Warning Signs of Alcoholism: What to Look Out For
Knowing the warning signs of alcoholism can help you or a loved one begin a recovery process before it is too late. Understanding the signs can help determine the difference between dependency and abuse.
First of all, Denial of Drinking is common. This can involve drinking furtively, staying away from friends and family members and getting defensive.
A habit of drinking every few days or even daily needs to be examined.
Increasing one’s intake of alcohol. This happens also with pot as well as prescription pain killers for many people. More seems to be needed for the same effect. This shows a growing dependency.
Are your eating habits getting worse? This type of self-neglect as well as loss of appetite may be a sign of a growing drinking problem.
What about mood changes? Is there more violence? Can drinking make you more depressed? Do you get angry more easily?
Are you shaking a bit in the mornings? Do you then turn to a drink to try to calm the shakes away?
Some important signs of alcoholism as a problem are when part of the situation is totally forgotten due to inebriation. Other signs are drinking in a binge fashion which is an intense period of time when you don’t come home.
Also not paying much attention to your physical appearance may be an indicator too of a growing sign of alcoholism. There is an apathy about one’s image and an increase of indifference. Signs are important to observe as they give us an opportunity to catch something before it spins completely out of control.
My husband was great at covering up his drinking problem and I just thought it was occassional till someone from work told me he drank during his lunch hour. He denied an alcohol problem to me for a long time.