Alcoholism is serious. Sure, once you reach a certain age, you like to go out and drink with your friends or coworkers, which is all fine and dandy. The problem is when you start to rely on alcohol to help you function during your daily life. The following are signs of alcoholism.

• 1.)Lying About Drinking Habits: Basically, this is when you’re talking to someone and the question, “How much do you drink?” comes up and instead of being honest, your answer is half of what you really drink. Or you say that you only drink when you’re out with your friends, even though you also drink with every meal and during commercials. If you go to your friend’s apartment and they have alcohol in every room, they probably have a problem.
• 2.)Inviting Trouble: Let’s say you go to see your doctor. Your doctor tells you to lay off the drinks for now, but as soon as you leave, you go home and down a couple beers you bought at the store on the way home. Yeah….you have a problem. If you can’t go whatever amount of time without a drink, even under a doctor’s orders, you need to re-examine your decisions.
• 3.)Physical Signs: Of course there are always the obvious signs such as, blood-shot eyes and reeking breath, but what about some less obvious ones? Those include: broken capillaries on the face, drastic weight loss/gain, brittle hair/fingernails, lack of hygiene, yellowing skin, and premature aging.
• 4.)Forget: So many people have a stressful day or something bad happens and they want to unwind and have a drink. However, if you’re doing that every day and for every little thing, there’s something wrong. If you don’t feel relaxed or like yourself without a drink, you might want to reconsider what you’re doing and find what actually makes you feel like your real self.
• 5.)Slacking: During your job or school or other activities in your life, you seem to be functioning at a 2 instead of a 10. Why? Perhaps it’s because you haven’t had a drink yet and therefore, can’t actually function. Signs of not functioning at full capacity, is falling grades, boss telling you about the mistakes you’ve been making lately, and not showing up to school or work.
• 6.)Can’t Keep Relationships: When I say relationship, I mean both romantic and platonic. When your world revolves around alcohol, you most likely have trouble showing up to dates on time, you become aggressive or violent, you put all your problems onto your friends, and maybe even do something illegal. All of those things will probably make it difficult for you to have any kind of decent relationship with people.
• 7.)Withdrawal: This will be the worst. As an alcoholic, you most likely have had alcohol in your system constantly, therefore, your body isn’t used to being “clean”. Get ready to feel shitty. Withdrawal is going to include: anxiety, tremors, nausea/vomiting, depression, irritability, fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite, and insomnia.
• 8.)Denial: Do you drink but say you don’t? Denial. Do you hide alcohol around the house but say that you never keep it in the house? Denial. Are you drunk right now but say you could get in your car and drive? Denial. Did you get angry and yell at your significant other for no reason while holding a bottle in your hand but said it’s not because of your drinking? Denial.
• 9.)Tolerance: You drink and drink and drink because you’re trying to get drunk, but can’t. Why? Because your body has built a tolerance. That basically means that the normal amount it takes to get drunk, no longer applies. For example, you need 10 beers to get you drunk instead of the 5 it used to take.
• 10.)Neglect: You can’t seem to actually do anything you used to. You can’t do the dishes, finish your homework, or walk your dog. Your body really feels like it can’t do anything. Instead, you’d rather spend your time and energy pouring yourself a drink.

Are you or anyone you know experiencing any of those signs? Here is a free and confidential drug hotline: 1-888-459-5511.