• Unconscious or semiconsciousness.
• Slow breathing of eight or less per minute or lapses between breaths of more than eight seconds.
• Cold, clammy, pale or bluish skin.

In the event of alcohol poisoning, these signs and symptoms will most likely be accompanied by a strong odor of alcohol. If you encounter a person who exhibits one or more of the signs and symptoms, do what you would do in any medical emergency immediately. While waiting for emergency transport, gently turn the intoxicated person on his/her side and maintain that position by placing a pillow in the small of the person's back. This is important to prevent choking should the person vomit. Stay with the person until medical help arrives.

If a person appears to be "sleeping it off" it is important to realize that even though a person may be semi-conscious, alcohol already in the stomach may continue to enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body. The person's life may still be in danger. If you are having difficulty in determining whether an individual is acutely intoxicated, contact a health professional immediately.Don't guess.

Alcohol Treatment
Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive, relapsing brain disease. Forty percent of alcoholism is caused by genetic factors and sixty percent by environmental factors. Alcoholism therefore runs in families. If you have an alcohol problem it is very likely that other members of your family are addicted. Alcoholism is lethal, as ninety five percent of untreated alcoholics die of alcoholism.

How do you know you have an alcohol problem?
1. Have you ever tried to cut down on your drinking?
2. Have you ever felt annoyed when someone talked to you about your drinking?
3. Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
4. Have you ever used alcohol in the morning to settle yourself down?
Two or more affirmative answers indicate probable alcoholism.

Many alcoholics try and quit drinking on their own;
* Four percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year if they try to quit on their own.
* Fifty percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year of if they go through treatment.
* Seventy percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year if they go through treatment and regularly attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
* Ninety percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year if they go through treatment, regularly attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and go to aftercare once a week.

There seems to be no difference in outpatient and inpatient treatment in regard to patient outcome, but there is a thirty percent dropout rate in outpatient treatment compared to a ten percent dropout rate in inpatient treatment.

Alcoholics often don't believe they have a problem. This is very common because the alcoholic uses defense mechanisms to protect him or herself from the painful truth. No one likes to think they are sick and so they minimize, rationalize and deny the problem. This not only happens in the alcoholic but in everyone intimately involved with the alcoholic. That is why this is a family disease.

Because alcoholism is one of the worst addictions, there are many resources available to alcoholics. If the alcoholic recognizes on their own that they have a problem, without requiring an intervention, they can contact any of the following themselves;

1. Alcoholics Anonymous: Alcoholics Anonymous organizes meetings all over the world to help those who have a desire to stop drinking. The groups are made up of people who have had alcohol use problems, and one is able to remain anonymous.
2. Family physician or other doctor, psychologist, or other health professional.
3. Inpatient or outpatient treatment centers or hospitals.
4. Local or national alcohol treatment telephone hot lines.

So, the first steps to stop drinking are to contact a support group, see a doctor, or set a date in the near future to stop. While some people can stop drinking on their own, others may need medical help to manage the physical process of withdrawal. A doctor can decide if an alcoholic requires medical supervision to stop drinking. Doctors may be able to give medicine that will assist safe withdrawal from alcohol.