It happens without warning. It creeps into your life and all of a sudden, you’re hooked. At first you’re the life of the party, and later you’re the drunk of the party. When you’re young, twenties and thirties, your body can handle all the booze, no problem. But mentally it impairs the way you view and feel the world around you.

Most of the time, alcoholics don’t know that alcohol has taken hold of their life. This is called the denial stage. Alcoholics feel that if they can get up and go to work everyday, even though secretly they have an excruciating headache, they don’t have a problem.

But what keeps the alcoholic going throughout the workday is in knowing that after work, they’ll have those highballs or beers, which will in fact, make them feel like their old self again.

The problem is, that’s not our old self, but our new old self on alcohol. You see, alcohol changes the person we are inside, not only does alcohol, with time, rot our insides, but it rots what comes from within us. What we do, how we treat others, and our spirituality.

The potential to be a whole person has been put on hold because of alcohol. The booze stunts the mental capacities and impairs the ability to see the world clearly enough to get passed the weakness and mistakes we make in life.

Alcohol is not only physically addicting, but mentally addicting as well. An alcoholic might believe they feel and look better while drinking; or they might THINK they can still drive a car; they don’t realize their reflexes have slowed down; or they think they are better communicators after several martinis. But nothing is further from the truth.

Alcoholics don’t know God. Ah yes, they say those things that your ears want to hear, and they even go to church every Saturday and Sunday, but what are their actions telling you. What fruits do you see shine bright in the alcoholic?

Spiritually speaking the alcoholic has allowed other sources to be His God, namely, Mr. Jim Beam. Until Mr. Beam gets out of the picture, he will literally master the alcoholic and his mind.

This is how alcohol takes control of the alcoholic’s life!

Their thinking is literally impaired! The alcoholics don’t really have a mind of their own. Alcohol speaks for them. Many decisions an alcoholic makes are based on or around drinking.

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Alcohol is widely abused substance besides drugs and causes large number of fatalities every year. Although alcohol consumption to some extent is permitted by law, its abuse can lead to crimes and accidents. Alcohol testing needs to be performed at workplaces, schools, colleges, and on highways to ensure prevailing of safe environment and discipline. Random testing at workplaces can check its abuse and increase productivity levels. There are various methods used for alcohol testing.

Urine Test

The urine test for alcohol is an easiest, convenient, reliable, and less expensive way to know whether a person has consumed alcohol. After consumption, it show up in urine after 1.5-2 hrs. The urine test can effectively detect up to 48 hrs after consumption. However, testing methods like Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG) urine test can detect alcohol in urine for up to 80 hours after consumption. The urine testing can show the presence its presence in body, but it does not indicate or necessarily mean that the person is addicted. Similarly, a positive result for urine test shows that person has abused it several hours ago and does not mean that the person was under the influence of the drug at the time of test. Urine drug testing is also preferred method for self-testing or home testing.

Blood Test

Blood alcohol test is an accurate method that measures the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) in the blood. The alcohol gets quickly dissolved in the blood and reaches its maximum level about an hour after consumption. As blood testing measures the drug content in blood at the time when sample was taken, it can not be established for what period the person has been drinking or whether the person is addicted. The blood alcohol test is often performed to determine whether the person has taken the drug up to the legally permissible limit or is intoxicated. The blood alcohol testing is invasive and expensive method of testing.

Saliva Test

The saliva alcohol test is done to determine the drug presence in saliva of a person. The saliva testing method is preferred over blood testing, as alcohol level in saliva is almost always equal to the alcohol level in blood. It is also preferred as it is non-intrusive, less expensive, easy to perform, and provides quick results. This is a preferred method at organizations for employee testing as adulteration of specimens is not possible. However, saliva alcohol testing can effectively detect alcohol for 10-24 hours after consumption.

Breathalyzer Test

Breathalyzer test uses Breathalyzer tool to determine the blood alcohol content (BAC) by measuring the amount of alcohol in person’s breath. Breathalyzers are hand held devices which are commonly used by law enforcement as they are easy to handle, convenient, portable, and provides quick results. Breathalyzers are also used to prevent alcohol abuse and maintaining safe environment in workplaces, schools, colleges, on highways, and roads. Breathalyzers are effective tools to check drunken driving that can lead to hazardous situations.

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There are several different methods available for alcohol testing. Alcohol can be tested in the blood, breath, urine and saliva.

Blood Alcohol Testing

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) is considered to be the standard for measuring the degree to which an individual is impaired by alcohol. For years, studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between the blood alcohol concentration and the degree to which reactions and judgments are impaired. The methodology used for blood alcohol testing is Gas Chromatography and is the most accurate forensic quality test in the industry today. However, drawing blood is an invasive and expensive procedure that most companies prefer to avoid.

Breath Alcohol Testing

It is well proven that there is a direct correlation between the blood alcohol concentration of a person and their breath alcohol contents. During respiration, gas is exchanged from the lungs to the blood (primarily oxygen) during inhalation, and visa versa (primarily C02) during exhalation. During this exchange, alcohol in the blood vaporizes and is carried out of the lungs in the exhaled breath. There are several types of breath alcohol testers available today. These range from disposable screening testers to the equipment that provides legally admissible results, including very expensive digital read-out breath alcohol monitors. These types of testers fall into three categories:

* Evidential Breath Testing Devices
* Non Evidential Portable Hand Held Devices
* Disposable Devices (provides non forensic results)

The evidential breath testing devices are generally expensive (costs range from $2000-$5000 per unit), require regular maintenance, repair and calibration, and must be operated by certified personnel. Attachments such as sterile mouth pieces must be used each time a test is performed. These units are large table top units designed to be used in one location. Movement can cause a change in calibration which will require maintenance.

The portable hand held devices provide fairly accurate results and are used for screening purposes. By measuring the alcohol content in the breath, a reliable indication of the blood alcohol level is achieved. Portables devices are less accurate than evidential devices, however by comparing the cost performance ratio, these devices are affordable and sufficient for personal usage. Most potable devices are not evidential and therefore they cannot be used in the court of law.

The disposable devices are noninvasive, less accurate and non scalable methods of screening for alcohol. Can be used to detect the presence of alcohol with a rough estimate to the degree of impairment. Being disposable, the cost per test for preliminary screening is considerably higher than the cost of testing using portable devices.

Here is how they work The ethyl alcohol in the blood escapes through the lung tissue into the exhaled breath. The presence of ethyl alcohol in the breath is detectable by a color change of very sensitive chemically coated crystals contained in the Disposable Breath Analyzer. Immediately prior to use, the ampoule is ruptured by slight finger pressure on the outer flexible clear tube to release crystals within the confines of the tube. When the subject exhales into the tube, crystals interact with breath vapor and change color from yellow to blue if alcohol is present. If all the crystals change color completely, this indicates that the blood alcohol level of the subject is over 0.10%, exceeding the legal limit in most states.

source: ezinearticles.com

Alcoholism is a social problem, not unique to any single population. It is often present where there are socio-economic limitations. Alcoholism is a major social, economic, and public health problem. Alcohol is involved in more than half of all accidental deaths and almost half of all traffic deaths. Alcoholism is not confined to the metropolitan areas, however. Many are the housewives in the better areas who drink all day long while the hubby is away.

Alcoholism is a physical dependence upon alcohol, but there are also genetic factors as well as psychological and social factors that contribute to the disease. Family history, emotional and psychological stress all plays a big part as well as the constant exposure to alcohol. Alcoholism is generally defined as a disease of the body, mind and spirit. Alcoholism is responsible for more family problems than any other single cause. According to Silverstein (1990), one of every four families has problems with alcohol.

Alcoholism is an insidious disease and denial can be deadly. For example, Kristen seems happy and healthy while Owen Wilson is still shut down, depressed and drinking. Alcoholism is a disease of the mind. Alcohol is often abused to self medicate anxiety, depression, irritability and sleep disorders but these conditions are worsened by drinking. Alcoholism is a disease. It?s a fact that too many people forget, when they talk about alcoholics and alcohol abuse.

Alcoholism is simply defined as a dependence on alcohol. It is a disease that becomes worse over time. Alcoholism is a chosen, acquired path. I still find it offensive that one would put the two subjects together. Alcoholism is a treatable brain disorder in which people lose their ability to control their use of alcohol. There have been significant advancements in alcohol treatment in recent years.
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There are a number of homologous series of hydrocarbon compounds which contain various functional groups that are derived from alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and benzene. Alcohols are hydrocarbons which contain the hydroxyl group, an -OH group, as their functional group. Alcohols are named from the corresponding molecule they derive from, then given an -ol ending, which describes the -OH functional group. The simplest alcohols are methanol (CH3OH) and ethanol (CH3CH2OH). Cyclic hydrocarbons can also form alcohols.

Phenol is derived from benzene, its hydroxylic functional group joining onto the aromatic ring.

Alcohols with multiple hydroxylic groups are called multiple hydroxyl-containing alcohols. The most meaningful of these are ethylene glycol and propantriol, otherwise known as glycerine. Alcohols are flammable, burning to produce carbon dioxide and water. The chemical properties of alcohols are quite similar to each other, thanks to the presence of the hydroxyl functional group. Alcohols derived from alkanes form alcoholates with impure metals. In these reactions, the hydrogen atom from the hydroxyl group is exchanged with a metal atom. This is called a substitution reaction.

CH2OH-CHOH-CH2OH

glycerine

propantriol

A sizable number of compounds which appear in living organisms contain a significant number of hydroxylic groups. Among these are simple sugars such as glucose or fructose, a sugar derived from fruits, as well as some hormones (steroidal hormones).

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