Uncontrollable urge to drink

Introduction The irresistible urge to drink alcohol is a major symptom of alcohol dependence syndrome.

Cause

From the etiology, the formation of alcohol dependence has both biological and pathological psychological factors. Therefore, treatment should be combined with a variety of therapies, including treatment of alcohol withdrawal and withdrawal syndrome.

an examination

Related inspection

Brain CT examination of brain MRI

Alcohol dependence syndrome has the following characteristics:

(1) Forced feeling of drinking: Once you start drinking, you cannot stop.

(2) Fixed drinking patterns: Drinking by normal drinkers may vary from place to place, and alcohol dependent people must drink regularly to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.

(3) Drinking is the center of all activities: drinking has affected career, family, social and entertainment.

(4) Increased tolerated dose: The concentration of blood alcohol that affects normal people, alcohol dependent can be unaffected, so continue to drink. Increased tolerance is an important indicator of increased dependence. In the later stages of dependence formation, tolerance will decline, as long as a small amount of alcohol can cause physical damage.

(5) Repeated withdrawal symptoms: excessive drinking for many years and heavy drinking several times a week. When the blood concentration drops, the withdrawal symptoms appear. The most common early symptom is acute tremor, involving the hands, legs, and torso, so that you can't take a cup or buckle. Emotional, easy to jump; often nausea, vomiting and sweating. Once the symptoms of drinking disappear, it will last for several days. If further developed, there may be short-term illusions, hallucinations and visual distortions, and the pronunciation is unclear. Finally, there may be seizures or tremors.

(6) Dispelling symptoms by drinking: As long as you continue to drink alcohol, you can relieve the symptoms of withdrawal. Therefore, many patients wake up to drink alcohol in the morning, which is due to the decrease in alcohol concentration in the blood during nighttime sleep. "Morning drink" is important for diagnosing alcohol dependence. In order to continue to relieve withdrawal symptoms during the day, patients often carry alcohol bottles at any time.

(7) Re-drinking after withdrawal: After a period of withdrawal, the severely dependent person can resume the original state of alcoholism within a few days.

Differential diagnosis

Need to be identified with the following symptoms:

Drug dependence: Drug users are prone to dependence on drugs. The most important feature of dependent behavior is the craving for medication, which runs through the entire addiction process, with characteristic withdrawal syndrome, recurrence, tolerance, and sensitivity.

Glycohormone dependence: Glycohormone dependence is a hallmark of hormone-dependent dermatitis. Relying on topical glucocorticoids, the original disease relapses or worsens after 2 to 10 days of stopping the hormone. When the hormone is re-used, the above symptoms and signs quickly subside, the drug is stopped again, it is re-emerged quickly, and it is more serious than before, thus forcing the patient to use hormone for a long time.

Drug dependence: also known as drug addiction, refers to the mental and physical changes caused by the interaction of the body and drugs, and often in behavior to re-experience the mental effects of these drugs, sometimes in order to avoid the absence of drugs Pleasure, a characteristic of a compulsive desire to use drugs periodically and continuously. There may or may not be resistance, but more than one drug dependence may exist for the same individual.

The material in this site is intended to be of general informational use and is not intended to constitute medical advice, probable diagnosis, or recommended treatments.