The information provided in the article is for informational purposes only and cannot be used to make a diagnosis or prescribe treatment and does not replace a visit to the doctor.Contact your doctor!
Psyche and nervous system
Alcohol is a poison and a drug that causes nausea and headaches in the morning, as well as premature aging and long-term diseases.However, the number of drug addicts continues to grow and the Ministry of Health warns about itharmwhen they drink alcohol they remain without due attention.
Ethyl alcohol causes an uncontrollable craving for alcohol, in which a person does not perceive information about the dangers of alcohol or believes that the pleasure of intoxication is worth the harm it causes.ethylalcohol
The reason for this is paradoxical changes in the human psyche.Many processes associated with the work of neurotransmitters in the brain are disrupted, so the employee:
- cannot experience a feeling of joy and pleasure without alcohol;
- becomes depressed and may attempt suicide;
- becomes aggressive, his character and behavior change significantly.
In the second stage of alcoholism, a dose of alcohol can still cause pleasant sensations.Depending on the dose and the characteristics of the nervous system, the drug addict may feelcalmand relaxation, if ethanol acts on him as a relaxant, or joy and desire to move, if the euphoric effect of alcohol predominates.
In the terminal phasedependencea person is no longer able to receive pleasure.A dose of alcohol eases the discomfort for a short time, but after a few minutes the person needs alcohol again.
In addition to the increased need for ethyl alcohol, patientsare developingand other complications associated with the functioning of the psyche:
- due to the toxic effect of alcohol on neurons, the cognitive functions of the brain slow down, the person becomes forgetful and distracted;
- the coordination of a person in a drunken state is impaired, which is why drunk people are prohibited from driving a car and performing work requiring high concentration of attention, however, coordination disorders are present in a chronic alcoholic even in a sober state;
- ethanol changes a person's personality, making them inhibited or lethargic, or irritable and short-tempered.
In the early stages of addiction, a person may feel that drinking helps them relax, relieve stress, and feel better.Unfortunately this is the impressionwrong: Alcohol quickly destroys the nervous system, and it is not always possible to restore brain functions lost due to addiction.
Immunity
The myth that alcoholics never catch colds, do not get sick and, as a rule, have excellent health, is based on the fact that a large number of drug addicts who havechronicdiseases or factors that cause their development, they are forced to abandon the bad habit or die from the complications that develop.Others may actually drink alcohol in large quantities for a long time, surviving complications relatively consistently and becoming an example of the erroneous statement that "nothing takes away alcoholics."
Human immunity, regularlyconsumingalcohol is stopped, causing various pathologies.
- If the immune system cannot resist the antigens surrounding a person, the patient begins to suffer from continuous respiratory diseases, food poisoning, dermatological, genital and other infections.
- If the immune system begins to work actively, but incorrectly, it overreacts to factors that cannot cause significant harm to the body.Therefore, an intolerance to certain foods, pollen, plant and synthetic components, etc. occurs.
- Autoimmune diseases are one of the most serious complications of alcoholism, in which protective bodies begin to destroy their own cells.These pathologies cannot be completely eliminated and the treatment that inhibits their development has numerous side effects.
Immune system diseases can lead tofailuresin other systems, mainly nervous and endocrine.
This category of complications can becountand oncology, since a healthy immune system helps fight cancer, prevent its development and quickly destroy pathological cells.
There is a myth that some drinks, such as wine, contain many antioxidants that are effective in preventing malignant tumors.Natural wines contain beneficial components, but you can find them in much larger quantities in any fresh fruit or vegetable.Fromstatistics, drug addicts often suffer from oncology of various organs, from cancer of the larynx and esophagus to damage to the liver and rectum.Oncological treatment for drug addicts has a less favorable prognosis, since it is difficult for a weakened body to fight both the disease itself and the consequences of complex and long therapy.
Digestive system
When alcohol enters the body, it first comes into contact with the gastrointestinal tract: the oral mucosa, the esophagus and the stomach.From the stomach, ethanol actively enters the bloodstream and, together with the blood, affects other organs of the digestive system: liver, pancreas, etc.
List of diseases you may encountersick, wide As an example we can only cite the most common ones.
- Domesticbleeding- a deadly consequence of alcohol abuse, which causes unnoticed, causing only abdominal pain, which many do not pay attention to.The phenomenon is caused by dilation of blood vessels on the mucosa of organs: since the walls of blood vessels in alcoholics are often fragile due to high cholesterol and nutrient deficiency, damage occurs and venous blood begins to pour into the person's stomach.
- Cirrhosis– an extremely serious disease that cannot be cured and for which there is no supportive therapy, as in the case of kidney failure.The liver of an alcoholic is under a lot of stress.The organ's hepatocytes are damaged, functional tissues are replaced by scar tissue or fat, and the liver gradually collapses.The danger of the condition lies in the fact that liver pathologies often manifest themselves unnoticed, in a hidden form.
- Pancreatitis– inflammation of the pancreas, which causes frequent severe abdominal pain, nausea and dyspeptic disorders.The abdomen swells, the patient is bothered by increased gas formation and fatty stools, and his quality of life noticeably worsens.
Conditionaggravateother components included in alcoholic beverages: colourants, preservatives, foaming agents.
Urinary system
The kidneys remove the half-life products of ethyl alcohol from the blood, so they often also suffer from its toxic effects.There are several mechanismsdefeatskidney tissue:
- the development of malignant hypertension, in which intrarenal vessels and capillaries are damaged;
- the appearance of autoimmune processes affecting the kidneys (SLE, glomerulonephritis, vasculitis).
The kidneys canlong termtime for the function of dead nephrons to condense, but when replacement tissue exceeds 50%, the glomerular filtration rate will begin to decrease, causing:
- swelling;
- hypertension;
- intoxication and vomiting;
- smell of ammonia from mouth and skin, etc.
When organs fail, patients are forced to constantly undergo hemodialysis procedures (3-4 times a week for 3-6 hours) or resort to organ transplantation.At the same timechanceThe likelihood that an alcoholic will receive a donor kidney and that his body will be able to withstand immunosuppressive therapy after surgery is small.
Cardiac diseases
Diseases related to the functioning of the heart and the condition of the blood vessels kill most people in the world.In countries where there is an active fight against alcohol consumption, thisindicatorusually lower, which demonstrates the effect of ethanol on the heart.
- In case of intoxication with ethyl alcohol, the body rapidly loses potassium and magnesium, which have an important function in maintaining the health of the organ.The muscle wears out and cardiomyopathy often occurs, in which the heart increases in volume, but its health and ability to perform its assigned function rapidly declines.This disease is also called beer heart syndrome.
- Due to disorders in lipid metabolism and damage to the organs of the digestive system, the vascular cavity from the inside begins to become covered with plaques of cholesterol and triglycerides (brown fat), disrupts blood flow, including nutrition of the heart, increases the risk of cardiovascular accidents several times.
During intoxication and binge, the heart workslimittheir abilities: patients often complain of tachycardia, feeling of sudden weakness, dizziness.If you do not provide medical care to the patient in time, his condition can be aggravated by acute processes: stroke, heart attack.
What causes complications of alcohol consumption?
People who deny the harm of alcohol to the body cite the example of their friends who drank alcohol for a long time, but did not experience anyseriousillness.
Such isolated examples cannot compete with official statistics and scientific research confirming that alcohol:
- leads to functional and organic disorders of the organs;
- causes addiction, due to which a person cannot give up a bad habit, even understanding the degree of danger from the use of ethanol;
- causes mental disorders: from pathological intoxication syndrome, when a person loses control of himself after a small amount of alcohol, to suicide due to acute depression against the background of abstinence.
Which ones specifically?complicationsarise in a particular person depends on his:
- age;
- lifestyle;
- existing chronic diseases;
- Hereditary factor and genetic predisposition.
Both the quantity and quality of the “fire water” consumed are important.Despite the fact that ethanol itselfharmful, despite the fact that a drink containing it is soldDearin a wine market or in a pharmacy in the guise of a medicinal hawthorn tincture, the quality of other components, as well as the degree of purification of alcohol, is important.
There are many myths about how alcohol affects the body.Do not trust unreliable sources: it is important to remember that the market for the production and sale of alcohol in our country and in the world is a way to replenish the state budget.This means that there will always be people who benefit from alcoholic beverages being perceived as a safe and sometimes healthy way of recreation.You can learn about the dangers of alcoholism and how to treat it during a consultation with a narcologist in a drug treatment clinic.