When Irresponsible and Abusive Drinking Leads to Serious Health Problems

For a number of years alcohol dependency research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong linkage between alcohol dependency and serious health conditions.

As an illustration, in 2005, scientific examination showed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. Interestingly, this enormous alcohol-related cash disbursement was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to underline these facts, it is also noteworthy to point to the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health problems.

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

Certainly, substance abuse exploration has shown that alcohol dependency can boost the risk for various kinds of cancer, particularly cancer of the kidneys, rectum, colon, voice box (larynx), esophagus, throat, and the liver. Abusive and recurring drinking can also result in immune system difficulties and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.

Abusive Drinking Weakens the Individual’s Systems and Organs

What is more, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unsafe manner. For instance, long-term, excessive drinking is especially harmful to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This medical condition leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can in the end lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a critical and possibly lethal 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 severe may be irrepairable and may, in turn, result in serious ill health or an early death.

The Relevance of Alcohol Treatment

It is critical, as a result, to know how to recognize the various alcohol dependency symptoms and signs so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol treatment he or she needs.

Alcohol Dependency and Technologically Advanced Brain Research

Fortuitously, medical research is relentlessly discovering unique and significant information. Recent alcoholism research supplies a good illustration. More specifically, for roughly the last ten years, sophisticated brain-imaging scanning instruments have verified that continuous and chronic abusive drinking transforms the makeup of the brain to a significant extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the individual exists.

More exactly, medical research has demonstrated that individuals who have been drinking in a hazardous manner for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing permanent and substantial changes in the brain.

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

Malnutrition, Abusive Drinking, and Mental Disorders

As a final illustration of different medical problems that are significantly correlated to alcoholism, take into account the fact that according to medical examination, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical condition that diminishes the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

This type of organ malfunctioning is linked to malnutrition and to a variety of acute mental and neurological syndromes including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical condition is a lasting incapacitating medical condition that is exemplified by repetitive learning and memory problems.

Conclusion

It is apparent that continued, abusive drinking is directly or indirectly linked to numerous acute medical conditions that can and do result in dangerous ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society so that a large number of individuals will be able to abstain from abusive drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehab they need.

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