The Effects of Alcoholism
Beer, now there’s a temporary solution. Alcoholism is caused by many problems. It can be hereditary, genetically, determined by age, gender and the list goes on. Not many people view alcoholism as a disease but it really is.
There is no specific cause of alcoholism. Studies have proven that the factors within the disease show that people will rely on alcohol a lot more than they should. For approximately 12,000 years humans been consuming alcohol but no person has found positive ways of coping with the disease (Causes of Alcoholism). The first step to alcoholism is recovery. If you don’t believe in getting better than you can’t get better. Alcoholism has multiple factors to why it becomes an addiction and the effects of it are life threatening and can not only affect the alcoholic, but their family.
To begin with, if someone within the family has had an addiction it can be passed on through genetics or hereditary. Medical history does indicate that once a child has grown up to be around the teenage years they will pick up the same factors of the disease as how someone in the family has. Genetics also play a significant part in alcoholism. Statically, about 60% of an alcoholics cause is because of a family addiction. It can be passed from parent to child, grandparent to grandchild, grandparent to parent. Alcoholism does run in families because a child can begin drinking from parents and from the home environment (Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Help).
It’s been proven that in most cases that who suffer from alcoholism has at least one parent who is an alcoholic. An estimated 40-60% of people developing the addiction is due to genetics (Side Effects of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence). If it was passed throughout the family it will most likely then be passed down to the next generation. Drinking can be used for a social event, dinner time or even celebrating occasions with some champagne. Either way too much can cause a problem without knowing it.
How you were raised, who you hang out with, how social you are and your emotional health are all also factors. Different racial groups can be at a different risk than others. American Indians and Native Alaskans are proven to be more at risk than others. Having a close relationship with a heavy drinker or even constantly being around a heavy drinker will bring problems to one’s health. The ones that suffer from a mental health problem and drink are causing themselves more problems than what’s already going on. They have more anxiety, depression and can even be bipolar if they don’t have the alcohol in their system.
Most people learn how to control their alcohol intake while others continue to abuse alcohol to the point of alcoholism. If someone relies on drinking to fix the problems in their life, they can be creating an alcohol problem. They more than likely will not admit to it because they might feel ashamed that they let their drinking go for far. If their having a hard time at work or school they might decide to have a glass of wine which will eventually lead to a few more glasses or even the whole bottle. To contribute with, everyone has a bad day once in awhile and try to relax by having a few glasses of wine or some other alcohol beverage. Studies show that people drink to cope with modern life and its economic stress, job problems or marital problems.
Drinking is one of the most common ways to relieve stress. Even animals are being taught to drink alcohol than water. Some people view alcohol as something that will keep them relaxed. Having a bad day at work due to poor performance, someone may just decide drinking will make it any better. Many drinking problems start because of wanting to be de-stressed or to even relieve stress.
When you drink an excessive amount you’ll forget what had happened earlier which people enjoy. Children can also play a factor in the drinking decision (Causes of Alcoholism). When they misbehave or just won’t stop crying the parent may feel like a drink will calm them down. Alcoholism can easily start from just having a few drinks every other week to having a drink every hour. It feels like a relaxer because you feel “free” and also feel like weight has been lifted off your shoulders. In all reality, you’re just drunk but in the morning you might not feel so good when you have a hangover.
Peer pressure is common within teenagers. You can be hanging out at a friend’s house and all of a sudden a friend constantly asks you if you will split a drink with them. Therapists say that most alcoholics have begun drinking in their teenage years. There’s always a period where teenagers will decide to hang around and drink. They usually drink to just get drunk as for when you get older you drink for emotional or physical problems.
Peer pressure will never stop and it has a much greater affect on kids now than it did ten years ago. Alcohol can be seen as a gateway drug. It gives people a feeling they might enjoy and because of that they wish to try other things. Friends can encourage other friends to drink even if the other person didn’t want to. “An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools,” said Ernest Hemingway. Next, most people don’t think about the long term effects that drinking has.
Teenagers find black outs to be funny because they don’t remember anything stupid they did earlier. Blackouts mainly occur when someone drinks too much in a very little amount of time and their system can’t handle it (Alcohol’s Damaging Effect On The Brain). College students are more known to getting black outs since their more binge drinkers. It can also happen when that person is drinking on an empty stomach. Since someone might drink a lot, their tolerance might also go up. If the tolerance goes up they will drink more and more until they have the effect of feeling drunk.
Memory loss might also happen since the alcoholic might’ve blacked out so much. People who drink often don’t really realize what’s happening to their body until something fatal has happened. They usually see being hungover as having a successful night. The reason why they feel like that is unknown to them. The body will soon enough feel weak and can’t handle all the alcohol. Alcoholics are addicted to it so if they don’t have it within a certain period they might feel depressed or have an anxiety attack.
Tremors and shaking are very popular when someone’s addicted. Usually when they’re an alcoholic they’ll throw a temper tantrum until they get what they want, which would be alcohol. Eating to them might not occur so much because they’re drinking away their stomach. Alcoholism is a very common and dangerous drug/disease. Alcoholics just feed into what their mind and body is telling them which is to drink more. They will hide the fact that they’re drinking from their family members.
Eventually, family parties and birthdays will mean nothing to them because they’d rather drink. Also, alcohol changes the brain’s chemistry. Meaning that when a person decreases how much they drink the brain will crave for more alcohol and will be pleased when it receives it. The development of the brain may stop developing the right way and will change. If the drinking gets severe enough, the liver will get infected and the alcoholic can get liver disease. People with poor nutrition and drinks excessively may get thiamine deficiency.
It’s a nutrient that’s needed for all tissues even the brain. An alcoholic may “forget” to eat which will lead to their thiamine going low. The WKS (Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome) is a brain disorder which can be short-lived or long-lived. Someone with it maybe too confused on what they’re doing like walking or where they are. WKS usually is a disorder that occurs after the alcoholic has been diagnosed with thiamine deficiency.
Liver disease is one of the most common diseases known for someone being an excessive drinker. Thiamine is needed to keep a body healthy and not many people know that. Most think that the worst that can happen to an alcoholic is either death or liver disease. Little do they know there are multiple diseases out there that are much worse. When someone doesn’t receive enough of the daily nutrients their body will slowly get weak.
When you drink the alcohol is being absorbed into the bloodstream from the stomach and intestines. The faster someone will drink alcohol than what their liver can handle the level of alcohol in their bloodstream increases. Drinking can cause three types of liver conditions: fatty liver, hepatitis and cirrhosis. Most people don’t realize they have it until they see a doctor. Fatty liver is when the build-up of fat occurs in the liver cells because that person is drinking regularly heavily.
Alcoholic hepatitis can range from being mild to severe. Mild hepatitis doesn’t have many symptoms but can attack the liver enzymes in the blood. The most severe type can lead to liver failure. Cirrhosis is when the normal liver tissue is replaced by scar tissue. Cirrhosis isn’t as common as any of the other diseases because it usually appears after ten years or more of drinking. People aren’t extremely aware of the things that are caused by alcoholism.
The disease can cause other diseases to hit the brain that will destroy the brain. Treatment for alcoholism isn’t as simple as it can come across as. Once the brain has been destroyed it’s done. Alcoholism has multiple factors to why it becomes an addiction and the effects of it are life threatening and can not only effect the alcoholic, but their family. In conclusion, alcoholism isn’t a joke, it might not be as bad as a drug addict but it’s very severe. High school students don’t find anything wrong with having a few beers and a few shots but they don’t really know the long term effects of those shots.
College students need to take it down a notch but they won’t because their constantly surrounded by the alcohol. Nobody really realizes the long term effects that go on. They think a few shots there a few beers there are no problem. What they don’t really know is when they grow older that alcohol will stay in their system and can attack their cells. People usually tell the truth when they’re drunk, remember; a drunk man words are a sober man’s thoughts.
