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