When Hazardous and Abusive Drinking Results in Serious Health Problems

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

For instance, in 2005, medical research and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics showed that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It may be noted that this enormous alcohol-related cash disbursement was substantially more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is appropriate to underline these facts, it is also noteworthy to point to the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.

More to the point, chronic alcohol abuse and alcoholism are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.

Undeniably, substance abuse exploration has demonstrated the fact that alcoholism can augment the risk for various types of cancer, particularly cancer of the liver, voice box (larynx), kidneys, colon, esophagus, rectum, and the throat. Heavy and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system difficulties and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.

Abusive and Hazardous Drinking Weakens the Problem Drinker’s Systems and Organs

What is more, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will probably be affected in a harmful manner. For instance, long-term, excessive drinking is particularly harmful to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and destroys the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This medical condition leads to a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a grave and possibly lethal medical problem.Excessive, long-term drinking not only can lead to serious liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be irreparable and may, in turn, lead to severe disease or an early death.

The Critical Nature of Alcohol Treatment

It is essential, therefore, to know how to recognize the different alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol therapy he or she requires.

Alcohol Dependency and Technologically Advanced Brain Research

Fortunately, scientific investigation is persistently unearthing new and significant information. Recent alcoholism research provides a good example. More correctly, for roughly the past ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning instruments have confirmed that continuous and chronic excessive drinking alters the structure of the brain to a great extent, therefore resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perhaps as long as the person exists.

More exactly, medical examination has revealed that individuals who have been drinking in a hazardous manner for a sizeable length of time increase their risk for developing long lasting and severe adaptations 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, Abusive Drinking, and Mental Disorders

As a final example of different medical problems that are significantly correlated to alcohol addiction, take into account the fact that according to scientific investigation, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical problem that decreases the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

This kind of organ breakdown is correlated with malnutrition and to a variety of severe neurological and mental problems including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical condition is a long lasting debilitating condition that is exemplified by repetitive memory and learning difficulties.

Summary

It is plain to see that repetitive, abusive drinking is directly or indirectly related to numerous critical medical conditions that can and do lead to dangerous ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be underlined and presented to everyone in our society so that a massive amount of people will be able to abstain from abusive drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the quality therapy they need.

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