Negative effects of alcohol on the body

The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only, cannot be used to make a diagnosis or prescribe treatment, and is not a substitute for a doctor's appointment.Contact your doctor!

Psyche and nervous system

Alcohol is a poison and a drug that causes nausea and headaches in the morning and earlier aging and disease in the long run.However, the number of addicts continues to increase, and the Ministry of Health warns that approxharmthey remain without due care when consuming alcohol.

Ethyl alcohol causes an uncontrollable craving 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

This is due to the paradoxical changes in the human psyche.Many processes related to the work of neurotransmitters in the brain are disrupted, so the addict:

• you cannot experience the feeling of joy and pleasure without alcohol;
• becomes depressed and may attempt suicide;
• he becomes aggressive, his character and behavior change greatly.

In the second stage of alcoholism, a dose of alcohol can still cause pleasant feelings.Depending on the dose and the characteristics of the nervous system, the addict may feel itpeace of mindand relaxation, if ethanol acts as a relaxant, or joy and desire to move, if the euphoric effect of alcohol is dominant.

In the terminal sectiondependencyman is no longer capable of pleasure.A dose of alcohol dulls the discomfort for a short time, but after a few minutes you need alcohol again.

Patients with an increased need for ethyl alcoholthey developand other complications related to the functioning of the psyche:

• due to the toxic effect of alcohol on nerve cells, the cognitive functions of the brain slow down, the person becomes forgetful and distracted;
• the coordination of an intoxicated person is impaired, therefore intoxicated persons are forbidden to drive a car and do work that requires increased concentration of attention, however, coordination disorders persist in chronic alcoholics even when they are sober;
• Ethanol changes a person's personality, making them inhibited, lethargic, irritable and impulsive.

In the early stages of addiction, a person may feel that drinking helps them relax, relieve stress, and feel better.Unfortunately, this is the impressionbad: 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 get cold, never get sick, and are generally in excellent health is based on the fact that many addictschronicdiseases or the factors that cause them to develop, or they are forced to give up the bad habit, or they die from the resulting complications.The others can actually drink large amounts of alcohol for long periods of time, survive the complications relatively unscathed, and illustrate the fallacy that "nothing gets alcoholics."

Human immunity, regularlyconsumeralcohol breaks down, which causes various pathologies.

1. If the immune system cannot resist the antigens surrounding the person, the patient suffers from continuous respiratory diseases, food poisoning, dermatological, sexual and other infections.
2. If the immune system begins to work actively, but incorrectly, it overreacts to factors that cannot cause significant damage to the body.Thus, certain foods, pollen, plant and synthetic ingredients, etc.intolerance occurs.
3. 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 treatment to prevent their development has many side effects.

Diseases of the immune system can leadfailuresin other systems, primarily nervous and endocrine systems.

This category may have complicationsCountand oncology, as a healthy immune system helps fight cancer, prevents its development and quickly destroys abnormal cells.

There is a myth that certain beverages, such as wine, contain many antioxidants that are effective in preventing malignancy.Natural wines contain beneficial ingredients, but they are found in much larger quantities in all fresh vegetables and fruits.bystatistics, addicts often suffer from oncology of various organs, from cancer of the larynx and esophagus to damage to the liver and rectum.The prognosis for the oncological treatment of addicts is less favorable, as the weakened body cannot cope with both the disease and the consequences of complex and lengthy therapy.

Digestive system

When alcohol enters the body, it first comes into contact with the gastrointestinal tract: the oral mucosa, the esophagus, and the stomach.From the stomach, ethanol actively enters the bloodstream and, together with the blood, affects other organs of the digestive system: liver, pancreas, etc.

List of diseases you may encounterpatient, wide As an example, we can only mention the most common ones.

1. Domestiche is bleeding- the deadly consequence of alcohol consumption, which imperceptibly only causes abdominal pain, which many people do not pay attention to.The background of the phenomenon is the dilation of the blood vessels on the mucous membranes of the organs: since the walls of the blood vessels of alcoholics often become fragile due to high cholesterol and lack of nutrients, damage occurs and venous blood begins to flow into the person's stomach.
2. Cirrhosis– an extremely serious disease that cannot be cured and for which there is no supportive therapy, as in kidney failure.The alcoholic's liver is under a lot of strain.The organ's hepatocytes are damaged, functional tissues are replaced by scar tissue or fat, and the liver is gradually destroyed.The danger of the condition lies in the fact that liver pathologies often appear unnoticed, in a hidden form.
3. Pancreatitis- inflammation of the pancreas, which often causes severe abdominal pain, nausea and dyspeptic disorders.The abdomen swells, the patient is disturbed by increased gas formation and fatty stools, and his quality of life deteriorates significantly.

Conditionaggravates itother ingredients of alcoholic beverages: dyes, 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.There are several mechanismsdefeatskidney tissue:

• the development of malignant hypertension, in which the intrarenal vessels and capillaries are damaged;
• occurrence of autoimmune processes affecting the kidneys (SLE, glomerulonephritis, vasculitis).

The kidneys canlong termit has time to condense the function of the dead nephrons, but if the replacement tissue exceeds 50%, the glomerular filtration rate begins to decrease, which:

• swelling;
• hypertension;
• poisoning and vomiting;
• ammonia smell from the mouth and skin, etc.

When organs fail, patients are forced to undergo permanent hemodialysis treatment (3-4 times a week for 3-6 hours) or require an organ transplant.At the same timeprobabilityThe likelihood that an alcoholic can receive a donor kidney and that their body will be able to withstand immunosuppressive therapy after surgery is small.

Heart pathologies

Diseases related to the functioning of the heart and the condition of blood vessels kill the most people in the world.In countries where there is an active struggle against alcohol consumption, thisindicatorit is usually lower, which proves the effect of ethanol on the heart.

1. In case of ethyl alcohol poisoning, the body quickly loses potassium and magnesium, which play an important role in maintaining the health of the organ.The muscle wears out, and cardiomyopathy often occurs, during which the volume of the heart increases, but its health and ability to perform its assigned function rapidly declines.This disease is also called beer heart syndrome.
2. Due to disturbances in lipid metabolism and damage to the organs of the digestive system, the vascular cavity begins to become covered from the inside due to cholesterol plaques and triglycerides (brown fat), which disrupts blood flow, including the nutrition of the heart, and increases the risk of cardiovascular accidents several times.

During poisoning and excessive drinking, the heart workslimit valuetheir abilities: patients often complain of tachycardia, a sudden feeling of weakness, dizziness.If you do not provide the patient with medical care in time, his condition may be aggravated by acute processes: stroke, heart attack.

What determines the complications of alcohol consumption?

People who deny the harmful effects of alcohol on the body refer to their friends who drank alcohol for a long time, but did not meet him.seriousdisease.

Such isolated examples cannot compete with official statistics and scientific research that confirms that alcohol:

• leads to functional and organic disorders of the organs;
• causes addiction, as a result of which a person cannot give up a bad habit, even understanding the degree of danger of using ethanol;
• causes mental disorders: from pathological intoxication syndrome, when a person loses self-control after a small amount of alcohol, to suicide due to acute depression against the background of withdrawal.

Which ones specifically?complicationsIts appearance in a particular person depends on whether he:

• age;
• lifestyle;
• existing chronic diseases;
• hereditary factor and genetic predisposition.

Both the quantity and quality of the "fire water" consumed are important.Even though ethanol itselfharmful, despite selling a drink containing itnicein the wine market or pharmacy, under the guise of medicinal hawthorn tincture, the quality of the other ingredients and the degree of purity of the alcohol matter.

There are many misconceptions about how alcohol affects the body.Unreliable sources should not be trusted: it is important to remember that the market for alcohol production and sale in our country and in the world is a way to fill the state budget.This means that there will always be people who benefit from seeing alcoholic beverages as a safe and sometimes healthy form of recreation.You can learn about the dangers and treatment of alcoholism during a consultation with a narcologist at a drug treatment clinic.