There’s nothing good about being an alcoholic. It can and will disrupt your relationships, it will make you hard to be around for an extended period of time, and it will impede your ability to hold a full-time job.
Not only does it create chaos when it comes to your social circle and everyday life, but it also ruins your physical and mental health.
Alcoholics are not healthy, and their addictions can wreak havoc on their bodies and their brains.
In the modern age of stress and fast-paced lifestyles, identifying alcoholism can be problematic.
There are a number of people who can drink alcohol regularly, but still remain relatively functional.
Friends and family can easily ignore the warning signs because no one wants to believe a loved one has a problem with addiction.
Here are six warning signs someone is a high-functioning alcoholic.
1. They Choose Alcohol Over Food
You may first start to notice someone close to you is an alcoholic when you rarely see them eat. For breakfast lunch and dinner, they show no interest in solid food, but only consume alcoholic beverages.
They also talk about their love for beer and other drinks to excess.
This is a serious sign that often gets overlooked.
2. They Don’t Get Hungover
Alcoholics are used to having large amounts of alcohol in the blood, which means that they have to drink a lot in order to feel the impact the next morning.
If you notice that your friend or loved one is drinking large amounts but seems unaffected the next day, this could be a pretty good indication that they have a problem.
3. They Become Irritable if Not Drinking
This is a classic sign with addiction in general, not just alcohol. When someone is addicted to a substance, the most pressing issue they have is getting their hands on more of that substance.
Alcoholics are no different, and they will become extremely irritable if they can’t drink when they want to. In extreme cases, you’ll start to see the psychological symptoms of withdraw in a day or two of abstinence.
4. A Loss of Memory or Weak Brain Function
Alcohol directly affects the nervous system of the body, which impacts a person’s ability to think.
Memory loss and weak brain function are serious indicators that someone has a problem with alcohol as a result of excess drinking.
If you want to test whether or not this is the case for someone in your life, ask them what was happening around them at the bar or place they were drinking the night before.
If they can’t recall, they could have a serious problem.
5. They Scramble for Justifications
When someone has an alcohol problem that they don’t want to admit, they will scramble in order to justify their excessive drinking.
Most of these justifications will be illogical, and a person without an alcohol addition will be able to spot them immediately.
Even when faced with the horrible health problems that drinking causes, they will come back with an excuse that doesn’t at all justify what they’re doing to their bodies.
6. Regular Behavioral Changes
A person with a strong addiction to alcohol will go through behavioral changes or suffer from mood swings.
A person who is regularly soft spoken or polite may become aggressive or more easily agitated when drinking.
This will cause them to want to spend more time alone rather than with their friends or families.
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