Alvaro Porras Toledo Professor Ruth Hayes-Morrison October 19, 2010 Alcoholis!

and Oriental Medicine" The addiction to alcohol is of #reat $revalence, es$ecially in our current ti!es of national financial crisis% &ith all the increased financial stresses and burdens, alcohol beco!es even !ore of an attractive esca$e% 'evertheless, $eo$le often use alcohol to deal (ith all )inds of stresses and life trau!as, es$ecially life trau!as% As an Oriental Medicine $ractitioner, it is i!$ortant to understand (hy a $atient !i#ht be addicted to alcohol% Tellin# so!ebody to *uit drin)in# +ust because it,s bad for their health (ouldn,t be effective% Often (hen a $erson drin)s alcohol, he is tryin# to self !edicate% There is nothin# unnatural about (antin# to let #o of stress% -t is i!$ortant, thou#h, to choose a stress-release !ediu! that you can control instead of it controllin# you% Alcohol is so (idely available and acce$ted that it,s vital to educate $eo$le fro! very early on about (hat alcohol is, and (hat it can do to you (hen ta)en in e.cess% The !a)in# of alcohol #oes bac) to at least 10,000 /0 as su##ested by the discovery of late stone a#e beer +u#s% -n ancient 1#y$t, the #od of beer and (ine Osiris (as (idely (orshi$ed% Alcoholic bevera#es (ere !ainly used for rituals, #atherin#s, !edicine, and funerary $ur$oses% 1#y$tians also had nor!s for $ro$er consu!$tion of alcohol and (arned a#ainst drin)in# e.cessively% 2i!ilarly, this tradition ha$$ened across the #lobe in other cultures3 includin# Persian, 4ree), /abylonian, 0hinese, and other indi#enous tribes% -n fact, the !ain co!$onent of the 0hinese character for !edicine is that of a +u# of alcohol% Alcohol should be treated (ith res$ect for it accesses the s$irit, hence the co!!on na!e #iven to hard li*uor, s$irits%" Alcohol is one of the freely available substances that crosses the blood- brain barrier% -n s!all doses, at the ri#ht ti!e and the ri#ht $lace, it can rela. the nervous syste! and increase circulation% -n e.cess, it creates da!$ heat and has a to.ic effect on the body% There is another as$ect to be ta)en into account, (hich is the *uality and ty$e of the alcoholic bevera#e, but that

is another to$ic in itself% 2o, (hen does drin)in# alcohol turn into alcoholis!5 Accordin# to the 6niversity of Maryland Medical 0enter3 Alcoholis! is a chronic, often $ro#ressive disease in (hich a $erson craves alcohol and drin)s des$ite re$eated alcohol related $roble!s 7li)e losin# a +ob or a relationshi$8% Alcoholis! involves a $hysical de$endence on alcohol, but other factors include #enetic, $sycholo#ical, and cultural influences"% A$$ro.i!ately 19 !illion $eo$le in the 6nited 2tates are addicted to alcohol or abuse alcohol% :urther!ore, alcohol is involved in al!ost half of all traffic deaths% 2y!$to!s of alcoholis! include3 0ravin# alcohol 'ot bein# able to control the a!ount you drin) /lac)outs 7not re!e!berin# events or conversations8 /eco!in# irritable (hen you can, t #et a drin) at your re#ular ti!e Havin# le#al $roble!s or an inability to sustain a relationshi$ or a +ob &ithdra(al sy!$to!s, such as nausea, s(eatin#, sha)iness, and an.iety, (hen you sto$ drin)in# 'eedin# !ore alcohol to feel its effects ;rin)in# by yourself in secret <iver disease :actors that !ay increase one,s ris) include3 /e#innin# to drin) early, by a#e 1= or sooner ;rin)in# !ore than 1 - 2 drin)s $er day 2!o)in# ci#arettes 7$articularly teena#ers8 /ein# under a lot of stress Havin# a $re-e.istin# $sychiatric disorder 7such as de$ression or an.iety8 :a!ily history of alcohol abuse Men have hi#her rates of alcoholis! than (o!en Havin# 2 or !ore adverse events durin# childhood /ro)en ho!es

'o( the *uestion is, ,&hat do you do (hen you have an alcoholic $atient5, ,;o you treat hi! only as lon# as he is #oin# to Alcoholics Anony!ous5, ,;o you refer hi! so!e(here else if he doesn,t have the intention to sto$ drin)in#5, Or on the other hand, ,;o you treat hi! re#ardless of hi! (antin#

to *uit5, - li)e to ta)e both a$$roaches de$endin# on the $atient and the course of the treat!ent% (ould su$$ort the $atient e!otionally and try to (a)e hi! u$ throu#h acu$uncture% 1ven thou#h, he !ay not (ant to *uit alcohol at first, (ith $ro$er treat!ent, the $ractitioner can #o inside the dar) cave (here the $atient is lost and li#ht a candle% -t is not a$$ro$riate to order $atients (hat to do (ith their lives, but to sho( the! a (ay out of their addictions% >ou can #ive the! a #li!$se of ho( thin#s (ould be better if they freed the!selves fro! their chains% Ho(ever, at so!e $oint durin# the treat!ent you !i#ht see it necessary to be !ore drastic and #ive the $atient an ulti!atu!% -deally, you (ould (ant the $atients to start #oin# to AA !eetin#s by their o(n free (ill% -f they #o there to $lease so!ebody else, and not because they have the true desire to *uit, they (ill !ost li)ely )ee$ drin)in#% They could even !a)e a habit of attendin# the !eetin#s (hile drun)% A recoverin# alcoholic said, AA is not for those (ho need it, but for those (ho (ant it%" That,s (hy there are alcoholics that #o to AA (ho rela$se% -t is (ithin the $o(er of Oriental Medicine to ali#n $atients (ith their true selves and to i#nite their (ill to ta)e control of their lives% 2o far, there has not been any valid scientific research sho(in# si#nificant i!$rove!ent fro! alcohol de$endence throu#h a $articular acu$uncture treat!ent% - a#ree (ith the research in the sense that there is no standard treat!ent of acu$uncture that (ill hel$ !ost alcoholics% Alcoholis! is a delicate condition !ore closely lin)ed to the s$irit of the $erson, and as such, it should be a condition that is treated individually% Research often detaches the $ractitioner fro! the $atient% /ut (hen it co!es to treatin# the s$irit, the $ractitioner needs to be !ore sub+ectively involved in the case than if it (as so!ethin# basic, such as a fro?en shoulder%

Additional Notes: ;idn,t find any scientifically conducted research sho(in# that acu$uncture hel$ed alcohol de$endence3 7- has been sho(n to hel$ (ith o$iate de$endence thou#h8 htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@1991A=BA htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@191B2199 htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@119A21A2 Ho(ever, acu$uncture does sho( better results for hel$in# substance abuse $atients (hen in con+unction (ith $sycho-educational treat!ent3 htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@19291=9C 0hinese 0haracter for Medicine3

References: 6niversity of Maryland Medical 0enter htt$3@@(((%u!!%edu@alt!ed@articles@alcoholis!-000002%ht! htt$3@@(((%alcoholis!-infor!ation%co!@Alcoholis!D2tatistics%ht!l htt$3@@?hon#(en%co!@d@199@.229%ht! htt$3@@en%(i)i$edia%or#@(i)i@HistoryDofDalcoholicDbevera#es