Women's alcoholism is talked about much less often than men's. Often the idea that a representative of the fair sex can be subject to such a destructive addiction simply does not fit into the head. Wife, mother, keeper of the family hearth - how can she drown her problems in a bottle of alcohol? Alas, life examples often prove to us that this misfortune can overtake any person, regardless of gender.
The first signs of female alcoholism
It is not difficult to recognize an experienced alcoholic by her appearance, behavior, and habits. But the success of treatment is higher if you seek medical help at the first signs of alcoholism, and they are much more difficult to notice. The problem is that women develop alcohol addiction faster than the stronger sex. This is due to the fact that the female body is more sensitive to alcoholic beverages, since it contains fewer enzymes that contribute to the breakdown of alcohol.
This explains the fact that a woman does not need much alcohol to become intoxicated. And if in men a persistent addiction forms on average 7-10 years after systematically drinking alcohol, then for weak women 3-5 years are enough for this. And over the course of these years, neither their relatives nor close friends may have any idea about the addiction.
Unlike men, women at first try to hide their addiction to alcohol from others. They regularly go to work, do household chores, and never appear in public while heavily intoxicated. But the “green serpent” is already beginning its destructive work, and an attentive, loving person may well discern the first signs of incipient alcoholism.
- There's no reason not to drink
The first step to the development of alcoholism is regular gatherings with alcohol for a variety of reasons - receiving a bonus, going on vacation, holidays. For a woman who begins to develop a drinking habit, these reasons become insufficient over time. The need for daily alcohol consumption gradually develops; the woman happily grabs any excuse to drink. At the same time, she justifies such a desire with the need to relieve stress, celebrate the weekend, in general, she finds a lot of reasons.
- The result is obvious
Addiction to alcohol often manifests itself literally on a woman’s face. Alcohol addiction contributes to the appearance of premature signs of aging: the skin becomes dry, wrinkles form on it, bags appear under the eyes, the face swells, and becomes puffy. Noteworthy are dull hair, brittle nails, yellowish skin tone, and a pronounced capillary network on the face. A woman either persistently tries to hide the traces of yesterday's libations by putting kilograms of cosmetics on her face, or, on the contrary, begins to take less and less care of herself.
- Nerves to the limit
One of the first signs of developing female alcoholism is constant nervousness. A woman who drinks is often in a depressed mood, especially if she does not have the opportunity to drink. She gets irritated for no reason, cannot restrain her emotions, and lashes out at her loved ones. A woman develops character traits such as selfishness, increased aggressiveness, and rudeness. And the stronger the dependence on alcohol, the more pronounced the degradation of personality becomes.
How to help?
The main problem is that it is possible to help a woman suffering from alcohol addiction only if she herself wants it. But many simply do not want to admit that addiction to alcohol has become a disease that needs to be treated. A woman is afraid of being judged by others and believes that she can quit at any moment - if she just wants to. But this minute usually doesn’t come...
In such a situation, a lot depends on family and friends. You should not reproach a woman or attack her with accusations. Your care and attention can do much more - restore faith in yourself and hope that everything can still change for the better.
It is very important to understand who is in front of you now, whether he is an alcoholic. This is true when hiring a new person, meeting the opposite sex, or communicating with friends. It is not difficult to determine whether the person standing in front of you abuses alcoholic beverages: the appearance of an alcoholic will give him away.
The longer and in large quantities alcoholic beverages are consumed, the more difficult it is to hide the external manifestations and changes in the appearance of an alcoholic. You can determine that in front of you there is a person suffering from alcohol addiction by a number of external signs. From this article you will learn how to recognize an alcoholic by his appearance:
Alcoholic face
Constant consumption of alcoholic beverages causes changes in the structure of the drinker's skin. This leads to visible changes in his appearance. If you compare what an alcoholic looks like, before and after photos, the following changes in his appearance become noticeable.
Facial redness
The symptom develops due to the fact that when alcohol enters the body, the amount of ethanol in the patient’s blood increases. This leads to increased heart rate, increased pressure in blood vessels and capillaries, and their expansion. This is why a drunk person sometimes has a slight blush on his cheeks.
With regular consumption of alcohol in large quantities, the elasticity of blood vessels and capillaries decreases. This may also damage their integrity. As a result, a network of noticeably dilated capillaries and vessels appears on the face of alcoholics. Where their integrity is compromised, red and blue bruises appear.
If some vessels are damaged, blood flow to certain areas on the patient’s face stops. Some alcoholics may experience a bluish nose or unnaturally pale lips.
Puffy face
The breakdown product of alcohol is excreted from the body through sweat, feces and urine. To process large quantities of ethanol, it needs to store a lot of water.
When dehydration occurs due to alcohol poisoning, a person feels dry mouth and extreme thirst for a long time. These symptoms do not go away immediately after the lack of water is completely replenished; it accumulates and swelling appears. In a healthy person, the process of getting rid of excess water is not impaired, so the swelling quickly goes away.
In alcoholics, water-salt metabolism is impaired, and the rate of excretion of excess water is underestimated. At some point, remembering the constant deficit, the trigger breaks, water is removed from the body very slowly, accumulating in the alcoholic’s body. This leads to constant swelling of the patient's face, arms and legs, regardless of whether he is currently experiencing a hangover.
In women suffering from alcoholism, this symptom is more pronounced. Due to the physiological characteristics of humans, the supply of water in a woman’s body is much less than that of men. Dehydration occurs faster, and water is absorbed more slowly.
Constant tension of the frontalis muscle on a relaxed face
Constant tension of the frontal muscle causes some pathological changes, which are popularly called “the face of an alcoholic.”
As a result, the face appears elongated and drooping. Deep folds appear in the corners of the eyes, they begin to appear sunken. As a result, wrinkles begin to cover the entire bridge of the nose and radiate from it in an oblique direction. Over time, the alcoholic's nose begins to deform - the nostrils widen, the nose swells, and its size increases.
Due to the change in the shape of the nose, the nasolabial fold deepens in the upper part and begins to smooth out in the lower part. As a result, the outline of the mouth changes: its orbicularis muscle relaxes, the lips become fuller. Gradually the effect reaches the neck muscles and they hypertrophy.
Yellow eyes
Yellowing of the whites of the eyes in alcoholics is associated with an increase in the concentration of bilirubin in their blood. It is formed during the breakdown of hemoglobin. A high concentration of bilirubin indicates problems with blood circulation, as well as disturbances in the functioning of the liver, which removes it. This is a very toxic substance that tends to accumulate in the body of alcoholics.
Yellow eyes can be both a cause and a consequence of acute liver damage - hepatitis or cirrhosis. If this symptom occurs, it is highly advisable to immediately consult a doctor.
Bags under the eyes and weakened eyelids
These signs of a heavy drinker appear due to a decrease in skin elasticity. Due to regular dehydration and alcohol intoxication, the skin becomes loose, pores expand, and signs of premature aging appear. Dark circles under the eyes appear on the face of an alcoholic. Most often they are caused by regular swelling and the accumulation of toxic substances in the body.
Under the influence of alcohol, the orbicularis muscles around the eyes relax. This also contributes to the appearance of swelling.
Gray or greenish skin
The food of an alcoholic is often quite meager and undiversified, lacking a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals. Under the influence of alcohol, the patient’s metabolic processes are disrupted, and even those crumbs that come with food are no longer absorbed from food.
Gradually, the body develops severe vitamin deficiency, which cannot but affect the face of an alcoholic. The skin takes on a grayish color and sometimes an earthy or greenish tint. As addiction grows and alcoholism progresses from one stage to another, changes in skin color become more noticeable.
External manifestations of alcoholism
As the disease progresses, not only the face of the alcoholic changes. Almost everything about him changes: appearance, gait, voice, clothing style, behavior. Let's dwell a little on what external manifestations can be used to identify an alcoholic.
Changes in voice and speech
The first changes in the voice of an alcoholic are heard already at the first stage of the disease. They begin to talk very loudly, the voice becomes harsher and rougher. Soft intonations gradually disappear. Later, the voice becomes hoarse and low. This occurs due to regular irritation of the vocal cords. The person begins to speak fluently and indistinctly. An alcoholic often repeats himself and starts talking.
Changes in figure, posture and gait
It is very difficult to bring all the changes that can occur in the figure of an alcoholic to a single meaning. It all depends on the stage of the disease, the gender of the person and the characteristics of his body constitution. Some people, until the third stage, the disease remains “in one pore”, others sharply lose weight, and still others gain it.
For men at the first stage of alcoholism, weight gain is characteristic of the female type - the hips expand, “breasts” appear, and the density of hair on the body decreases. Women closer to the second stage gradually turn into men - hair begins to grow on their face and chest, and their belly grows.
Gradually, as the addiction grows, the alcoholic’s coordination of movements is impaired. His gait becomes shaky and uncertain, he begins to move more slowly and, even in a sober state, “drag” his legs. Lack of coordination, regardless of the degree of intoxication, becomes the cause of traumatic marks on the patient’s body - abrasions, bruises, bruises, scratches. Injuries occur due to frequent falls; they take a long time to heal and become inflamed.
Sloppiness and disregard for hygiene
The most striking sign of an alcoholic is the smell of fumes emanating from him. It is very difficult to disguise it with something or come up with a successful excuse for everyone interested. Sometimes a putrid or ammonia-like odor may emanate from the patient’s mouth, which indicates the emergence of pathological processes in the body.
Personality degradation causes sloppiness, sloppiness in clothing and hairstyle. An alcoholic doesn’t care whether his hair is clean, whether it’s neatly styled, or what he’s wearing. However, he is not interested in what the people around him think about this.
Brittle nails and dull hair
Even if an alcoholic continues to take care of his appearance, he will not be able to hide brittle nails, falling out and dull hair from strangers. The reason for the terrible condition of hair and nails is vitamin deficiency and poor absorption of minerals and vitamins from food.
By the way, the accumulation of a large amount of ethanol in a woman’s body can cause her to have poor adherence to any coating on her nails.
How to improve your appearance after quitting alcohol
There is an opinion among people that as soon as you stop drinking, you will immediately return to your previous shape and be young and beautiful again. This is wrong. The “face of an alcoholic” often haunts a person who has recovered from addiction for many years, and sometimes even remains with him forever. It all depends on what stage of development the disease has reached, how long it lasted, how much the person has genetic data and his age. Some people struggle with beer belly and gray complexion for the rest of their lives, while others acquire an attractive appearance six months after treatment.
In unadvanced cases, for high-quality and relatively quick restoration of an alcoholic’s face and appearance, it is necessary:
- Completely stop taking any alcohol and all its derivatives;
- Take special vitamin and mineral complexes;
- Provide constant balanced nutrition;
- Exercise regularly;
- Be in the fresh air more often;
- Undergo a full medical examination and begin treating all identified diseases.
Provided that all of the above recommendations are followed, the recovery process of a person who has overcome the first or second stage of alcoholism will be significantly accelerated. For more advanced cases, blood cleansing and drug therapy may be necessary.
All of the listed symptoms and signs of a drinking person may be manifestations of diseases that are in no way related to alcoholism. Be extremely attentive to the people you care about, but do not rush to hang social labels on them because of your suspicion. Only a qualified doctor can determine the exact cause of any symptom or their combination and prescribe treatment.
The problem of alcohol abuse is getting younger and more pressing every year. How to recognize an alcoholic by external signs? This is a serious question, because having met a handsome guy, you may not immediately notice that you have started dating an alcoholic. It is also important to recognize warning signs in your relatives or friends as early as possible in order to help them in time. Or maybe you need to evaluate yourself and understand that you are an alcoholic?
Caricatures of drunks correctly highlight the signs of an alcohol addict: a blue, puffy face. Intelligent alcoholics are more difficult to identify at first glance. They hide their addiction, take care of their appearance and drink secretly. This category most often includes women, prominent figures and children of celebrities. But no matter how you hide it, very soon signs of alcohol use will become noticeable in your face and behavior. The first thing that may alarm you is that a person drinks little, but often, even every day.
Behavior during a feast
It is important to understand the following: it is impossible to establish that a specific amount of drinking indicates a problem. Everyone's body is individual, and so are its capabilities and abilities. However, an addicted person becomes very animated when he anticipates drinking: he laughs, jokes about alcohol, but he may also become withdrawn. It depends on the characteristics of the character. The following actions are the same for all addicts:
- readily supports every toast and often initiates them;
- feels comfortable under the influence of alcohol;
- loses control over the amount of drinking;
- there is no vomiting, even when you have had too much;
- mood changes sharply, aggression manifests itself.
For most people, the morning after the holiday is accompanied by drinking a lot of water. Dependence manifests itself in the fact that an alcoholic may not have such a need. But the hangover is severe, with severe headaches. Ordinary people, having had too much the night before, try to quickly clean themselves up and then cannot look at alcohol for a long time. Addiction manifests itself differently.
In the morning, feeling a strong hangover, the alcoholic will rush to drink again, drowning out the unpleasant symptoms. You can suspect addiction if your friend often looks for reasons to drink.
Other manifestations
Alcohol primarily damages the brain, so if a loved one finds it difficult to concentrate, solve problems, drive a car, and do other usual activities, this may be a consequence of alcohol consumption. A dangerous signal is detachment from family, children and work. For an alcoholic, all this is considered just a distraction from the main desire - to get drunk. Features of alcohol abuse become visible in a person’s hands. A spasm of the tendons occurs, causing them to shorten and the fingers to curl. Coordination of movements is impaired.
Since alcohol poisons the body, it will inevitably affect the face. To process the breakdown elements of alcohol and remove toxins from the body, the body needs water, so it captures and stores fluid. The liver and kidneys work hard, but they cannot quickly remove poisons, so water accumulates in the body, creating a feeling of constant swelling of the face and eyelids. The pressure from drinking increases, the load on the blood vessels increases, and a characteristic blush appears. Regular alcohol consumption causes small capillaries on the face to burst, creating red “spiders” on the nose, cheeks and neck. Blueness and swelling appear under the eyes. The eyes themselves look wide open and sunken. Over time, the oval of the face changes, the clarity of the lines is erased. The skin becomes flabby, sagging and loose. Women should pay special attention to this, since it will become increasingly difficult to disguise such defects over time.
May manifest as changes in the color of the sclera of the eyes. Due to disruption of the gallbladder and liver, they become yellowish. The likelihood of blood clots forming in blood vessels also increases, as indicated by bluish lips. Changes occur even in the vocal cords, as a result of which the voice becomes rough and hoarse. If a loved one experiences the above, do not rush to conclude that these are signs of alcohol use. Such manifestations can be a consequence of other diseases.
A specialist can make an accurate diagnosis by conducting an examination.
How to identify the problem in yourself?
It is impossible to help a loved one if he does not admit that he is addicted to alcohol. But it's even harder to help yourself. How to understand that you are an alcoholic? It's worth answering some questions honestly.
- Do I drink alone? Am I looking for a reason? Am I hiding it?
- Can I significantly reduce the dose I drink?
- Will my condition improve after drinking another drink?
- Have I ever had problems because of my drinking?
- Do I get angry when others ask me to drink less?
- Do my hands shake in the morning?
- Has my diet, grooming, and habits changed?
These are just a few questions, but honest answers will show whether there is cause for concern. If so, allow family and friends to help. Alcoholism is a disease and there is effective treatment for it. But first we need to acknowledge the problem.
Give yourself another chance to be a normal person. Take care of yourself.
Experts say that alcohol dependence can be recognized even at the earliest stage of the disease. Alcoholism is a complex disease, the insidiousness of which lies in the fact that even the closest people are often unable to notice exactly when a member of their family became chronically dependent. A person can always find a reason to drink:
- relieving stress and nervous tension after a hard day;
- birthday of a friend or colleague;
- corporate event, etc.
How to identify an alcoholic at the first stage of the disease? Identifying developing alcoholism is difficult, but quite possible. Constantly looking for a reason to drink is the very first symptom of addiction. A person definitely needs to “relax” on the weekend, and the occasion is simply masterfully found.
Many publications and glossy publications call constant lies and ease of making promises one of the main signs by which a drinker can be identified, arguing that a person with a sober outlook on life is more balanced in his own words. However, such statements cannot be considered a serious basis for determining addiction, because an ordinary frivolous dreamer and talker can be a convinced teetotaler.
Among the main signs of an alcoholic are:
- strong craving for drink;
- increasing tolerance to alcoholic beverages;
- loss of gag reflex in case of overdose;
- presence of a hangover.
As the disease progresses, small doses of alcohol no longer have any effect on the body, and in order to achieve the necessary state of euphoria, the amount of drinking increases significantly. It is at this stage that a stable physical dependence begins to form, and the sense of proportion gradually disappears. Even when drunk, a person continues to drink alcohol and strives to prolong the state of intoxication for as long as possible.
The body stops perceiving alcohol as a toxin, and the rate of alcohol absorption increases significantly. The onset of a hangover is accompanied by severe headaches, a feeling of complete exhaustion and loss of vitality. The only and strongest desire is to receive a new dose. A binge begins to form, which is almost impossible to interrupt on your own.
Signs of an alcoholic include dysfunction of various organs and systems of the body due to alcohol abuse. The speed of transition from the second to the third stage depends on many factors:
- character;
- hereditary predisposition;
- gender;
- general health.
Some people become completely drunk in just a couple of months, drinking only beer immoderately, while others will need several years of continuous drunkenness until their personality completely degrades.
The effect of alcohol on appearance
Everyone knows what experienced alcoholics look like. Puffy faces, bags under the eyes, sallow shade of prematurely aged skin, lack of even a glimmer of intelligence, painful thinness, puffiness and a whole network of purple spider veins. The spectacle is certainly not aesthetically pleasing. But characteristic features appear already at the deep stage of addiction.
At the stage of formation of alcoholism, there are no such external manifestations yet, so it is necessary to pay attention to other signs:
- indifference to what is happening around;
- passive, inert behavior;
- lethargy and lack of interest even in what you love;
- the appearance of attacks of causeless rage;
- constantly changing mood;
- an irresistible urge to drink.
Binge alcoholics are almost never sober. They are easy to distinguish by their appearance. It is during this period that features of a characteristic “face” first appear, a lack of coordination of movements, and a specific smell appear. Chronic pain occurs in the heart and right hypochondrium, the sclera of the eyes turn yellow, which indicates problems with the liver. The skin especially suffers - flabby, porous and overdried, a clear indication that it is necessary to quit drinking.
“The face of an alcoholic” - characteristic features
There is another completely reliable way to recognize an alcoholic at an early stage of the disease. If you compare a healthy and an addicted person, you can find one rather interesting difference - after a stormy feast and excessive drinking, a healthy person will make every effort to put his body in order and for a long time will not even look in the direction of alcohol. Anyone suffering from alcohol addiction will definitely get a hangover and will look forward to the next binge.
What does the result of excessive and constant drinking look like? First of all, the skin suffers, since abuse disrupts the normal functioning of the kidneys, and the appearance of edema, bags under the eyes and swelling of the face and limbs is quite natural. The source of other manifestations of changes in appearance is neurological disorders, as a result of which various groups of facial muscles form a special facial pattern, which is designated by the term “alcoholic face.”
Characteristic appearance of a strong drink abuser:
- tense forehead against the background of relaxed facial muscles (elongated face);
- wide open and deeply sunken eyes;
- deepening of the upper part and weakening of the lower part of the nasolabial fold;
- dilated nostrils;
- weakened eyelids;
- weakly compressed, thick lips.
Poor circulation due to alcohol abuse leads to the appearance of a pronounced vascular network, especially noticeable in the area of the nose and nasolabial triangle. Such changes can no longer be compensated by cosmetic procedures.
Alcohol is legal in our country, everyone can drink it, but few know the limit, and this leads to alcoholism. No matter how much men and women scoff at the fact that “drinking is harmful,” no matter how much they say “once a week is okay,” such a terrible disease as alcoholism often creeps up completely unnoticed. The trouble is that it is very difficult to distinguish a bad habit from a disease at an early stage.
Most people turn to doctors for help already too late, when alcoholism has not only grown from a habit into a disease, but has also dragged on at this stage.
It is impossible to recognize alcohol dependence by measuring the volume of alcohol consumed; everything is much more complicated. The measure is different for everyone, and both a person who regularly drinks a glass of vodka and an alcoholic who drinks more than one bottle of strong alcohol a day can suffer from alcoholism. In this case, alcoholism as a disease is defined only by a person’s attitude towards alcohol, and he can carefully hide the object of his addiction, while complicating the task for loved ones and relatives who want to help him.
So, if you have relatives and friends who often drink alcohol, you need to know how to recognize an alcoholic in order to sound the alarm in time and provide help.
Who can be considered an alcoholic?
Very often, alcoholics give themselves away by their appearance: they are sloppily dressed, not always washed, their face is slightly swollen and may have a reddish or bluish tint. Typically, the complexion returns to its original position when the person drinks again. But there are also “decent, intelligent alcoholics” - they are more common among women. You won’t immediately understand that she is a pleasant person, takes care of her appearance, is well dressed and walks confidently. But no matter how you look after yourself, no matter what masks you make, you can’t hide a swollen face and drooping eyelids even with a ton of makeup. Of course, such instances are rare, because if a person drinks, then he has no time for clothes, and certainly not for cosmetics (in the case of women).
The psyche of an alcoholic is both simple and complex at the same time. A person who is addicted to alcohol has practically no sense of proportion. He drinks as much as he can handle; the desire to drink haunts him at any time of the day or night. The very fact of the possibility of drinking alcohol works for an alcoholic like a green traffic light. If there is alcohol, you must drink it. And this mutual responsibility continues for some for a month, for others for years, and for others, they devote their entire lives to alcohol, while depriving them of ordinary everyday joys and happy moments that could be spent with their family or among non-drinking friends. . Remember that drinking alcohol is harmful to your health, your financial situation and your social status! Don't start drinking!
How else to distinguish an alcoholic from a healthy person?
If you compare an alcoholic and a healthy person, you can find another interesting difference. The morning after drinking, a healthy person, feeling a hangover, tries with all his might to put himself in order and for a long time cannot look at alcohol. An alcoholic with a hangover happily and impatiently drinks another “dose” and believes that he feels great, although in reality everything is different, and the body simply slowly dies.
The scary thing is that alcoholics drink not only with reason, but also without it. The desire to drink comes out of nowhere. And if such a person suddenly stops drinking, he will begin to have serious health and mental problems. The first signs of unsuccessful withdrawal from alcohol are tremors of the hands (they will constantly shake), as well as hallucinations. Whatever one may say, alcohol leads one way - to death. A person who drinks frequently must be aware of his actions and understand that even small and, at first glance, harmless dosages can cause alcohol addiction. When a person drinks, he risks his precious health. When he abruptly stops drinking, no less harm is done to his health.
It’s not so sorry for adult drinkers, because they embark on the path of drunkenness at an already conscious age, when they can weigh the pros and cons. I feel sorry for the offspring of such people. Alcoholics are often sexually promiscuous; a woman can become pregnant from someone unknown and carry a child. It's easy to guess what kind of children might be born to parents who drink. Their physical development may be normal, no different from healthy peers, but the baby’s psyche will be spoiled from birth. As numerous studies by scientists show, in recent years (2010-2014), most often drunkards give birth to children with pronounced dementia. Of course, you can make enormous efforts to help your child develop and keep pace with his peers. But who will do this? Obviously not parents, for whom drinking with a cheerful company is more important than their own children.
Rarely, but still, a disproportionately large head in a baby is found - the first sign of edema of the brain; this is directly related to the lifestyle of the mother, who abused alcohol during pregnancy. Many mothers lead a healthy lifestyle, and after giving birth they allow themselves to relax and drink beer once or twice a week to increase their milk supply (some people can “cover up” their drunkenness by saying that they are stressed and low on energy). This is a very bad way to cheer up and improve lactation, which will make itself felt in the future and manifest itself in the inhibited development of the child even at an early age. When three-year-old peers try to learn the alphabet, the child of an alcoholic will not yet clearly distinguish green from yellow and will not be able to pronounce intelligible sentences or at least basic requests of a service nature (Mom, let me drink, I want to eat, etc.).