The sequelae of quitting drinking

There are many people in life who are addicted to something for various reasons, among which addiction to tobacco and alcohol is a common situation. However, both of these substances can cause certain harm to our bodies, so addicts must work hard to quit drinking. However, quitting drinking is a very painful process, and the patient must have strong willpower. In the process of quitting drinking, if the incorrect method is adopted, it may cause certain harm to the body and even leave sequelae.

Alcohol addiction is a disease. From the current scientific and medical perspective, it cannot be completely eliminated by any medicine. Alcohol addiction is a process that gradually worsens, leading to madness and death. It is more terrible than cancer. Cancer can be controlled by drugs. The main symptoms are

1. Alcohol dependence syndrome is a special psychological and physiological state caused by repeated drinking. The patient has a craving for alcohol and a compulsive need to drink alcohol, which may occur continuously or intermittently. If drinking is stopped, psychological and life withdrawal symptoms will appear. The syndrome has the following clinical features:

① Uncontrollable craving for alcohol;

② Fixed drinking pattern, patients must drink at fixed times regardless of occasion to avoid or relieve withdrawal symptoms;

③ Drinking has become the center of all activities, and has significantly affected work, family life and social activities;

④ Tolerance gradually increases, and patients need to continuously increase their drinking volume in order to achieve the effects achieved in the early stages of drinking or to prevent the occurrence of physiological withdrawal symptoms;

⑤ Withdrawal syndrome occurs repeatedly. If the patient reduces the amount of alcohol he drinks or prolongs the interval between drinking, the alcohol concentration in the body will decrease and withdrawal syndrome will occur. The most common symptoms are tremors in the hands, feet, limbs and trunk, ataxia, irritability, and easy startle reaction; sweating, nausea and vomiting may also be seen.

2. Delirium tremens: After long-term drinking, if the patient suddenly reduces the amount of alcohol or stops drinking, he or she may quickly develop a brief loss of consciousness. During an attack, the patient is unconscious, has confusion about time and place, and has vivid and distinct hallucinations and delusions of persecution; thus, he or she may manifest extreme fear, anxiety, or impulsive behavior. At the same time, the patient may experience coarse tremors in the limbs and ataxia, and is often accompanied by fever, sweating, tachycardia, increased blood pressure and dilated pupils. In severe cases, it can be life-threatening. The duration of delirium tremens varies, usually 3 to 5 days. After recovery, the patient may partially or completely forget the course of the illness.

3. Alcoholic hallucinations, which is a hallucination state caused by long-term drinking. The patient will experience a large number of vivid hallucinations, mainly hallucinations, within 1 to 2 days after suddenly reducing or stopping drinking. Primitive visual hallucinations and commentary and commanding auditory hallucinations are common. On the basis of hallucinations, fragmentary delusions and corresponding tension, fear or depression may also occur. During the illness, the patient's consciousness was clear, and there were no obvious symptoms of psychomotor excitement and autonomic hyperfunction.

4. Alcoholic delusion: the patient experiences jealousy delusions and persecution delusions while being conscious, with the former being more common in clinical practice. The patient unreasonably suspects his or her spouse of infidelity, to which he or she often reacts with rage, which may also lead to attacks on the person of suspicion or the spouse, sometimes resulting in murder. In the past, it was also called alcoholic jealousy.

5. Alcoholic encephalopathy This is the most serious psychiatric state of chronic alcoholism, and is the result of organic brain damage caused by long-term and heavy drinking. The main clinical features are delirium, memory loss, dementia and personality changes, and most patients cannot fully recover to normal.