When Abusive and Heavy Drinking Results in Serious Health Problems
For a number of years alcohol dependency research has revealed the fact that there is strong correlation between alcoholism and life-threatening health conditions.
For instance, in 2005, medical exploration showed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It can be emphasized that this huge alcohol-related cash disbursement was substantially more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to call attention to these facts, it is also important to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More exactly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
Without a doubt, substance abuse exploration has demonstrated the fact that alcohol addiction can boost the risk for different kinds of cancer, particularly cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Excessive and recurring drinking can also result in immune system issues and abnormality to the fetus during pregnancy.
Excessive Drinking Breaks Down the Problem Drinker’s Systems and Organs
What is more, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in a harmful manner. For example, chronic, abusive drinking is particularly detrimental 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 condition results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can in the end lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and potentially terminal disease.
Excessive, long-term drinking not only can lead to critical liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be irreversible and may, in turn, lead to serious disease or an early death.
The Significance of Alcohol Treatment
It is critical, as a result, to know how to recognize the different alcoholism signs and symptoms so that the alcohol dependent person can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol rehabilitation he or she requires.
Alcohol Dependency and Sophisticated Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, medical investigation is persistently uncovering new and important information. Recent alcoholism research supplies a good illustration. More to the point, for roughly the last ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning instruments have verified that repetitive and long-term irresponsible drinking transforms the makeup of the brain to a substantial extent, as a consequence resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or conceivably as long as the person lives.
More exactly, medical research has demonstrated that people who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for a substantial length of time increase their risk for developing lasting and serious adaptations 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.
Malnutrition, Hazardous Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of assorted medical problems that are substantially associated with alcoholism, consider that in accordance with scientific exploration, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical problem that reduces the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This form of organ breakdown is associated with malnutrition and to an assortment of acute neurological and mental syndromes including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is a long-term debilitating health problem that is exemplified by repetitive learning and memory difficulties.
Conclusion
It is apparent that continued, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly related to many 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 massive amount of individuals will be able to refrain from hazardous drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the quality rehabilitation they need.
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