| ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE (ALCOHOLISM) |
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Addiction is a Brain Disease
Most everyone knows what alcohol looks like, how it is packaged,and how it makes you feel. What you may not know is that alcohol is a drug. Its scientific name is ethyl alcohol and it is classified as a depressant. Once alcohol is absorbed into the blood stream, it acts upon the central nervous system like a depressant, affecting speech, vision, and coordination.
Physical Responses to increased doses of alcohol include: |
 Altered perception
Impaired judgment
Loss of coordination
Staggered walk
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Blurred vision
Bloodshot eyes
Slurred speech
Dizziness
Vomiting |
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| An overdose of alcohol can cause unconsciousness, respiratory failure, and death. |
Signs of Alcohol Dependence include:
Frequent hangovers
Feelings of guilt
Defensiveness about drinking (I don’t HAVE a PROBLEM!)
Drinking alone or in secret
Continued drinking despite negative impacts on health, work, school,
relationships
Craving
Loss of control
Tolerance
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There is research that shows that alcoholism may be a genetic predisposition, and that a child of an alcoholic parent runs a higher risk of becoming an alcoholic.
Alcohol causes heart disease, high blood pressure, liver damage,brain damage and many other health problems.
The withdrawal symptoms from alcohol can be potentially life-threatening, and could include rapid, irregular heart rate and seizure. |
Alcoholism Cocaine/Crack Crystal Meth/Meth Painkillers Heroin Marijuana Nicotine