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Part-III: Effects of Alcohol Abuse

11. Alcoholism and Your Brain

Researchers used Electrophysiology, the study of electrical signals in the human brain, to understand the effects of certain substances on brain function.

They saw characteristic differences in the brain activities of alcoholics and non-alcoholics.

Alcohol causes specific effects on brain cells. Small doses of alcohol lead to blurring of vision, unstable walking and difficulty in maintaining body

balance, incoherent talking and inability to think clearly and behave normally.

These effects wear off after your body gets rid of the alcohol. If you take to chronic drinking, your body is constantly affected by alcohol and it is never cleared from your body.

Slowly, residual alcohol takes an increasing toll on your body cells, especially your brain cells. It eats them away, causing irreparable and permanent damage to your brain and, consequently, all body functions.

Chronic alcoholics suffer from extensive and, usually, irreparable damage to their brain, specifically the front cortex of the brain which plays a major role in decision-making and judgment. Alcohol addiction causes the destruction of these cells, resulting in lack of proper judgment capabilities.

The normal coordinated and well-controlled actions face total disruption due to alcohol intake and you display distressing and destructive emotions and

actions.

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How does Alcohol cause Intoxication?

Alcohol disrupts the normal functioning of different receptors and

neurotransmitters like glutamate, GABA, and serotonin. This damages the

interconnecting nerve fibers of your brain cells which leads to memory lapses, motor disturbances, impaired ability to learn or understand anything and impaired walking, standing and talking, etc. Then, slowly, you can lose

consciousness.

How the brain is affected

Chronic alcoholism damages and disrupts myelin production. Myelin insulates the information carrying cells. Damage to myelin results in serious thinking deficiencies.

Common, major brain disorders due to alcoholism are Alcoholic Dementia and

- a total loss of intellectual abilities leading to distinct changes in personality and Wernicke-Korsakoff's syndrome which causes incoherence, lack of

physical coordination, and mental confusion. These cause difficulties in physical movements, vision, speech, memory, hearing and nutritional problems due to vitamin deficiencies from improper food intake.

The extent of the damage you suffer depends on some factors including;

• Your age and when you started drinking

• Your level of education

• How often and how much you drink

• Your gender and general health condition

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• Your genetic make up

• Alcoholism traits in your family history

Scientists are developing various effective techniques and therapies for treatment and prevention of alcohol-related disorders. Besides, their research provides high-tech tools that help them to better understand the effects of alcoholism on humans so that they can develop new and better methods of

treatment.

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12. Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

What is Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome?

Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome refers to the symptoms experienced by people who suddenly stop their drinking after being a seasoned drinker. Such

symptoms could include;

• sweating,

• shaking of your body,

• hallucinations and, in extreme cases,

• D.T.’s (delirium tremens – hallucinations).

These symptoms are stronger in those who have previously quit drinking, then started again, and then quit their serious drinking habit.

Your Doctor can Help You

You need to discuss all aspects of your alcoholic habit with your doctor to ensure that your Doctor understand your withdrawal symptoms and can

provide the best medical treatment for you.

Lack of adequate medical attention during this period could have serious consequences, especially if you have heart, lung or other ailments.

Such withdrawal symptoms could be even more severe if you quit drinking as well as drugs like cocaine at same time.

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You must visit a doctor and discuss all aspects before quitting.

How Your Doctor can Help Your Withdrawal

Your doctor’s help will keep problems to a minimum during your withdrawal.

He may prescribe medicines to control your problems such as shakiness,

confusion and anxieties during the withdrawal period. Using these medicines from the start of the process can strongly reduce withdrawal symptoms.

How can my family and friends contribute to withdrawal process?

The support of close friends and, especially, your family is tremendously important as you resist the craving to drink during withdrawal. Your family and friends can help you overcome this urge and you can also find support in the withdrawal programs of Alcoholics Anonymous.

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13. Alcoholism is a Family Crisis

Alcoholism affects individuals with no respect for age, sex, creed, caste, literacy, income or social levels, etc. Alcoholics may be young men or women, teenagers, elderly people, etc. They all have their families with husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, parents, children, etc. An alcoholic will disrupt the family’s harmony and each members’ personal well-being, leading to lifelong problems. It is a major family.

Parental Alcoholism

Children of alcoholic parents often suffer from chronic depression, fear of abandonment, loneliness, guilt, low self-esteem and an inability to deal with traumatic situations at home.

Children can feel they cause the alcoholism in their parent and they experience high stress and tension. They are prone to bed-wetting, crying and nightmares.

They have few friends and avoid going to school or meeting and mixing with other children.

Older children or teenagers who have alcoholic parents have similar

symptoms. They prefer being alone and shun company. They are very self-

conscious and develop a poor self-image.

They develop phobias about imaginary things. These children often dropout of school because they cannot study in the tense atmosphere at their homes. Their inability to express themselves freely with teachers and their peer group is another reason for their poor school performance. They easily fall into bad company and indulge in petty crimes, thieving, fighting, and lying. Their Copyright © 2005 Claire Nash

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erratic behavior is re-enforced by the unpredictable behavior of their parents and the unstable home environment.

Some children behave differently. They feel they can change their alcoholic parent. They aim for high grades at school, hide liquor from their parent and are normally very meek in nature. They feel very guilty if they cannot make any change in their parent’s behavior.

Assault and domestic violence is common in alcoholic households. Children often are the most common target and yet feel guilty and ashamed about each episode. These children often take to drinking when young.

These children continue their impulsive and depressed behavior patterns after they grow into adults. They normally do not reveal that they have alcoholic parents.

They carry their negative image with them and make bad career choices. They find it difficult to maintain relationships and feel that they are failures. They are unable to handle family responsibilities because they missed their

childhood.

They are frightened to express their affection to others for fear of losing them just as they lost their alcoholic parents. They seem to get along better with alcoholics than with non-alcoholics.

The Spouse of an Alcoholic

The alcoholic’s partner needs to take total responsibility for the family’s welfare. This causes them to develop self-pity, hatred and complete physical and mental exhaustion.

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The spouse needs to be both parents, which leads to inconsistency of treatment and neglect of their children. Financial and marital problems increase. Some spouses encourage more alcoholism by denying the problem to others, which they believe will help to keep the family together. They try to ignore the problems for fear of social ostracism.

Alcoholism in Pregnant Women

Pregnant alcoholics cause the same levels of alcohol in their fetus as in their bodies. This is very harmful to the unborn baby and leads to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which is one of the top causes for birth defects.

Such babies are born shorter, have lower body weight and can suffer brain and skull deformities. Characteristic facial features are small eyes, flat faces with thin upper lips and a damaged nervous system.

They face problems with speaking, learning, memory, judgment, their behavior and even lifelong mental retardation. Most of these are permanent effects.

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14. Women Alcoholics Face

Greater Health Risks Than Men

Women encounter higher health risks due to alcoholism than men. The

difference is due to physiological differences between men and women.

Women are physically weaker and smaller than men. They also have a higher percentage of fat in their bodies, which means their metabolism (processing) of the alcohol they drink is less efficient.

Women develop the same alcohol-related diseases as men. They encounter

higher intoxication levels than men for about the same intake of alcohol because there are higher water levels in men than in women. When alcohol mixes with water in the body, it is diluted and processed at a slower rate than in males due to the lower water content in the bodies of females. So, it is recommended that women drink less and at a slower rate than men. For those same reasons, women’s hangovers are longer and they take longer to recover from intoxication.

Women get sick more quickly than men. Recovery programs results are slower to develop for alcoholic females than for alcoholic males but they are still an essential step for women. Recovery treatments follow a rule of ‘5 to 15’.

Women take only five years to reach a particular stage of alcohol-induced disease while men take fifteen years to reach a similar level, although their intake of alcohol is the same.

Different vital organs and body parts suffer due to alcoholism. These serious effects are more common in females and pose major health risks. Major

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alcohol-related diseases progress rapidly in women. The effects of alcoholism on different body organs of females are -

• Nervous system: Your nerves and brain are highly sensitive to alcohol.

Women suffer more nerve damage such as peripheral neuropathy with

fewer years of regular and heavy drinking in comparison to men. A

particular part of brain coordinates the overall functioning of brain and associated nerves. This region is comparatively smaller for women and

the effects more pronounced and faster than in males. Brain shrinkage,

learning problems and memory problems are more marked in females,

highlighting their extra vulnerability.

• Liver: Incidences of alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis are higher in women. They may even develop these diseases after consuming less

alcohol and within a shorter time than is common with male alcoholics.

• Heart ailments: Larger dosages of alcoholic drinks are, potentially, very harmful for women but a single drink is believed to help protect

them from heart attacks, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, and other heart

ailments. This is not certain – research continues.

• Cancer: Excessive drinking can be a factor in the development of breast cancer by, for instance, lowering the effectiveness of your

body’s immune system.

Alcoholism can end in your death, insanity or other permanent impairment if not properly treated. It is significant factor in the development and impact of innumerable diseases, many of which are also fatal.

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Around forty percent of alcoholics in United State are women. Society shuns alcoholics and even more so if it is a woman alcoholic. There is a particular stigma attached to women alcoholics. So, denials are even higher amongst women than men. This is a major factor hindering women from seeking proper medical treatment for their alcoholism. They try to keep it within their homes rather than go out into the open world to seek treatment and recovery. Women also have a higher percentage of dropouts from alcoholism treatment programs.

Seeking treatment and sticking it is probably a harder task for many women than that of many male alcoholics but it is essential that they find their courage because the future health and well-being of their family, as well as themselves, depends on them doing it.

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15. Alcoholism in the Elderly

Alcoholism is a significant problem afflicting many of our elderly but does not often come to the public’s notice. Normally, only one third of elderly alcoholics develop alcoholism later in life while the rest age with the alcoholic problems of their youth. Effects of alcoholism remain the same but have

greater intensity in the elderly as body functions naturally weaken with age and become even more vulnerable with alcoholism.

Effects of Alcoholism

Age brings some limitations in physical movement and body functions.

Physiological weakness is common and more pronounced in the presence of

excessive alcohol intake. Many elderly people are normally susceptible to falls and alcoholism increases the risks and effects.

Some diseases and conditions which can affect any alcoholic are more

prevalent and damaging with the elderly alcoholic. Elderly people’s nervous systems are susceptible to damage which can lead to neuropathy and

myopathy. Different nerve syndromes like Delirium, a state of confusion; Korsakoff's syndrome leading to memory lapses, Wernicke's encephalopathy leading to abnormal eye movements due to thiamine deficiency, cerebral

atrophy with dementia leading to deficient mental judgmental capacities are common among elderly alcoholics.

Osteoporosis, a common ailment in elderly people is aggravated by alcoholism and hip fractures are harder to recover from because of the dis-orientation they suffer as their alcoholism progresses.. Alcoholism further increases the Copyright © 2005 Claire Nash

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occurrence of and damage by gastrointestinal diseases and bleeding. Liver inflammations cause cirrhosis or alcoholic hepatitis, which are fatal.

Moderate drinking habits in elderly people tend to increase hypertension which becomes dangerous and leads to strokes and nervous breakdowns. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a serious heart condition, can also result from excessive intake of alcohol.

A high alcohol content reduces the body’s immune capacity and makes you

more prone to infections and less able to fight them off. Pneumonia attacks are common with increased vomiting tendencies and possible bouts of

unconsciousness. If you had Tuberculosis in your younger days; chances of a relapse are higher when alcoholism reduces your immune capacity. Similarly, human immunodeficiency virus infection or HIV can also occur partly as a consequence of alcoholism.

Alcoholics reduce their food intake and so your body suffers from nutritional deficiencies like Folate and Macrocytosis due to lack of vitamin B12.

Alcoholism in elderly people often leads to cancers of neck, esophagus, liver, and head.

Many psychiatric ailments like depression, insomnia, restlessness are common among elderly alcoholics too.

Signs of Alcoholism in Elderly People

It is more difficult to identify alcoholism in elderly people as they do not suffer problems which are uniquely identifiable as being caused by heavy drinking.

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different tools to identify the problem. However, most tools do not differentiate between recent and past bouts of alcoholism.

How to Support Elderly Alcoholics to Recovery

After identification of their alcoholism, we must detoxify their body. The withdrawal period can involve nausea, insomnia, increased and intensified occurrences of tremors, auditory or tactile hallucinations, or illusions, anxieties, agitated feelings and hyperactivity.

A few patients also develop delirium, falls and become incapable of carrying on with daily activities. Hence, outpatient detoxification is good for medically stable persons whereas in-patient treatment have to be done for others.

Regular doses of Benzodiazepines can be effective but they need to be low dosages or they might lead to prolonged sedation in patients. Other therapies include thiamine and other vitamin supplementation, checking electrolyte disturbances and normal supportive care.

After detoxification, elderly alcoholics need outpatient therapy and community rehabilitation programs. Adequate family support, with sufficient knowledge of alcoholism goes a long way in curing alcoholism in elderly and brings them back into your family.

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16. Effects of Alcoholism in Teens

Our teenage years are very vulnerable and exuberant. Teenagers often

conduct themselves in ways which are not very ideal for their health and safety. They drink alcohol without being aware or concerned of its inherent dangers or intoxicating effects.

They drink because it is the ‘in’ thing and most of their peer group drinks.

Estimates about the drinking habits of American teenagers reveal that around half a million go on weekly binges with the sole aim of getting drunk while at least eight million consume alcohol every week. The habit starts as early as the eighth grade.

Research indicates that the average age for first-time alcohol users as eleven for boys and thirteen for girls and regular drinking starts at an average age of around sixteen years.

They are oblivious to the ill effects of alcohol; do not have any idea of alcohol contents or the effects and relative strengths of different alcoholic beverages.

Signs of Alcoholism in Teenagers

Teenagers are not always forthcoming in disclosing their drinking habits.

However, it is possible to identify addiction through simple measures such as:

• Unexplained and repeated physical injuries

• Tremors, dilated pupils, blurred or rapid speech, excessive perspiration whatever the weather conditions, incessant coughs

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• Sudden loss of body weight

• Incidence of Hepatitis A or B or C and high bilirubin levels

• Falling academic grades for no apparent cause

• Inflamed or eroded septum

• Depression and suicide attempts

• Indulgence in risky behavior patterns like unprotected sex leading to Sexually Transmitted Diseases and pregnancy

• Behavioral changes like quickly becoming hostile, isolated, secretive or aggressive

• Petty crime and getting into frequent brawls with police

Causes of Alcoholism in Teenagers

Teenagers take to drinking due to various factors like -

1. Peer drinking and their desire for acceptance

2. Excessive drinking of parents

3. Lack of proper grooming

4. Lack of parental support or communication at home

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6. Broken homes or a strained relationship between parents

Consequently, teenagers who live with a congenial home atmosphere and are aware of alcohol’s dangers rarely take to excessive drinking.

Effects of Alcoholism on Teenagers

Alcoholism in teenagers leads to extensive alcoholic dependence by their early twenties. Such dependence frequently contributes to alcohol-related incidents of violence, homicides, automobile crashes and suicides.

The teenagers also suffer from their incapacity to handle the normal

developmental processes of their bodies and may become emotional wrecks.

Some are equally unable to work through their period of adolescence and then adulthood with additional responsibilities of education, employment, marriage, family and so on.

Excessive intake of alcohol early in life can be very harmful as your body is still growing. Your body organs have their maximum growth period in

adolescence. Alcohol hampers such growth and it can have serious negative effects on your body.

This encourages irregular metabolism, insufficient absorption of nutrients and vitamins (due to lack of sufficient intake of good food) and several

psychological disorders.

You can experience high anxiety levels, depression, defiance, and personality disorders which affect your health in the long-term and also lead to antisocial activities.

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Treating or Combating Alcoholism in Teenagers

Many teenagers start on the alcoholic treadmill. This probably would not happen if they were fully aware of all the facts about alcoholism. Teens and pre-teens need to understand the effects of drinking, their potential dangers, possible involvement in crimes and violent encounters and suicides.

Their uninformed actions become a major part of the cause of their own death.

They need good life skills to skillfully cope with many emotional problems.

This is possible through proper and adequate education.

Now, there are many treatment and rehabilitation programs for alcoholic

teenagers to help to bring them back to leading normal lives as self-confident individuals.

Best results are obtained through self-help groups involving advice from health professionals and active support, guidance and acceptance from family

members.

Alcoholic treatment programs cannot function in isolation.

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Part-IV: Prevent or Coping

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