When Hazardous and Heavy Drinking Results in Serious Health Problems

For a number of years alcohol dependency research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong association between alcohol addiction and life-threatening health conditions.

As an illustration, in 2005, medical investigation and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. It can be emphasized that this massive alcohol-related cash outlay was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to stress these facts, it is also important to point out that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.

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

To be sure, substance abuse investigation has revealed that alcohol addiction can boost the risk for different kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Abusive and recurring drinking can also result in immune system difficulties and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.

Abusive and Hazardous Drinking Destabilizes the Drinker’s Systems and Organs

Additionally, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will probably be affected in a harmful manner. For example, long-term, abusive drinking is particularly harmful to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This medical condition results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can in the long run lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a critical and possibly lethal disease.Excessive, long-term drinking not only can result in dangerous liver damage, but it can also result in 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 early death.

The Importance of Alcohol Treatment

It is important, consequently, to know how to recognize the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol therapy he or she requires.

Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Research

Fortuitously, medical research is continuously discovering novel and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration offers an excellent example. More precisely, for approximately the past ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning instruments have confirmed that repetitive and long-term irresponsible drinking changes the functionality of the brain to a substantial extent, thereby resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or conceivably as long as the person exists.

Stated differently, medical research has demonstrated that individuals who have been drinking abusively for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing lasting and severe modifications in the brain.

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

Excessive Drinking, Malnutrition, and Mental Disorders

As a final illustration of assorted medical problems that are largely correlated to alcohol addiction, take into account the fact that according to scientific research, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical condition that reduces the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

This kind of organ malfunctioning is associated with malnutrition and to a variety of acute neurological and mental problems including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a lasting debilitating condition that is epitomized by repetitive memory and learning problems.

Summary

It is evident that repetitive, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly related to a variety of dangerous medical problems that can and do result in dangerous ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be highlighted and presented to everyone in our society so that a multitude of individuals will be able to refrain from hazardous drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional therapy they require.

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