The question of why people abuse alcohol? Does arise in our minds, alcohol is a mood elevator. Drinking alcohol elevates the mood by releasing serotonin and dopamine both these are chemicals which bring about a sense of well being and euphoria. In addition alcohol reduces GABA a brain chemical and increases secretion of norepinephrine which causes a pleasant state of arousal. All these are features which make alcohol one of the most popular abusive substances; the problem is with regular consumption there develops a tolerance to the substance. With tolerance the amount of substance or alcohol needed to produce the desired effect goes on increasing.
Alcoholism disease develops with addiction of the substance or alcohol abuse. An addict is a person who needs to consume more and more amounts of alcohol to feel good, in later stages non consumption leads to withdrawal. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms are very severe and scare the patient, making him resort to drinking to avoid the withdrawal. Thus alcoholism disease has to be treated with great care, when helping an alcoholic give up drinking you have to treat the withdrawal well to avoid relapse.
Alcohol is a poison which kills slowly and sadly, since death is not instantaneous it is prolonged and painful. When you look at an alcoholic you will be able to diagnose immediately from the red puffy eyes, swollen face, central obesity and capillary networks on the skin. The cause for all these external signs is very deep rooted from the liver to the brain via the heart all is affected and diseased.
With the liver being the central target organ since the breakdown of alcohol occurs here, thus damaging the liver cells permanently. Initially the liver just enlarges in size since it can't metabolise the overdose of alcohol, which is a chemical alien to the human body. Signs of hepatic enlargement are those of hepatitis with nausea, reduced appetite, tender liver and yellow skin and sclera. The second stage is fatty infiltration of the liver, where normal liver cells are replaced by fat cells making the liver functions suffer even further. At this stage of the alcoholic liver disease the bile production and excretion is reduced affecting the fat metabolism, giving steatorrhea or fatty stools since the fats are excreted undigested. The blood chemistry is altered with reduction in the number of white blood cells and reduced clotting factors leading to bleeding tendencies. Finally there is the third stage or end stage liver disease also called cirrhosis, here the liver cells are permanently replaced by scar tissue. Once scar tissue is formed the disease becomes irreversible, but proper treatment can help the individual live a healthy life since few of the liver cells may be salvaged and these will later regenerate. Sometimes though its too late and nothing can help, thus making action and intervention at the right time absolutely essential.
The alcoholism disease does not spare other organs like the heart, which become enlarged and weak thus susceptible to failure. The pancrease gets inflamed giving rise to pancreatitis, which affects protein digestion and causes great pain and illness.
