What Health Problems Can Alcohol Cause?

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What health problems can alcohol cause? Unfortunately, a variety of both short-term and long-term drinking problems can be caused by alcohol abuse or by alcoholism.

Short Term and Long Term Alcohol-Related Problems

Some alcohol-related drinking problems, such as interpersonal relationship issues, driving impairment, and negative interactions with medications can manifest themselves after drinking over a relatively short period of time.

image: man upset with bad news about his alcoholic father Other drinking problems, conversely, can develop more gradually over time and may become noticeable only after heavy drinking for an extended period of time.

These are the drinking problems that represent the long-term effects of alcohol abuse and help answer the following question: what health problems can alcohol cause?

It is important to note that women may develop alcohol-related health problems after consuming less alcohol than men over a shorter time period.

Since alcohol affects many organs in the body, long-term excessive drinking puts a person at risk for developing serious health problems.

Stated differently, the long term effects of alcohol abuse can lead to a gradual breakdown of different organs and systems in the body that can result in serious, if not fatal, health problems and issues.

Alcohol-Related Heart Disease

One of the few verifiable positive aspects of drinking alcohol is that drinking in moderation can actually have positive effects on the heart, especially with individuals who are at the greatest risk for heart attacks, such as women after menopause and men over the age of 45. Long-term excessive drinking, on the other hand, increases the risk for certain kinds of stroke, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Alcohol-Related Pancreatitis

The pancreas helps regulate the body's blood sugar levels by producing insulin. In addition, the pancreas is instrumental in digesting the food people eat. Long-term excessive drinking can lead to pancreatitis (that is, an inflammation of the pancreas). Pancreatitis is associated with excessive weight loss and severe abdominal pain and can lead to death.

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Alcohol-Related Cancer

Long-term heavy drinking by problem drinkers increases the risk of developing certain types of cancer, especially cancer of the esophagus, mouth, throat, and the voice box. Research has shown, moreover, that women who drink two or more drinks per day slightly increases their risk for developing breast cancer. Excessive drinking may also increase the risk for developing cancer of the colon and of the rectum.

According to recent studies, it has been discovered that approximately 53% of adults in the United States have reported that one or more of their close relatives has a drinking problem.

Alcohol-Related Liver Disease

image: doctor checking on patient with alcohol-related liver disease More than 2 million problem drinkers in the U.S. suffer from alcohol-related liver disease. For example, some people with a drinking problem develop alcoholic hepatitis (that is, an inflammation of the liver) as a consequence of long-term heavy drinking.

The symptoms of alcoholic hepatitis include the following: fever, jaundice (an abnormal yellowing of the urine, skin, and the eyeballs), and abdominal pain. If the individual persists in drinking, moreover, alcoholic hepatitis can be fatal. If the problem drinker stops drinking, however, alcoholic hepatitis is frequently reversible.

Studies have shown that inpatient detoxification programs are more effective and longer lasting than outpatient detox programs. The important issue here, however, is the following: the more severe the alcohol-related withdrawal symptoms, the more likely that inpatient detox programs should be used.

image: couple depressed about their alcohol health problems Approximately 10 to 20 % of the problem drinkers who drink excessively develop cirrhosis of the liver (that is, a scarring of the liver). Alcoholic cirrhosis can be fatal if the person with the drinking problem continues to drink. Even though cirrhosis is irreversible, if the problem drinker stops drinking, his or her chances of survival can improve dramatically.

Although some people with a drinking problem may eventually need a liver transplant as a last resort, numerous problem drinkers with cirrhosis who abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages can receive treatment and may never require liver transplantation.

When a problem drinker is alcohol dependent, he or she no longer takes alcohol to have fun or to get high. Rather, the alcohol addicted person needs the alcohol in order to function on a daily basis. In fact, in many instances, the problem drinker's everyday life centers around satisfying his or her need for the alcohol to which he or she is hooked.

Other Long Term Effects of Alcohol Abuse

image: doctor administering meds for alcohol rehab patient In addition to the diseases outlined above, excessive drinking over time is also associated with the following drinking problems:

nerve damage
epilepsy
irritated stomach lining and bleeding from stomach ulcers
loss of brain cells

Excessive drinking has also been linked to the following:

vitamin deficiency
muscle disease
obesity
sexual problems
infertility
skin problems

In 1998 in the United States, 1,668 drivers from the ages of 16 to 20 were involved in alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. Another 21,000 were involved in alcohol-related accidents that resulted in injury.

What Health Problems Can Alcohol Cause: Conclusion

Based on the above, it can be concluded that excessive drinking over time can frequently result in physical damage, it can increase the risk of getting various diseases, and it can make other diseases worse. In short, hazardous and abusive drinking can and does result in a number of serious drinking problems. Earlier, we asked the following question: what health problems can alcohol cause?

Now that you know the answer to this question, you are in a better position to understand the moral of the story: if you want to avoid the long term effects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism such as unnecessary health problems later in life, drink in moderation or not at all. And if you are a "problem drinker," you need to get a drinking assessment so that the appropriate treatment can be undertaken.

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It is estimated that 30% of all Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related motor vehicle accident sometime during their lives.

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A wide variety of different techniques exist for treating alcohol withdrawal. While some of these treatments use medications (drugs), many, however, do not. In case of point, according to current research studies, the safest way to treat mild withdrawal symptoms is without medications. Such types of non-drug detoxification use screening and extensive social support throughout the entire withdrawal process. Other non-drug detoxification programs, additionally, use proper nutrition and vitamin therapy (especially thiamin) in treating mild withdrawal symptoms.

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