July 14, 2010
When Abusive And Heavy Drinking Leads To Serious Health Problems And Marital Conflicts And Difficulties
For more than a few years alcohol dependency research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong correlation between alcohol addiction and critical health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.
For instance, in 2005, medical exploration and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics demonstrated the fact that that alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. Interestingly, this considerable alcohol-related cost was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to call attention to these facts, it is also noteworthy to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.
Stated another way, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Indeed, substance abuse investigation has shown that alcohol dependency can boost the risk for various types of cancer, especially cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Heavy and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system difficulties and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.
Abusive Drinking Enfeebles the Person’s Systems and Organs
Additionally, if alcohol dependency continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unsafe manner. For instance, chronic, excessive drinking is especially hurtful to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Extreme amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This medical circumstance results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can in the long run lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and possibly deadly disease. Heavy, long-term drinking not only can lead to dangerous liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be irreversible and may, in turn, result in severe ill health or an early death.
The Importance of Alcohol Rehab
It is imperative, 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 seek the quality alcohol rehabilitation he or she requires.
Alcohol Dependency and Sophisticated Brain Research
Fortunately, scientific examination is continuously generating new and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies a good example. More accurately, for approximately the last ten years, sophisticated brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that repetitive and long lasting hazardous drinking alters the makeup of the brain to a substantial extent, as a consequence resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perhaps as long as the person exists.
More explicitly, medical research has revealed that individuals who have been drinking abusively for an extensive length of time increase their risk for developing lasting and significant 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 illustration of assorted medical problems that are significantly related to alcohol dependency, consider that in accordance with medical research, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical condition that decreases the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
This form of organ malfunctioning is correlated with malnutrition and to an assortment of serious neurological and mental syndromes including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a long-term incapacitating health problem that is exemplified by repetitive learning and memory complications.
Excessive and Abusive Drinking Also Leads to Friendship and Relationship Conflicts and Problems
In addition to acute health problems, abusive and irresponsible drinking also leads to relationship and friendship problems. For example, people who engage in excessive drinking typically suffer from sexuality issues, marital problems, affairs, and divorce.
Summary: The Importance of Education
It is apparent that continued, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly associated with a variety of acute medical problems that can and do lead to serious illness and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society, especially to all students, so that a multitude of people will be able to abstain from hazardous drinking while others who have a drinking problem will get the quality treatment they require.
Let us look at this sensibly. Yes, alcohol treatment is important, but alcohol rehab is something that is often done AFTER the fact. Education, to the contrary, is something that is done BEFORE the problem manifests itself. Stated differently, whereas alcohol treatment is “reactive,” education is “proactive.” It is declared that both approaches are required when discussing alcohol dependency and alcohol abuse.
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