A Young Man Tries to Quit Drinking and Experiences Alcohol Withdrawals
Alex had been drinking fairly heavily for the past three years. When his friends would tell him to try to slow down on his drinking behavior his stock answer was that “I am always in control of my drinking.” One day his friends started talking about drinking abusively and alcohol dependency. Alex openly stated that he may be an alcohol abuser but that there is no way that he is addicted to alcohol. One of his buddies had done his research and told Alex, “let’s see you quit drinking for a day. If you start getting nauseous, start vomiting, feel extremely nervous, get bad headaches, or start sweating, this means that you are suffering from alcohol withdrawal symptoms and are therefore alcohol dependent.” With confidence Alex agreed to stop drinking for the next day. Around 10:00 the next morning, he started thinking about getting a drink. Since he told his buddies that he was not an addict, he didn’t drink. As the day progressed, however, Alex started to get most of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms his friend told him about. It finally dawned on Alex that he is an alcoholic and needs to get professional treatment.