Summary: You like to have a few drinks every night when you come home from work, that's no big deal, right?Recent studies have shown that 53 percent of adults in the U.S. that one or more than one of their relatives has a drinking problem. Are you part of that statistic? Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease that causes you to drink too much alcohol affecting you to not have the ability to live a normal or healthy life. Excessive alcohol use can cause immediate and long-term health related risks, including car accidents, alcohol poisoning, neurological problems, cancer, liver disease and in some cases, death. How do you know if you have a problem? A sign that you might have a drinking problem If your drinking gets in the way of your job, or causes problems with any relationship, possibly legal problems and when your body goes through withdrawal. There are also other signs that you might be a binge alcoholic, which is a pattern that brings your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above. This happens when you consume copious amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. This is considered as five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women. You might have heard that having a glass of red wine every night has health benefits, but be aware that usually that's just one to one and half glasses...not the whole bottle. Is there anything you can do to cut back? There are ways to do it alone by decreasing the amount you drink but if you think you have a serious problem it is not advised to seek professional help. Chief Medical Officer of Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital, Gregory Teas, MD joins Melanie Cole, MS to share signs that you might be an alcoholic and what to do if you think you or a loved one has a drinking problem.
