Online Alcoholism & Addiction Counselling

The drug company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) deliberately covered up the link between the use of it’s antidepressant drug Seroxat and an increased risk of suicide in adolescents.

They would have us believe that the drugs they produce for us are risk free, a modern-day panacea to cure all our emotional ills.

Consequently the medical profession hand them out like sweets. But we the public are the ones who take the risk with our health, or in this case our lives. The side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, particularly the SSRI antidepressants are manifold.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should never be used - of course they can be very useful and effective in certain circumstances. But all too often they are not matched to individuals sufficiently carefully. And clearly, financial rewards are causing companies to rush unsuitable drugs through into release before they have even been made safe.

The American writer Robert Whitaker suggests that psychiatric drugs peddled by the hugely profitable pharmaceutical industry are indeed causing more ill-health than they are curing.

Where does that leave you? If you’re needing medication to help you deal with depression or anxiety for example, then of course you tend to depend on what the doctor prescribes. Maybe it’s time to start looking at the alternatives to conventional western medicine in that case…

Different people have different levels of self esteem - some people think they’re wonderful, some people think they’re worthless. Whether other people would agree with either of those judgements is a different matter.

People with alcohol problems often have low self-esteem. They judge themselves negatively - not just for their addiction, but also for other parts of their behaviour or their personality.

These beliefs or views about the self may have been picked up as far back as childhood, from parents, siblings, or friends -

• “you’re not good enough to deserve that treat”,
• “you don’t measure up to our expectations”,
• “you don’t deserve love and affection”,
• “we don’t accept you for who you are”,
• “why are you so much trouble, what’s wrong with you”.

Of course such things may not have been said literally, but that may have been the message being conveyed. These messages become incorporated into our beliefs about ourselves, and affect our self esteem. As such they can be quite difficult beliefs to change.

When you believe such negative things about yourself, you probably won’t be very capable in dealing with life or coping with the difficult feelings that we all have. So you might then tend to turn to something which does deal with those feelings, if only temporarily. From there you can come to rely on those things - alcohol, drugs, food, whatever it might be.

Then of course, the dependent use of alcohol can further damage self esteem and reinforce those negative beliefs. “I’m an alcoholic now too - so I must be really useless then”. Alcoholism or addiction can lead to social isolation, or uncontrolled behaviour, alienating those around you and maybe removing any possible positive feedback or encouragement, making it even more difficult to improve your confidence again.

However, what often happens with friends and family, is that the issue of concern for them becomes the alcohol use itself, rather than the lack of self esteem that’s causing it in the first place.

Try our self esteem test if you’d like.

The symptoms of alcohol withdrawal are exceptionally unpleasant, as I’m sure you know. There are physical symptoms and emotional ones. Let’s start with the most extreme to get it out of the way - death.

Yes, if you’re sufficiently dependent on alcohol, then a sudden withdrawal as opposed to a gradual detox can actually kill you, usually via a seizure. But lets hope you’re not quite that bad just yet (if you are, then at least try to cut down gradually, or better than that - see a doctor). Heart palpitations are the milder form of this.

On to the less fatal withdrawal symptoms then, we have hallucinations (usually unpleasant - spiders or snakes are common), the shakes, nausea and vomiting, oh and diarrhoea of course. Particularly unpleasant is waking in the middle of the night soaked in cold sweat, or alternatively, your own piss. It’s not sounding like a party exactly, is it?

Then you might have a splitting headache, often from severe dehydration and dilation of blood vessels. Basically the brain shrinks away from the lining of the skull. Ouch!

Hypoglycaemia, caused by the inability of the liver to metabolize sugar, can then leave you feeling irritable, nervous or aggressive, and weak.

You might end up with a few more emotional effects too, like mood swings, depression or confusion. Basically feeling like the lowest form of life on the planet.

So how can you make alcohol withdrawal easier?

• Electrolyte replacement might help (the sachets you can get for diarrhoea are the best), along with plenty of liquids.
• Complex carbohydrates (like brown rice, wholemeal bread, wholegrain cereals etc.) will help to slowly stabilize your blood sugar levels.
• Eggs contain Cysteine, which can help the liver to metabolize Acetaldehyde (the toxic by-product of alcohol).
• B-vitamin supplements are essential, as they help your nerve cells to recover from the damage you’ve inflicted.
• We all know about the healing powers of caffeine - this constricts the blood vessels and can therefore alleviate the headache.

The other ones are obvious - don’t mix your drinks, and don’t drink too much in the first place!