During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Addiction symptoms. These may include a physical examination or other medical tests. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
Why: To determine risk of hepatitis or HIV.
Why: to determine risk of STDs.
Why: It is important for you Health Professional to know from the very beginning what the substance/s that you are having problems with are.
Why: Whilst you may be primarily concerned with your usage of one or two substances, your Health Professional needs to know what other substances you are taking as well.
Why: How often you are taking the substance you are concerned about, and how strongly you feel you "need" to take are important in assessing whether or not you are exhibiting signs of dependence/addiction.
Why: Dependence and addiction behaviors can include a subjective feeling of being unable to control either the amount of substance you are taking, or to control your substance taking behavior.
Why: One sign of dependence/addiction is that you experience "withdrawal" symptoms when you try to stop taking the substance. These withdrawal symptoms can include "shakes", sweating, nausea, changes in your mood, agitation, disturbed sleep, increased sensitivity to sounds ($hyperacusis), high blood pressure (hypertension), high pulse rate (tachycardia),seizures$, and experiencing illusions/hallucinations.
Why: A sign of substance dependence/addiction is having to take increasing amounts of the substance in order to continue to get the same effect taken on earlier/smaller amounts. This is called tolerance.
Why: With deepening substance dependence/addiction the activities that you may have been interested or taken part in previously, may change.
Why: Continued use of a substance despite the knowledge of the harm it can cause (mental and physical) can be a sign of dependence/addiction.
Why: With substance dependence/addiction comes an increased risk of violence, crime, traffic offences and disorderly conduct.
Why: Unfortunately substance dependence/addiction can result in strained relationships and problems with both family and friends.
Why: As substance dependence/addiction worsens there can be financial consequences from loss of income and increase expenses.
Why: Substance dependence/addiction can result in homelessness and other dangerous living arrangements. It is important for you health professional to know about this as they have a duty of care for your safety.
Why: Those with substance dependence/addiction have an increased risk of depression and suicide.
Why: Those suffering from dependence/addiction may seriously consider and plan to harm other people.
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. These may include:
Why: e.g. bronchitis , emphysema , coronary heart disease , stroke , peptic ulcers, reduced fertility , peripheral vascular disease , cancer of the mouth and throat , larynx , trachea , lungs , esophagus , stomach , pancreas or bladder.
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