Am I an Alcoholic?

“Am I an alcoholic?” This is a daunting question without a fundamental answer. Many will ask, but to fully understand alcohol use disorder (AUD), it is best to take a look at your habits. Do you drink daily? How much do you consume? This is the first step to understanding if you have an alcohol use disorder or not. If you drink excessively and are wondering if you have a substance abuse problem, read on. This article is for you. The good news is that help is available with alcohol addiction treatment.

Understanding Alcohol Use Disorder

If you are asking: “Am I an alcoholic?” then chances are you may be. AUD (alcohol use disorder) affects 14.1 million adults and is the third leading cause of premature death (the second is tobacco, and the first is poor diet). AUD is based on DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) criteria that include a strong urge to drink, inability to control alcohol use, and withdrawal symptoms when not consuming it. 

There are three stages of alcohol use disorder: mild AUD, moderate AUD, and severe AUD. 

With mild AUD, it is common to begin with social drinking. This starts off innocently enough. Social drinkers engage in alcohol use with a limitation. This often leads to a dependency on the pleasant feelings of alcohol and thus leads to problem drinking, where the individual begins to abuse alcohol chronically. This is often accompanied by drinking despite the consequences. 

This is where alcohol begins to act as a means of coping with stress, and this leads to dependence. Lastly, alcoholism, or severe AUD, is when things get messy. This is considered the “severe” spectrum of alcohol use disorder and is often accompanied by withdrawal symptoms when not drinking. This is when you need to seek help.

Common Signs of Alcoholism

“Am I an alcoholic?” is a question that must be defined by the symptoms experienced. Many can drink socially without prolonged effects, but when it becomes a problem, including if someone is a so-called high-functioning alcoholic, physical, psychological, and behavioral signs of alcoholism reveal themselves.

Physical signs include a tolerance to alcohol, where you must consume more of it to receive the same effects. Withdrawals are common, where tremors and excessive sweating occur when not drinking. Lastly, liver damage is susceptible; it is when the body becomes poisoned by a toxic substance, and it affects physical health. 

Psychological and behavioral signs of alcohol use disorder include cravings for alcohol, mood swings, and depression or anxiety when not drinking. This then leads to the user trying to cover up these feelings with more alcohol, only prolonging the process. This can lead to damaging effects, depending on the amount consumed. If these symptoms sound familiar, it is important to seek help from a rehabilitation center such as Muse Treatment.

The Impact of Alcohol on Daily Life

When determining: “Am I an alcoholic?” it is best to look at the lives you disrupt with your disorder. Drinking affects personal, professional, and social aspects of daily life. When you are under the influence of alcohol or any substance, your personal life is impacted. The more you drink, the more likely you are to damage personal relationships. Does your family receive the sharp end of the stick when you are under the influence? It is common to endanger your family and friends because you will find yourself seeking alcohol, which leads to utmost chaos. 

Professionally, you will suffer, as well. Your job will not support substance abuse, and it will cause you to lose your job or avoid work when seeking alcohol. And, if you show up at work drunk, you are endangering yourself by driving while under the influence. You will not succeed in maintaining a foundation of success in life. 

As an example, one of our patients/clients experienced the brunt of alcoholism. The father was always so excessively drunk that he ended up pouring liquor into his coffee on his way to work. The individual’s childhood was disrupted by fights between the father and the mother, ending in a messy divorce. This affected both personal and professional responsibilities.

However, the patient/client’s father eventually attended treatment, but his substance use disorder transferred over to her, thus causing a ripple effect that fueled her need to abuse substances. This was mediated in our treatment program. Contact Muse Treatment if you have questions or concerns or want to adjust your behavior.

Self-Assessment: Questions to Ask Yourself

The best way to address alcohol use disorder is to evaluate how it is affecting your life. One question is: “How often do you use alcohol?” This determines if the drinking is consistent, whereas if drinking daily, dependence is telling. Another question is: “How much alcohol do you consume in one sitting?” If you evaluate the quantity of your drinking, such as binge drinking, this poses a warrant for potentially needing to seek help.

Lastly, ask yourself when thinking about the question: “Am I an alcoholic?” a simple question: “Do you find yourself needing more alcohol to achieve the same effects?” This notes tolerance, which occurs when your body adjusts to alcohol, meaning you need more than the same amount of alcohol to achieve the same effects. 

Honest answers are crucial. When you are experiencing alcohol use disorder and are trying to see if you are truly dependent on the substance, you will be able to identify if you need help. If so, seek out a Los Angeles drug rehab center such as Muse Treatment. 

The Role of Denial in Alcoholism

Denial is the inability to accept that you have a problem. If you are asking: “Am I an alcoholic?” you are already taking a great step forward. If you deny that you have a problem, you cannot solve it. It is like having a mathematical problem where you know how to calculate the figure but decide to avoid it and put it off another day. The problem, therefore, is never solved!

Some common denial patterns are minimizing or denying the amount of alcohol consumed. This often comes with saying, “I only have a few drinks at a time,” despite this still being problematic. Rationalization is another clue as to whether you have an alcohol use disorder. 

You will blame others for your destructive patterns, such as saying: “I would drink less if I had the support of my wife.” This shifts the drinking to another person. Lastly, comparison is when you say: “Others drink a lot more than me,” despite this having any effect on your behavior. If you are in the denial stage of AUD, please note that you can deny the problem, prolong the solutions, or seek help. 

Physical and Mental Health Consequences

If still asking: “Am I an alcoholic?” one must consider the physical and emotional consequences of alcoholism. For one, the brain can become impaired over time when making decisions. Alcohol is a depressant, which affects judgment, coordination, and motor functioning. 

Second of all, consuming large amounts of alcohol can result in alcohol poisoning, which overwhelms the body and leads to potential death. Confusion, vomiting, seizures, slow breathing, and unconsciousness often accompany it. Long-term effects are just as broad: the impact of alcohol on liver tissues can lead to liver disease, which can cause life-threatening alterations to the physical manifestation. 

Alcohol also increases blood pressure despite it being a depressant, and this can lead to a condition where the heart weakens, known as “cardiomyopathy.” Lastly, digestive issues can occur, including pancreatitis and inflammation within the stomach. Do not wait for these to happen; seek help when you can. This is not a joke; alcoholism is a severe disorder.

Seeking Help: When to Reach Out

If you suspect you have AUD, note the answers to the questions we asked prior. Do you try to deny your alcohol use or minimize it? If the answer is “yes,” you must seek help before it is too late. For those wondering how to get alcohol out of your system, suffering from uncontrollable urges for alcohol, or experiencing withdrawal symptoms, seek help from a rehabilitation center such as Muse Treatment. We can help you prepare for the things that happen to your body after quitting alcohol and provide the professional treatment you need for a better future.

Treatment Options for Alcoholism

At Muse Treatment, we offer a specific program for alcoholism. This involves detoxification with medication-assisted treatment, where the withdrawal effects are mediated so that you do not experience as much discomfort. It is important to monitor medically, which is what your detox program does.

Lastly, we provide a supportive atmosphere that allows for conviction, making your progress a milestone of success. We treat all of our clients with individualized treatment plans and professional support. If you need help with AUD, reach out to us. Feel free to contact us online or call 800-426-1818. We’re here to help you.