What are the tests and diagnoses available for Alcoholism?
Posted on March 11, 2009
Filed Under Alcoholism Remedies, Test and Diagnoses |
The American Psychiatric Association publishes the criteria to for alcoholism diagnosis. The guideline can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
The criteria for alcoholism diagnosis include a set pattern of excessive alcohol consumption that leads to impairment and distress. The following must be observed in a twelve month period before a person can be diagnosed as an alcoholic or alcohol abuser.
- Increased tolerance to alcohol. In the early stages of alcoholism, you will need more and more to get drunk. In the event of liver damage or damage to the brain, the amount of alcohol needed to get intoxicated decreases.
- You may experience tremors, insomnia, drowsiness and anxiety when you lower your or stop alcohol consumption. These are withdrawal symptoms and most patients drink to get away from these symptoms.
- Another sign of alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence is the increased consumption of alcohol than originally intended. It could also mean longer periods of drinking than planned.
- You tried or would like to try to lessen your alcohol intake. Maybe you have tried unsuccessfully several times.
- Sometimes it feels like you’re spending most of your time either drinking, trying to obtain alcohol or recovering from alcohol use.
- You lose interest on important activities like socializing, job related activities or recreation.
- Not stopping to drink even if you are aware that drinking is causing you physical and emotional difficulties.
Due to the nature of the disease, doctors often face challenges in accurately diagnosing alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence. Symptoms like memory loss, might be attributed to other conditions like age. Sometimes, patients tell the symptoms but do not talk about their drinking habit.
If a doctor suspects alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence may start with a few probing questions to gauge how much the patient drinks. A short screening test may follow using a standard questionnaire.
Blood tests that measure alcohol levels aren’t really very useful as it only measures the alcohol to blood ratio at that particular time. It’s not very useful in measuring long-term alcohol use.
A more revealing blood test is one that measures the size of the red blood cells. These cells tend to get bigger with long-term and heavy use of alcohol.
Other blood tests that may indirectly point to alcoholism look at liver damage and testosterone level in men.
Almost every alcohol abuser or alcohol dependent will not take look at his or her condition as a serious problem. That is why information from family and friends could be very helpful to the doctor. There could be some legal issues relating to confidentiality but friends and family members could choose to volunteer information. Don’t take this as legal advise though.
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[...] What are the tests and diagnoses available for Alcoholism? Sometimes it feels like you’re spending most of your time eit fef her drinking, trying to obtain alcohol or recovering from alcohol use. You lose interest on important activities like socializing, job related activities or recreation. [...]