For a number of years alcohol dependency research has revealed the fact that there is strong linkage between alcoholism and life-threatening health conditions.
For instance, in 2005, scientific examination showed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It can be stressed that this substantial alcohol-related cash disbursement was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to emphasize these facts, it is also noteworthy to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.
More to the point, chronic alcohol abuse and alcoholism are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Undeniably, substance abuse research has demonstrated the fact that alcohol dependency can boost the risk for different forms of cancer, especially cancer of the kidneys, rectum, colon, voice box (larynx), esophagus, throat, and the liver. Abusive and recurring drinking can also lead to immune system issues and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.
Abusive Drinking Breaks Down the Problem Drinker’s Organs and Systems
Additionally, if alcohol addiction continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in a negative manner. For example, long-term, excessive drinking is particularly damaging to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and eradicates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This condition results in a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can in the end lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and potentially terminal medical problem.
Abusive, long-term drinking not only can result in severe liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this severe may be irrepairable and may, in turn, lead to serious disease or an untimely death.
The Critical Nature of Alcohol Treatment
It is important, as a result, to know how to recognize the various alcohol addiction symptoms and signs so that the alcohol dependent individual can be given the opportunity to get the quality alcohol treatment he or she needs.
Alcohol Dependency and Sophisticated Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, scientific exploration is persistently finding new and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies an excellent example. Stated differently, for roughly the past ten years, complex brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that continuous and long lasting excessive drinking changes the functionality of the brain to a significant extent, as a consequence resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perhaps as long as the individual exists.
More explicitly, medical examination has shown that individuals who have been drinking in an excessive manner for a sizeable length of time increase their risk for developing permanent and significant alterations 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, Excessive Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final example of different health problems that are considerably related to alcoholism, take into account the fact that according to medical exploration, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a health problem that reduces the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
This type of organ failure is correlated with malnutrition and to an assortment of acute neurological and mental problems 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 medical condition that is typified by persistent learning and memory difficulties.
Summary
It is clear that continued, abusive drinking is directly or indirectly associated with numerous serious medical conditions that can and do result in serious ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be emphasized and presented to everyone in our society so that a massive amount of individuals will be able to abstain from irresponsible drinking while other people who have a drinking problem will get the quality treatment they require.