Alcoholics spend their lives in a bottle, not knowing it is a disease

Alcohol addiction has always been considered a moral issue.

When we face an alcoholic, we usually blame him on personal character flaws and lack of willpower.

But with the deepening of medical research, alcohol dependence has also been defined as an addictive disease, which, like drug addiction, is a brain disease.

Since it is a disease, it is possible to be cured. However, most alcoholics and their families are unable to realize this. Therefore, their lives and livelihoods can only be slaughtered by alcohol until the day they die, when they can be considered to have successfully quit drinking.

When I was 8 years old, I had my first clear and up-close understanding of "alcohol addiction" from an old man in the same village.

On the way home from school one day, my friends and I witnessed the tragic scene of an old man stumbling and falling off the dam of a reservoir. It was not because of his age that his legs and feet were inconvenient, but because he walked unsteadily after being drunk. Fortunately, the dam was covered with a thick layer of white snow in winter, and the water surface was also frozen into a thick surface of ice, so the old man was able to save his life.

After falling, the old man tried to struggle a few times, but whether it was because he drank too much or he was injured, he was unable to stand up by his own strength and eventually collapsed on the ice like a puddle of mud.

Seeing this, we quickly ran over to help him, but we were too small and weak to do anything. Later, we went back to the village to inform the adults, and then we carried the old man back home.

This old man is a well-known drunkard in our village. No matter who has a wedding or funeral, he will go to get a drink. I heard from the adults that this time he went to the next village to attend a wedding. The banquet started at 11 o'clock and he drank until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. He went home drunk. If he hadn't met us, he might have frozen to death in the winter night with a temperature of more than 20 degrees below zero.

Even after this lesson, he still did not repent. Even at home, he often drank three times a day, from morning to night.

A few years later, the old man died, and everyone in the village said, "He drank himself to death."

At that time, I didn't understand many things. Why did the old man spend his life drinking? Why couldn't he stop drinking?

Many years have passed, and I have learned that alcohol is an addictive substance. Alcoholics like the old man can no longer be simply attributed to mental problems such as poor self-control and weak willpower, but rather they suffer from a disease called alcohol dependence.

Alcohol dependence is a psychological state of craving for alcohol caused by repeated or continuous drinking. This craving is very strong and difficult to control by one's own will. At the same time, once drinking is reduced or stopped, corresponding psychological or physical withdrawal reactions will occur.

According to a sample survey in 2003, about 4 out of every 100 Chinese people over the age of 15 have the potential to or have already suffered from "alcohol dependence", which means that there may be 40 million potential alcohol dependence patients in China.

Alcohol dependence may lead to social problems such as violence, crime, and traffic accidents, as well as physical and mental illnesses. However, few people are truly aware that this is a disease and accept medical treatment.

The next time I heard the word "alcoholic" was from my aunt: Your uncle is an alcoholic, he drinks at every meal. Even when he is having an IV or taking medicine, he still drinks. Now, he has alcoholic liver disease, and he still can't control his drinking.

Like many family members of alcoholics, my aunt was unable to realize that alcoholism was a disease. She often scolded my uncle: "Is it so hard to quit drinking? You just can't give it up in your heart!" My aunt tried countless tricks: hiding the alcohol, threatening to divorce, but to no avail.

In fact, what happened to my uncle is a typical symptom of alcohol dependence:

🍺Drinking in the morning;

🍺Knowing that drinking has caused harm to the body, but still can't control it;

🍺You can do anything for drinking;

🍺There are even some alcoholics who will drink for days on end, not eating or drinking, and drink until they vomit;

🍺In order to drink, there will be violent acts and so on.

My uncle said: He also wanted to quit drinking, because long-term drinking made his health worse and worse, with stomachache, diarrhea, headache, and he was always forgetful and his temper became more and more irritable. But after quitting drinking, his body was still tortured, his body would shake involuntarily, his heartbeat would speed up, and he would suffer from insomnia... At the same time, his psychological desires could not be controlled at all. At this time, dignity and face were not important. As long as he could drink, he would do anything.

Studies have shown that in addition to physical damage, alcohol can seriously damage the mental abilities of addicts, and chronic alcohol dependence can lead to extensive changes in brain structure. Up to 70% of patients with alcohol-related problems suffer serious damage to their memory, abstract thinking, problem-solving ability, attention, concentration, and emotional perception.

When they try to quit drinking, they will experience corresponding alcohol withdrawal syndrome, and even 10% of alcoholics will experience epileptic seizures and delirium tremens, such as visual, tactile and auditory hallucinations.

Because of alcohol, the lives of many alcoholics, including my uncle, have spiraled out of control.

It wasn't until my uncle collapsed drunk on the side of the road and was sent to the hospital that the doctor suggested that he go to a psychiatric department.

Nowadays, the treatment of alcohol dependence is no longer a medical problem. If you find it difficult to quit drinking by willpower, it is recommended that you go to the hospital's psychiatric department for treatment. For alcohol withdrawal symptoms, doctors may prescribe some benzodiazepines to relieve physical discomfort after withdrawal; they may also prescribe drugs such as naltrexone and calcium acetyltaurate to fight against the craving; or prescribe some alcohol sensitization drugs such as disulfiram and calcium cyanamide citrate to increase the discomfort after drinking and help quit drinking.

But the most difficult thing to quit is still the mental addiction. How to fight the devil in your heart requires a stronger belief.

The reason that made the uncle decide to quit drinking was that his daughter-in-law became pregnant, and his son gave him an ultimatum: if you don't quit drinking, don't even think about touching the child.

It has been two years since my uncle quit drinking. During the Spring Festival, when the family gathers together, relatives always persuade him to have a few sips. "You can't drink even a single sip. Once you start drinking, you can't stop. I still have to live well and watch my granddaughter grow up." My uncle said with a smile.

Source: Youlai Healthy Life