Alcoholism

Description:

Alcoholism - a mental disease which reason long intoxication of an organism is alcohol. Develops from household alcoholism during which at patients the pathological drinking habit when the subsequent dose of alcohol is accepted even before full removal of previous is formed. There is abstinence (withdrawal) with uncontrollable desire to freshen the nip.

Alcoholism symptoms:

The clinic of abstinence is characterized by the alarming suppressed mood with irritability, fears, the ideas of the relation, sleep disorders, incidental visual and auditory hallucinations. Perspiration, tachycardia, a tremor of extremities, dizziness, gastrointestinal frustration is observed. Patients with severe forms of abstinence are subject to short-term hospitalization.
Change of sensitivity (tolerance) to alcohol is characteristic of an alcoholism; at the first two stages - increase (patients aim to increase a dose), at an initial stage - decrease (patients get drunk with small doses). There are heavy, anamnestic (with a zapamyatovaniye) intoxication forms, hard drinkings and degradation of the personality.
Mental disturbances in the first stage are characterized by increased fatigue, irritability, mood swings, uncertainty in themselves, decrease in working capacity. At some patients the inclination to alcohol accepts persuasive character.
In the second stage the uncontrollable uncontrolled aspiration to alcohol, frequent hard drinkings appears. Patients spend on drink all money, steal things in the family and sell them. The wrong behavior of patients in a family quite often conducts to a divorce and disintegration of a family. For work patients are in a state of intoxication. Working capacity them is very low, they quickly get tired. Rough changes of character come to light: inconstancy, falsity, roughness, egoism. Intellectual decrease, a memory impairment, lack of criticism are noted. Fieriness, tendency to hysterical reactions is characteristic of emotional manifestations. Frequent emergence of an abstinence syndrome and need to freshen the nip several times during the day are characteristic of the second stage of alcoholism.
In an initial stage there are true hard drinkings that is connected with decrease in tolerance to alcohol: owing to intolerance of alcohol of the patient stops drinking in a week, and then begins to drink again that creates frequency of hard drinkings. Depth of intoxication is made heavier, quite often has soporous character (a sopor - one of kinds of the darkened consciousness). In this stage alcoholic deterioration of the personality begins. Patients lead a parasitic life, they are rough, careless, cynical, lose sense of shame. They develop organic weak-mindedness with lack of criticism, memory disturbance.
In clinic of an alcoholism epileptiform attacks (owing to destructive changes in a brain), and also the alcoholic psychoses arising in the second and in the third disease stages can meet. From somatic disturbances heart obesity, a hypertension, damage of a liver and kidneys, chronic gastritis, chronic hepatitis etc. are noted.
The diagnosis of an alcoholism is established on the basis of long alcohol intake with self-checking loss, existence of a syndrome of a hangover, and also on the basis of alcoholic changes of the personality. The anamnesis (inquiry) of the patient needs to be supplemented with data from work and from the residence.

Alcoholism reasons:

Emergence and development of alcoholism depends on volume and the frequency of alcohol intake, and also individual factors and features of an organism. Some people are subject to bigger risk of development of alcoholism in view of a specific social and economic environment, emotional and/or mental predisposition, and also the hereditary reasons. Dependence of cases of acute alcoholic psychosis on a kind of a gene of hSERT is established (codes protein of a carrier of serotonin). However specific mechanisms of implementation of addiktivny properties of alcohol are not revealed so far.

Treatment of the Alcoholism:

In treatment of alcoholism allocate several key moments:

    * Drug treatment — is applied to suppression of alcohol addiction and elimination of the disturbances caused by a chronic drunkenness. In fact, at drug treatment all methods are based on fixation of sensation of fear to die at the patient because of incongruity of the administered drug and alcohol therefore in an organism the substances leading to heavy disturbances of health up to a lethal outcome are formed. Such technique of treatment is called aversivny therapy. Disulfiramum causes a heavy indisposition at alcohol intake and at joint reception with carboimidoum of calcium leads to the termination of alcohol intake in more than 50 percent of cases. Reception of one carboimidoum of calcium which action is similar to Disulfiramum is also possible, but has advantage in lack of a hepatotoxic and drowsiness. Naltrexone is used for reduction of desire of consumption of alcohol, stimulates abstention and reduces pleasant effects of alcohol intake. Naltrexone is also used at alcohol intake continuation. Akamprosat stabilizes brain chemistry which is changed by alcohol intake, and reduces recurrence cases among dependent on alcohol. Russian биоэлементолог the prof. A.V.Skalny noted that at alcoholics under the influence of zinc drugs (as is well-known, 4 atoms of zinc are included into an alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme molecule) there passed the phenomena of alcoholic poisoning, abstinence quicker, they felt recovery of forces quicker, had catarrhal and inflammatory diseases in the time spent in hospital less often, at them settled into shape the laboratory indicators testimonial of improvement of functioning of a liver quicker, sharp improvement of a condition of integuments was observed.
    * Methods of psychological impact on the patient — help to fix the negative relation of the patient to alcohol and to prevent palindromias. Here at a positive outcome at the person world outlook installation forms that he can live and cope with the arising problems and difficulties without alcohol "help", other methods and ways.
    * Measures for social rehabilitation of the patient — are designed to recover the alcoholic as the personality and to reintegrate him in structure of society. Now in Russia it is practically absent, is implemented (attempts become) only in the local centers.
    * The alcoholic detoxification of alcoholics is a sharp termination of alcohol intake in combination with replacement by drugs, such as benzodiazepines which have action similar to alcohol, for prevention of an abstinence syndrome (group of the symptoms arising after the alcohol termination). Persons who have risk only of soft or moderate symptoms of an abstinence syndrome can pass a detoxification at home. The detoxification in fact does not cure alcoholism, and after it it is necessary to carry out the program of treatment for alcohol addiction or abuse to reduce risk of a recurrence. Benzodiazepines are used for the sharp termination of alcohol intake and their long-term use can lead to deterioration in alcoholism. The alcoholics who are constantly using benzodiazepines reach abstention from alcohol less often, than those who do not accept them.
    * Rationing and moderation assume incomplete abstention from alcohol. Though most of alcoholics cannot limit consumption in this way, some are returned to consumption in moderate quantities. Full abstention from alcohol - the most constant way of the termination of alcoholism.
    * Complex methods — combine in themselves several techniques. It can be medicamentous and psychotherapy, or psychological influence and social rehabilitation. One of such methods is "Spanish" - includes psychotherapy, medicamentous therapy and work with people which surround the alcoholic.