Life is stressful. Do you also have the problem of "alcohol addiction"?

        The World Health Organization (who) pointed out in the 2018 global status report on alcohol and health that more than 3 million people die from alcohol every year, and alcohol is even one of the main causes of people suffering from the world's top ten diseases. What is the appropriate range of drinking? How to stay away from alcohol addiction? This issue "Health column" will answer for you one by one.

        In 2014, national health research institutes (Taiwan) and National Yang Ming University published a study on the relationship between alcohol use patterns and medical use behavior in Taiwan to study the alcohol use of people aged 18-64 in Taiwan. It was found that the prevalence of daily drinking among young, middle-aged and middle-aged groups was 1.82% and 4.82% respectively, The rates of alcohol addiction were 2.4% and 2.27%, respectively.

                After the outbreak of covid-19 epidemic in 2020, the economy and industry have been impacted, and the scope of people's daily work, rest and activities have been affected and limited. Many people are anxious, panic and melancholy, while interpersonal conflict, the reduction of positive social and sports and other factors that are easy to lead to psychological diseases have virtually spawned or worsened the problem of alcohol addiction. Foreign reports even point out that many people hold drinking activities such as video "Internet fraternity" in order to relieve their negative emotions such as insecurity during epidemic prevention at home, consume leisure time and resolve the boredom of interpersonal alienation. Coupled with convenient delivery services, drinking at home is easier and more difficult to control.

        How to judge whether you have excessive drinking or alcohol addiction?

        There are many kinds of alcohol products. The higher the concentration of alcohol, the lower the amount of safe drinking. At present, the international standard takes drinking a can of 350 ml beer as a unit. For other liquor conversion by unit, please refer to the "Legend of drinking capacity of standard alcohol unit". Men drank more than 4 units per day or more than 14 units per week; Women who drink more than 3 units a day or a total of more than 7 units a week are drinking too much.

                Cage problems in early screening of alcohol addiction

        If any of the following four questions are met, there may be the problem of excessive drinking; If more than two items are met, please seek professional advice and treatment as soon as possible.

                If you are determined to get rid of alcohol addiction, please seek the assistance of a professional medical team

        When abstaining from alcohol, it often produces "alcohol withdrawal symptoms". It is not easy to control it only by their own willpower. Stopping alcohol by themselves may also increase the risk of death. Therefore, it is recommended to seek the assistance of a professional medical team.

        Generally speaking, the longer you stop drinking, there will be three different stages of symptoms:

        1. Phase I (within 12 hours after stopping drinking):

        There are symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, cold sweat, shaking hands, restlessness, insomnia, vomiting, gastrointestinal discomfort, headache, loss of appetite and other symptoms of hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system.

        2. The second stage (stop drinking for 12 ~ 48 hours):

        There may be more serious cardiovascular problems, such as severe changes in blood pressure, arrhythmia, alcoholic epilepsy including auditory hallucinations such as human voice conversation or ringing, foaming at the mouth and convulsions. At this time, if the treatment effect of traditional antiepileptic drugs is poor, benzodiazepines must be given quickly.

        3. The third stage (stop drinking for 48 hours to more than a week):

        Some alcohol addicts will have serious confusion of consciousness, uncontrolled emotional irritability, strange speech content, memory misplacement, loss of sense of orientation and other symptoms of alcoholic delirium. At this time, the patient may have a physical risk of death, and may cause injury to himself or others due to irritable and strange uncontrolled behavior in life.

        In addition to withdrawal symptoms, the difficulty of abstinence also requires willpower to face the thirst for alcohol. At present, two drugs, naltrexone and acamprosate, have been introduced into Taiwan. International research journals show that these two drugs have clear curative effects on improving the desire for alcohol. They must be prescribed after evaluation by professional doctors to ensure the safety of drug treatment.

        As for the treatment of alcohol addiction and assistance in abstinence, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital has a professional psychiatric team, including doctors, psychologists, personal managers and social workers, who can provide relevant abstinence drugs and psychotherapy, successfully reduce alcohol withdrawal symptoms or craving for alcohol use, and has helped many alcohol addicts improve their drinking problems so far. However, the problem of alcohol addiction is a chronic disease, which is not easy to win once and for all. In the follow-up, we still need self-management, the support of family and friends, and return to normal interpersonal and social roles, so as to stay away from the deep-water dangerous area of alcohol addiction and regain a healthy and beautiful life.

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