Doctors are constantly looking for an explanation for such a phenomenon as alcoholism. Every year, many people around the world die from alcohol poisoning, and a large number of them commit rash acts. The topic of female alcoholism is especially relevant today.
Recently, this phenomenon has begun to become epidemic. Experts say that ethyl alcohol causes irreparable harm to the female body, moreover, it is difficult to treat. Therefore, each state fights this phenomenon in its own way.
What is alcoholism in a woman?
Female alcoholism is a disease of a drug addiction nature, which is characterized by a pathological attraction of women to alcoholic beverages, their regular use, leading to damage to nervous tissue and vital organs. Alcoholism does not occur when drinking alcohol periodically. It develops only with alcohol abuse, especially in large doses.
It has been established that drinking strong alcohol in the amount of fifty grams per week cannot harm the liver, and the body will not experience negative consequences. But when ethanol is systematically introduced into the blood in this amount, it will penetrate the brain and provoke irritation of special receptors that are responsible for the feeling of pleasure and the formation of addiction. Therefore, there is a very fine line to walk between normal and pathological alcohol consumption.
With the development of alcoholism in women, its dosage gradually increases, which leads to a negative effect on the cells of vital organs, including the brain. If treatment is not started in a timely manner, irreversible changes will occur and failure of many organs will develop.
Outpatient and inpatient treatment
The first stage of the development of alcoholism is also characterized by the patient’s understanding of the negative aspects of his condition. If there is positive motivation to completely stop drinking alcohol, in this case you can get by with outpatient therapy.
Outpatient treatment involves treatment with medications at home under the supervision of the patient himself or his relatives. The patient only periodically visits the attending physician to assess the effectiveness of therapy and receive additional medical care that cannot be provided at home.
If the motivation for a healthy lifestyle is weak or completely absent, outpatient treatment for female alcoholism will be useless. It is best to place the patient in a hospital, where he will be provided with complete drug treatment under the round-the-clock supervision of clinic specialists.
How does alcoholism develop in a woman?
The general principles of the development of alcohol dependence in men and women do not differ. But there are some features due to which addiction in women has been identified as a separate pathology. These features include:
- Mood instability. The nervous activity of representatives of the fairer sex is designed in such a way that intuition, rather than logic, predominates in it. Women are more emotional and susceptible to stressful situations.
- Reduced function of the enzyme system to break down and neutralize ethanol due to the high susceptibility of liver tissue to toxins. Even small doses of alcohol can have a destructive effect on the organ and affect the body for a long time. Therefore, women are more often diagnosed with liver cirrhosis than men.
- Neurons have weak connections with each other, which provokes a disruption in the transmission of nerve signals at the early stages of addiction.
- Slow blood circulation in the liver and spleen. This is due to low blood pressure and slow metabolism.
- The blood-brain barrier has a weak structure, so ethanol quickly enters the brain and nerve cells.
- Slowing metabolism means that toxins are eliminated from the body more slowly.
- Female hormones and ethyl alcohol breakdown products are incompatible with each other.
All this indicates that addiction develops faster in women, and this process occurs unnoticed. The brain and internal organs are also affected quickly. Without treatment, all this leads to the development of a severe form of alcoholism.
Consequences of alcohol addiction
In women who abuse alcoholic beverages, the brain structures that are responsible for various regulatory functions are early affected. Thermoregulation is disrupted, water, salt, fat and protein metabolism changes. So-called autonomic disorders occur:
- feeling of anxiety,
- depression or irritability,
- tearfulness.
Many symptoms develop that are characteristic of damage to the cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive systems, nervous regulation and muscular system.
Observed:
- increased heart rate, increased heart rate;
- sharp fluctuations in blood pressure;
- chest discomfort or pain;
- alternating sensations of hot and cold;
- impaired sensitivity of the skin, numbness;
- feeling of lack of air;
- muscle spasms;
- nausea, vomiting, rumbling in the stomach, stool disorders.
Painful and heavy menstruation, premenstrual syndrome or cycle disorders up to the cessation of menstruation are characteristic companions of female alcoholism, which indicate the influence of alcohol on the female genital area. The amount of estrogen decreases, the content of testosterone increases. As a result, early menopause occurs.
Signs of binge drinking
In women, much faster than in men, the need for periodic (not one-time and chaotic) alcohol consumption is established, and binge drinking occurs. This contributes to the loss of women from active social and personal life. If a number of changes appear, it is important to understand the situation as quickly as possible and seek help from a psychotherapist.
Signs that are important to notice in time:
- the woman ceases to control the amount of alcoholic beverages she drinks and cannot stop;
- when taking large doses of alcohol, vomiting does not occur;
- in the morning after an evening libation, it is necessary to take a new portion of alcohol to improve well-being;
- forgetfulness is observed, memory is impaired regarding what happened the day before;
- loss of interest in one’s own appearance, home, family;
- decreased performance and ability to perform normal household chores;
- Swelling of the face occurs in the morning after drinking alcohol in the evening.
Timely seeking help from a psychotherapist and psychiatrist-narcologist will help make changes in the situation.
Symptoms and signs of alcoholism in women
Alcohol addiction exhibits the same symptoms in all women. After two or three months of regular consumption of drinks that contain ethanol, the first signs of alcoholism in women appear:
- Increasing dependence, constantly finding a reason to drink. The woman drinks daily and reacts aggressively to comments;
- Tolerance to alcohol increases, which leads to an increase in dosage to achieve a feeling of satisfaction. The dosage of alcohol increases every day, while appetite decreases significantly;
- Development of apathy, reduction in the range of interests and hobbies. A person spends a long time drinking alcohol;
- Behavior disorder, development of isolation, irritability. The woman does not have the desire to give up alcohol;
- Decreased intellectual abilities, slowed down thought processes.
External signs of female alcoholism include:
- Rough voice;
- Tremor of the limbs;
- Redness of the skin;
- Deterioration of hair and nails;
- Abdominal enlargement;
- General deterioration in appearance.
All symptoms of female alcoholism depend on the stage of its development; gradually they overlap each other. With prolonged use of alcohol, a woman stops experiencing nausea, since her gag reflex is impaired due to a decrease in the excitability of a certain center in the brain.
Coding
At the initial stage of development of female alcoholism, you can get by with coding. The NarMed clinic practices drug and psychotherapeutic blockade of cravings for ethyl alcohol. Both methods are highly effective and simple for the patient.
Medication coding
In this case, medications that are incompatible with alcohol are introduced into the body of a sick person. The most commonly used are Disulfiram, Esperal, Teturam, Antabuse. These medications are made in the form of tablets, injection solutions, and capsules for implantation under the skin.
Once in the body, coding drugs block the liver’s function to process ethyl and break it down into safe components. As a result, even a minimal dose of alcohol will cause symptoms of severe poisoning in a coded person. This is how negative conditioned and unconditioned reflexes of the body to the taste, smell and even appearance of alcoholic beverages are formed.
You can be encoded for a period from several months to 5 years. If necessary, the encoding can be repeated.
Psychotherapeutic coding
You can also block the need for alcohol using psychotherapy methods, which are based on hypnosis and suggestion . For successful coding, you will need to conduct one or more sessions with a psychotherapist who will change attitudes in the patient’s mind, create a psychological rejection of alcohol and motivate him to a healthy lifestyle. In complex cases of female alcoholism, it can be recommended to do a comprehensive coding, consisting of a medicinal and psychotherapeutic part.
Stages of pathology development
In medicine, it is customary to distinguish several stages of the disease in women, the duration of which depends on many factors:
- The first initial stage, in which the addiction to alcohol increases. The woman is not aware of the problem; she is sure that she can stop using it at any time. During this period, brain receptors get used to ethanol;
- At the second stage, thoughts about drinking alcohol appear. Gradually, its dosage increases, nausea and vomiting disappear with significant use;
- The severe third stage is characterized by the appearance of persistent addiction. Irreversible changes occur in the body, the psyche is disturbed. A woman cannot cope with the problem on her own.
Briefly about the processing of alcohol in the human body and the causes of alcoholism
The root cause of the development of physical alcohol dependence is ethyl alcohol (ethanol) - an essential ingredient of any alcoholic drink, which has the property of causing intoxication and slowly forming a painful addiction to drinking ethanol-containing liquids.
In the human body, regardless of the gender of the drinker, ethanol is processed by two enzymes synthesized by the liver: alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ACDH). ADH breaks down ethanol into neurotoxic aldehydes (particularly acetaldehyde) and toxic ketones. ACDH begins to act after ADH and breaks down acetaldehyde to relatively harmless acetic acid.
Thus, the less ADH is synthesized in the body, the more unsplit ethanol will be absorbed from the stomach and intestines into the blood, accelerating the onset of intoxication and - most importantly! — formation of alcohol dependence.
Beer alcoholism in women
Many women do not see a threat in frequent drinking of beer or wine. Therefore, representatives of the fairer sex often develop beer alcoholism. Every day a woman drinks one or two bottles of beer to relax. Then the dosage is increased. Subsequently, beer can be replaced by stronger drinks, for example, vodka.
Beer alcoholism develops much faster than usual. Over two months, this can lead to a person starting to drink up to two or three liters of beer every day. Gradually, insomnia and irritability develop, the face becomes red, the lips turn blue, and the stomach becomes enlarged.
In this case, the woman cannot give up alcohol on her own. The main danger of beer addiction is that at first drinking beer seems harmless, but later leads to disastrous results.
Negative consequences and complications of alcoholism
Symptoms of alcoholism in women gradually increase. Addiction in a short time can provoke the development of serious health complications:
- Toxic encephalopathy;
- Disruption of the activity of all nerve cells;
- Psychical deviations;
- Development of delirium;
- Hepatitis, which often progresses to cirrhosis and ascites;
- Alcohol poisoning, which can lead to death;
- Failure of vital organs;
- Pancreatitis;
- Strokes or heart attacks;
- Loss of sensation in the limbs, which can lead to compression and the development of gangrene.
Treatment of female alcoholism
It is possible to cure a woman’s addiction, but this should be done by a narcologist.
Drug therapy includes:
- Detoxification of the body in order to cleanse it of harmful substances. The doctor prescribes sorbents and administers special medications intravenously. Then vitamins, means for normalizing water-salt balance, tranquilizers and other drugs are prescribed;
- Coding, as a result of which a special drug is administered intravenously, which contains disulfiram;
- Treatment of complications of alcoholism. Appropriate medications are prescribed to normalize the functionality of organs and body systems.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is often used in the treatment of alcoholism. It is aimed at eliminating cravings for alcohol by influencing a person’s subconscious. Today, Dovzhenko’s technique has become widespread. It is carried out by a specialist in a hospital setting or at the patient’s home.
The so-called double block is also popular, which involves the use of medications in conjunction with psychotherapy. This method gives more effective results and makes it possible to eliminate addiction for a long period of time and even for life.
