The signs of alcoholism are not always apparent, what we perceive as
a normal pattern of alcohol consumption, could be causing long term
chronic health problems and in all probability may be impacting
negatively in your every day life.
Alcohol dependency is a slow
process of attrition, a relentless wearing down of both your mental and
physical resistance; where once you had control of it, sadly it may now
have control over you? What you face right now is a world dominated by
a substance that once softened the blows of life, one that is
consequently rendering you powerless to cope with even the trivial
hurdles of normal existence. A prisoner of chemical abuse, in a cage of
dependency, that is of your own making.
So how do you break free?
The
first step is to ask four simple questions of yourself, the four
fundamental questions of CAGE. CAGE is a questionnaire that is used
widely as a screening test for alcoholism; it was developed originally
to identify the "hidden alcoholic" in hospitals and primary health care
settings. The word CAGE is an acronym of its four questions, Cut,
Annoyed, Guilty and Eye-opener.
- Have you ever felt you needed to Cut down on your drinking?
- Have people Annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
- Have you ever felt Guilty about drinking?
- Have you ever felt you needed a drink first thing in the morning (Eye-opener) to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?
To answer yes to 2 or more questions, indicates clinical
significance and points to the fact that you may have alcohol
dependence.
But how far down the line are you and what are the consequences?
One
final test will reveal the true level of your dependency, accurately
and give you a real indication of where you find yourself now. The test
is called AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and was
commissioned by the World Health Organisation as a means to identifying
persons with hazardous and harmful patterns of alcohol consumption.
AUDIT
if a freely available test for health care professionals which scores
your responses to multiple choice questions. This test is not a pass or
fail, it merely acts as a screening test to highlight excessive
drinking habits and acts as a framework for health care teams to help
hazardous and harmful drinkers to reduce or cease they're alcohol
consumption.
But what if you are not a health care
professional and need answers right now - what good is it if you cannot
interpret what it means?
Fortunately this is not a
problem; this test can be readily found on-line in an automated format,
it will take no more than a few minutes to complete and the results
mirror perfectly the guidelines presented in the original AUDIT report,
giving you the vital information you need to take action and seek
recovery.
The signs of alcoholism are often masked by our
everyday existence, we need that certain jolt that will open our eyes
to the harm we are inflicting on ourselves. Alcohol dependency is not
just the chronic street alcoholic, it's the problem drinker, the long
term abuser, the person who drinks just to cope; everyday people like
you and me who have tried to soften the daily blows of life with
alcohol, but who have simply lost control.
To discover how the signs of alcoholism are affecting your life and how you can once again regain control, take the AUDIT test today, by visiting http://www.signs-of-alcoholism.info
The test will literally take no more than a couple of minutes, is
completely confidential and has the potential to literally turn your
life around. |
