It can eventually effect every aspect of their life, from relationships, to employment. Here are the three common stages of alcoholism and how to move past them into successful recovery. The early stage of alcohol addiction is characterized by noticeable lifestyle changes. They pick fights with family and friends and choose to drink despite negative consequences. As alcoholism continues to damage a person’s body, many physical conditions can manifest as a person’s health deteriorates and they move toward the end of their life. Someone in this end stage might experience things like heart failure, liver failure, dementia, pancreatitis, anemia, and near constant fatigue.

Alcoholism is a chronic and relapsing disease marked by changes in brain structure and function that affect behavior and perception. Heavy alcohol abuse can lead to addiction, and once there, it will likely take a professional rehabilitation program to help ensure long-term recovery. In order to be considered a binge drinker, men must consume 5 drinks every 2 hours while women must consume 4.

What are the stages of a drinking problem?

You’re likely obsessed with alcohol and may avoid the people and activities you used to enjoy so that you can drink to excess. You probably have alcohol hidden around the house, in the car and at work, and you may be mired in legal or financial problems stemming from your drinking. We at Lantana Recovery treatment center offer personalized substance abuse treatment programs to help you, not only with alcohol, but also any sort of drug addiction that you have. Our experts help you from the beginning; to get started on recovery, to fight relapses and overcome the withdrawal symptoms. Usually, signs of addiction start showing up during the middle stages of alcoholism. An alcoholic becomes so obsessed over drinking that it becomes difficult for them to hide their addiction.

Additionally, drinking has become a compulsive habit that you cannot control. In the final stage of alcoholism, serious problems impact all areas of your life. Even when you don’t want to drink, you must avoid withdrawal symptoms that now include tremors and seizures.

Health Diseases Found Among Those in Late Stage Alcoholism

Our alcohol rehab in Pennsylvania offers detox, substance-specific treatment, and therapy to address the physical and psychological side effects of alcohol abuse. Relationships with friends and family members can be severely damaged by alcohol addiction. Although these connections can be healed if comprehensive alcohol addiction treatment is sought, untreated alcoholism can cause profound wounds within relationships. Call Nova Recovery Center today to learn more about our alcohol addiction treatment options and start your recovery journey now. In this third stage, you’ve developed a full-blown alcohol addiction and are likely seeing the severe physical and emotional consequences it brings. You may have become completely obsessed with drinking and you’re constantly drinking, thinking about when you will have your next drink, or recovering from drinking.

If you find yourself in the midst of any of the stages above, it is something serious that needs to be addressed, but with the right support system in place recovery is not only possible, it is likely. The foundation for our modern understanding of the ways in which AUD can progress was developed sober house by a scientist named E. His research on the subject led him to publish the first report on the progressive nature of alcoholism in 1946. To gather data for his research, he called upon a pool of people who were members of the recently formed organization Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

What is Alcohol Use Disorder?

The primary way a person with early-stage alcoholism differs from someone in middle-stage alcoholism is that alcohol is no longer leveraged for a quick high. It may sound backward, but the person may feel that they function better when they are intoxicated. This is because they only feel the negative effects of alcohol when they stop drinking. In early-stage alcoholism, the person maintains and may increase their alcohol use. When a person with alcoholism reaches end stage alcoholism, they have reached a point that is dramatically different from the initial stages. During the early stages of the disease, the person may drink heavily and may experience hangovers in between drinking episodes.