Should You Quit Drinking?
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If
you experience serious alcohol-related problems and difficulties in most areas of your life, this could be an
indication that you need to quit drinking. Making the decision to quit drinking is the first step in
getting sober and starting on the road to alcohol recovery.
What is also needed for long-lasting alcohol recovery in most instances, however, is
professional treatment that you can "buy into" and follow through.
Without following through with your treatment program, it must be emphasized, it is highly
unlikely that you will be able to refrain from drinking and stay sober.
Some Relevant Questions About Your Drinking Behavior
Should you quit
drinking? To best answer this question take a few moments to answer the following questions.
Does your drinking affect your work performance? Do you get drunk a number of times per year? Have
you received any DUIs in the past year?
Has drinking caused a serious financial drain on your pocketbook? Do you experience alcohol withdrawal
symptoms when you try to quit drinking?
More specifically, do you get nauseous, vomit, have the shakes, have terrible headaches, or simply feel
miserable when you try to quit drinking?
Are you starting to sneak drinks all through the day? Have your important relationships started to become
negatively affected by your drinking behavior? Do you crave alcohol? Do you think about drinking
throughout the day?
If you answered one or more of these questions in the affirmative, you probably have a serious drinking problem
and need to get an evaluation from your healthcare provider.
There are, nonetheless, two key questions that you need to ask yourself about your drinking. First, can you
honestly cut back on your drinking so that you always drink in moderation? And second, will moderate drinking
prevent you from experiencing alcohol-related difficulties and health problems in your life?
Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
If you are an alcoholic
and have decided to quit drinking, please keep in mind that you should not try to suffer through alcohol
withdrawal symptoms at home.
Everyone who has a drinking problem needs to get professional alcohol treatment for his or her alcohol
withdrawal symptoms.
While this is obvious for those who suffer extremely painful withdrawals, many, if not most alcoholism experts
openly state that everyone who goes through alcohol withdrawals needs to do so under the supervision of a
healthcare professional.
| Admittedly, the United States has one of the safest highway systems in the world,
due in part to design characteristics, guard rails, highway markings and signs. We have relatively
few fatalities per 100-million miles driven. But the portion of our accidents involving alcohol is
among the highest in the world. |
Alcohol Treatment Options
The good news is that there are many different alcohol treatment methods that can effectively and successfully
help you quit drinking.
If you do your homework and look into the various alcohol rehab programs in your local area, you will be
pleasantly surprised at the number of quality alcohol treatment programs that are available.
Also keep in mind that successful treatment programs not only help you get sober but through out-patient
counseling and therapy, they can help you remain sober.
| According to a report published by the National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University, eighty-seven percent of adults who drink alcoholic beverages had
their first drink before the age of twenty-one. |
Should You Quit Drinking: Conclusion
Why a Person Should
Quit Drinking. The research findings point out that not all people can drink in
moderation. For a host of reasons, some people simply cannot drink in moderation without losing control
over their drinking behavior.
If this applies to you, then it would probably be a very good idea to get an evaluation about your particular
drinking situation and see if you need professional alcohol treatment.
With the number of top-quality rehab and treatment programs that are available, making the decision to quit
drinking might be the best health-related decision you ever make.
| Diagnosing alcoholism can be tricky, since the diagnosis depends on the drinker
being willing to honestly answer a series of questions about his or her drinking patterns and
attitudes. |
| There's a lot that could be said about how to "deal" with alcoholics, but these are
a few action steps that are essential. First. Do not make excuses for them and do not
enable their drinking behavior. Second, encourage them to see their family doctor or
healthcare professional for an alcohol assessment. Third, if things get unbearable, call an
alcoholism expert and consider doing a family alcoholism intervention. Fourth, get some personal
counseling for yourself. |
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