When Excessive and Irresponsible Drinking Leads to Serious Health Problems
For a number of years alcohol addiction research has revealed the fact that there is strong correlation between alcohol dependency and serious 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 annually. It can be emphasized that this substantial alcohol-related cost was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to give emphasis to these facts, it is also important to point out that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More specifically, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly correlated with obesity and with cancer.
Definitely, substance abuse examination has shown that alcohol dependency can amplify the risk for different types of cancer, especially cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Abusive and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system problems and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.
Excessive and Hazardous Drinking Enfeebles the Individual’s Systems and Organs
Furthermore, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will likely be affected in an unhealthy manner. For example, chronic, abusive drinking is especially dangerous to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and destroys the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This condition results in a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a serious and potentially fatal disease.Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to dangerous liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this severe may be irreversible and may, in turn, result in serious disease or an early death.
The Significance of Alcohol Treatment
It is critical, consequently, to know how to recognize the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol dependent person can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol treatment he or she needs.
Alcohol Dependency and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, medical investigation is constantly generating original and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration provides an excellent example. More exactly, for approximately the last ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning devices have demonstrated that repetitive and long-term irresponsible drinking modifies the constitution of the brain to a great extent, consequently resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or conceivably as long as the individual exists.
More precisely, medical research has demonstrated that people who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for a sizeable length of time increase their risk for developing long lasting and serious adaptations 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.
Malnutrition, Abusive Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of diverse medical problems that are to a great extent associated with alcoholism, consider that according to medical examination, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a health problem that lessens the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This kind of organ breakdown is linked to 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 problem is a lasting debilitating medical condition that is epitomized by continual learning and memory complications.
Conclusion
It is clear that continued, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly associated with numerous serious medical problems that can and do lead to serious diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be highlighted and presented to everyone in our society so that a large number of people will be able to abstain from excessive drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehab they need.
