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I don't know but I think Native Americans have physiological differences from Europeans on how they process alcohol. In a group of Europeans some people are happy with a drink or two and some people just can't stop. In a different population (like American Indians or Middle Easterners) there may be different physiological biases driven from genetics. Asians have different ways of processing dairy products for example.
OT, but I once read that one food that Americans eat that totally grosses out Asians is cheese, and then I worked with a woman from China who thought cheese is the most disgusting thing. It's a big hunk of spoiled milk.
Good point about Native Americans. They have a terribly high rate of alcoholism. Did they use any form of alcohol before Europeans came along?
Well being that I'm an alcoholic who stopped drinking for 20 years and started back up 7 years ago and fought real hard for 5 years to quit again and haven't touched a drink in the last 2 years.
I can tell you that the 22 years that I've been sober not a day has gone by that I didn't think about drinking or wanting a drink.
Most people who are not alcoholics don't have a clue how hard we fight the urge to drink. For them it is a choice, for me it's not. The only choice I have is to never drink again because I know that if I do I may never be able to stop again.
I do good when I don't drink. My problem is when I have that first beer I can't stop until I blackout.
I recently went 2 weeks without drinking. Not too long before I went a month without a drink to see if I could do it. I never experienced any withdrawal symptoms. I like to drink and do not consider it to be a problem. I have not even missed 1 day of work because of my drinking, and I work full time. To call it a disease is preposterous.
Those aren't the only criteria that determine if something is a disease or a behavior is a problem.
What about your blood tests, liver data?
What about statins (cholesterol medication) and the extra stress they and alcohol place on your liver.
Ever hungover?
Weight gain?
If no to the above and if you and your friends, family, and boss don't consider it to be a problem, then maybe you aren't an alcoholic like you think you are.
Yes I agree alcoholism is a disease, but one that many patients do not want to be treated. "I drink, I get drunk, I pass out. No problem." When drinking interferes with your work you have a problem. When work interferes with your drinking you're an alcoholic.
If you are a social drinker it is unlikely you will have any more of a withdrawl than a good old-fashioned hangover if you indulge. too much. However there are -controlled alcholoics who get up in the morning, empty thei stomah, have a hair of the dog, eat breakfast and go to work. But after work all bets are off; the boozing is no longer controlled.
There are any number of reasons that social drinkers like to drink in social settings. A socal drinker can not drink at any time for any length of time; the lack of alcholo affects nothing.
Alcoholics do not drink to be social; they drink for the effect. An alcoholic who has been drinking heavily for a number of years cannot stop drinking at any time or for any length of time. To do so can cause some serious medical problems such as a Grand Mal seizures - which is entirely different than the Petit Mal seizure. This is why detox is in a medical setting for up to 96 hours - and sometimes longer.
Alcoholism is defined as alcohol + ism, not necessarily just a bad habit.
HABIT = a settled or regular tendency or practice, esp. one that is hard to give up
ALCOHOL - a colorless volatile flammable liquid that is the intoxicating constituent of wine, beer, spirits, and other drinks.
ISM = denoting a pathological condition.
PATHOLOGY = the science of the causes and effects of diseases.
PATHOLOGiCAL = involving, caused by, or of the nature of a physical or mental disease
CONDITION = a state of health
By medical definition Alcohol+ ism is a pathological condition that is treated as a disease.
The only "cure" known to date is Do Not Drink.
As an admitted alcoholic, it is not a disease! I drink because I want to drink. If alcoholism is a disease, it is the only disease that you can stop at any time. I would like to see someone tell a person with cancer to just "stop and get better." The only thing I can say is alcoholism causes other diseases, but is not a disease in itself.
There are lots of deseases that can be turned around. You are right, canser is in a different catagory, but alcoholism is a form of a desease. yes, the drinking can be stopped, but the desease is still there. Diabetis can be turned around but it is always there.
The ONLY reason alcoholism is considered a "disease" is so Hanley Hazelton and the like can bill insurance companies for "curing" their "patients"
Otherwise it's a plain old addiction at worst........
............or an excuse for celebrities to get away with bad behavior.
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The only thing I can say is alcoholism causes other diseases, but is not a disease in itself.
