When Abusive Drinking Results in Serious Health Problems

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When Abusive Drinking Results in Serious Health Problems

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

For more than a few years alcohol dependency research has revealed the fact that there is strong association between alcohol addiction and dangerous health conditions.

For instance, in 2005, medical investigation revealed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. Interestingly, this gigantic alcohol-related expense was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is appropriate to highlight these facts, it is also noteworthy to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.

More exactly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.

To be sure, substance abuse examination has demonstrated the fact that alcohol addiction can increase the risk for various kinds of cancer, particularly cancer of the colon, voice box (larynx), liver, rectum, throat, kidneys, and the esophagus. Excessive and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system issues and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.

Abusive Drinking Breaks Down the Problem Drinker’s Organs and Systems

What is more, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unhealthy manner. For instance, chronic, hazardous drinking is especially detrimental to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and eradicates the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This medical circumstance leads to a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can sooner or later lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and potentially incurable disease.

Heavy, long-term drinking not only can result in serious liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this critical may be irrepairable and may, in turn, result in serious llness or premature death.

The Significance of Alcohol Treatment

It is critical, consequently, to know how to identify the different alcohol dependency signs and symptoms so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol therapy he or she needs.

Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration

Fortuitously, scientific exploration is persistently uncovering novel and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration provides a high-quality example. More to the point, for roughly the past ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that repetitive and long lasting abusive drinking alters the makeup of the brain to a great extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perhaps as long as the person lives.

Stated differently, medical investigation has revealed that people who have been drinking in an excessive manner for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing permanent and severe transformations in the brain.

This type of damage may be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health or directly related to the alcohol’s effects on the brain or to severe liver disease.

Malnutrition, Excessive Drinking, and Mental Disorders

As a final illustration of different medical problems that are to a great extent related to alcohol dependency, consider that according to medical exploration, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical problem that limits the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.

This form of organ malfunctioning is associated with malnutrition and to a variety of serious mental and neurological disorders including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a long-term incapacitating condition that is typified by recurring learning and memory difficulties.

Conclusion

It is apparent that continued, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly related to numerous critical medical problems that can and do lead to dangerous illness and premature death. Such information needs to be emphasized and presented to everyone in our society so that a large number of people will be able to abstain from excessive drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional therapy they need.

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