For a number of years alcohol addiction research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong linkage between alcoholism and critical health situations. For example, in 2005, medical investigation that focused on the signs of alcoholism revealed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. It can be stressed that this considerable alcohol-related expenditure was substantially more than the cost linked with obesity ($133 billion) or with cancer ($196 billion).
Additionally, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual's body organs will likely be affected in an unhealthy manner. For example, chronic, careless and hazardous drinking is especially detrimental to the liver since the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kill liver cells and destroy the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This medical condition results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a dangerous and possibly deadly medical problem.
Hazardous and excessive drinking can not only result in acute liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this critical may be unalterable and may, in turn, lead to serious disease or premature death.
It is critical, therefore, to know how to recognize the various alcoholism symptoms and the alcohol signs so that the alcohol dependent person can be given the opportunity to get the professional alcohol counseling she or he requires.
Fortuitously, medical exploration is continuously finding new and important information. Recent alcoholism research offers an excellent example. More correctly, for roughly the past ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning instruments have demonstrated that repetitive and chronic hazardous and excessive drinking alters the constitution of the brain to a great degree, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or conceivably as long as the individual exists. This type of damage may be directly related to the alcohol's effects on the brain, to severe liver disease, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker's poor overall health.
As a final illustration of diverse medical problems that are significantly correlated to alcoholism, take into consideration the fact that according to scientific examination, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical problem that lessens the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This type of organ malfunctioning is linked to malnutrition and to and to an array of severe mental and neurological syndromes including memory loss, sleep disturbances, and psychosis such as Wernicke's Encephalopathy and Korsakoff's syndrome. This latter health problem is a long lasting incapacitating health problem that is characterized by repetitive memory and learning problems.
It is plain to see that continued, abusive and hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly associated with many critical medical problems that can and do result in dangerous diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society so that a large number of individuals will be able to refrain from hazardous drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem develop a positive attitude and get motivated to obtain the professional treatment they need. For without professional rehab, most people who drink in an abusive and irresponsible manner will not begin the healing process and experience an enhanced source of self worth that routinely results from alcohol recovery.