Alcohol Rehab

Alcohol rehab is different than a 30 day dryout. Alcohol rehab is a process whereby the alcoholic is educated on what is going on inside their body and how the addiction is controlling their life. Once they see that there is a way out, the alcoholic has a more informed option available to kick his or her alcohol abuse once and for all.


Alcoholism is disease. Never forget that. Beating this terrible addiction is not only possible, but very much encouraged by society. The ugliness of alcoholism has destroyed people and families for decades, and if you know of someone with this affliction, you know firsthand that the problem doesn't go away.

Alcohol affects the brain in a way, that the victim feels helpless and only wants to drink themselves deeper into a point of invisibility. The effects on others is often blamed on the alcoholic's excuse that they didn't mean to do that, or they didn't know what they were doing. This is denial pure and simple.

Depression may be the reason a person chooses to drink, but it will soon become the excuse an alcoholic uses to continue it's abuse. Much like other addictions, trying to associate in a group of people who drink often lures an unsuspecting person who simple cannot handle the alcohol. Once attached to this group, you are doomed to fail in everything you do, unless you separate yourself from these people.


Alcohol rehab is treated with care in finding the original cause of a person's addiction and shows them how and where their problems multiplied once they chose alcohol as a crutch or short-term dulling effect.

 Once an alcoholic, unfortunately always an alcoholic. The body can be cleansed of the alcohol, but never the brain. Once you take a drink the sensors in your brain will be re-ignited and the addiction immediately reappears. I still suffer the occasional craving. The success of any addiction, is to educate a person that they are always addicted, but they can prevent the temptation of it grabbing them and flinging them back into a full fledged active addiction.


Too many times an alcoholic will inflict personal body damage or death on another. It doesn't have to be that way, if you take the right actions and seek help through alcohol rehab. Depending on your involvement with an alcoholic, you may want to go through alcohol rehab yourself, in order to better understand how alcohol affects the body and behavior.

If you know someone that is an alcoholic and needs alcohol rehab, take a look at the options available and the choices anyone involved with someone who drinks beyond the point of control.

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Alcoholism Never Leaves

It has taken some time but, researchers have come to the conclusion that alcoholism is a diagnosable disease and like other diseases, is chronic and those afflicted are subject to relapse. From a medical perspective, addiction can be compared to diabetes in that it will require long term treatment, lifestyle changes, medication at times and if not monitored, relapse will occur.

Discovering why addicts and alcoholics are so prone to relapse is an area of great concern to all of us. One aspect we identified is that of craving. Craving is the overwhelming desire that an alcoholic still feels for the substance days, months or even years into recovery. Research has shown us that the cravings that the alcoholic experience could be directly related to the long term changes in brain function, due to alcohol abuse. In essence, the brain has become conditioned to function under the influence of alcohol, hence the functional alcoholic, and does not function efficiently without it.

Secondly, it has been established that cravings can be a conditioned response to triggers that the recovering alcoholic may encounter, for example old people, places or things associated with the person's prior alcohol use. Relapse triggers, as they are termed, can create powerful emotional and sometimes physical responses that can lead up to incredible urges to use alcohol again. It is for this reason individuals early in sobriety are urged to change so many aspects of their life. With all of this said, it is clear that a person's relapse is usually preceded by other difficulties which result in the alcoholic feeling angry, lonely, depressed or in self pity.

The issue with relapse that is infinitely grave is not necessarily the fact that the alcoholic has drank again, but the quantity and frequency with which they use is almost identical to right before they began their recovery. Very few, ease their way back into their alcohol abuse. 

There is good news and that is if a relapse is caught early, it can prove to be a very valuable educational tool. The recovering addict or alcoholic might then practice the principles taught to them in their alcohol and rehab program with more willingness and motivation than ever before.

It appears that for those people that are able to maintain long term recovery from alcoholism the solution is much greater than just abstaining from alcohol. The other part of the equation lies in being able to identify cravings, wait out the feelings and become aware of what actually triggered them. Through becoming aware of what triggers the craving, the recovering person can make effective changes in their "life style" which can result in fewer urges to drink or drug. Finally, there are a number of well-known alcohol and drug rehab support groups that provide much needed support to help addicts (and their families) cope with the long term issues associated with both drug addiction and alcoholism.

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Help For An Alcoholic Family Member

Those who have been into alcohol abuse certainly need more than just scolding and humiliation. Upon learning that a family member or friend is undergoing such experience, what would you do?

Well, this has got to be resolved once and for all. To do so, you can always choose to ask for the guidance of an alcohol rehabilitation center. An alcohol rehab serves clients who have been dependents of alcohol. The health professionals here do their very best to help the clients as well as their families in restoring the well-being. 

Here's how the process goes: To complete the whole program of alcohol rehabilitation, there has got to be a combination of physical and mental attributions to the case. Health workers collaborate and make the most out of their capabilities to refurbish the client's over-all functioning. Before anything else, the person themselves should start the change within.

The alcohol rehab only functions to support and enhance the person's whole driving force. Before you actually pick up the phone and inquire for an alcohol rehabilitation clinic near you, remember also that in this process, it is recommended that the client be enrolled to the in-patient program. In this way, you can be sure that the individual is monitored 24/7 and that he or she gets to mingle with a support system that understands his condition. If you are still hesitant, try to research on the previous status of the alcohol rehab. Through this, you can acquire information about the track record of the institution and also, you can learn about how your loved one will possibly be treated once inside.

In here, detoxification also occurs, allowing the cleansing of the body from the induced substance. This entails medical detoxification, physical detox, and emotional. Programs that can aid the dependent Using specialized therapeutic regimen, aside from the medications and detoxification, the rehab clinics promotes wellness through therapies in the form of group and individual activities that cater to the well-being of the client.  There comes the counselling, cognitive and behavioral therapies that serve to refresh the person's mind (restoring optimum roles in the community). He or she is re-oriented with what else he can do to restore his capabilities. He is reinforced of the positive and negative outcome of his actions, just as he mingles with other dependents, interact with them to promote healing.

It is vital that the client experiences fulfillment during the setup. This needs not be painful, but through your support, you can enhance one person's wellness - attainable too through alcohol rehab centers.

The Lengths An Alcoholic Will Go To

I think it's safe to say that most of us have at least heard of the seemingly impossible, if not repugnant, lengths that an alcoholic will go to to reach drunkenness. I shall begin this entry with the most unsavory methods that I have been made aware of.


Shortly after entering alcohol rehab for my vodka addiction in 2005, the most dangerous method was infact a game called the "drinking game of death." I could not believe what I was hearing. This "drinking game of death" was as close to Russian Roulette as I can imagine getting to. I am not going to divulge the details.


Within two months of completing alcohol rehab, two guys who I had formed a close bond with had died playing this "drinking game of death." I later found out that one of them was playing the game with other using watered-down methylated spirits as that was all they could afford.

Another method of "getting there" alcohol-wise which shocked me was one alcoholic who openly confessed to injecting watered-down vodka. He had the needle marks on his arms to prove it and was clear every time he was drug tested.


Behind these two shocking methods of achieving drunkenness for the alcoholic are the ones that most of us have heard of. Drinking after-shave is probably the most common. This is actually rather short-lived to the point of futility but has the potential to lead to acute alcohol poisoning and blindness.


On a much 'tamer' scale (but concerning, nonetheless), is 'spiking' ones own drinks. Before I became a reclusive alcoholic, I would 'top-up' whatever drink that I had, be it coffee or Guinness, with a generous dash of vodka. This sort of deception still upsets me to this very day....but....I have not done it today.


This has often posed me the question; the "drinking game of death" is a very social event amongst alcoholics, yet I drank myself closer to death than I'd care to recant here. What's worse?


I guess I was playing my own "drinking game of death" and was nothing more than extremely lucky to have survived it.


Many friends haven't.

The Functional Alcoholic

Despite appearing 'normal'  in all aspects of their life the functional alcoholic is, infact, getting ever-closer to rock bottom. Every alcoholic has their own rock bottom. For some it can be the loss of their job. For some it can be the loss of their family whilst for others it may be loss of financial security. For the unfortunate few, rock bottom can be the grave.


When I commenced this blog I thought that it would be a cakewalk as I've experienced alcoholism from both sides of the fence. The more that I delve into this blog on alcohol abuse and options of alcohol treatment I am finding myself drawn to my own experiences. Please excuse this as it is a useful way to fully explain the complexities of alcohol abuse and alcohol treatment. Outside of perversion, theft and violence I pretty-well did it all.


For many years I was a functional alcoholic. I worked night-shift, came home and drank myself to sleep with no disruption to my 'life.' When my first child was born, alcohol (briefly) took second place. My drinking soon escalated again and my alcohol symptoms began to become evident. This was magnified when my second child was born.


I thought that I had hit my rock bottom when my marriage ended in 2002. Emotionally, I still believe this to be true. As far as alcohol was concerned, I had much further to go. I moved into a house close to my children. Paradoxically I headed down a path that saw me drinking 2 bottles of vodka on an almost daily basis. To say that I was on a path of destruction is such an understatement.

Despite my 2 bottle a day habit, I was still able to 'keep up appearances' for a while. As soon as 'cracks' appeared, they appeared big-time. Week-long blackouts, several hospitalisations for seizures associated with alcohol withdrawal (for which I remain on medication for), non-appearances at social events, a bloated appearance due to impaired renal function and often a beard....mainly because my shaking was so bad that I was unable  to hold a razor steady enough.


Interestingly, I would wake at whatever time of day or night shaking very badly. As soon as my hand became within a few inches of the vodka bottle, these shakes would stop. I was coherent enough to realise that there was a psychosomatic factor related to my alcohol abuse. The habitual factor had become so entrenched that it was now presenting as physical symptoms. I chose to ignore this.

So; for the functional alcoholic, bare in mind that this 'functional' state will end for whatever reason. Additionally, there are incredibly strong psychosomatic factors involved that are best addressed by finding a respected Psychologist.


When this occurs....and I sincerely hope that it does (for your well-being)....the next step is alcohol treatment. 

Confessing To Alcoholism

As the title of my opening entry to this series of entries blatantly states, alcoholism is insideous. This leads to quite a few questions pertaining to when you actually became an alcoholic. This is a very grey area and varies greatly from alcoholic to alcoholic.


Generally speaking, you are the last person that you will truly admit your alcoholism to. It's all very well to admit to your family, friends and so forth but we all know talk is cheap. That's why so many people do it. 99% of the times that you tell the aforementioned parties is because your problematic drinking has been noticed and you are merely covering your tracks.


Your weightless admissions of your alcohol abuse to those close to you will only last for so long. You are abusing these people and you may never see some of them again! Sooner or later and for whatever reason(s) you will confess to yourself that you are suffering from alcohol addiction. I can only offer options of advice on my own road to alcohol recovery.


You are now at a point where you seriously want to stop drinking alcohol. There is no quick fix and there are countless methods that work for the countless number of people seeking alcohol recovery. 


Formulate a plan, on paper, on how you intend to do this. In doing so, you have just made your first concrete plan towards alcohol recovery. Don't rest on your laurels. You have a very long way to go.

In your written plan, (it doesn't have to be chronological), you will want to address alcohol detox which should, ideally, be followed by alcohol rehab. The availability of alcohol counselling vary greatly dependent on your location but I would suggest commencing alcohol counselling as soon as you are able. Again, dependent on your location, it may be some time before your admission to an alcohol detox and then an alcohol detox centre.It'sworth searching the internet for a suitable location near you.


Your alcohol counselor will be able to assess the severity of your alcoholism by subtly your symptoms of alcohol addiction and their severity. They may also be able to fast-track you into alcohol detox and alcohol rehab if your symptoms are severe. The abrupt cessation of alcohol can be fatal if attempted unsupervised. 


By admitting to yourself that you are an alcoholic and have taken the time to formulate a plan of recovery from alcohol abuse you have taken the biggest step in your alcoholism recovery....and nobody even knows about it yet.


This is the beginning of a long road ahead.

Where Do You Drink Alcohol?

As mentioned in my previous entry alcohol is a socially accepted and highly promoted drug and that some people can handle it better than others. This begs the question as to why people consume alcohol. There is a mountain of reasons to justify the consumption of alcohol.  Social events, work dinners, barbeques, sporting events, unwinding after a hard days work....the list goes on.


This leaves quite a scope of opportunity for the alcoholic to have a drink. Why, then, is the alcoholic different from anyone else consuming alcohol at these events? The alcoholic is more likely to have 'a few drinks' prior to attending public functions. Initially in the disease process this acts as a great foil for their alcoholism as they will only consume a few alcoholic drinks as they are already 'primed' prior to the event.


As time progresses, however, the amount of drinks taken prior to a public event increase. Additionally and despite the ever-increasing tolerance to alcohol, increased alcohol consumption carries over into the public event and becomes noticed. During this 'crossover phase,' the alcoholic begins to sneak drinks. In my instance it was taping four hip-flasks of vodka to my body, wearing loose-fitting clothing and heading off to the toilet for a drink, returning to the can of beer that was my 'disguise.' 

It was around this time that I realised I was a fully-fledged alcoholic....and had no intention of addressing it. Why? I have no idea.


This type of covert and devious drinking can only be 'understood' by a practicing or 'functional' alcoholic. I was a 'functional' alcoholic for many years as my tolerance to alcohol increased so gradually. Looking back on it now, it is a form of madness. 


Many alcoholics will admit to this but I guarantee that the vast majority will only do so at the end of along drinking session. Once sober, they will (poorly) brush it off....until next time.


There is also the plight of the alcoholic who drinks predominantly out of sight....but that deserves an entry all of its own.

Alcoholism Is Insidious

Hi. I suspect you are reading 'here' for any one of three reasons. The first is the most obvious. Curiosity. The second reason is that you either know someone by however many degrees of separation suffering from alcoholism. The third is, obviously, that you think or know that you are on the road to or an alcoholic. To anyone in the third category, well done! I'm so pleased that you're here....and here's why....


....To those who know or at least suspect they have a problem with alcohol, there are a multitude of alcoholism management strategies. Each alcoholism management strategy is highly-tailored for the individual alcoholic as no two alcoholics are the same.


I am a recovering alcoholic. It took me 10 years to acknowledge it, a further 9 years before I addressed it and the last 3 years managing it. I say 'manage' it as alcoholism can't be beaten. It's not a fight and besides, it's a far superior opponent to those who cannot 'manage' it. It's a big, fat, bitter pill but it's a fact. As soon as you stop 'fighting' alcoholism then I guarantee a very noticeable change in your mindset.


Let's step back quite a few years. Alcohol is a socially accepted and highly promoted drug. Some people can handle it better than others. If, at an early stage of your drinking, you were one of those who could handle it better than most then this is a major alarm bell. If you are reading this and know any younger folks like this, please try to get them to read this. I am in no way trying to encourage visitors. What I am trying to do is help prevent anyone from going down my road. There is nothing glamorous about it. It's not Hollywood. This is hard-core life and death material.

I can recall, at the age of 19, reading a book on Psychiatry as I was working there as a Student Nurse. I had an interest in alcoholism and Behavioral Psychology. I still do. I was reading a generalized book when I came to the chapter on alcoholism. I merely skimmed through it but the term 'insidious.' It struck a nerve and has been with me to this day. At that young age I knew that I was 'better' at drinking than most as I was never the one falling over, becoming aggressive and all of the other humiliating things that come with drunkenness. 


As time progresses for the alcoholic, traits and behaviour follow, generally speaking, a similar path. Your work begins to suffer due to excessive days off due to a few too many drinks the night before. This  may be accompanied by arriving to work not in 100% shape and often smelling of alcohol.


Your home life begins to suffer to. You become more tense and irritable for no 'obvious' reason. The next step downwards in the spiral is denying that you have been drinking when you have. Believe me; people close to you know. It can't be masked for long.

The next two factors, statistically speaking, occur within 18 months of each other. The first is sneaking drinks. This is such a ludicrous cycle to get into as it only gives one the alcohol 'kick' for a few minutes. The rest of your time is spent being paranoid and uptight. The second factor is drinking before and/or at work. Again, an outrageous paradox when one looks at it from the 'outside.'


Added to all of this is the need to constantly lie about your drinking. Due to your intake combined with anxiety levels, lie after lie end up tripping over themselves.


Once you have disrupted your family life, your career, friendships and finances to crisis point, it is time to ask for help. Ideally you do this of your own volition but statistics state otherwise.


When you think you're down and out, there's always further down to go. Believe me.


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