September 28, 2009
When Abusive Drinking Leads to Serious Health Problems
For several years alcohol addiction exploration has revealed the fact that there is strong association between alcoholism and serious health conditions.
For example, in 2005, medical exploration and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. Interestingly, this massive alcohol-related cash outlay was substantially more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is appropriate to give emphasis to these facts, it is also noteworthy to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More accurately, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
Undeniably, substance abuse research has shown that alcohol addiction can amplify the risk for various kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the liver, voice box (larynx), kidneys, colon, esophagus, rectum, and the throat. Hazardous and recurring drinking can also result in immune system issues and deformity to the fetus during pregnancy.
Hazardous and Irresponsible Drinking Deteriorates the Individual’s Organs and Systems
Additionally, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in a negative manner. For instance, repeated, abusive drinking is especially hurtful to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and destroys the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This medical condition results in a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver, an acute and possibly deadly medical problem.Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to acute liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be unalterable and may, in turn, lead to severe ill health or an untimely death.
The Critical Nature of Alcohol Rehab
It is essential, therefore, to know how to recognize the different alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol addicted person can be given the opportunity to get the professional alcohol therapy he or she requires.
Alcoholism and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, medical research is constantly finding original and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration offers an excellent illustration. More to the point, for roughly the past ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that repetitive and long-term irresponsible drinking modifies the configuration of the brain to a significant extent, thereby resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or possibly as long as the individual exists.
More exactly, medical research has demonstrated that individuals who have been drinking abusively for an extensive length of time increase their risk for developing permanent and significant modifications 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, Hazardous Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final example of various health problems that are to a large extent correlated to alcoholism, consider that in accordance with medical examination, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical problem that reduces the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This kind of organ failure is linked to malnutrition and to an array of serious mental and neurological syndromes including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is an enduring debilitating health problem that is epitomized by incessant learning and memory complications.
Conclusion
It is evident that continued, abusive drinking is directly or indirectly correlated with many critical medical problems that can and do result in serious illness and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society so that a multitude of individuals will be able to abstain from irresponsible drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehab they require.
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