Alcohol Addiction
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Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment
Richard E. Repass, MD
Psychiatrist & Addiction Medicine located in Mercer Island, WA
Alcohol addiction is hard to overcome, as cutting out alcohol leads to serious withdrawal symptoms, such as irregular heartbeat and seizures. If you’re ready to break your alcohol addiction, you can safely detox with programs offered by Richard E. Repass, MD, at Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment in Mercer Island, Washington. Dr. Repass offers medication-assisted treatment and an innovative and effective detox using BR+NAD™ therapy. For more information, call Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment to schedule an appointment.
Alcohol Addiction Q & A
What is the difference between alcohol abuse and addiction?
Alcohol abuse refers to drinking excessively or inappropriately. While you can abuse alcohol without becoming addicted, your risk of addiction is higher.
You cross the line into addiction when you can’t stop drinking. Addiction develops as alcohol affects the reward system in your brain, boosting levels of dopamine and causing a flood of pleasant feelings, from improved mood and self-confidence to lower inhibitions.
Over time, your brain changes and starts to depend on the high levels of dopamine. As a result, it creates such strong cravings for alcohol that you can’t resist the urge to drink.
Alcohol addiction is progressive. Your brain develops a tolerance to the amount you drink, then you have to increase your alcohol consumption to achieve the same effect.
What symptoms signal an alcohol addiction?
Professional psychiatrists use a set of questions to assess the severity of your drinking. The questions explore issues that represent some of the key symptoms, such as:
- Being unable to cut down on drinking
- Allowing drinking to interfere with family, work, or school responsibilities
- Wanting a drink so badly you can’t think of anything else
- Continuing to drink despite your habit causing trouble with family and friends
- Continuing to drink even though it makes you depressed or sick, or affects your memory
- Discovering you feel sick or can’t sleep when the effect of alcohol wears off
About 80% of people with alcohol addiction have relationship problems, poor health, and end up losing their jobs.
How do you detox from alcohol addiction?
Like any other type of substance use disorder, alcohol addiction causes withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking. Dr. Repass helps you detox using two programs. The first, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), uses medications approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent withdrawal symptoms while you detox.
The second alcohol detox program available at Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment is NAD detox. NAD is a natural substance produced in your body, where it’s essential for producing energy, repairing DNA, and fostering cellular communication. Overconsumption of alcohol significantly lowers your levels of NAD.
When you receive an intravenous infusion of a special NAD product, BR+NAD™, it quickly reduces your alcohol cravings. After a short course of daily BR+NAD infusions, cravings are virtually eliminated for most patients. BR+NAD also restores your nervous system function, improving mood and cognitive control.
Dr. Repass includes psychotherapy as part of your MAT and NAD detox programs. Therapy helps you understand why you drink or what triggers your drinking and explores ways to cope without turning to alcohol.
If you need help detoxing and recovering from alcohol addiction, call Revolution Psychiatric and Addiction Treatment to schedule an appointment.
DISCLAIMER: NAD+ qualifies as a supplement under FDA guidelines. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Intravenous NAD+ therapy is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.
