Though much is made about the emotional effects that alcohol can have on abusers on the people who know them, just as serious effects occur physicality. No where are these effects more evident than on the brain. Memory impairment, disrupted speech patterns, balance problems in walking, and distorted vision are just some of the short term problems that alcohol can cause, especially in those who are addicted to the substance. Though the exact long term effects are still being debated today by researchers in the field, they can all agree on one thing: it can cause permanent and many cases irreparable damage to the brain if an intervention and residential drug treatment is not sought earlier enough.
Simpler problems to deal with among the long term effects include minor slips of memory and other cognitive abilities to such damage that a person require 24/7 care for the rest of their life. What researchers are trying to accomplish is a determination of what kinds of behavior patterns construct what kinds of effects and in what kinds of people. Because so many factors go into figuring out these results, researchers still do not have definitive answers to provide people, especially as opinions and research keep altering.
Some of the causes that go in to determining how much alcohol damages the brain include: when the drinker initially started to consume alcohol and for what period of time; the state of their health; prenatal alcohol exposure; how much alcohol is consumed at a sitting and how often; gender, education level, family history, age, and socioethnic background. Other researchers focus solely on how alcohol abuse intervention might be improved.
Two of the most common effects that are short term are blackout and memory loss. Blackouts, as the name suggests, means a person cannot completely or not at all recall what they did when intoxicated. Recently, researchers have found blackouts are actually found more and more among allegedly social drinkers. Long term damages often show up in the form of liver disease. Perhaps more disturbing is that liver cirrhosis can develop from liver disease and is often fatal as it can cause hepatic encephalopathy.
While professional opinions vary widely among the medical community here in the United States and certainly in the rest of the world about the definition, treatment, causes, and effects of alcoholism, one things has always remained the same: abuse of alcohol without the hope alcohol or drug rehab always has long lasting effects even into sobriety. That is why early detection, as is the case in so many diseases, is so important.
Related posts:
Leave a Reply