Daily consumption of alcohol leads to alcoholism. The severity of complications of this severe disease depends on the dose of alcohol, its strength, quality parameters, as well as the accompanying pathologies of the patient, his body weight, age, and even gender. Today you will find out how harmful alcohol is, what period a patient suffering from alcoholism can live with, how he gets sick and then dies.
When is a stop needed?
Often, excessive drinking harms all body systems, but there is a misconception that if you drink alcohol in moderation, it will be beneficial. So, say those patients who justify themselves in front of everyone every day. It is obvious that if you take alcohol in large doses every day, then the patient will die in the near future.
How often can you drink alcohol? An alcohol concentration of 6 ‰ is fatal for a person. It is achieved when several bottles of 500 ml of vodka are drunk in a short time. There will be a state of intoxication, dysfunction of the whole organism, even when the person has not been ill before. It is forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages for patients with liver, heart and vascular dysfunction.
What happens if you drink a lot of alcohol every day, can you drink alcohol often? Signs of alcohol dependence that require urgent treatment are:
- Drinking a bottle of vodka or more, or one liter of beer, every day.
- Constant socializing for any reason with companions who drink alcohol with an alcoholic.
- Dysfunction of all body systems, enlargement of the beer belly.
- The patient uses alcohol to relax.
- Every morning, a patient who consumes alcohol is worried about the hangover syndrome, overeating lasts for weeks.
About complications caused by vodka
Drinking vodka every day causes alcoholism. Pathological processes will appear in the body that will become irreversible:
- Renal, liver, cardiovascular dysfunction will begin, and the digestive system will also suffer.
- There will be disorders in the work of the central nervous system, mental problems.
- The appearance of a person will change, he will be exhausted, the body will age faster.
As a result of daily consumption of strong alcohol, brain structures will be damaged, which will lead to psychosis, delirium tremens.
Such patients will not even notice how quickly they will start to forget everything, become inattentive, and their intellect will deteriorate. They will become self-denying, socially degraded. Large doses of vodka will lead to the fact that the person will become paralyzed, his peripheral, spinal nerve fibers will become inflamed and develop radiculopathy.
The mucous membrane of the stomach will be constantly burned, and then inflamed. Inflammatory processes will also occur throughout the intestinal tract. The liver will not be able to completely neutralize the toxic compounds of alcohol, its cellular structures will die, cirrhosis or oncological processes will appear.
Cardiac pathologies will appear, less contractions will occur, dystrophy in its tissues and cardiac obesity will appear. This will lead to cardialgia, chest discomfort, tachycardia and impaired respiratory function. The patient will become edematous, his blood flow will worsen, his blood pressure will rise. Violation of metabolic processes will lead to atherosclerotic changes, cerebral hemorrhage, myocardial infarction.
If you become addicted to beer every day
Unlike vodka, beer is a less strong alcoholic beverage. Therefore, many people use it in large quantities. There are also many complications with daily beer consumption. The stomach will be chronically inflamed, which will be manifested by pain and severity of the abdominal zone, and there will be atrophy of the pancreas.
This will lead to disorders in the digestive system. Large amounts of beer will lead to chronic inflammation of the liver without significant symptoms, which will eventually lead to cirrhosis. Since beer has a diuretic effect, the kidneys will work intensively, which will lead to leaching of magnesium and potassium.
Vitamin C will also be washed away, which will lead to heart dysfunction, bone and joint structures will suffer, and the immune system will be suppressed. The person will become less resistant to stress, more aggressive, irritable or whiny. Large doses of beer will lead to sclerosis of the renal blood vessels, bleeding and necrosis of the kidneys.
There will be problems with the cardiovascular system. Patients suffering from beer alcoholism will have varicose veins and the heart will become obese. Shortness of breath will appear at the slightest effort, blood pressure will rise, heart rhythm will be disturbed, ischemia will appear. Death from impaired cerebral circulation in beer alcoholism will double.
Excessive drinking of beer will lead to male impotence, endocrine dysfunction due to the hormone progesterone. A man becomes more like a woman, his hair falls out and does not grow, his voice changes. Such beer addiction develops 4 times faster than vodka and is more difficult to respond to therapeutic measures.
The person refuses to admit their beer addiction. He believes that beer is beneficial for the body, and connects impotence with other reasons.
If you drink infrequently, only on holidays
Alcoholic beverages have different effects on people who drink every day and those who drink on rare occasions. The impact of alcohol toxins on a patient with alcoholism and a person who drinks in rare cases is very different. A dose of wine for a normal person in the amount of 100 g is equivalent to ½ liters of vodka for an alcohol-dependent patient. An alcoholic is always very sensitive to alcohol, even if he stops using it.
After three decades of sober life, he will not be able to drink at all. After one glass of alcohol, the next will pass and so without stopping a man simply cannot stop. The reason for this is as follows. First, alcohol is oxidized in the liver cells to an acetaldehyde compound, so that the patient's liver suffers the most from daily alcohol consumption.
What is affected by frequent drinking?
The following discusses how drinks affect the internal organs and systems with frequent use.
What will happen to the liver?
The acetaldehyde compound is very toxic. Daily drunkenness burdens the liver, it cannot completely neutralize this toxic substance. A person suffering from alcoholism has a rapid accumulation of alcohol metabolites compared to a healthy person. Neutralization of these metabolites is slow, they remain in the body for a long time.
Such intoxication causes a hangover syndrome, the patient gets used to ethanol. These changes will always be with such a person, the more he drinks alcohol, the worse his general condition will be.
The large accumulation of acetaldehyde compounds in the body of an alcoholic will last for a long time compared to a non-drinker. Acetaldehyde is not only deposited in the liver tissue, but also in other organs.
This will lead to a constant desire to take alcohol from an ethanol-dependent patient. Normal people do not have that desire. If you continue to drink a lot of alcohol, then cirrhosis of the liver will occur. The organ shrinks, the vessels constrict in the liver, and the pressure increases, blood stagnation occurs. This leads to the fact that the walls of the organs will rupture, there will be bleeding, which will lead to death.
Non-alcoholics rarely get drunk, they rarely feel the hangover syndrome, because their liver functions normally, it neutralizes alcohol toxins well.
How are brain structures affected?
When a person gets drunk, the cortical layer is destroyed, numbness and death of certain segments of the brain. In alcoholics, edema, ulcers with scars and varicose veins are noticed on the brain tissue. Numerous ruptures are also manifested, cysts are formed on necrotic segments.
Effects of ethanol on the central nervous system
If you drink a lot of alcohol, then the person behaves differently, mentally and morally degrades. The patient inadequately perceives reality, his attention is poorly concentrated. Also, nerve tissues conduct fewer impulses, polyneuritis is formed, movements are poorly coordinated, the patient does not sleep well, is unreasonably irritable, aggressive, has a fever.
He is mistaken, he is disturbed by hallucinatory states, the person does not feel fever, pain, hyperhidrosis is expressed. The pain often occurs sharply, the person feels ants crawling on his skin, and muscle cramps are also disturbed. Absence of treatment will lead to changes in encephalopathy, alcoholic delirium, mental retardation, Korsakov's psychosis and epileptic seizures.
Heart and blood vessels
Systematic use of alcohol will cause hypertrophy of the heart, its work will be disturbed, the rhythm will fail, there will be ischemic, atherosclerotic processes, hypertension with myocardial infarction.
What will happen to the kidneys?
If you drink vodka every day, your kidneys will wear out faster and you will lose your ability to work quickly. Metabolic processes are disturbed, the blood will not be cleansed of toxic compounds, which will lead to poisoning. There is a high probability of pyelonephritic changes, inflammatory processes of the urinary system. Then there will be kidney failure, stones and oncology will appear.
How does the spleen affect the gastrointestinal tract?
Ethanol compounds are toxic to the digestive system. They will hit the walls of the esophagus, heartburn will appear, the urge to vomit will intensify, which will lead to the fact that the vessels of the esophagus begin to thin and dilate. This will break the venous walls, bleeding will occur.
The stomach membrane will also suffer, it will age faster, inflammatory, ulcerative, oncological processes will form. There will be a dysfunction of the spleen that uses the destroyed blood cells. The spleen will become large, there will be pus, necrosis.
Problems with the immune system
The immune system will become depressed, which will weaken the body's defenses. The synthesis of lysozyme protein contained in saliva and tears is reduced, due to which pathogenic microorganisms are neutralized. The person will become susceptible to many infectious pathologies, his condition will worsen.
What will happen to the muscles and joints?
If you consume alcohol systematically, calcium leaching occurs, bone tissue will become brittle, it will often disintegrate and osteoporotic changes will appear. The joints will also start to hurt. 75% of alcoholics develop arthritis, and the following drunkenness only intensifies the pain. There is also a pronounced negative effect on muscles. Muscle growth slows or stops, muscle tissue will be destroyed. They will have laxity, atrophy, but there will be more fat.
The fluid will be slowly removed from the body, edematous changes occur. Uric acid will accumulate in the form of hydrochloric acid and will begin to accumulate in the joints. This will lead to their inflammation, gout will appear. The more the patient drinks, the more painful sensations will be manifested. Excess fluid that penetrates the joint bag puts pressure on the walls of the cavity, and the nerve tissues are irritated. After a while, the joints become deformed.
Endocrine system damage
Alcoholism leads to endocrine dysfunction. In the female body, testosterone synthesis will increase, and estrogen and progesterone levels will decrease. Also, the ovaries will become painful, you will gain extra pounds.
A woman’s appearance will change in behavior, sleep will be disrupted, she will become aggressive, her muscle mass will increase, and her hairline will become more noticeable.
How are the respiratory organs affected?
About 2% of the alcohol released in the form of vapor passes through the lung tissue. This leads to damage to the respiratory mucosa, inflammatory processes of the pharynx, larynx, bronchi and lungs develop. Pneumonia can be complicated by pneumosclerosis. Ethanol in the bloodstream expands the lung tissue and emphysema develops.
What will happen to the vision?
As a result of exposure to ethanol, there is an increase in the intracranial type of pressure, which is the cause of minor bleeding, and the eye vessels will be damaged. Hypoxic processes of overstretched eye muscles will occur, and visual function will deteriorate. There is a gradual atrophy of the eye muscles, the optic nerve functions inadequately, and the patient can become completely blind.
About appearance
Alcoholism spoils a person's appearance:
- There is swelling under the eyeballs.
- The hair is tousled.
- The nose has a bluish tinge.
- The face is swollen, bleeding from blows is noticed.
- Clothes torn, dirty, smelly.
Increased blood flow in the tissue structures overloads the blood vessels, they are damaged. Small capillaries burst. Red spots can be seen on the face. Blue skin color occurs due to vascular damage, hypoxia. The body needs a lot of fluids to excrete ethanol, which manifests thirst in alcoholics. After drinking the water, it accumulates.
This is how the body reacts to possible dehydration. As a result, there is swelling of the facial area, on the limbs.
Life expectancy for alcohol dependence
It is unequivocally difficult to say how long such patients will live. After all, every organism is individual. The life expectancy of such people is affected by various circumstances, for example, dose, quality of alcohol.
According to statistics, the duration of patients with alcoholism ranges from 48 to 55 years. With drunken alcoholism, the use of alcoholic beverages in youth, such a person will die even earlier. Patients who have the last stage of alcoholism are at high risk. They live no more than 6 years from the beginning of the disease, death occurs from severe pathologies.
Alcoholics often die:
- from oncology, perforated gastric ulcer, or duodenal ulcer;
- hepatitis, cirrhosis, fibrotic changes in the liver caused by alcohol;
- bowel obstruction;
- acute cerebral circulation disorder caused by ischemia or bleeding;
- myocardiopathic changes, myocardial infarction, sudden coronary death;
- acute or chronic inflammation of the pancreas;
- sudden death during sleep;
- drunken suicide.
Ethanol intoxication can lead to death in people between the ages of 35 and 45. All internal organs and systems will fail, and a person's life will quickly shorten. In order not to suffer from such a severe addiction, it is better to completely give up alcohol, then the person will avoid many problems and preserve their health.