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Related Alcohol Side
Effects
 There
are so many different side
effects associated with
drinking alcohol...from
the sublime to the extreme.
There are the physical
manifestations from a one
time use to a white-collar
worker not able to get
through the day with out
surreptitiously
imbibing.
Teens and pre-teens in
greater numbers are testing
the drug invested waters
with
inebriation as their
first gradient step. News
stories about college dorms
time and time again report
initiating type "drinking
games" with fatal results.
It's rarely a surprise to
hear that the reason behind
a car accident was caused by
a drunk driver. Lives are
ruined not only for the
drinker but for the
drinker's friends and
family.
It can be a confusing issue
when you look at the millions
of dollars that are spent every
year on advertising and
promoting alcohol, in fact,
more dollars are spent on
alcohol than on any
other product. So it is
understandably
easy to forget that alcohol
is a drug. In fact, alcohol
is the most widely used and
abused
psychoactive drug in
the world today.
One of the difficulties in
delineating the effects on
people is that it affects
everyone a little
differently depending on
size, sex, body build and
their metabolism.
Alcohol has a myriad of
effects from the mild to the
extreme. Absorbed directly
into the bloodstream alcohol
becomes a factor for several
life-threatening diseases.
Alcohol depresses the
central nervous system and depending on the
amount of alcohol consumed,
side effects may run from
having mildly
impaired reflexes to black
outs, comas and even death
in extreme cases.
 Alcohol has a
multiphasic
effect meaning its effects
change over time. At first,
the drinker generally feels
relaxed and cheerful.
General effects are a
feeling of warmth and
flushed skin. Continued use can produce
blurred vision and
coordination problems
impairing reflexes making it
extremely dangerous for
someone who has had a just a
few drinks to get behind the
wheel of a car. Continued
imbibing slurs speech, and
can result in poor judgment
(which explains why someone
would even contemplate
getting behind the wheel of
a car) and a loss of
inhibitions. Black outs and
memory lapses can occur
where the individual
continues to be active but
will have no memory after
the black out begins. Cell
membranes are highly
permeable to alcohol so
once in the bloodstream,
alcohol can effect/diffuse
into most every biological
tissue of the body.
Excessive consumption could
lead to unconsciousness and
possibly even alcohol
poisoning leading to coma or
death. Death can also occur through
asphyxiation by vomit.
A hangover (technically
called veisalgia), may occur
following heavy consumption
of alcohol with unpleasant
physiological effects. The
most commonly reported
characteristics of a
hangover include headaches,
nausea, lethargy,
sensitivity to light and
noise, dysphoria and thirst.
Long-termed excessive use of
alcohol really can take its
toll on the body. Physical
health problems may include
cirrhosis of the liver,
pancreatitis,
polyneuropathy,
epilepsy, alcoholic
dementia, an increased
chance of cancer, heart
disease, nutritional
deficiencies, sexual
dysfunction, and death from
many sources.
One of the saddest of all
side effects is when the
mother continues to drink
during pregnancy. When the
mother drinks, the alcohol
passes from her blood stream
into the baby's. Pre-natal
exposure to alcohol can
cause a wide range of
disorders known as fetal
alcohol syndrome (FAS) which
can include mental
retardation and birth
defects. People born with
FAS may have difficulties
with learning, memory,
attention span, vision,
hearing or a combination of
these. FAS is a permanent
condition which affects the
individual throughout his
life. Of course it would be
a rare case where the mother
knowingly puts her unborn
child at risk, but the woman
who drinks and has
unprotected sex may continue
to drink not knowing she is
pregnant for several weeks
or more.
Another dangerous effect
alcohol can have is when the
individual combines alcohol
with other drugs. Alcohol
increases the effects of the
drugs making them stronger
and more dangerous. Many
accidental deaths have
occurred while combining
alcohol with drugs, even
legal drugs such as sleeping
pills. One should never
drive after drinking while
using antihistamines,
tranquilizers, sleeping
pills, cold or cough
medicines, pain killers and
especially the long list of
illegal drugs available on
the streets.
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Definitions:
Asphyxiation: to
cause to die or lose
consciousness by impairing
normal breathing, as by gas
or other noxious agents;
choke; suffocate; smother.
Cirrhosis: A chronic
disease of the liver
characterized by the
replacement of normal tissue
with fibrous tissue and the
loss of functional liver
cells. It can result from
alcohol abuse, nutritional
deprivation, or infection
especially by the hepatitis
virus.
Dementia: severe
impairment or loss of
intellectual capacity and
personality integration, due
to the loss of or damage to
neurons in the brain.
Dysphoria:
An
emotional state
characterized by anxiety,
depression, or unease.
Epilepsy: Any of
various neurological
disorders characterized by
sudden recurring attacks of
motor, sensory, or psychic
malfunction with or without
loss of consciousness or
convulsive seizures.
Inebriation: to make
drunk; intoxicate.
Imbibing: to drink,
esp. alcoholic beverages.
Multiphasic:
having many phases, stages,
aspects, or the like.
Pancreatitis:
Inflammation of the
pancreas.
Permeable: allowing
fluids or gases to pass or
diffuse through.
Polyneuropathy: a
disease of nerves;
especially : a
noninflammatory degenerative
disease of nerves usually
caused by toxins.
Psychoactive:
Affecting the mind or mental
processes. Used of a drug:
Veisalgia: Hangover;
the disagreeable
physical aftereffects of
drunkenness, such as a
headache or stomach
disorder, usually felt
several hours after
cessation of drinking.
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