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 doctor's appointment.Contact your doctor!
Psyche and nervous system
Alcohol is a poison and a drug that causes morning sickness and headaches, as well as premature aging and long-term illness.However, the number of addicts continues to grow, and the warnings of the Ministry of Health forDAMAGEwhen they drink alcohol they remain without proper attention.
Ethyl alcohol causes an uncontrollable desire for alcohol, in which a person either 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 the paradoxical changes in the human psyche.Many processes related to the work of neurotransmitters in the brain are interrupted, so they depend on:
- cannot experience a sense of joy and satisfaction without alcohol;
- falls into depression and may attempt suicide;
- becomes aggressive, his character and behavior change a lot.
In the second stage of alcoholism, a dose of alcohol can still lead to pleasant sensations.Depending on the dose and the characteristics of the nervous system, the addict can feelSILENCEand relaxation, if ethanol acts on it as a sedative, or joy and the desire to move, if the euphoric effect of alcohol is predominant.
In the terminal phasedependencea person is no longer able to receive pleasure.A dose of alcohol relieves anxiety for a short time, but after a few minutes the person needs alcohol again.
In addition to the increased need for ethyl alcohol, patientsare being developedand other complications related to 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 arrogant;
- the coordination of a person in a state of intoxication is impaired, which is why drunk people are forbidden to drive a car and perform work that requires 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 hot-tempered.
In the early stages of addiction, a person may feel that drinking helps them relax, relieve stress, and feel better.Unfortunately, that is the impressionerror: alcohol quickly destroys the nervous system and it is not always possible to restore brain functions lost as a result of addiction.
Immunity
The myth that alcoholics never catch colds, never get sick, and are usually in remarkably good health is based on the fact that a large number of addicts who haveCHRONICdiseases or factors that provoke their development, or are forced to give up the bad habit, or die from the complications that develop.The rest can actually drink large amounts of alcohol for a long time, surviving relatively stable complications and becoming an illustration of the erroneous statement that "nothing turns alcoholics away."
Human immunity, regularlyconsumeralcohol breaks down causing various pathologies.
- If the immune system cannot resist the antigens that surround a person, the patient begins to suffer from persistent respiratory diseases, food poisoning, dermatological, genital infections and other infections.
- If the immune system begins to work actively, but incorrectly, it reacts to factors that cannot cause significant damage to the body.Thus, intolerance to specific foods, pollen, herbal and synthetic ingredients, etc. appears.
- Autoimmune diseases are one of the most serious complications of alcoholism, in which the immune system begins to destroy its own cells.Such pathologies cannot be completely eliminated and the treatment that prevents their development has many side effects.
Diseases of the immune system can lead tofailuresin other systems, mainly nervous and endocrine.
This category of complications can becountand oncology, as a healthy immune system helps fight cancer, prevents its development and quickly destroys 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 compounds, but you can find them in much larger quantities in any fresh vegetable or fruit.fromStatistics, 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 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 mucous membrane of the mouth, esophagus and stomach.From the stomach, ethanol actively enters the bloodstream and, together with the blood, affects other organs of the digestive system: the liver, pancreas, etc.
List of diseases you may encountersick, wide As an example, we can mention only the most common ones.
- Awaybloodshed- a deadly consequence of alcohol abuse, which causes unnoticed, provoking only abdominal pain, which many do not pay attention to.The phenomenon is caused by the expansion of blood vessels in the mucosa of the organs: since the walls of blood vessels in alcoholics are often fragile due to high cholesterol and lack of nutrients, damage occurs and venous blood begins to flow into the person's stomach.
- cirrhosis– an extremely serious illness that cannot be cured and for which there is no supportive therapy, as in kidney failure.An alcoholic's liver is under great stress.The organ's hepatocytes are damaged, functional tissue is replaced by scar tissue or fat, and the liver gradually fails.The danger of the condition lies in the fact that liver pathologies often occur unnoticed, in a hidden form.
- Pancreatitis– inflammation of the pancreas, causing frequent severe abdominal pain, nausea and dyspeptic disorders.The abdomen swells, the patient is disturbed by increased gas formation and fatty stools, and the quality of his life deteriorates significantly.
the conditionweighother components included in alcoholic beverages: colors, preservatives, foaming agents.
Urinary system
The kidneys remove the half-life products of ethyl alcohol from the blood, so they often suffer from its toxic effects as well.There are several mechanismsThe defeatkidney tissue:
- the development of malignant hypertension, in which intrarenal vessels and capillaries are damaged;
- occurrence of autoimmune processes affecting the kidneys (SLE, glomerulonephritis, vasculitis).
The kidneys canlong termtime to condense the function of the dead nephrons, but when the replacement tissue exceeds 50%, the glomerular filtration rate will begin to decline, causing:
- swelling;
- high blood pressure;
- intoxication and vomiting;
- the smell of ammonia from the mouth and skin, etc.
When organs fail, patients are constantly forced to undergo hemodialysis procedures (3-4 times a week for 3-6 hours), or resort to organ transplantation.At the same timeprobabilityThe chance that an alcoholic will be able to receive a donor kidney and his body will be able to withstand immunosuppressive therapy after surgery is small.
Pathologies of the heart
Diseases related to the functioning of the heart and the condition of the blood vessels kill the majority of people in the world.In countries where there is an active fight against alcohol consumption, thisINDExESusually lower, which proves the effect of ethanol on the heart.
- When drunk with ethyl alcohol, the body rapidly loses potassium and magnesium, which have an important function in maintaining the health of the body.The muscle gets tired, and cardiomyopathy often occurs, in which the heart increases in volume, but its health and ability to perform its assigned function rapidly decreases.This disease is also called beer heart syndrome.
- Due to disorders of lipid metabolism and damage to the organs of the digestive system, the cavity of the blood vessels from the inside begins to be covered with plaques of cholesterol and triglycerides (brown fat), disrupts blood flow, including feeding the heart, and increases the risk of cardiovascular accidents several times.
During drunkenness and excessive drinking, the heart workslimittheir abilities: patients often complain of tachycardia, a sudden feeling of weakness, dizziness.If you do not give the patient medical care in time, his condition can worsen from acute processes: stroke, heart attack.
What determines the complications of drinking alcohol?
People who deny the harm of alcohol to the body cite the example of their friends who have been drinking alcohol for a long time, but have not encountered anyseriousdisease.
Such isolated examples cannot compete with official statistics and scientific research that confirms that alcohol:
- leads to functional and organic organ disorders;
- provokes addiction, due to which a person cannot give up a bad habit, even realizing the degree of danger of using ethanol;
- causes mental disorders: from the syndrome of pathological intoxication, when a person loses control over himself after a small amount of alcohol, to suicide due to acute depression against the background of withdrawal.
Which ones specifically?complicationsborn in a certain person depends on him:
- age;
- lifestyle;
- existing chronic diseases;
- hereditary factor and genetic predisposition.
Both the quantity and quality of "fire water" consumed are important.Despite the ethanol itselfharmful, despite selling a drink that contains itdearin a wine market or in a pharmacy under the guise of a medicinal hawthorn tincture, the quality of other ingredients is important, as well as the degree of alcohol purification.
There are many myths about how alcohol affects the body.You should 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 the perception of alcoholic beverages as a safe, and sometimes healthy, way of leisure.You can learn about the dangers of alcoholism and how to treat it during a consultation with a narcologist at a drug treatment clinic.