My father-in-law loves to drink. Recently, he has always felt his head tense, as if he had been strangled. What happened?

There is a saying circulating in the mutual abstinence association: it is impossible to get a little addicted to alcohol. A person is either an alcoholic or not. Only people who drink know whether they have reached the point where drinking is out of control.

Self-rated alcohol dependence

If you really want to quit drinking but find that you can't completely quit; In other words, if you can't control the amount when drinking, you will always be drunk; Or, you don't like the taste of alcohol, and you drink too much to pursue the feeling of drunkenness and drifting caused by alcohol. Then you may have alcohol dependence.

Alcohol dependence is not necessarily drinking every day.

Mild dependence:

1) The cumulative consumption of liquor per day is less than 250ml or less than 4 bottles of beer.

2) The official drinking history is within 4 years, and the aggravating history is within 1 year.

3) The frequency of daily drinking increases and the amount of drinking increases.

4) Emotional excitement, irritability, behavior out of control, fighting, picking fights, throwing things, etc.

5) Increased tolerance to alcohol.

6) Arguing with family because of drinking.

7) Delaying normal work because of drinking.

8) Every time I drink it, I feel uncomfortable, regret, blame myself and feel depressed. It doesn't matter.

9) Sometimes you don't need to drink it at ordinary times, but once you do, you can drink it in large doses for a few days until your body can't stand it, and then drink it every half month, January or longer.

Second, moderate dependence:

1) The cumulative daily drinking amount is 250ml.

2) The official drinking history is between 4 and 8 years, and the aggravating history is between 1-2 years.

3) Drinking is out of control, and the number of drinking alone increases.

4) Drinking every day has become the most important thing in life.

5) Stealing wine.

6) Once you don't drink, you will feel unwell, flustered, flustered, sweaty and restless, and the symptoms will be alleviated after drinking.

7) The body is thin, and there are reactions such as gastrointestinal discomfort.

8) Work and family life are greatly influenced by drinking.

9) I have a desire to give up drinking, but I can't quit.

10) Sometimes you don't need to drink it at ordinary times, but once you drink it, you can drink it in large doses for several days until your body can't stand it, and then drink it at intervals of half a month, one month or more.

Triple dependence:

1) The cumulative consumption of liquor per day is >: 500ml. Or more than 8 bottles of light beer.

2) Official drinking history of more than 8 years, aggravated by more than 2 years.

3) Get up every morning and drink on an empty stomach.

4) drink every day, get drunk every time you drink, don't eat after drinking, and feel weak.

5) Hand shaking and sweating, insomnia, diagonal or S-shaped.

6) Compulsory abstinence is invalid or many hospitalizations are caused by drinking.

7) Gastrorrhagia, hypertension, cerebellar atrophy, fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, femoral head necrosis and other complications due to drinking.

8) There have been personality changes, paranoia, temper changes, no sense of responsibility for the family, and indifference to the family (wife and children).

9) Losing interest in everything, refusing to associate with people and drinking are the most important things in life. .

10) memory loss, tinnitus and hypertension.

1 1) has mental disorders such as hallucinations, auditory hallucinations and hallucinations.

12) Sometimes you don't have to drink it at ordinary times, but once you drink it, you can drink it in large doses for several days until your body can't stand it, and then drink it at intervals of half a month, one month or more.

13) because of long-term heavy drinking, mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and mania have appeared.

14) alcohol withdrawal syndrome is obvious: once you don't drink alcohol, you will have vomiting, convulsions, tremors (hands, face, tongue), delirium, epilepsy and other symptoms. It will ease after drinking.

Probably every abstainer needs to seek professional assistance that A.A. does not provide, such as the two earliest members of A.A., the founders of A.A., who also need and get the assistance of doctors, hospitals and priests.

Once we start to stay awake, many problems seem to have been solved, but some problems still exist or even get worse. We really need to rely on professional assistance, such as obstetricians, podiatrists, lawyers, cardiologists, dentists, dermatologists and some kind of psychological counseling experts.

A.A. does not provide certain services, such as job hunting, vocational training consultation, family relationship consultation, psychological consultation and other needs. We must rely on professional services in various fields.

A.A. does not provide financial support, food, clothes or shelter for alcoholics with alcoholism problems, but there are some good professional charitable organizations willing to help alcoholics who really want to give up drinking.

Needing help from others is not a sign of cowardice, and there is no need to feel ashamed. False "pride" forces us not to summon up the courage to seek professional help. This is completely arrogant vanity and an obstacle to our recovery process. The more mature people are, the more willing they are to make use of all the advice and help as much as possible.

Looking at the "medical records" of recovered alcoholics, we can clearly see that all of us have benefited a lot at different times through psychiatry and services provided by other doctors, nurses, psychological counselors, social workers, lawyers, priests and other professionals.

In A.A.' s basic textbook "Abstinence Association", it is especially recommended (56 pages) to seek external assistance. Fortunately, we found that there is no contradiction between the belief of the alcoholics association and the good professional advice provided by experts who know about alcohol abuse. We don't deny that alcoholics have had many unfortunate contact experiences with some professional men and women. But even non-alcoholics, because of their huge number, such things happen more.

Classroom experience.

The absolutely perfect doctor, priest or lawyer who never makes mistakes has not yet appeared. As long as there are patients in the world, it is impossible to promise never to make mistakes in the treatment process. In all fairness, we must admit that most alcoholics are very difficult patients. We often lie and disobey instructions.

Once we are cured, we condemn doctors for failing to eliminate the damage caused by our self-destruction as soon as possible in weeks, months or years.

Not everyone of us pays the bill quickly, and at the same time, we always spare no effort to deliberately undermine careful and good care and advice, and put professionals on the "wrong" side. This is a cheap and false victory, because in the end, you have to bear all the consequences yourself. Some of us have now realized that it is our actions that hinder the opportunity to get the advice and care we really need. One of the reasons why we are so rude is that we are held hostage by the disease of alcohol addiction.

Alcohol is tricky and difficult to deal with. It forces anyone to show a self-destructive attitude, which completely goes against their better judgment and their real wishes.

We have no intention to destroy our health, but our addiction to alcohol can almost completely offset all the progress made by medical institutions. If we find ourselves sober now and still try to comment on those professionals who are really experts, this situation can be regarded as a warning signal whether the problem of alcoholism wants to sneak up on us from behind.

In some cases, other recovering alcoholics have different views and conflicting opinions and suggestions, which makes it more difficult for new members to seek good professional assistance.

Just as almost everyone of us has his own favorite treatment for a hangover or a cold, everyone we know has his own favorite and disliked doctors. Of course, it is a very wise choice to use the wisdom accumulated by good alcoholics who have recovered for a long time, but what is effective for others may not be effective for us, which depends entirely on everyone's personal situation. Each of us must bear the ultimate consequences for our actions or laziness.

After you have examined all the possibilities, discussed with your friends and considered their advantages and disadvantages, how to obtain and use professional assistance must ultimately be decided by yourself.

It's up to you whether to take medicine to treat alcoholism, receive psychotherapy, go back to school, change jobs, have surgery, go on a diet, quit smoking, accept or ignore the tax advice provided by lawyers. We respect your right to make your own decisions, and we can make any necessary adjustments according to the development of the situation.

Of course, not all scientific experts in medicine, psychology and other fields fully agree with the matters and viewpoints we discuss in this book. That's good. How can they be like us? They don't have our first-hand experience of drinking. Few people have come into contact with so many alcoholics as we do.

But we also don't have the professional education and training they need for practice. This does not mean that they are right, we are wrong, or such conclusions. Instead, we should assume different roles and responsibilities with alcoholics in the process of helping them.

I hope you are as lucky as many of us in these respects. Thousands of our members are deeply grateful to countless male and female professionals who have helped us or tried to help us.