Lasting Effects of Alcohol Abuse

Short-term alcohol abuse signs are not hard to recognize, as a walk through any bar will demonstrate. Slower reaction times, slurred speech and walking difficulties will be abundantly evident. However, the long-term consequences of alcohol abuse, and their impact on the brain, are less well understood. There is little doubt that long-term drinking is harmful to the alcohol abuser's well-being, but the most important point in countering the problem, from a public health perspective, is understanding that not all treatment approaches work equally, nor are all alcoholics are alike. Understanding long-term abuse begins with a willingness to look beyond the surface.

Effects

• Blackouts and memory lapses have long been mined for comedic effect, yet should be treated as an early warning signal of chronic alcoholism, a National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse bulletin states. Left unchecked, an inability to recall key facts and events---even after a few drinks---may progress into permanent brain damage. Brain shrinkage is another telling indicator, although not enough research has been done to determine if women are more vulnerable than men, according to the institute.

Features

• One of the most serious brain disorders is Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, an impairment characterized by increased memory problems. Wernicke's encephalopathy is the initial stage, whose key symptoms include difficulty with muscle coordination, mental confusion and paralysis of the nerves that move the eyes. Patients may be unable to find their way out of a room, or even walk, the institute's bulletin states. Eighty to 90 percent of Wernicke patients develop Korsakoff's Syndrome, which is also characterized by coordination problems, and inability to remember old information, or retrograde amnesia. About 25 percent of Korsakoff patients eventually require some type of institutional care, due to their cognitive decline.

Considerations

• Most people realize the potential for long-term damage to the liver, the organ responsible for breaking alcohol into harmless byproducts that leave the body. Less understood is the chance for liver damage to spiral into hepatic encephalopathy, a potentially fatal brain disorder characterized by severe cognitive and coordination problems, the association's bulletin notes. This can be accompanied by "blood sludging," in which oxygen-starved blood vessels plug up, and burst--a potentially fatal consequence if it happens in the esophagus or the stomach, according to Michaele P. Dunlap, a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating alcoholism and other substance abuse disorders.

Reverse Tolerance

• Reverse tolerance is one of the classic long-term effects of heavy drinking. As Dunlap notes in her article, "Biological Impacts Of Alcohol Use: An Overview," longtime drinkers gradually build tolerance to greater quantities. Ironically, the liver becomes less tolerant, leading to a gradual decline in tolerance---a clear sign, Dunlap observes, of late stage alcoholism. Many symptoms of liver damage, such as cirrhosis---such as poor appetite, fatigue and weakness---are nonspecific, which means they may not be attributed to the organ's declining ability to function, according to an entry posted on Medicine.net.

Prevention/Solution

• Treating long-term drinkers can be a challenge. Many factors affect the prognosis---including when the patient first started drinking, how long her abuse has continued and her overall health. Lowering blood ammonia concentrations is one treatment, followed by liver assist devices to clear the body of toxins. Liver transplants are the likelier option in late stage cases, with significant cognitive improvements possible after a year of abstinence, according to the institute's bulletin, "Alcohol's Damaging Effects on the Brain."