For more than a few years alcohol dependency research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong association between alcohol addiction and life-threatening health conditions.

For example, in 2005, scientific examination showed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It may be noted that this substantial alcohol-related expense was significantly more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is important to accentuate these facts, it is also important to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.

More correctly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.

Certainly, substance abuse exploration has demonstrated the fact that alcohol dependency can boost the risk for various kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the esophagus, kidneys, throat, rectum, liver, voice box (larynx), and the colon. Heavy and recurring drinking can also result in immune system problems and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.

Excessive Drinking Weakens the Problem Drinker’s Systems and Organs

What is more, if alcohol dependency continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unsafe manner. As an illustration, repeated, excessive drinking is especially damaging 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 eradicates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This condition leads to a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can in the end lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a precarious and potentially incurable medical problem.

Abusive, long-term drinking not only can lead to severe liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be unalterable and may, in turn, lead to severe disease or an early death.

The Significance of Alcohol Treatment

It is imperative, consequently, to know how to recognize the various alcoholism symptoms and signs so that the alcohol addicted person can be given the opportunity to get the professional alcohol treatment he or she needs.

Alcohol Addiction and Sophisticated Brain Exploration

Fortunately, medical investigation is continuously uncovering new and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration provides an excellent example. Stated differently, for roughly the last ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning instruments have confirmed that continuous and recurring irresponsible drinking alters the makeup of the brain to a significant extent, thereby resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the person exists.

More specifically, medical exploration has revealed that individuals who have been drinking in an excessive manner for a sizeable length of time increase their risk for developing long lasting and severe 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.

Hazardous Drinking, Malnutrition, and Mental Disorders

As a final example of different medical problems that are significantly correlated to alcoholism, consider that in accordance with scientific examination, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical condition that diminishes the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

This form of organ failure is linked to malnutrition and to a number of acute mental and neurological problems including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is a lasting incapacitating medical condition that is epitomized by continual memory and learning complications.

Summary

It is obvious that repetitive, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly linked to a number of critical medical problems that can and do lead to dangerous 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.

Tags: abusive drinking, alcohol abuse, alcohol addiction, alcohol dependency, alcohol treatment, alcoholism, heavy drinking, Self Improvement

When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I registered for a drug abuse class. At that time, I did not understand that alcohol abuse actually was a sub category of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for individuals all over the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol treatment and the different alcohol rehab clinics that are frequently available to alcohol abusers.

Some of the harmful consequences correlated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class unquestionably startled me. The ruined lives and frequent problems experienced by most alcohol dependent people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated briefly, I did not want to face the disaster and destruction that alcohol dependent individuals almost always experience.

Reflect on this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old person wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What teenager wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that drinking alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teenager wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes twenty-one?

What young person wants to encounter alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would an individual engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause serious issues in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after a person has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a teenager want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that focuses on excessive drinking?

These issues were so meaningful that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was absolutely incredible to me was the number of students who openly didn’t care about the dangerous outcomes of excessive drinking that I discussed. It was almost as if they couldn’t be troubled with the facts and how these consequences can wreck their lives. For the first time in my life I started to comprehend a saying that my grandfather used to say to me all through my younger years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.

Tags: alcohol abuse, alcohol rehab, alcohol treatment, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, alcoholic rehabilitation centers, alcoholism, Drug Abuse, substance abuse