Everyone Healthy Library
Alcohol Dependence
Condition / disease reference page from the Everyone Healthy database.
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Connected health information
Explore this condition in a clear order
Linked signs and symptoms
7Each sign/symptom opens its own page and links back to related conditions.
Linked drugs / medications
3Medication information is educational only. A doctor or pharmacist should advise whether any medicine is appropriate.
Treatments, therapies and supportive options
14Grouped by treatment type. These are educational database links, not personal treatment recommendations. Evidence labels are shown only where stored in the EH database.
Alternative and complementary therapies
5Alternative medicine
1Alternative therapies
2Vitamins and minerals
2Vitamins
2Linked diagnostic tests and investigations
22These are pulled from both EH diagnostic-test link tables, including the older large test-link table.
- amylase concentration
- Blood Urea Nitrogen Tests
- Blood Uric Acid Concentration Test
- Carbon Dioxide Total Content (TCO2)
- Chloride Concentration (Blood)
- Creatine Kinase Concentration
- Folic Acid (Folate) Concentration
- Gamma-Glutamyltransferase (GGT) Concentration
- Glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) Concentration
- High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Concentration
- Lactic Acid Concentration
- Luteinizing Hormone (LH) Concentration
- Magnesium Concentration (Mg, Blood)
- Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) Weight Test
- Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV)
- Phosphate Concentration (PO4, Phosphorus)
- Red Blood Cell (RBC) Count
- Red Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW) Test
- Reticulocyte Absolute Count
- Triglyceride (TGs) Concentration
- Urine Amylase Excretion Rate
- Urine Ketone Concentration
Biological markers/agents
22This visual map shows biological markers/agents reported as increased or decreased with this condition. These are educational relationships only; test results must be interpreted by a qualified clinician because ranges vary by lab, method, age, sex and clinical context.
Often increased
15- AmylaseReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 25–125 units/LLinked diagnostic testsamylase concentration
- Carbon Dioxide Total Content (TCO2)Reference range exampleInfant (0 - 1y): 20–27 mEq/L; Newborn (0 - 1month): 13–21 mEq/LLinked diagnostic testsCarbon Dioxide Total Content (TCO2)
- Chloride (Blood, Cl)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 97–106 mEq/L; Birth - 2wks: 94–106 mEq/LLinked diagnostic testsChloride Concentration (Blood)
- Creatine Kinase (CK)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 35–150 units/L; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 40–170 units/LLinked diagnostic testsCreatine Kinase Concentration
- Gamma-Glutamyltransferase (GGT)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 6–30 units/L; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 6–38 units/LLinked diagnostic testsGamma-Glutamyltransferase (GGT) Concentration
- Hemoglobin (Hb)
- Hemoglobin (Hb)Reference range exampleFemale: 78–100 gm/dL; Male: 76–100 gm/dLLinked diagnostic testsHemoglobin (Hb) Concentration, Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) Weight Test
- Lactic Acid (Venous Blood)Reference range exampleAll: 0.5–2.2 mEq/LLinked diagnostic testsLactic Acid Concentration
- Luteinizing Hormone (LH)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 3–56 units/L; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 1.2–8 units/LLinked diagnostic testsLuteinizing Hormone (LH) Concentration
- Red Blood Cell (RBC) VolumeReference range example76–100 fLLinked diagnostic testsMean Corpuscular Volume (MCV)
- Red Blood Distribution Width (RDW)Reference range exampleAll: 11–14.5 %Linked diagnostic testsRed Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW) Test
- TriglyceridesReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 32–137 mg/dL; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 35–155 mg/dLLinked diagnostic testsTriglyceride (TG's) Concentration, Triglyceride (TGs) Concentration
- Uric Acid, BloodReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 2.5–7 mg/dL; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 4–8 mg/dLLinked diagnostic testsBlood Uric Acid Concentration Test
- Urine AmylaseReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 400–6,700 nkat/dayLinked diagnostic testsUrine Amylase Excretion Rate
- Urine KetoneReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 0–0.25 mg/dLLinked diagnostic testsUrine Ketone Concentration
Often decreased
7- Blood Urea NitrogenReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 6–18 mg/dL; Child (< 10y): 5–15 mg/dLLinked diagnostic testsBlood Urea Nitrogen Tests
- Folic Acid (Folate)Reference range exampleInfant (0 - 1y): 14–51 ng/mL; Child (0 - 16y): 5–21 ng/mLLinked diagnostic testsFolic Acid (Folate) Concentration
- High Density Lipoprotein (HDL)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 53–500 mg/dL; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 45–500 mg/dLLinked diagnostic testsHigh Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Concentration
- Magnesium (Mg, Blood)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 1.3–2.6 mEq/L; Birth - 2wks: 1.4–2.2 mEq/LLinked diagnostic testsMagnesium Concentration (Mg, Blood)
- Phosphate (PO4, Phosphorus, P)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 2.5–4.5 mg/dL; Birth - 2wks: 4.3–9.2 mg/dLLinked diagnostic testsPhosphate Concentration (PO4, Phosphorus)
- Red Blood Cells (RBC)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 3.6–5 106/mm3; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 4.2–5.4 106/mm3Linked diagnostic testsRed Blood Cell (RBC) Count
- ReticulocytesReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 24–83 109/L; 0.5–1.5 %Linked diagnostic testsReticulocyte Absolute Count, Reticulocyte Count Percent Total RBC
Introduction / full article
Alcohol Dependence
Efficacy of Alternative and Other Treatments According to GRADE* Ranking:
Megavitamin Therapy (Multivitamin, Vitamin Supplements) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]:
Please Note that while supplements are effective in correcting deficiencies in the body, their long-term usage is not helpful in preventing diseases like cancer and heart disease. To prevent these illnesses one should eat the natural foods which these vitamins and minerals come from. Replacing natural sources with artificial supplements actually increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. Supplements should be taken only as a balanced multivitamin supplement that contains no more than 100% of the recommended daily allowance. It would be most helpful in people with restricted food intakes, pregnant women and women of childbearing age.
Recommendation: Weakly against. (There is no evidence that Megavitamin therapy can prevent or treat alcoholism. In fact, long term therapy can lead to increased risk for other diseases)
Grade of Evidence: moderate quality of evidence
Red Pepper (Capsaicin):
Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It is proposed only as a weak supportive symptomatic support, and even then, has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present.
Recommendation: no recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to support claims that red peppers help to treat or prevent alcohol dependance)
Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence
Magnetic Therapy:
Recommendation: no recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to show that Magnetic Therapy can help with Alcohol dependance)
Grade of Evidence: low quality of evidence
Creative Art Therapy (Expressive Therapy)
Recomendation: no recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to show that expressive therapy helps with Alcohol dependance)
Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence
Hypnosis:
Recommendation: no recommendation (evidence has shown that hypnosis is not effective in helping people treat Alcohol dependance)
Grade of Evidence: low quality of evidence
Meditation:
Recommendation: no recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to show that Meditation can help with Alcohol dependance)
Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence
Thiamine [8]:
Recommendation: Weakly in favor (Early studies show that thiamine may be able to help treat alcohol dependence. More studies are needed)
Grade of Evidence: Low quality of evidence
* www.gradeworkinggroup.org
Summary References
Treatments:
1. Ades T, Alteri R, Gansler T, Yeargin P, "Complete Guide to Complimentary & Alternative Cancer Therapies", American Cancer Society, Atlanta USA, 2009
2. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/orthomolecular-medicine
3. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/163/2/192.pdf
4. http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/ortho.html
5. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/72/5/707
6. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/no-index/about-ama/13638.shtml
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17327526
8. http://alcohol.addictionblog.org/thiamine-deficiency-alcohol-and-alcoholism/