If you meet three or more of the following characteristics, you should be highly alert to whether you are suffering from alcohol dependence and should go to a specialist hospital for examination or consultation as soon as possible. ① Strong psychological craving for alcohol; ② Daily drinking, usually at least twice a day, or binge drinking; ③ Drinking takes precedence over all activities, and nothing can be done without drinking; ④ Increased tolerance, i.e., the amount of drinking gradually increases; ⑤ Decreased self-control over drinking, often getting drunk every time you drink; ⑥ Recurrent withdrawal symptoms, when the patient reduces the amount of drinking or drinks at longer intervals, there will be (6) Recurrent withdrawal symptoms, such as restlessness, agitation, panic, trembling of hands, feet and limbs, sweating, convulsions, nausea, vomiting, etc. If the patient drinks alcohol in time, these withdrawal symptoms disappear rapidly; (7) Drinking behavior often ignores the strong opposition of family members and tries to find ways to drink alcohol, often hiding and crediting alcohol; (8) Often substitute alcohol for meals and eat very little; (9) Knowing that drinking alcohol is harmful and subjectively having the desire to quit drinking, often repeatedly quit drinking, but always But they always fail. What is alcohol addiction? Alcohol addiction is medically known as “alcohol dependence”. Alcohol dependence refers to physical dependence and mental dependence. Somatic dependence is a state of adaptation of the brain and body to long-term drinking. Once drinking is stopped, some physiological disorders will occur, such as distraction, insomnia, tremors, etc. Psychological dependence refers to the special mental effects produced by the action on the brain. Once a drinker forms alcohol dependence, it is very difficult to stop drinking. What should I do if I am addicted to alcohol? People who are addicted to alcohol should try to eat foods rich in B vitamins in their daily life, such as oats, whole wheat bread, animal offal, lean meat, peanuts, most kinds of vegetables, wheat bran, milk, etc. If you are used to it, you may want to drink some oatmeal in the morning, because the activity of ethanol dehydrogenase in the human liver is very low at noon, drinking is easy to get drunk, drink some oatmeal in the morning, can help reduce the desire to drink at noon. At the same time, the porridge can also protect the gastric mucosa, it should be noted that B vitamins will not be stored in the body, the excess will be completely excreted, therefore, people who stop drinking must be supplemented with B vitamins every day. Once alcohol dependence occurs, those who stop drinking rashly will have a life-threatening withdrawal syndrome and should be treated in a professional hospital. And in the initial stage of alcohol withdrawal, in order to avoid other abnormal reactions in the patient’s body, hospital admission is required for about two weeks. Special reminder Long-term alcohol abuse has a direct impact on our health, causing acid reflux and increasing the incidence of oral cancer and esophageal cancer. Alcohol interferes with the gastric mucosa and stimulates increased secretion of gastric acid, while causing the risk of gastric ulcers. About 20% of alcoholics have fatty liver and cirrhosis of the liver, which can cause liver cancer in serious cases. Alcohol consumption is closely related to many types of cancer, including oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer. In fact, 5.5% of cancer occurrences and 5.8% of cancer deaths worldwide are caused by alcohol, which means that one out of every 18 cancers is caused by drinking. It is impossible to give up alcohol at once. Alcoholics can choose to reduce the number of drinks little by little and drink less each time, so that they can slowly give up alcohol little by little and plan. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to drink a lot of alcohol, and a small amount of alcohol is also good for your body. Alcohol is a pro-neurological substance, long-term heavy alcohol abuse leads to severe poisoning of the central nervous system, lesions, the formation of “reward nerve center”. When the reward is delayed or stopped, the patient’s body reacts with pain and mental craving for alcohol. Even if the physical dependence passes, the psychological dependence will remain for a long time, so many alcohol addicts need to intervene with the alcohol-addicted nerves in the brain to achieve sobriety. In cases where numerous methods of sobriety have failed, “surgical sobriety” may be the last straw.