your liver. One common sign of alcoholic hepatitis is jaundice, where the skin and whites of your eyes look yellowish. If you or a loved one is struggling with alcoholism in Ohio, The Recovery Village Columbus can help. Our full-service drug and alcohol rehab facility offers a full continuum of care with various levels of comprehensive treatment. Young antisocial drinkers have high rates of depression, social phobias, bipolar disorder and co-occurring substance abuse.