Alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a disease which consists basically of continually craving and consuming compulsive and excessive amounts of alcohol.

1. Causes of the disease

Alcoholism can be caused by a few different things. The causes are usually physical, genetic, environmental, psychological or social factors (which are high variable from person to person.)

The Genetic factors are critical as a person who had an alcoholic parents risk of being an alcoholic is four to five times greater. Due to conditioning and upbringing some people are more inclined to become alcoholics. Drinking is socially satisfactory and an accepted cultural activity so the open availability of alcohol instead of other drugs makes it that some people are more inclined to become alcoholics than others.

Another cause of alcoholism is the emotional factors involved. If someone has gone through an emotional relapse (such as a break-up, job loss or loss of a social status) they turn to alcohol for brief escape of reality. It turns then into a vicious cycle as the person finishes with the brief escape and is left with the basic problems once again and is left with the only psychological outlook they can place together which is to drink again, it is then that drinking is no longer a choice. This certain lack of choice stems from an adjustment in the body and brain that become part of the causes of alcoholism. The cause of alcoholism here then becomes physical as irregular thinking patterns and personality characteristics.

Some people however, simply lack a definite amount of impulse control. People such as these obviously want to feel good but have a lot of difficulty with delayed satisfaction. Scientists identified the frontal brain lobe for this activity. To these personalities drinking is a compulsive habit which is out of control as they become addicted. They begin to use alcohol to escape from pressures and pain of daily living but can become consumed with drinking. This drinking then causes family, social and job related problems to arise from the unpredictable behavior that drinking does cause. This drinking problem spirals downwards for millions of people everyday. Their alcoholism is often excused by hanging out with other alcoholics or binge drinkers.

2. How it affects the body and the lifestyle of a person:

Although consuming alcohol in moderation can be a relaxant as well as even a benefit for the human body (it can produce a feeling of well being and can stimulate the appetite) when drinking large amounts of alcohol withdrawal symptoms do occur. Alcoholic symptoms include having strong cravings of alcohol, weakened control of the consumer's body and ability to stop drinking, physical dependence (withdrawal symptoms like sweating nausea, anxiety and shakiness which all come after a occasion of drinking heavily), Craving and better tolerance (the need of increasing quantities of alcohol consumed just in order to feel its effects). Consumption of alcohol can be potentially fatal and can be associated with nutritional and psychological disorders. Small things like socialising and work can be affected by frequent intoxication of alcohol. Important skills like these are beneficial to live a normal life in community so without them people who suffer from alcoholism seep out of society. They also can indulge in destructive behaviour like drink driving which can hurt or end other people's lives as well as their own.

Drinking alcohol can also cause physical problems like tissue damage (such as cirrhosis of the liver), kidney disease, heart and brain damage, chronic gastritis (inflammation of the lining of the stomach), nerve damage, epilepsy, certain types of cancer, high blood pressure (which can eventually lead to a stroke), liver failure, loss of brain cells, enlarged blood vessels, hypoglycaemia (too little sugar in the bloodstream), pancreatitis (inflammation and disorders of the pancreas) as well as the withdrawal symptoms mentioned above. Alcohol is considered as a drug as when consumed in overload is poisonous to human systems.

Alcoholism can also cause impotence in men, prominent risk of cancer of the stomach, larynx, upper gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. One of the worst of all is the damage which can be caused to the fetus of pregnant women due to alcohol. Alcohol during pregnancy can cause prematurity, low weight when born, smaller eyes and head, smaller eyelid opening, different types of cerebral lesions that cause mental retardation, inadequate growth, a different cry from the typical baby, high mortality and other deformities. Sometimes the baby can even suffer tremor, irritability and seizures (typical alcohol deprivation symptoms.) Unfortunately, extremely often the pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. It is also very hard to diagnose a baby with fetal alcoholism as most times the mother usually denies drinking alcohol as well as an addiction.

Many sources show that alcoholics hardly ever eat a nutritionally sufficient meal which means they are very likely to have nutritional deficiencies. Very heavy drinkers quite obviously have impaired livers and sadly at least 1 in 5 develops cirrhosis (a gradual annihilation of the liver cells which are gradually replaced with fibrous tissue, which then leads to hardening.)

Excessive drinking has also been linked to obesity, sexual problems, infertility, vitamin deficiency, muscle disease and skin problems.

3. Who is most likely to suffer this disease?

A lot of people are more likely to suffer alcoholism then others. One of them are people with a family background of alcoholism as their chances of becoming an alcoholic are four to five times greater then the average person. They are inclined to become an alcoholic because of the way they have been brought up (having a view that being an alcoholic isn't that bad.)Having a parent or grandparent alcoholic generally means that you have a higher tolerance of it.

More men than women are alcohol dependent or experience alcohol- related problems. Rates of alcohol problems are also highest among young adults ages 18-29 and lowest among adults 65 years and older.

Teenagers are very likely to suffer because of influence from their peers. Peer pressure gets a lot of people into drugs and alcohol.

People with emotional relapses are also very likely to suffer from alcoholism as they turn to alcohol to escape the daily grind of life.

The following table summarises the alcohol drinking status