Physical Signs: Late Stage Alcoholism
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Physical Signs: Late Stage Alcoholism
What are the physical and health symptoms of an alcoholic who is in mid to late stage active alcoholism? I’m curious what is visible to friends and family who only see things from the outside and are being lied to. When do we see symptoms like their seeming to constantly have a cold with sniffles and cough, hair thinning, weight changes and vision issues. I’m thinking about those type of symptoms and whether they indicate more life threatening organ deterioration. If an alcoholic is 29 and has been in active addiction for several years minus a one year gap in the middle. What is the progression?
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I've seen a lot of alcoholics in various stages of their illness and with varying lengths of time drinking. Some go from functioning to dead quickly and some last for decades. I knew two men who died of alcoholic complications in their twenties, many in their thirties and forties. Then there are accidents and violence.
I don't think anyone can give a timeline or a list of symptoms. Often it becomes too late all of a sudden.
I hope your alcoholic friend or family member can plug in to a treatment facility or a good doctor and get a workup, that's really the best thing.
I don't think anyone can give a timeline or a list of symptoms. Often it becomes too late all of a sudden.
I hope your alcoholic friend or family member can plug in to a treatment facility or a good doctor and get a workup, that's really the best thing.
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Unfortunately I can’t get him to go anywhere and he says he will quit on his own soon. I’m seeing a dramatic change in his health and appearance. He just looks sick. It’s like someone with a bad cold that never goes away but also his skin, eyes and hair look bad. It’s been such a shift in this last month. I just want to know how bad it is if I’m seeing these symptoms and wonder what’s next. I think he’s also doing something else - possibly opiates and something at least occasionally to stay awake for more than 24 hours.
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The sniffing could be drugs, I mean a lot of drugs are snorted and cause many outward physical issues. If he's staying up for 24 hours, it's not alcohol only. If you're seeing physical changes, trust your gut. Lots of alcoholics use drugs.
Yeah, sounds bad - but you can't really do anything to *make* him be honest with you or to get help, that's entirely on him. Again, there's no way to know how this will progress. Does he live with you?
If this is someone close to you, I hope you're getting some support for yourself like Al Anon (for friends and families) or counseling.
Yeah, sounds bad - but you can't really do anything to *make* him be honest with you or to get help, that's entirely on him. Again, there's no way to know how this will progress. Does he live with you?
If this is someone close to you, I hope you're getting some support for yourself like Al Anon (for friends and families) or counseling.
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Thank you.
We don’t live together. I see him almost every day because we work out of the same firm. Others are starting to comment on his health. We used to see each other socially outside of the office until I got in the way of the alcohol. We had a recent case that required long hours and I was surprised to realize he was up working all night then all the next day. I see him popping chewing gum frequently in the office and he always has one of those aluminum water bottles with him. He stays far away from me now despite having been close friends for 2 years.
We don’t live together. I see him almost every day because we work out of the same firm. Others are starting to comment on his health. We used to see each other socially outside of the office until I got in the way of the alcohol. We had a recent case that required long hours and I was surprised to realize he was up working all night then all the next day. I see him popping chewing gum frequently in the office and he always has one of those aluminum water bottles with him. He stays far away from me now despite having been close friends for 2 years.
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Alcoholism/addiction greatly impacts those who are in the vicinity of the alcoholic/addict. Al-anon is beneficial for friends, family and co-workers in developing skills and knowledge of this disease.
http://www.al-anon/
This is a very illogical disease and the skillset needed to deal with it is counter-intuitive.
http://www.al-anon/
This is a very illogical disease and the skillset needed to deal with it is counter-intuitive.
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Originally Posted by Mango212 
This is a very illogical disease and the skillset needed to deal with it is counter-intuitive.
This is a tough thing to watch Kore. It is hard to know how it will progress.
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Originally Posted by Bekindalways
This ^^^^ many times over.
This is a tough thing to watch Kore. It is hard to know how it will progress.
This is a tough thing to watch Kore. It is hard to know how it will progress.
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I watched 3 of my friends die from Alcohol and drugs. As our group stopped the partying and got on with life they would just keep on going and trying to get us to join them. All past on in their early to late 30's. No amount of talking or pleading changed anything. They just continued down the path till death. That was over 30 years ago and I still miss them. They were good people and had big hearts. We cannot make people change, they have to want to. Me I found hard liquor in my 50's and now I was 5 months sober with one relapse 3 weeks ago. I am now 3 weeks sober and the better for it. I recommend AL Anon. My wife went to it because of me. She said it helped her a lot. Maybe it will help you too.
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Originally Posted by Kore
Well he pushed me away last month so I guess I need to stop thinking about it. He has isolated himself. Watching this self destruction all unfold and being coolly discarded has been truly heartbreaking. I don’t understand any of what has happened.
Alcoholics want to drink, it is their first priority. The craving, the seeking of alcohol is what they think about, all the time, whether drinking or not. You confronting him about it means (to him) that you are trying to get in the way of that.
First of all, you didn't Cause it, can't Control it and can't Cure it (the 3 c's).
It might help for you to read up on alcoholism as it might help to put your mind at ease a bit if you start to understand it a bit better. There are stickies up at the top of this forum that have plenty of insight, you might want to start here, if you are interested:
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...c-reading.html (Classic Reading)
There are also some great articles here you might find helpful:
Addiction, Lies and Relationships
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Its so hard to say. It could be the alcohol, or maybe he's having other health issues that haven't been diagnosed? Or maybe he hasn't shared health information with anyone.
There are alcohics who are very affected health wise after just a few years of heavy drinking. There are alcoholics who go many years with few alcohol related health issues.
My husband binge drank from age 12 to about age 36. He drank 5 to 18 (or more) beers a night for almost 20 years. Last year I was sure if he saw the blood test results his doctor had ordered (for an upcoming neck surgery, unrelated to alcohol) he would stop drinking. Well the joke was on me. He was just fine! No liver damage, perfect weight, perfect blood pressure. He was a little low on the vitamin most alcoholics are low on, and he has high cholesterol. That's it!
I was ticked! How can you drink for 40 YEARS and have good health? It wouldn't have lasted much longer thought, he was a functioning alcoholic, then he wasn't, and within a few months it got much worse.
So there is a huge variance for each person. It doesn't make any sense. Alcoholism doesn't make any sense. For what it's worth, my RAH is 10 months sober, but he still gets confused sometimes, can't keep a thought in his head and gets distracted easier than our 8 year old granddaughter. It is still early in his sobriety, so he could progress much further, healing takes a long time. Or it could be permanent damage to his brain. So sometimes the effects could remain unseen, or be very apparent like with your friend.
It is agonizing to watch them destroy themselves and not have the power to make them see what they are doing. It will help you so much to learn as much as you can about alcoholism. Read around the forums, and read all the stickies at the top of the page. Knowledge is power (to help you, not him.)
There are alcohics who are very affected health wise after just a few years of heavy drinking. There are alcoholics who go many years with few alcohol related health issues.
My husband binge drank from age 12 to about age 36. He drank 5 to 18 (or more) beers a night for almost 20 years. Last year I was sure if he saw the blood test results his doctor had ordered (for an upcoming neck surgery, unrelated to alcohol) he would stop drinking. Well the joke was on me. He was just fine! No liver damage, perfect weight, perfect blood pressure. He was a little low on the vitamin most alcoholics are low on, and he has high cholesterol. That's it!
I was ticked! How can you drink for 40 YEARS and have good health? It wouldn't have lasted much longer thought, he was a functioning alcoholic, then he wasn't, and within a few months it got much worse.
So there is a huge variance for each person. It doesn't make any sense. Alcoholism doesn't make any sense. For what it's worth, my RAH is 10 months sober, but he still gets confused sometimes, can't keep a thought in his head and gets distracted easier than our 8 year old granddaughter. It is still early in his sobriety, so he could progress much further, healing takes a long time. Or it could be permanent damage to his brain. So sometimes the effects could remain unseen, or be very apparent like with your friend.
It is agonizing to watch them destroy themselves and not have the power to make them see what they are doing. It will help you so much to learn as much as you can about alcoholism. Read around the forums, and read all the stickies at the top of the page. Knowledge is power (to help you, not him.)
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Kore, it's hurtful that he dropped your friendship. I'm sure its not personal, more a reaction to you mentioning the drinking.
No-one knows how alcohol affects people. I used to drink a bottle of wine a night and my liver tests came back perfect, but I wasn't at my best I promise you. Some A's get themselves into trouble with work, health or friendships and just decide to stop. I hope this happens to your friend. I was someone who made up my own mind to stop drinking, so it does happen.
No-one knows how alcohol affects people. I used to drink a bottle of wine a night and my liver tests came back perfect, but I wasn't at my best I promise you. Some A's get themselves into trouble with work, health or friendships and just decide to stop. I hope this happens to your friend. I was someone who made up my own mind to stop drinking, so it does happen.
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Join Date: Oct 2016
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Late stage alcoholism symptoms for me were:
Extremely swollen and red face
Sweating all the time
Smelly personal oder
Distented stomach
Glassy eyes often bloodshot
Reverse Tolerance - never knew if it was gonna take 2 or 10 drinks to black out
Depression
Hair trigger anxiety and paranoia
Gout
Nerve pain in arms and legs (thank god this healed quickly)
Lack of appetite
Hair trigger gagging (brushing my teeth would make me dry heave)
Auditory hallucinations
Low level visual hallucinations
Gastritis
Right rib cage pain (liver)
Really the only thing I didn’t suffer from was heavy shaking and seizures though my hands did start to get tremors - no idea why I didn’t get this more I was certainly very very sick.
this was all at 34 after 16 years of daily drinking.
It will catch up with him, I only hope he can surrender and get help before it’s too late. I was dancing with death on a daily basis for 2 years.
Extremely swollen and red face
Sweating all the time
Smelly personal oder
Distented stomach
Glassy eyes often bloodshot
Reverse Tolerance - never knew if it was gonna take 2 or 10 drinks to black out
Depression
Hair trigger anxiety and paranoia
Gout
Nerve pain in arms and legs (thank god this healed quickly)
Lack of appetite
Hair trigger gagging (brushing my teeth would make me dry heave)
Auditory hallucinations
Low level visual hallucinations
Gastritis
Right rib cage pain (liver)
Really the only thing I didn’t suffer from was heavy shaking and seizures though my hands did start to get tremors - no idea why I didn’t get this more I was certainly very very sick.
this was all at 34 after 16 years of daily drinking.
It will catch up with him, I only hope he can surrender and get help before it’s too late. I was dancing with death on a daily basis for 2 years.
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 48
This is such a great question! My husband just died almost 3 weeks ago from alcoholism, he was 49. He drank alcohol probably since he was 15. It was only the last 5-6 years it became daily/bad.
He never went to the doctor or complained about physical issues. This is what I observed in the last 3-5 years.
1. First was a personality change. I often wondered who the hell this person in my house was and what did they do with my husband. He became very irritable, cold (this was a huge change) he made major, horrible decisions that he was convinced were brilliant. For the first time in 20 years I became nervous to talk with him about touchy subjects as it turned into circular fights. This was not his personality at all.
2. Red eyes daily
3. Lost his appetite and a lot of weight. This actually made
him look healthy as his was on the chubby side before
4. For the last 2-3 years he kept getting these sores on his legs, arms and stomach. I do remember he went to a dr who said something about overweight people who drink get them but I could be mistaken. Towards the end he blamed mosquitoes bites he scratched. I always felt uneasy about those things as they kept getting worse
5. His breath became horrible but not like regular bad breath. I remember thinking “wow that’s from dehydration” it would be so bad I could smell it when I came home and he was downstairs.
6. The last 2-3 months his personality changed back to the guy I married. He was sweet and thoughtful. I felt a sense of relief for the first time in years. He talked with his brother and best friend who he had become distant with and they made peace. Not sure if this means anything.
He never went to the doctor or complained about physical issues. This is what I observed in the last 3-5 years.
1. First was a personality change. I often wondered who the hell this person in my house was and what did they do with my husband. He became very irritable, cold (this was a huge change) he made major, horrible decisions that he was convinced were brilliant. For the first time in 20 years I became nervous to talk with him about touchy subjects as it turned into circular fights. This was not his personality at all.
2. Red eyes daily
3. Lost his appetite and a lot of weight. This actually made
him look healthy as his was on the chubby side before
4. For the last 2-3 years he kept getting these sores on his legs, arms and stomach. I do remember he went to a dr who said something about overweight people who drink get them but I could be mistaken. Towards the end he blamed mosquitoes bites he scratched. I always felt uneasy about those things as they kept getting worse
5. His breath became horrible but not like regular bad breath. I remember thinking “wow that’s from dehydration” it would be so bad I could smell it when I came home and he was downstairs.
6. The last 2-3 months his personality changed back to the guy I married. He was sweet and thoughtful. I felt a sense of relief for the first time in years. He talked with his brother and best friend who he had become distant with and they made peace. Not sure if this means anything.
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