Alcohol abuse or alcohol use disorder can destroy a person’s body. Over time, it can drastically change an individual’s brain chemistry. This is one of the reasons alcohol abuse is not properly seen as a disease. Like any disease, people need proper care and treatment to recover, to get healthy again. You or a loved one may think there’s nowhere to turn or that it’s too late to do anything about alcohol abuse. But you’d be wrong. Crestview Recovery’s alcohol rehab center near Bellevue wants to help you heal. Our compassionate staff and teams of experts know how to help you or a loved one deal with both the physical and psychological effects of alcohol use disorder.
What Are the Effects of Alcohol Abuse?
An individual suffering from alcohol use disorder or addiction tends to increase their drinking constantly. This creation of tolerance is due to the individual’s brain chemistry changing because of alcohol. As a central nervous system depressant, alcohol’s effect on your brain is severe. It leads to not just impaired judgment or slowed motor functions but also causes vital processes like breathing and heart rate to slow. The greater the consumption, the more intense the effects. Also, if an individual attempts to reduce or go without alcohol, the brain is so conditioned by its presence that symptoms of withdrawal develop such as:
- Hyperactivity and anxiety
- Tremors
- Sweating
- Nausea and retching
- Tachycardia, or increased heart rate
- Hypertension, or increased blood pressure
- Pyrexia, or fever
Long-term alcohol abuse causes cognitive and neurological problems like memory loss, nerve damage, and dementia. But even if an individual isn’t a long-term or frequent drinker, they can experience damaging effects from alcohol use disorder. Binge drinking is just as dangerous as long-term drinking and can create dependency in the same way. In 2018, over 26% of people admitted to binge drinking in the month prior. The sudden rush of alcohol to the brain causes the same reaction but condensed as long-term drinking. Thus, individuals who binge also experience severe withdrawal. However, because they believe it is a singular event, they don’t pay attention to the lasting damage they are causing.
How Alcohol Rehab Center Near Bellevue Can Help
Detoxification: Detox is the process of removing harmful toxins from the body. In the case of alcohol use disorder, experts flush out of patients’ system the alcohol while monitoring them for any health issues. Because withdrawal can be intense, and some symptoms life-threatening, supervision is the best and safest way to detox.
Treatment: Many and most patients enter treatment programs lasting between two to three weeks. It’s during this time they develop routines, structure, medication if deemed necessary, and learn techniques to cope with their disease.
Extended Care, Aftercare: Sometimes, individuals require treatment lasting a few months. This is especially true if the individual is a long-time user or needs dual diagnosis treatment. After completion of a treatment program, many patients move into some sort of aftercare, whether an outpatient program or sober living facility. The purpose is to prevent relapse and allow individuals to return to their everyday lives as seamlessly as possible.
Crestview Recovery
When an alcohol use disorder threatens to derail your life, enrolling in Crestview Recovery’s alcohol rehab center near Bellevue will get you back on track. Our experienced staff and expert counselors and therapists will help you break your physical dependency. Then, we’ll address the hold alcohol use disorder has on your mental health. The therapies and treatments we offer include:
- Gender-Specific Rehab: Sometimes, patients respond best when healing and learning with those who identify with their gender. Needs vary among genders, and to recover from alcohol use disorder requires feeling safe.
- Family Therapy Program: Interactive and relationship-based, our family therapy explores all combinations of family interaction–between spouses, parents to children, children to parents, and between siblings.
- Dual Diagnosis Treatment: Also called a co-occurring disorder, this treatment addresses underlying mental health issues that may be the cause or symptom of your alcohol use disorder.
By treating your body and mind, you’ll be stronger and better equipped to lead a life of sobriety. Find out more by calling us today at 866.262.0531. Start the healing process and begin your recovery.
Since 2016, Dr. Merle Williamson, a graduate of Oregon Health Sciences University, has been the Medical Director at Crestview Recovery, bringing a rich background in addiction medicine from his time at Hazelden Treatment Center. He oversees outpatient drug and alcohol treatments, providing medical care, setting policies, detox protocols, and quality assurance measures. Before specializing in addiction medicine, he spent 25 years in anesthesiology, serving as Chair of Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and Chief of Anesthesia at Kaiser Permanente. This experience gives him a unique perspective on treating prescription drug addiction.