RELIABLE ALCOHOL ADDICTION TREATMENT CENTER

Rain Recovery has earned an international reputation for its dedication toward confidential and safe alcohol addiction treatment. A large number of clients from all over the world come to our drug and alcohol addiction treatment center for their addiction treatment.

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What Is Alcohol?

Alcohol is classed as a sedative-hypnotic drug. The type of effect on a person is dependent on the amount of alcohol consumed. In high doses, it acts to depress the central nervous system while in lower doses, it can produce stimulant-like effects. Most people drink a glass of wine or a beer for its stimulant effect. However, a person will experience alcohol’s depressant effect if they consume more than their body can handle.

What is a Drink?

A standard drink, in the United States, contains 0.6 ounces (14.0 grams or 1.2 tablespoons) of pure alcohol. This quality of pure alcohol is often found in:

⦁ 12-ounces of beer (which contains 5% alcohol content).
⦁ 8-ounces of malt liquor (which contains 7% alcohol content).
⦁ 5-ounces of wine (which contains 12% alcohol content).
⦁ 1.5-ounces of 80-proof (which contains 40% alcohol content) like liquor or distilled spirits (e.g., whiskey, rum, vodka, gin).

Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol dependency and addiction can affect anyone. This dependency grows due to continued exposure. The risk of dependency and addiction varies in individuals. However, anyone who consumes enough alcohol over a long period, for it to affect their brain will become dependent on the drug, physically. If an individual consumes more than 3 to 4 drinks per day, they significantly increase their chances of developing an addiction to alcohol and end up in an alcohol addiction center.

What Is Excessive Drinking?

Excessive drinking includes heavy drinking, binge drinking, and any drinking by persons younger than age 21 or by pregnant women. Heavy drinking for women is defined as consuming 8 or more drinks per week, while for men it is 15 or more drinks. Binge drinking for women is defined as consuming 4 or more drinks during a single occasion, while for men it is 5 or more drinks. This form of excessive drinking is the most common addiction that requires special alcohol addiction recovery programs under the guidance of an experienced drug and alcohol counselor.

Common types of alcohol

Though there are many different types of alcohol, the chemical structures of most make them quite toxic to the body. Ethanol is the type of alcohol used in beverages like liquor, whiskey, booze, hooch, wine, beer, ale, and cocktails. It is the only type that should ever be consumed, however only in small doses. Some people regularly poison themselves by consuming other alcohols. Moonshine or home-distilled liquors like methanol should always be avoided. The alcohol used in disinfectants is called isopropyl.

The Effects of Alcohol Use

A person will feel relaxed during the first half or so of drinking alcohol – it has a pleasurable effect on them. These feelings however are replaced by drowsiness as the alcohol is eliminated from their body. So though drinkers become more talkative and socially outgoing initially, they later become withdrawn and quiet. Hence, to keep the initial pleasant feeling going, the person feels the need to drink more. Alcohol use can have short term or long term effects on an individual.

Short-Term Effects

Excessive alcohol use over short periods like binge drinking has immediate effects. They increase the risk of developing many harmful health conditions. Some of the short term effects of alcohol use are:

Reduced inhibitions
Slurred speech
Motor impairment
Impaired judgment
Impaired memory
Concentration problems
Inappropriate or aggressive sexual behavior
Mood dysregulation
Impaired social functioning
Weakening of the immune system
An increase in violent behavior

Long-Term Effects

Excessive alcohol use over time can lead to the development of many disorders and illnesses, some of which are:

Brain disorder (Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome due to thiamine deficiency)
High blood pressure
Heart disease
Arrhythmias
Stroke
Liver disease
Digestive problems.
Hepatitis
Cirrhosis
Fibrosis
Pancreatitis
Cancer of the throat, esophagus, mouth, breast, liver, and colon
Learning and memory problems, including dementia and poor school performance
Mental health problems, including depression and anxiety
Social problems, including lost productivity, family problems, and unemployment

EFFECTS OF COMBINING ALCOHOL WITH OTHER MEDICATION.

Consuming alcohol with anything that makes you drowsy is extremely dangerous. Sedatives and drugs can become deadly when combined with alcohol. These include any types of opiates, barbiturates, quaaludes, valium like drugs, sleep medication, antihistamines found in some cold medicines, and nonnarcotic pain relievers like acetaminophen (found in Tylenol), Ibuprofen (found in Motrin), and aspirin. These particular nonnarcotic pain relievers are highly irritating to the stomach. Under certain circumstances, the liver can get severely damaged when a high amount of acetaminophen is combined with alcohol.

Withdrawal Symptoms

If a person who is a heavy and long term drinker stops or seriously cuts down on the amount they drink, they may have both mental and physical problems. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can range from mild to severe and in some cases even be dangerous. Hence, alcohol detox should be supervised and never be carried out by the person on their own.

Some alcohol withdrawal symptoms are:

Sweating
Tachycardia
Tremors
Insomnia
Nausea
Vomiting
Illusions, auditory hallucinations or transient visual tactile
Psychomotor agitation
Anxiety
Grand mall seizures

Overdose Effects

Alcohol overdose causes the person to have even more severe depressant effects. These effects depend on how much and how quickly alcohol is consumed. Some alcohol overdose symptoms are:

Inability to feel pain
Alcohol poisoning
Unconsciousness
Coma

ALCOHOL ADDICTION TREATMENT

Most patients at our alcohol addiction centers will take part in one of the following alcohol addiction treatments as they progress in their recovery.

Admissions

It is the first step towards transforming your life. Our state-of-the-art treatment facilities make our admissions process easy and simple.

Intake

After the administrative processes, you enter our facility. Intake is essential to get every patient started on the right foot and make their alcohol addiction treatment plan as effective as possible according to their needs.

Assessment

Our medical staff asks questions of you and determines your particular needs. Common examples of what is asked in the assessments at this point include:

⦁ What toxic substances are you addicted to?

⦁ How long have you been addicted to that substance?

⦁ Whether you are suffering from any mental health disorders?

It enables our staff to customize an effective alcohol addiction recovery plan that is specially designed to maximize your chances of success.

Detoxification

Detoxification is the common process by which your body is cleaned of toxic and harmful substances so that you can begin treatment sober.

In most detox cases, medication for alcohol addiction treatment will be prescribed to complete detox. In some cases, various other therapies will also be started along with the detox programs.

If you or a loved one is considering alcohol and substance abuse counseling for addiction to various stimulants, please call (818) 208-9446. Or you can contact us with any questions you might have.