Alcohol Related Health Problems

Drinking alcohol is associated with weekends, parties and having a good time, but overuse can cause a lot of problems. Alcohol is the drug most children under 18 abuse. Car accidents caused by alcohol are the leading cause of death in teenagers. If using alcohol interferes with your daily activities, you have a problem, and continued overuse of alcohol can cause many health problems.
  1. Effects

    • Many people drink alcohol when they are depressed to feel better. Others drink before going to bed because alcohol helps them get to sleep. This doesn't work. Alcohol is a depressant. It may make you feel better temporarily, but it soon stops lifting your spirits and makes you feel more depressed. While it may help you fall asleep at first, you don't stay asleep. You miss the stages of deeper sleep that your body needs. Drinking alcohol only masks symptoms and makes the underlying problems worse.

    Types

    • Drinking alcoholic beverages leads to many different types of health problems. It raises your blood pressure, which puts you in danger of stroke and heart disease. It temporarily raises your blood sugar, then it falls, making you feel weak, shaky, faint and nauseous. Long-term drinking causes tremors, stomach problems, such as abdominal pain and bloating, osteoporosis and cancer. Most men who drink too much suffer from erectile dysfunction and sterility.

    Identification

    • There are many signs of alcohol related health problems. Symptoms of cirrhosis of the liver include indigestion, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting and anorexia. Blackouts, an increase in infections, excessive sweating and untreated injuries, such as cigarette burns, bruises, or fractures that can't be explained can indicate that health problems are caused by alcohol. Nose bleeds, bleeding gums, rectal bleeding, heavy menstrual periods and anemia could be related to drinking too much alcohol.

    Significance

    • Complications of alcoholism include malnutrition, brain damage, cardiomyopathy and peripheral neuropathy. Cardiomyopathy is damage to the heart muscle that causes it to become inflamed so it doesn't work as it should. The heart weakens and doesn't pump blood efficiently. Peripheral neuropathy is damage to the nervous system's motor and sensory nervers that connect the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. The peripheral nervous system carries information to and from the brain and spinal cord. When it becomes damaged, earlier symptoms are a change in temperature, pain, and numbness in the hands and feet.

    Warning

    • People who have developed health problems from drinking alcohol should quit drinking with a doctor's supervision. Alcohol is a drug, and quitting suddenly causes withdrawal symptoms including nausea, fever, insomnia, tremors, anxiety, hallucinations, slurred speech, lethargy, seizures and coma. You may need medication when you suddenly stop drinking alcohol to prevent severe symptoms of withdrawal.

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