Alcohol Addiction: Do Not Overlook This Fatal Addiction

Alcoholism is the consumption of or preoccupation with alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior gets in the way of a normal personal, family, social or work lifestyle. Chronic alcohol consumption caused by alcoholism can result in psychological and physiological disorders.

Some of the more serious impacts resulting from extensive alcohol consumptions are:

Internal organs

At the end of the 18th century, doctors from England and Germany considered for the first time alcohol addiction as a disease and described it in such a manner. It took though more time until this concept was accepted and understood by public opinion. Alcoholism can be considered a chronic disease and it has a predictable and progressive evolution, most times being fatal to the individuals who have this addiction. As a disease, alcoholism can be recognized from the consequences of poisoning, meaning affections of the stomach, liver, heart or other internal organs, caused by the consumption of alcohol.

How it affects the stomach

Alcohol is dangerous for our stomach because it produces the incapacity of the stomach to produce the natural digestive fluid in a necessary amount in order to absorb the food and digest it properly. The food will not be digested entirely and that will be the cause of nausea, emptiness, distention and prostration which any alcoholic feels. Any alcoholic person feels a repulsion towards food and craves for more alcohol. When the food is partially digested for a long time the critical forms of indigestion will soon appear and this is called Dyspepsia.

Damages the liver

The second internal organ that gets affected in a major way by the consumption of alcohol is the liver. The repercussions can lead to death if not treated properly The liver is affected at the structural level more than any other internal organ. The normal quality of the liver is as an organ which holds the active substances in the cellular structures. We can consider the liver as the place where all new and where damaging substances are gathered. The same thing happens with alcohol, which is retained by the liver and in this manner affects the capsular structure or the minute membranous, causing the malfunction of the dialysis and free secretions. The dilatation of its vessels and the quantity of fluid matter that is increased cause the thickening of the tissue and the liver becomes larger. But the membrane does not allow this and contracts, leading to the shrinkage of the organ in the cellular areas. When the blood returned from the veins is stopped by this obstruction the lower parts of the body become inflated. This is why the fat cells permeate the structure of the liver and cause what we know as " fatty liver ".

The deterioration of kidneys

When big quantities of alcohol invade our body, the kidneys also suffer. It resembles the damages on the Liver: the vessels of the kidneys become rigid and can not contract any more as a healthy kidney normally would. The fat cells also affect the minute structures and the strength of the body decreases gradually as if you are losing blood.

The lungs get congested

Opposed to the reaction of the livers vessels which lose their flexibility under the action of alcohol, the lungs vessels become relaxed, causing the unusual exposure to the variations of heat and cold. This exposure to the unstable atmospheric temperatures makes them to become congested, and can even cause death in severe cold conditions, by sudden congestion of the lungs.

The heart becomes feeble

As the most vital internal organ, the heart can suffer irreparable damages when affected by alcohol. The membranous structures that cover and define the heart become calcareous or cartilaginous and the valves lose their elasticity causing a permanent valvular disorder. The same happens to the great blood-vessel which is supposed to feed the heart with blood from all over the body and which, by the loss of flexibility has a decreasing power to complete its function.

As you know the heart contracts with the help of the muscular structure, but the changes in the tissue lead to a great accumulation of fatty cells that can even replace the muscular fibres or create a new structure with a feeble power of contraction.

People affected by alcohol can be conscious about all these changes in their body because they experience a great loss of power but once again, alcohol can bring them a relief of this " Sinking " sensation. They are aware of the damages that they have caused to their body so late, that they can not do anything else to save their own lives. The alcohol has effect on a short term and they try it until it works no more. Their heart fails, becomes overworked and powerless. The flood of blood can infiltrate gradually from the course or under a shock can break into the very center of our body: the heart.