Alcoholism

[allegoric]

I have been doing research on alcoholism and neurotransmitters and wonder if anyone out there believes in my general opinion that this disease is one of a neuro/bio chemical imbalance and that you can affect and/or control the disease by what you eat and balancing the GABA in your brain.

[Phi for All]

From a non-medical standpoint, I don't think you can control alcoholism through diet or amino acid supplementation. Affecting it is almost certainly probable, however.

 

I'm not a big fan of classifying alcoholism as a disease in the first place. I think it's more a matter of high tolerance levels coupled with a psychological affinity for escapism. How many diseases can be cured by NOT drinking something? Do you consider chain smoking a disease?

[allegoric]

To be more exacting, I think alcoholics are "triggered" at some point by a traumatic event and once the brain is "taught" how to deal with the uncomfortable balance it is in (as a result of this event), it can only be satisfied with the repeat change it felt the very first time. Another words any uncomfortable situation is only satisfied by the addition of alcohol again and again until the correct "life functioning" (pre-trigger) balance is struck once again.

[insane_alien]

addiction is far closer than disease. its like saying that being fat is a disease.

what you described in your last post is the same as all drug addictions. the addict wants to achieve the same high as he got the first time but as s/he takes more drugs a tolerance is built up so s/he takes more and more each time. the effects are pretty much the same.

[Phi for All]

To be more exacting, I think alcoholics are "triggered" at some point by a traumatic event and once the brain is "taught" how to deal with the uncomfortable balance it is in (as a result of this event), it can only be satisfied with the repeat change it felt the very first time.

I don't know about the traumatic event part. I think it's more a case of the high-tolerance individual looking for escape and it just keeps taking more and more poison-of-choice over a period of time until dangerously high levels of toxins force an adverse reaction of some sort.

[Drug addict]

I have been doing research on alcoholism and neurotransmitters and wonder if anyone out there believes in my general opinion that this disease is one of a neuro/bio chemical imbalance and that you can affect and/or control the disease by what you eat and balancing the GABA in your brain.

 

It might be worth having a look into benzodiazepine and barbiturate dependence as well as these both act on GABA receptors.

[aj47]

Diazepam and clomethiazole are others also used in the treatment of alcoholism.

[Aardvark]

Charles Kennedy made a remark about controlling his alcohol problem with Vitamin C. Is there any scientific basis to that claim?