Drinking alcohol on a daily basis leads to alcoholism. The severity of complications from this serious illness depends on the dosage of alcohol, its strength, quality parameters, as well as on the concomitant 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 for, how they suffer from illness and subsequently die.
When is a stop necessary?
Frequent, immeasurable drinking harms all systems of the body, but there is a mistaken point of view that if you drink alcohol in moderation, it will be beneficial. So, say those patients who daily justify themselves in front of everyone. It is obvious that if you take alcohol daily in large doses, then in the near future the patient will die.
How often can you drink alcohol? An alcohol concentration of 6 ‰ is fatal for a person. It is achieved when a couple of 500 ml bottles of vodka are drunk in a short period. There will be a state of intoxication, dysfunction of the whole organism, even when the person has not been sick before. It is forbidden to take alcoholic beverages for patients with hepatic, cardiac and vascular dysfunction.
What happens if you drink a lot of alcohol every day, can you often drink alcohol? Signs of alcohol dependence that require immediate treatment are:
- Daily drinking of a bottle of vodka or more, or one liter of beer.
- Constant gatherings for any reason with drinking companions who drink alcohol with an alcoholic.
- Dysfunction of all body systems, an increase in the beer belly.
- The patient uses alcohol to relax.
- Every morning, a patient who consumes alcohol is worried about a hangover syndrome, binges last for weeks.
About complications caused by vodka
Drinking vodka daily will cause alcoholism. Pathological processes will arise in the body that will become irreversible:
- Renal, hepatic, cardiovascular dysfunction will begin, and the digestive system will also suffer.
- There will be malfunctions of the central nervous system, mental problems.
- The appearance of a person will change, he will become emaciated, the body will age faster.
As a result of the daily consumed strong alcohol, damage to the cerebral structures will appear, which will lead to psychosis, delirium tremens.
Such patients will not even notice how they will quickly begin to forget everything, become inattentive, and their intellect will deteriorate. They will become self-contained, socially degraded. Large dosages of vodka will lead to the fact that a person will become paralyzed, his peripheral, spinal nerve fibers will become inflamed, and radiculopathy will develop.
The gastric mucosa will become constantly burned, subsequently inflamed. Inflammatory processes will also occur throughout the entire intestinal tract. The liver will not be able to fully neutralize the toxic compounds of alcohol, its cellular structures will die off, cirrhosis or oncological processes will appear.
Pathologies of the heart will appear, it will contract less, dystrophy will appear in its tissues, and cardiac obesity will appear. This will lead to cardialgia, discomfort behind the sternum, tachycardia, and impaired respiratory function. The patient will become edematous, his blood flow will deteriorate, his blood pressure will rise. Violation of metabolic processes will lead to atherosclerotic changes, cerebral hemorrhages, myocardial infarction.
If you get addicted to beer every day
Unlike vodka, beer is a less strong alcoholic beverage. Therefore, it is used by many people in large quantities. There are also many complications with daily beer consumption. The stomach will be chronically inflamed, which will manifest itself as soreness and severity of the abdominal zone, and atrophy of the pancreas will occur.
This will lead to disruption of the digestive system. Large volumes of beer will lead to chronic liver inflammation without significant symptoms, leading to cirrhosis over time. Since beer has a diuretic effect, the kidneys will work hard, which will lead to magnesium and potassium leaching.
Vitamin C will also be washed out, which will lead to cardiac dysfunction, bone and articular structures will suffer, and the immune system will become suppressed. The person will become less resistant to stress, more aggressive, irritable or whiny. Large doses of beer will lead to renal vascular sclerosis, hemorrhages, and renal necrosis.
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 exertion, 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 progesterone hormone. A man becomes more like a woman, his hair falls out and does not grow, his voice changes. Such dependence on beer develops 4 times faster than on vodka, and it is more difficult to respond to therapeutic measures.
The person refuses to admit his addiction to beer. He believes that beer is beneficial for the body, and associates impotence with other reasons.
If you drink rarely, only on holidays
Alcoholic beverages have different effects on people who drink every day and those who drink on rare occasions. The effect of alcoholic toxins on a patient with alcoholism and a person who drinks in rare cases is very different. The dosage of wine for a normal person in the amount of 100 g is equivalent to ½ liter of vodka for a patient dependent on alcohol. 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 a little. After one glass of alcohol, the next will go, and so without stopping, a person is simply not able to stop. The reason for this is as follows. First, alcohol is oxidized in the liver cells to an acetaldehyde compound, so the patient's liver suffers most from daily alcohol consumption.
What does frequent drinking affect?
The following is considered how drinks affect the internal organs and systems with frequent use.
What will happen to the liver?
The acetaldehyde compound is highly toxic. Daily drunkenness strains the liver, it cannot fully neutralize this toxic substance. A person suffering from alcoholism has a rapid accumulation of alcoholic metabolites, compared with a healthy person. The neutralization of these metabolites occurs slowly, they remain in the body for a long time.
Such intoxication causes a hangover syndrome, the patient gets used to ethanol. Such a person will always have these changes, the more he drinks alcohol, the more aggravated his general condition.
A large accumulation of acetaldehyde compounds in the body of an alcoholic will persist for a long time in comparison with a non-drinker. Acetaldehyde is deposited not only 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 this desire. If you continue to drink alcohol immensely, then there will be hepatic cirrhosis. The organ becomes reduced, blood vessels are compressed in the liver, and the pressure increases, blood stagnation occurs. This leads to the fact that the walls of the organ will rupture, hemorrhage will occur, which will lead to death.
Non-alcoholic people get drunk in rare cases, they also rarely feel a hangover syndrome, since their liver functions normally, it neutralizes alcoholic toxins well.
How are brain structures affected?
When a person gets drunk, the cortical layer is destroyed, numbness and death of individual segments of the brain. An alcoholic has swelling, scarred ulcers, and dilated blood vessels on the brain tissue. Numerous ruptures are also manifested, cysts form on the necrotic segments.
Effects of ethanol on the central nervous system
If you drink alcohol immensely, then a person behaves differently, he mentally and morally degrades. The patient perceives reality inadequately, his attention is poorly concentrated. Also, nerve tissues conduct fewer impulses, polyneuritis is formed, movements are poorly coordinated, the patient does not sleep well, he is unreasonably irritable, aggressive, he has a fever.
He is delusional, he is disturbed by hallucinatory states, the person does not feel temperature, pain, hyperhidrosis is expressed. Often soreness arises sharply, a person feels that ants are crawling on his skin, and muscle spasms are also disturbed. Absent treatment will lead to encephalopathy changes, alcoholic delirium, mental retardation, Korsakov's psychosis, and epileptic seizures.
Heart and blood vessels
The systematic use of alcohol will cause hypertrophy of the heart, its work will be disrupted, the rhythm will fail, ischemic, atherosclerotic processes, hypertension with myocardial infarction will occur.
What will happen to the kidneys?
If you drink vodka every day, the kidneys will wear out faster, and they will also quickly lose their working capacity. Metabolic processes are disrupted, the blood will not be cleared of toxic compounds, which will lead to poisoning. There is a high probability of the formation of pyelonephritic changes, inflammatory processes of the urinary system. Then there will be renal failure, stones and oncology will appear.
How is the gastrointestinal tract affected with the spleen?
Ethanol compounds are toxic to the digestive system. They will hit the esophageal walls, heartburn will occur, the urge to vomit will intensify, which will lead to the fact that the vessels of the esophagus begin to thin and expand. This will rupture the venous walls, hemorrhage will appear.
The gastric membrane will also suffer, it will grow old faster, inflammatory, ulcerative, and oncological processes will form. Dysfunction of the spleen will occur, which utilizes the destroyed blood cells. The spleen will become large, there will be suppuration, necrosis.
Immune system problems
Immunity will become depressed, which will weaken the body's defenses. The synthesis of lysozyme protein contained in saliva and tears decreases, due to which pathogenic microorganisms are neutralized. A person will become susceptible to many infectious pathologies, his condition will worsen.
What will happen to muscles and joints?
If you systematically consume alcohol, then there will be calcium leaching, bone tissue will become fragile, it will often break down, and osteoporotic changes will appear. The joints will also start to hurt. 75% of alcoholics develop arthritis, and another binge only increases the pain. A negative effect on muscles is also pronounced. Muscle growth slows down or stops, muscle tissue will be destroyed. Flabbiness, atrophy will appear in them, but there will be more fat.
Fluid will be removed from the body slowly, edematous changes will occur. Uric acid will accumulate in a hydrochloric form 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 manifest. Excess fluid that penetrates into the joint bag puts pressure on the cavity walls, and irritates nerve tissues. After a period of time, 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. The ovaries will also become painful, and excess weight will be gained.
A woman's appearance will change with behavior, sleep will be disturbed, she will become aggressive, her muscle mass will increase, and the hairline will become more noticeable.
How are the respiratory organs affected?
About 2% of 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 lung tissue, and emphysema develops.
What will happen to vision?
As a result of ethanol exposure, the intracranial type of pressure will increase, which is the cause of minor hemorrhages, and the eye vessels will be damaged. There will be hypoxic processes of overstrained eye muscles, visual function will deteriorate. There is a gradual atrophy of the eye muscles, the optic nerve is functioning inadequately, the patient may become completely blind.
About appearance
Alcoholism spoils a person's appearance:
- There is swelling under the eyeballs.
- Hair is disheveled.
- The nose has a bluish tint.
- The face is swollen, hemorrhages from blows are observed.
- Clothes torn, dirty, smelly.
The increased blood flow to tissue structures overloads the vessels, they are damaged. Small capillaries break. Red dots can be observed on the face. The blue color of the skin appears due to vascular damage, hypoxia. To excrete ethanol, the body needs a lot of fluid, which is manifested by thirst in an alcoholic. After he drank water, it accumulates.
This is how the body reacts to possible dehydration. As a result, there are swelling of the facial area, on the limbs.
Life span for alcohol addiction
It is unequivocally difficult to say what the life expectancy of such patients will be. After all, each organism is individual. The life span of such people is influenced by various circumstances, for example, dosage, 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 his 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 onset 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;
- intestinal obstruction;
- acute disturbance of cerebral circulation caused by ischemia or hemorrhage;
- myocardiopathic changes, myocardial infarction, sudden coronary death;
- acute or chronic inflammation of the pancreas;
- sudden death while sleeping;
- intoxicated suicide.
Intoxication with ethanol compounds can lead to death in people who are between 35 and 45 years old. All internal organs and systems will fail, and a person's life will quickly be shortened. In order not to suffer from such a severe addiction, it is better to give up alcoholic beverages altogether, then a person will avoid many problems and preserve his health.