The World Health Organization (WHO) defines alcoholism as the consumption of alcohol that’s beyond the limits accepted by your particular culture or that damages your health or social relationships. Alcoholism can cause numerous medical conditions, including heart disease (angina, heart failure), brain degeneration, decreased testosterone levels, esophagtis, gastritis, ulcers, high blood pressure, hypoglycemia, cancers of the upper GI (gastroin­ testinal) and respiratory tracts, cirrhosis and liver failure, muscle wasting, osteoporosis, pancreatitis, psoriasis, and psychiatric conditions. Alcoholism increases your risk of death, doubling the death rate in men and tripling the death rate in women. Overall, alcoholism lowers life expectancy by 10 years and increases the suicide rate sixfold.

Common Symptoms

Acute Alcohol Addiction

• Temporary blackouts
• Memory loss
• Excessive aggression
• Use of alcohol to relax, sleep, be happy, or deal with problems

Chronic Alcohol Addiction

• Husky voice
• Broken veins and capillaries on the face
• Tremors
• Chronic diarrhea
• Withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety, insomnia, headache, nausea, or delirium tremens (DTs, a type of hallucination)
• Malnutrition

What you need to know

The causes of alcoholism are a complex combination of hereditary predisposition and a variety of social, environmental, physical, and psychological factors. The condition is thus very difficult to treat. One type of treatment alone may not be effective because of the many factors involved, so treatments should be used in combination.

The goal of most treatments is to stop your drinking completely, but this may be nearly impossible for extremely heavy drinkers. However, a recent study has shown that in these cases, just reduction of drinking was very beneficial to overall health when abstinence could not be achieved.

General Recommendations

Diet: Most alcoholics suffer from nutritional deficiencies and have problems processing sugar and carbohydrates. Not only that, they actually crave these substances. Consequently, other problems may develop, especially in the liver, heart, and brain. To prevent these problems, you should eat three meals a day, avoid sugars, limit other carbohydrates (especially processed foods), and eat more protein. I recommend soy protein as the best source.

Meditation: Anxiety and insomnia are common symptoms in alcoholics, but they can be significantly improved with meditation.

Your home healing action plan for alcoholism

Step 1: Seek professional help through an organized program such as alcoholics anonymous

The best action you can take for alcoholism is to get professional help. However, just seeing a doctor or psychotherapist may not be enough. Start with an organized program such as Alcoholics Anonymous to help you withdraw and end addiction. If that doesn’t help, there are inpatient and outpatient programs, often affiliated with major hospitals and medical centers, available throughout the U.S. for those who need more extensive treatment. You can usually find an alcohol program in your area by looking in the yellow pages, but your doctor can also advise or refer you.

These programs are essential because the risk of relapse is high unless the underlying causes are corrected and you have full support from family and friends. In fact, most of these programs recommend that your friends and family get involved because their interaction with you may be key to preventing you from drinking again. The following steps will also help you reduce the cravings and symptoms of alcoholism and make it easier for you to stop drinking-permanently.

Step 2: Take Milk Thistle to Protect Your Liver

Take the herb milk thistle (200mg to 400mg per day using a standardized extract containing 70 percent silymarin) if you are still drinking alcohol, and for at least four months after you have stopped drinking- This herb helps protect your liver from alcohol damage, and it helps your liver regenerate new cells. Milk thistle can reduce many of the complications of alcoholism, including toxic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver or pancreatic cancer.

Step 3: Take a multivitamin with extra thiamine and magnesium to replace deficiencies and reduce cravings

Take a multivitamin with extra thiamine (30mg to 100mg daily) and magnesium (200mg to 300mg three times daily). These two nutrients are usually deficient in alcoholics. I also recommend taking glutamine (1 g per day), which has been shown to reduce your cravings for alcohol. Once you have stopped drinking for several months and start eating more balanced meals, you can stop taking these supplements.

Step 4: Take appropriate chinese herbal remedies to prevent withdrawal symptoms

I next recommend the Chinese herbal formula, Chai Hu Gui Zhi Tang, which is effective in reducing the symptoms as well as alcohol cravings during withdrawal. Take three tablets three times daily between meals for at least one month after you have stopped drinking. Your cravings and other symptoms should ease within a few days, but you may need to take the formula longer, depending on your symptoms.

Step 5: Use Ear Acupuncture

Acupuncture can also reduce alcohol cravings, and for my patients I prescribe it along with the chinese herbs in Step 4. Ear acupuncture, usually the most effective and easiest form, uses press tacks-small needles embedded in an adhesive bandage and pressed on specific points in the ear. The points generally used are liver, lung, kidney, zero point, a point called shenmen, and a point called sympathetic. You massage these points several times during the day to stimulate them. These needles remain in the ear for as long as possible (on the average, one week) and are replaced when they fall out, or until you no longer crave alcohol.

Step 6: Use Interactive Imagery

Relapses are common in alcoholism, in part because of underlying psychological and family issues. Sometimes these issues can be difficult to understand. Sometimes they’re not fully resolved in an alcohol program. Interactive imagery can help you understand and deal with them. In this mind-body method, you mentally interact with images that represent your emotions. It’s a powerful way to uncover and deal with subconscious psychological issues of which you may not be aware.

Step 7: Take Ativan, BusPirone, Propranolol or Clonidine to Reduce Withdrawal Symptoms

If you have withdrawal symptoms as you stop drinking, there are several medications that can help. Ativan or buspirone is beneficial for tremors, sweating, and anxiety. Propranolol or clonidine can help reduce elevated heart rate or blood pressure, tremors, and elevated body temperature. If you have seizures or hallucinations, your doctor may prescribe anticonvulsant or antipsychotic drugs. If you experience depression, an antidepressant may be helpful. Bupropion is the recommended one because it will also help you stop the urge to drink.

Step 8: Take Prescription Naltrexone, Disulfiram, or Ondansetron to Prevent Relapse

If you still cannot stop drinking after trying Steps 1 through 7, it may be time to start taking a prescription medication. Naltrexone is another drug that has been used successfully to block withdrawal symptoms and make it easier for you to stop drinking. Disulfiram (Antabuse) is designed to cause adverse symptoms (such as nausea and vomiting) whenever you drink alcohol, to reduce your desire to drink. Take these medications only if you are under a doctor’s care and are being monitored carefully.

Another medication, ondansetron (Zofran) has been found to be very beneficial in reducing drinking if you have early onset alcoholism (before age 25) and a history of anti­social behavior.

Step 9: Use Liver- and Blood-Cleansing Herbs to Clean Out Toxins

The liver is the organ responsible for preventing toxins from accumulating in the body and for cleaning impurities out of the blood. Alcohol not only harms the liver itself, it also interferes with the liver’s cleansing functions. This damage allows toxins and impurities to build up in the liver and blood. After you stop drinking alcohol, I recommend that you undergo an herbal liver and blood cleansing.

• A good liver-cleansing formula should include some or all of the following: dandelion root, milk thistle, Picrorhiza Kurroa (a perennial herb sometimes called Kutkin), and artichoke or beet leaf.
• A good blood cleansing formula should include some or all of the following: red clover, burdock root, chaparral, periwinkle, and goldenseal.

The cleansing process takes two to four weeks to complete.

Step 10: Take SAMe If You Have Cirrhosis

If you have alcoholic liver disease (cirrhosis) as a result of alcoholism, your body abnormally produces liver-damaging chemicals that make your condition even worse. When this is the case, I recommend taking the supplement SAMe (l,200mg to 1,600mg daily) to inhibit these chemicals.

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