What Health Problems Can Alcohol
Cause?
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What health problems can alcohol cause?
Regrettably, a number of both short-term and long-term problems can
be caused by alcohol abuse or by alcohol addiction.
Short-Term and Long-Term Health Problems Caused By
Excessive Alcohol
Some alcohol-related problems, such as
interpersonal relationship issues, driving impairment, and
negative interactions with medications can manifest themselves
after drinking over a relatively short period of time.
Other problems, conversely, can develop more gradually over
time and may become noticeable only after heavy drinking for
an extended period of time.
These are the problems that represent the long-term
effects of alcohol abuse and help answer the following
question: what health problems can alcohol cause?
It is important to note that women may develop
alcohol-related health problems after consuming less alcohol
than men over a shorter time period.
Since alcohol affects many organs in the body,
long-term excessive drinking puts a person at risk for developing
serious health problems.
Stated differently, the long term effects of
alcohol abuse can lead to a gradual breakdown of different organs
and systems in the body that can result in serious, if not fatal,
health problems and issues.
Alcohol-Related Pancreatitis
The pancreas helps regulate the body's blood sugar
levels by producing insulin. In addition, the pancreas is
instrumental in digesting the food people eat. Long-term excessive
drinking can lead to pancreatitis (that is, an inflammation of the
pancreas). Pancreatitis is associated with excessive weight
loss and severe abdominal pain and can lead to death.
Alcohol-Related Heart Disease
One of the few verifiable positive
aspects of drinking alcohol is that drinking in moderation can
actually have positive effects on the heart, especially with
individuals who are at the greatest risk for heart attacks,
such as women after menopause and men over the age of 45.
Long-term excessive drinking, on the other hand,
increases the risk for certain kinds of stroke, high blood
pressure, and heart disease.
Alcohol-Related Cancer
Long-term heavy drinking increases the risk of
developing certain types of cancer, especially cancer of the
esophagus, mouth, throat, and the voice box. Research has
shown, moreover, that women who drink two or more drinks per day
slightly increases their risk for developing breast cancer.
Excessive drinking may also increase the risk for developing cancer
of the colon and of the rectum.
| According to recent research,
62% of U.S. high school seniors reported that they have been drunk
recently. |
Alcohol-Related Liver Disease
More than 2 million Americans suffer
from alcohol-related liver disease. Some drinkers
develop alcoholic hepatitis (that is, an inflammation of the
liver) as a consequence of ong-term heavy drinking.
The symptoms of alcoholic hepatitis include the
following: fever, jaundice (an abnormal yellowing of the
urine, skin, and the eyeballs), and abdominal pain. If the
individual persists in drinking, moreover, alcoholic hepatitis can
be fatal. If the individual stops drinking, however,
alcoholic hepatitis is frequently reversible.
Approximately 10 to 20 % of the people who drink
excessively develop cirrhosis of the liver (that is, a scarring of
the liver). Alcoholic cirrhosis can be fatal if the individual
continues to drink. Even though cirrhosis is irreversible, if
the affected person stops drinking, his or her chances of survival
can improve dramatically.
Although some people may eventually need a liver
transplant as a last resort, numerous people with cirrhosis who
abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages can receive treatment and
may never require liver transplantation.
| When person is addicted, he or
she no longer takes alcohol or drugs to have fun or to get high.
Rather, the addicted person needs the alcohol or the drugs in order
to function on a daily basis. In fact, in many instances, the
addicted person's everyday life centers around satisfying his or
her need for the substance on which he or she is
hooked. |
Other Long Term Effects of Alcohol
Abuse
In addition to the diseases outlined above,
excessive drinking over time is also associated with the
following:
-
Loss of brain cells
- Nerve damage
- Irritated stomach lining and bleeding from stomach ulcers
- Epilepsy
Excessive drinking has also been linked to the following:
- Vitamin deficiency
- Skin problems
- Muscle disease
- Infertility
- Sexual problems
- Obesity
| In the United States during
2004, 16,694 deaths occurred as a result of alcohol-related
motor-vehicle accidents. This amount was roughly 39% of all traffic
fatalities. This amounts to one alcohol-related death every 31
minutes. |
What Health Problems Can Alcohol Cause:
Conclusion
Based on the information presented above, it can be
concluded that chronic, excessive drinking can often result in
physical damage, increase the risk of getting various diseases, and
it can make other diseases worse.
Earlier, we asked the following question: what
health problems can alcohol cause? Now that you know the
answer to this question, you are in a significantly better position
to understand the basic, if not critical message of alcohol
addiction: if you want to avoid the long term effects of
alcohol abuse and alcoholism such as unnecessary alcohol-related
health problems later in life, drink in moderation or not at
all.
| If you
would like to listen to an informative and professionally
done "talking eBook" entitled The
Truth About Alcohol, please click on this
link. |
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| In the United States, research
has demonstrated that continued alcohol abuse is one of the major
risk factors for violence in intimate
relationships. |
Living in a dysfunctional
environment, where family members feel as if they have to
continuously "walk on egg shells" frequently leads to stress and
anxiety. In fact, stress levels and feelings of anxiety increase in
such unhealthy homes due to the rigid and inflexible norms, rules,
and beliefs that are imposed on family members who are, in many
respects, "held hostage" in the current
living arrangement. |
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