A person who abuses alcohol may not suffer from true alcoholism. This is because the frequency with which one drinks and the situations or circumstances in which a person drinks are usually different than those which cause one to become an alcoholic.
While it can differ between persons, alcohol abuse is usually not a re-occurring situation. A person who abuses alcohol may go weeks or even months without consuming alcohol in any form or amount at all. However, a situation or circumstance arises in which the person has access to and accepts an alcoholic beverage.
Once the first drink of alcohol is taken, for some reason, the person who abuses is unable to stop drinking until he has reached a state of complete and total inebriation. This may be the point to where the person is so intoxicated that he cannot physically stand or sit without falling and literally cannot lift another drink to his lips. Or it may be a point to where the person loses consciousness.
If a person who is going through an episode of alcohol abuse reaches the stage of unconsciousness, this can be very dangerous, even life-threatening. If the person were to fall, he could injure himself from striking objects as he is falling, or even hitting his head on the floor or ground. If vomiting occurs, the fluid could be aspirated into the lungs causing serious breathing problems or even death.
With alcohol abuse, however, once the episode is over with, the person may go another extended length of time before taking another drink and experiencing another episode. A person who suffers from alcoholism, on the other hand, consumes alcohol on a very frequent basis, usually daily, and most likely several times during a 24-hour period. When he does not drink, he experiences withdrawal symptoms. Further, a person who is an alcoholic may not be able to function normally; i.e., work or interact with family or friends, while a person who abuses alcohol usually has no such problems.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are both serious problems; however. For this reason, both those who abuse alcohol and those who are alcoholics should seek help from a facility that offers alcohol treatment. For information on such places, please log on to http://www.alcoholtreatmentclinics.com/ or call 1-800-559-9503.
