For more than a few years alcoholism research has revealed the fact that there is strong linkage between alcoholism and serious health conditions.
For example, in 2005, scientific investigation showed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It may be noted that this immense alcohol-related cash disbursement was significantly more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to emphasize these facts, it is also noteworthy to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More precisely, chronic alcohol abuse and alcoholism are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
Definitely, substance abuse examination has shown that alcohol addiction can increase the risk for various types of cancer, especially cancer of the colon, voice box (larynx), liver, rectum, throat, kidneys, and the esophagus. Hazardous and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system problems and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.
Hazardous Drinking Breaks Down the Problem Drinker’s Organs and Systems
What is more, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will likely be affected in a harmful manner. As an illustration, repeated, hazardous drinking is especially hurtful to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This medical condition leads to a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can in the long run lead to cirrhosis of the liver, an acute and potentially terminal medical problem.
Heavy, long-term drinking not only can result in serious 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, lead to serious disease or premature death.
The Significance of Alcohol Treatment
It is imperative, as a result, to know how to identify the various alcoholism signs and symptoms so that the alcohol dependent person can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol rehabilitation he or she needs.
Alcohol Dependency and Technologically Advanced Brain Research
Fortuitously, medical examination is constantly uncovering innovative and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies a high-quality illustration. More exactly, for roughly the past ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that repetitive and chronic excessive drinking modifies the constitution of the brain to a great extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or conceivably as long as the person exists.
More correctly, medical investigation has shown that individuals who have been drinking excessively for a sizeable length of time increase their risk for developing lasting and substantial transformations 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, Excessive Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of diverse medical problems that are to a large extent related to alcoholism, take into consideration the fact that in accordance with medical investigation, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical condition that decreases the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
This kind of organ malfunctioning is related to malnutrition and to a variety of severe mental and neurological disorders including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is an enduring incapacitating condition that is typified by incessant memory and learning difficulties.
Summary
It is evident that repetitive, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly correlated with a variety of serious medical problems that can and do result in 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 refrain from irresponsible drinking while other people who have a drinking problem will get the quality therapy they require.