Alcohol Awareness Month (April)

Do I have Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)?
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: AUD is characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. Health care providers diagnose AUD when a person has two or more of the symptoms listed below.

In the past year, have you:
• Had times when you ended up drinking more, or longer than you intended?
• More than once wanted to cut down or stop drinking, or tried to, but couldn’t?
• Spent a lot of time drinking, being sick from drinking, or getting over other aftereffects?
• Wanted a drink so badly you couldn’t think of anything else?
• Found that drinking—or being sick from drinking—often interfered with taking care of your home or family? Or caused job troubles? Or school problems?
• Continued to drink even though it was causing trouble with your family or friends?
• Given up or cut back on activities you found important, interesting, or pleasurable so you could drink?
• More than once gotten into situations while or after drinking that increased your chances of getting hurt (such as driving, swimming, using machinery, walking in a dangerous area, or engaging in unsafe sexual behavior)?
• Continued to drink even though it was making you feel depressed or anxious or adding to another health problem? Or after having had an alcohol-related memory blackout?
• Needed to drink much more than you once did to get the effect you want? Or found that your usual number of drinks had much less effect than before?
• Found that when the effects of alcohol were wearing off, you had withdrawal symptoms, such as trouble sleeping, shakiness, restlessness, nausea, sweating, a racing heart, dysphoria (feeling uneasy or unhappy), malaise (general sense of being unwell), feeling low, or a seizure? Or sensed things that were not there?

Break the Stigma
People with AUD can feel isolated and rejected due to stigma—the negative attitudes and false beliefs about AUD that they have heard from others or have picked up from society at large. As a result, people with AUD might be too embarrassed to discuss it, think they should be strong enough to handle it alone, or be concerned that others might have a negative opinion. However, AUD is not a choice or character flaw and is a common medical condition that can happen to anyone. Evidence-based AUD treatment is available, change is possible, and most people who have AUD recover or markedly improve.

Seek Support/Help
If you struggle with AUD and have Medicaid, Healthy Michigan Plan, or no insurance, please call us at 1-800-781-0353. We serve 8 counties in the southwest part of Michigan. If you have private insurance through your employer, you will need to call your insurance plan for a referral to services.
We will do a phone screen with you to see what services you qualify for. If you qualify, we will refer you to a provider. If you are not sure who to call, you can start with us. If we are not the right agency, we will help you find out where to call to get support.

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