Everyone Healthy Library
Alcoholism
Also Known As: Alcohol Use Disorder
Condition / disease reference page from the Everyone Healthy database.
Connected health information
Explore this condition in a clear order
Condition overview
Attributes
Commonalityis common
Commonality for Afghanistanis uncommon
Commonality for Australiais common
Commonality for Europeis common
Commonality for Russiais common
Commonality for South East Asiais uncommon
Linked signs and symptoms
16Each 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
18Grouped by treatment type. These are educational database links, not personal treatment recommendations. Evidence labels are shown only where stored in the EH database.
Medical therapy
1Lifestyle changes
2Behavioural changes
2Counselling and support
1Alternative and complementary therapies
4Alternative medicine
1Alternative therapies
2Vitamins and minerals
3Vitamins
1Linked diagnostic tests and investigations
25These are pulled from both EH diagnostic-test link tables, including the older large test-link table.
- amylase concentration
- Blood Alcohol Test
- Blood Urea Nitrogen Tests
- Blood Uric Acid Concentration Test
- Carbon Dioxide Total Content (TCO2)
- Chloride Concentration (Blood)
- Creatine Kinase Concentration
- Folic Acid (Folate) 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
- Urine Magnesium (Mg) Concentration
Biological and test markers
23This visual map uses existing EH database links to show biological agents and lab markers reported as increased, decreased, or associated 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
16- AmylaseReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 25–125 units/LLinked diagnostic tests1amylase concentration
- Carbon Dioxide Total Content (TCO2)Reference range exampleInfant (0 - 1y): 20–27 mEq/L; Newborn (0 - 1month): 13–21 mEq/LLinked diagnostic tests1Carbon Dioxide Total Content (TCO2)
- Chloride (Blood, Cl)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 97–106 mEq/L; Birth - 2wks: 94–106 mEq/LLinked diagnostic tests1Chloride Concentration (Blood)
- Creatine Kinase (CK)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 35–150 units/L; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 40–170 units/LLinked diagnostic tests1Creatine Kinase Concentration
- Gamma-Glutamyltransferase (GGT)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 6–30 units/L; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 6–38 units/LLinked diagnostic tests1Gamma-Glutamyltransferase (GGT) Concentration
- Hemoglobin (Hb)
- Hemoglobin (Hb)Reference range exampleFemale: 78–100 gm/dL; Male: 76–100 gm/dLLinked diagnostic tests3Hemoglobin (Hb) Concentration, Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) Weight Test
- High Density Lipoprotein (HDL)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 53–500 mg/dL; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 45–500 mg/dLLinked diagnostic tests1High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Concentration
- Lactic Acid (Venous Blood)Reference range exampleAll: 0.5–2.2 mEq/LLinked diagnostic tests1Lactic Acid Concentration
- Luteinizing Hormone (LH)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 3–56 units/L; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 1.2–8 units/LLinked diagnostic tests1Luteinizing Hormone (LH) Concentration
- Red Blood Cell (RBC) VolumeReference range example76–100 fLLinked diagnostic tests1Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV)
- Red Blood Distribution Width (RDW)Reference range exampleAll: 11–14.5 %Linked diagnostic tests1Red Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW) Test
- TriglyceridesReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y), Female: 32–137 mg/dL; Adult ( > 16y), Male: 35–155 mg/dLLinked diagnostic tests2Triglyceride (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 tests1Blood Uric Acid Concentration Test
- Urine AmylaseReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 400–6,700 nkat/dayLinked diagnostic tests1Urine Amylase Excretion Rate
- Urine KetoneReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 0–0.25 mg/dLLinked diagnostic tests1Urine Ketone Concentration
Often decreased
7- Blood Urea NitrogenReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 6–18 mg/dL; Child (< 10y): 5–15 mg/dLLinked diagnostic tests1Blood Urea Nitrogen Tests
- Folic Acid (Folate)Reference range exampleInfant (0 - 1y): 14–51 ng/mL; Child (0 - 16y): 5–21 ng/mLLinked diagnostic tests1Folic Acid (Folate) Concentration
- Magnesium (Mg, Blood)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 1.3–2.6 mEq/L; Birth - 2wks: 1.4–2.2 mEq/LLinked diagnostic tests1Magnesium 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 tests1Phosphate 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 tests1Red Blood Cell (RBC) Count
- ReticulocytesReference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 24–83 109/L; 0.5–1.5 %Linked diagnostic tests2Reticulocyte Absolute Count, Reticulocyte Count Percent Total RBC
- Urine Magnesium (Mg)Reference range exampleAdult ( > 16y): 75–150 mg/24hrsLinked diagnostic tests1Urine Magnesium (Mg) Concentration
Other associated markers
0No markers in this group.
Introduction / full article
Alcoholism
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 alcoholism)
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
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
Vitamin B complex [8]:
Recommendation: Weakly in favor (Early studies show that vitamin B complex may be able to help prevent alcoholism. More studies are needed)
Grade of Evidence: Low level 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