When Hazardous and Abusive Drinking Leads to Serious Health Problems
For several years alcohol dependency exploration has revealed the fact that there is strong association between alcohol addiction and serious health conditions.
As an illustration, in 2005, scientific investigation and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics revealed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. It can be stressed that this immense alcohol-related cash outlay was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is important to emphasize these facts, it is also noteworthy to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More correctly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Certainly, substance abuse research has revealed that alcohol dependency can amplify the risk for different forms of cancer, particularly cancer of the colon, voice box (larynx), liver, rectum, throat, kidneys, and the esophagus. Hazardous and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system difficulties and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.
Excessive and Heavy Drinking Weakens the Problem Drinker’s Organs and Systems
Furthermore, 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, repeated, abusive drinking is particularly injurious to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Extreme amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and eradicates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This medical circumstance results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a critical and possibly deadly medical problem.Abusive, long-term drinking not only can lead to severe liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be irreparable and may, in turn, result in severe ill health or an untimely death.
The Significance of Alcohol Therapy
It is essential, therefore, to know how to identify the different alcoholism symptoms and the "alcohol signs" so that the alcohol addicted person can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol treatment he or she requires.
Alcohol Dependency and Technologically Advanced Brain Research
Fortuitously, scientific examination is continuously uncovering novel and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies an excellent example. Stated another way, for approximately the last ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning devices have verified that repetitive and long lasting hazardous drinking changes the makeup of the brain to a significant extent, consequently resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the person lives.
More correctly, medical research has revealed that individuals who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for a substantial length of time increase their risk for developing long-term and substantial transformations 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.
Hazardous Drinking, Malnutrition, and Mental Disorders
As a final example of different health problems that are largely related to alcohol addiction, take into account the fact that according to medical research, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical problem that lessens the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This form of organ malfunctioning is related to malnutrition and to an array of severe mental and neurological maladies including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical condition is a long lasting incapacitating medical condition that is exemplified by recurring memory and learning complications.
Conclusion
It is plain to see that repetitive, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly associated with a variety of serious medical conditions that can and do result in serious ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be underlined and presented to everyone in our society so that most individuals will be able to abstain from abusive drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the quality rehabilitation they require.
Tags: alcohol dependency, Health, Alcoholism, heavy drinking, abusive drinking