Alcohol Side Effects. Even a few drinks can result in alcohol side effects. And over time, these side effects can include alcohol abuse, cancer, heart disease, alcohol addiction, and alcohol poisoning.

Cancer

2-4% of all cancer cases are related to alcohol. Upper digestive tract cancers are the most common, hitting the esophagus, mouth, larynx, and pharynx. Women who drink prior to menopause are more likely to develop breast cancer. Your risk of skin cancer doubles if you drink slightly more than “moderate levels.” Some studies implicate alcohol in colon, stomach, pancreas and lung cancer. And let’s not forget the liver…

Alcohol poisoning.

Drinking large amounts can result in alcohol poisoning, which causes unconsciousness and even death. Breathing slows, and the skin becomes cold and may look blue. Don’t let a person in this condition “sleep it off.”

Heart disease

Heart disease could be another effect of your drinking. Long term alcohol dependency has been know to be the cause of high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and even some strokes. Your liver is going to be affected by all your drinking and you might find yourself suffering from liver failure or even Cirrhosis of the liver.

Personal relationships

Personal relationships will suffer. As your disease progresses, alcohol begins to take control of your life. You will find that you cannot make even the simplest decisions. You will find that you would rather spend your time drinking than spending it with family and friends. Alcohol can also make you more violent then you are normally. Most domestic abuse involves drinking as well as some child abuse cases. Your temper and patience is much shorter than it would be if you were not drinking.

Dehydration

Alcohol has been known to mitigate the production of the ADH, which is a hormone that acts on the kidney, favoring water reabsorption in the kidneys during filtration. This occurs because alcohol confuses osmoreceptors in the hypothalamus, which relay osmotic pressure information to the posterior pituitary the site of ADH release. Alcohol makes the osmoreceptors signal as if there was a too low osmotic pressure in the blood, which triggers an inhibition of ADH. Consequently, one’s kidneys are no longer able to reabsorb as much water as they should be absorbing, leading to creation of excessive volumes of urine and subsequently overall dehydration.

Alcohol and pregnancy

Women who drink heavily during pregnancy are at risk of having babies with a condition called fetal alcohol syndrome. This can result in growth deficiencies, nervous system problems, lowered intelligence, and facial abnormalities in the child. It is also called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder – all the symptoms are not always present and can vary in how serious they are.

Psychological effects

Although alcohol initially makes people feel relaxed, long term excessive use can ultimately increase anxiety and cause depression. It is also related to problems with sleeping, mood-swings, violence and suicide (about two-thirds of suicide attempts are thought to involve alcohol).

Neurologically

Neurologically there will be some side effects also. Alcohol is a toxin that is going to do damage to your brain. You may find that you have a loss of balance, loss of intellectual abilities and unable to concentrate on anything. Your hands might become numb and you may feel that you are always in a state of mental confusion.

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Side Effects of Alcoholism

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Poisoning particularly occurs due to poisonous stuff which causes injury, illness or ultimately death to the organisms, regularly by the chemical reaction or the activity on the molecular level. In medicine and in zoology phrase poisoning is frequently distinguished with venom. The Venoms are the biologic toxins that are injected to illustrate their effect. The Poisons are generally defined as toxins which are absorbed by the epithelial linings in the form of the gut or skin. Some of the poisoning is caused by means of toxins, normally referring to obviously formed substances, as the bacterial proteins that cause tetanus and botulism. The dissimilarity between the two conditions is not always observed, still among the scientists. The phrase “poison” is frequently used colloquially to give details additional category of substance: Mutagens, while the Ultraviolet rays and extra Ionizing rays also results in poisoning. As it “Causes radiation sickness and cancer”. Pollutants might be poisoning and they might be non-poisonous except damaging in additional ways and Teratogens, such as Thalidomide. Poisoning occurs in different situations such as the alcohol poisoning, sun poisoning, and common of all the food poisoning. Alcohol poisoning is a stern ‘sometimes deadly’. It is the consequence of drinking tremendous amounts of alcohol. The Spree drinking might lead to the alcohol poisoning. Symptoms and sings of the alcohol poisoning include: confusion, vomiting, seizures, slow breathing pale skin, and unconsciousness. Alcohol is stomach nuisance and may cause vomiting. It affect ones innermost nervous system by deliberating the breathing, heart rate and gag reflex. These increases the dangers of pungent on vomit when one pass out from the extreme drinking. Other form of poisoning is the Sun poisoning; it is a nonscientific expression that refers to a miscellaneous sun-allergic response. The Light-skinned people have less defensive skin pigments that are particularly vulnerable to the sun-poisoning, it also might occur in several people who are exposed to overload sunlight. Frequently it occurs when the sun exposure is combined with the range of drugs, chemicals, cosmetics, and plants. The typical case of sun poisoning is sunburn. Compared to redheads, black people hardly ever suffer from sun poisoning as the pigment in the upper layer of their skin prevent the diffusion of the sunburn rays to the responsive deeper layers. The sign of sun poisoning consist of insensitive itching and a reaction. The common of all is the food poisoning, it is estimated that between 25 and 71 million cases of food poisoning arise every year all above the world. The Food poisoning is an ever-present hazard that can be banned with proper care and dealing with the food products. Bacteria associated food poisoning is mostly common, but fewer than 20 thousands of varied bacteria in fact are the culprits.

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Drunk driving is the leading cause of death for young adults, aged 15 to 24 years. In one study, an estimated 6% to 14% of drivers under 21 years of age who were stopped at roadside checkpoints had been drinking. This age-group makes up only one fifth of the licensed drivers in the United States, yet they are involved in almost half of all fatal car crashes.

Alcohol has many side effects including altering your perceptions, dulling your senses, hindering coordination, and blocking memory functions. If you continue to use alcohol heavily, you could experience stomach ailments, sexual impotence, heart and central nervous system damage, loss of appetite, and blackouts.

Many people use alcohol to escape from their problems, or to change their personalities. They have an inability to control their drinking, a high tolerance level for alcohol, and may suffer problems at work or in school as a result. If your family and friends are concerned about your problem, you should be too. It is a sad fact that an estimated 6.6 million children under the age of 18 live in households with at least one alcoholic parent.

Injury is a type of hazard which can be associated with alcohol use. Injury is different from violence in that injury is most often accidental. Types of accidental injuries caused by alcohol abuse or addiction include burns, injury from a car or boating accident (caused by drunk driving), drowning, and injury from falling.

Violence is commonly associated with intense alcohol use. Although not all people experience violence as a result of alcohol use, this problem is common among those who are heavily intoxicated. Violent acts may include abuse of family members, assault, and homicide. In order to prevent such occurrences, many people seek out help for alcohol addiction from drug and alcohol rehab centers.

There are no two ways about it. Aznd no, it is not alright to take ‘just a little drink’ when pregnant. The alcohol in your blood can get carried into the baby’s bloodstream causing birth difficulties, abnormalities and even a miscarriage. Plus, if you are planning to conceive, it is unclear how early into the pregnancy you must stop drinking. So it is best if you abstain from alcohol when planning a pregnancy, when pregnant and when breast feeding. The best gift you can give your child is that of good health.

Abuse of alcohol can also lead to malnutrition and lowered resistance to disease, which presents an entirely new set of problems, not only to your looks but your health as well. No one can say for sure, but abstinence may be one of the ways a woman can stay healthier and looking younger longer. Besides, who needs pimples?

When a person takes a drink of alcohol, ethanol (the chemical name for drinkable alcohol) irritates the stomach lining, releasing acids. A small amount is broken down chemically, but most of the alcohol heads toward the small intestine through an opening called the pyloric valve. Drinking too much alcohol too quickly can cause the valve to swell and close, causing vomiting.

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Dangers of Alcohol – Save Your Life

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Shirley just didn’t get it.  After receiving three DUIs and after getting rushed to the emergency room twice for alcohol poisoning she still could not stop drinking.  To make things worse, she had already gone to alcohol treatment three times.  Ironically, one time after going through rehab, Shirley stayed sober for three-and-a-half years.

As soon as something problematic came her way, however, she “dealt with” things by drinking abusively.  Once again Shirley is now in jail and once again she is undergoing mandatory alcohol rehab while she is incarcerated.

This time, however, she will not get released from jail until she has successfully undergone alcohol rehabilitation and remained sober for at least ten weeks.  Furthermore, she will have to agree to attend outpatient alcohol treatment and accept random alcohol testing before she is released from jail.  Will Shirley eventually “get it” and avoid drinking altogether?  Only time will tell.

Patti has been an excessive drinker for about fifteen years.  One Wednesday evening while flipping through the TV channels with her remote, she stumbled upon a special program  that discussed alcohol poisoning symptoms.

Due to the fact that Patti was a heavy drinker, she was quite interested in watching the rest of this program.  At one point, Patti was shocked to find out that alcohol poisoning can result in a fatality even if the drinker doesn’t drink excessively on a daily basis.  Stated differently, over time hazardous and excessive drinking can weaken an individuals’ organs and overall system and lead to an alcohol overdose.

Here’s another fact that didn’t make a lot of sense to Patti.  Let us focus on an individual who only drinks once per year.  For the sake of our discussion, let us assume that this person only drinks on his or her birthday but when he or she drinks, he or she gets drunk.

This individual, although he or she only drinks just one time per year, by definition, has involved himself or herself in alcohol abuse.  What is more, if this individual gets extremely drunk on his or her birthday, for instance, the result can be a fatal alcohol overdose.

How many individual’s lives are shortened because of alcohol related health problems?   How many people are the victims of alcohol related violence or crime every year?  How many children are born each year with fetal alcohol syndrome?

How many individuals get injured or get killed in alcohol related traffic accidents every year?  How many junior high, high school, and college students lose their lives every year due to alcohol poisoning?  How many people lose their lives every year because of alcohol related deaths?

The point in asking these questions is to emphasize the devastating and the destructive nature of hazardous and excessive drinking.

It sounded like a morbid subject–and it was.  Mrs. Channing decided to call her lecture “alcohol related deaths” and after much vacillation, finally decided to present this important information to her eleventh grade health class.

Morbid or not, Mrs. Channing could tell that she secured the interest of every student in the class.  For instance, during her lecture there wasn’t one interruption and when the “questions and answers” part the class began and it seemed like every pupil in the class had a question to ask.  And when Mrs. Channing discussed some of the specific fatalities caused by irresponsible and abusive drinking such as fatal alcohol poisoning and alcohol related cancer, her students seemed so very attentive.

All things considered, Mrs. Bell was delighted with the response she received and, as a consequence, she told the class that she would work on five more lectures on the same topic.  What is more, Mrs. Channing determined that “alcohol related deaths” and how hazardous and excessive drinking often results in premature fatalities would be one of the topics that she would teach every year.

Does the presence of alcohol poisoning symptoms always mean that the individual is suffering from alcohol poisoning?  Are there any other reasons why an individual might exhibit symptoms of alcohol poisoning?

In fact, there actually more than a few medical conditions and illnesses that have symptoms that are similar to what an individual experiences during an alcohol overdose.  Illustrations include the following:  food poisoning, the flu, a heart attack, and a stroke.

To answer the question that was asked above:  no, the presence of alcohol poisoning symptoms does not necessarily mean that a person is suffering from alcohol poisoning.

Here’s the bottom line when discussing alcohol poisoning or any of the above mentioned medical problems and illnesses:  call 911 and ask for immediate emergency assistance.  In a word, why be concerned with a precise medical diagnosis when the key task at hand is getting the individual to a hospital for prompt medical treatment?

The other day I was thinking about alcohol abuse and alcoholism and I began wondering how much alcohol advertising influences our drinking behavior.

As I began thinking more intensely about this I reflected on the pervasiveness, the acceptability, and the availability of alcohol in our society.  For example, I can look outside my office window and see a convenient store, a restaurant, and two bars, all of which are within 500 feet from where I live.

In a sense, each one of these businesses is an “advertisement” for drinking.  Indeed, once an individual goes inside any one of these businesses, he or she can buy just about as much alcohol as he or she wants.

Now consider the alcohol advertisements that are in magazines, in the movies, on TV, on the radio, and on the gigantic billboards that are scattered throughout our highways.

After viewing drinking from this perspective, it becomes clearer why so many alcohol problems such as alcohol abuse, binge drinking, hangovers, alcohol poisoning, and alcoholism occur so frequently in our society.

Melissa was a fifth-grade student in the smallest elementary school in the city.  Because of the number of alcohol-related problems that had been displayed by pre-teens and teenagers in the local community, elementary school students were learning about the dangers and health issues associated with alcohol abuse and alcoholism as early as the fourth grade.

One day while Mr. Blackwell, Melissa’s teacher, was going over the adverse outcomes of abusive and hazardous drinking he decided to make a lateral move and teach the class about alcohol poisoning.

When Mr. Blackwell started talking about some of the basic alcohol poisoning symptoms that a person can exhibit, Melissa raised her hand and asked if getting drunk automatically meant that the drinker would manifest some of the alcohol poisoning symptoms.

This provided Mr. Blackwell with a nice transition into a discussion of blood alcohol level and how every individual is different in the way he or she responds to excessive and abusive drinking.

Why does binge drinking so frequently lead to alcohol poisoning?  Binge drinking is defined as having 4 or more drinks at one sitting for females and consuming 5 or more drinks at one drinking episode for males.

In truth, binge drinking and alcohol poisoning make a lot of sense from a logical point of view.  To be more specific, when a person drinks more alcohol than his or her body can process, he or she frequently experiences symptoms of alcohol poisoning such as nausea, seizers, irregular breathing, confusion, and vomiting.

By definition, binge drinking means that the drinker has had at least four or more drinks at one sitting.  Due to the fact that the binge drinker has ingested a relatively large amount of alcohol, it is probable that he or she may have consumed more alcohol than his or her liver can metabolize.  Unfortunately, when this happens the individual experiences an alcohol overdose and needs immediate medical attention.

Some adverse alcohol effects receive the most news:  an alcoholic who commits suicide; a baby born with fetal alcohol syndrome; an individual who has died from alcohol-related cancer, liver disease, or heart disease; an alcohol-related murder or crime; a young person who dies from alcohol poisoning; an individual who has received multiple DUIs; or alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

These are the alcohol related news stories that usually collect the most attention.  There are, however, other, less known, adverse alcohol effects that may not make the evening news but nonetheless are equally as damaging.

Examples include alcohol related nervous system damage, system and organ malfunction, child abuse, kidney failure, and codependency issues.

The bottom line:  long-term, repetitive drinking leads to several negative and damaging alcohol effects that can be significantly reduced or perhaps eliminated via drinking in moderation or via abstinence.

Sandra has been an executive assistant with a major painting manufacturer for twelve years.

She had a reputation as a kind of person who thought through every decision she made, someone who wasn’t much of a party person, and someone who called off work just once or twice every year.

It was therefore odd to see her empty chair on a Wednesday morning at the office.  In fact, all the people in the office were wondering where Sandra was until the CEO of the company received a phone call from a hospital administrator who said that Sandra was hospitalized for an alcohol overdose and wouldn’t return to work until Monday or Tuesday of the following week.

Apparently Sandra went out drinking with some friends, engaged in binge drinking, started exhibiting alcohol poisoning symptoms, and was rushed to the hospital for alcohol poisoning treatment.

The CEO of the company didn’t want to broadcast the fact that Sandra had been hospitalized for an alcohol overdose, so he simply said that he received word that Sandra would be out of the office until the following Monday or Tuesday morning.

Six men in their seventies meet every Friday night to play poker.  Even though they do this mainly because they love to play cards and also because they enjoy one another’s company, there is another key reason why playing poker every week is fun for these men, namely drinking.

In fact, it is an understatement to say that all of these men enjoy drinking.  One Friday night, however, while they were playing cards, Jimmy, the unofficial leader of the “gang,” without any forewarning asked if anyone could identify two or more of the “typical” alcohol poisoning symptoms.  Jimmy then asked if anyone knew what to do if he saw an individual who might be exhibiting the symptoms of alcohol poisoning.

The good news is that everyone in the group knew that they should call 911 for emergency medical assistance for anyone who is experiencing alcohol poisoning symptoms.  The bad news, however, is that only two men could articulate at least two of the “usual” alcohol poisoning symptoms.

What is especially ironic about this is that these men, all of whom were in their seventies, didn’t know more about alcohol poisoning in spite of the fact that they had been drinking their entire adult lives.

This was getting old. Jasmine was admitted to the local city hospital for the third time this year because she experienced an alcohol overdose.  When Carolyn, Jasmine’s sister, heard about this she went to the hospital as quickly as possible to visit Jasmine.

When Carolyn walked into Jasmine’s hospital room, the first words out of her mouth were the following:  “I am grateful that you are OK but when are you going to figure this excessive drinking thing out?  Time and time again you drink yourself silly and then end up in the hospital for alcohol poisoning treatment.  If you can’t drink responsibly and in moderation, then stop drinking altogether.  And if you can’t stop drinking for yourself, then quit drinking for the people in your life who honestly care about you.”

Emily’s family was stunned.  Emily was enrolled in a MBA program in graduate school and had a reputation as an excellent student who had a few drinks just once or twice per year.  In other words, Emily was anything but a person who engaged in abusive drinking.

On her twenty-second birthday Emily decided to go out with some of her college friends to celebrate her “special day.”  According to her friends, Emily drank just about as much as everyone else.

In spite of Emily’s infrequent drinking, the reality of the situation was this.  On her twenty-second birthday, Emily drank far more than her body could metabolize.  By the time her friends realized that Emily was truly sick from drinking and that she was exhibiting alcohol poisoning symptoms, Emily died from an alcohol overdose.  The moral of the story is this:  getting drunk even once can lead to alcohol poisoning, which in rare circumstances can be fatal.

Austin got a real wake up call while he was watching a two-hour television special about alcohol related deaths.  To be clear, Austin already knew about the loss of life related to alcohol poisoning and chronic alcoholism. In a similar way, he also knew that many people lost their lives due to alcohol-related liver disease, homicide, traffic accidents, and suicide.

What Austin didn’t know about, however, was the significant number of people who died directly or indirectly every year from alcohol related heart disease, strokes, pancreatitis, cancer, and fetal alcohol syndrome.

For the first time since he started to drink, Austin realized that he was “skating on thin ice” because during the past six months, he had started to drink more heavily and more often than ever before.  After watching this special television program, however, he promised himself that he would begin drinking in moderation from this day forward, stop engaging in alcohol abuse, and start living in a more responsible and healthy manner.

Emily was an interior designer who had a relatively full and exciting social life.  As the years went by, however, Emily began to drink more frequently with her friends and her business partners.  One day while Emily was at work, she received a phone call from her brother Pete who asked her if she had heard about what happened to Jacquie, their cousin.

When Emily answered this question in the negative, Pete told her that Jacquie nearly died the previous night from alcohol poisoning.  This was all that Emily needed to hear.  She immediately decided to call her doctor and schedule an appointment so that she could discuss her drinking problem and find out if she is merely an alcohol abuser or if she is an alcoholic.

Regardless of what Emily will find out from her doctor, she already made up her mind that she will probably need to get admitted into an alcohol treatment program.  She also decided that she needs to start paying more attention to her family and her career and to involve herself less in partying and abusive drinking.

When an individual drinks, the alcohol is metabolized by the liver and then is eliminated from the body by urination, exhaling, and by perspiration.  Sometimes a person drinks more than his or her body can process.  Basically what this means is that the individual consumed more alcohol than his or her liver can metabolize.  When this happens, a number of individuals are tempted to go home and “sleep it off.”  This can be extremely dangerous for the following reason: if the individual is experiencing an alcohol overdose, letting him or her “sleep it off” can, in rare instances, lead to complications that can result in a loss of life.

How does a person know whether he or she is experiencing alcohol overdose symptoms?  The following alcohol poisoning symptoms frequently manifest themselves when an individual is experiencing an alcohol overdose: slurred speech, confusion, vomiting, irregular breathing, absent reflexes, unconsciousness, and blue-tinged skin.

The correct response for dealing with a person who may be experiencing symptoms of alcohol poisoning is this:  call 911 immediately and ask for emergency medical assistance.  When the person is taken to the hospital, he or she will receive the appropriate alcohol poisoning treatment.

Are we bombarded with so much information about alcohol abuse and alcoholism that we have created a situation best described as “information overload?”  Is there too much to understand regarding alcohol alcoholism and alcohol abuse information?

Can it accurately be said that the more information there is about alcohol treatment, the better?  Is there simply too much information for most teenagers and adults to sort through and “digest” regarding basic alcohol information?

Maybe it’s time for our educators to develop a “Cliff Notes” version of alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction information.  Such a short pamphlet could center on disseminating the message that drinking even once in a hazardous an abusive manner can be damaging and in some cases can lead to a fatality.  Examples of the latter include alcohol poisoning and alcohol related traffic fatalities.