How Alcohol Abuse Affects the Body
Alcohol abuse can affect your body both inside and out. Even though you’re unable to see the damage drinking causes to your internal organs, it’s important not to ignore the warning and signs. Sometimes the harmful effects aren’t discovered until much later in life, making it difficult to reverse many health complications.more
While every organ in your body can feel the effects from drinking, some are more at risk for extensive damage. The best way to prevent health issues now and in the future is to quit drinking with the help of a professional treatment program.
Brain
Alcohol’s effects on the brain can be felt quickly. Not only can drinking cause temporary complications such as memory loss and coordination, it can also lead to long-term side effects that are sometimes irreversible.
Prolonged and excessive alcohol use can interfere with how the brain functions, as well as how it’s structured. Damage to different regions of the brain, especially the cerebellum, limbic system and cerebral cortex, can significantly impact the body’s communication pathways. For example, the cerebellum handles your body’s motor skills. When alcohol affects this area of the brain, you’re more likely to experience a loss of balance, as well as memory and emotional response issues.
Heart
The heart is extremely vulnerable to the negative effects of alcohol consumption. Over time, heavy drinking can weaken the heart, impacting how oxygen and nutrients are delivered to other vital organs in your body. Excessive alcohol consumption can increase triglyceride levels – a type of fat in your blood. High levels of triglycerides contribute to the risk of developing dangerous health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
Some of the early cardiovascular effects, like high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat, can lead to a host of problems down the road. Long-term consequences of excessive drinking may include cardiomyopathy, stroke and sudden cardiac death.
Liver
Heavy drinkers are at risk of harmful, potentially life-threatening liver problems. When you drink, your liver breaks down alcohol and removes it from your blood. However, too much alcohol in a short period of time can overwhelm the metabolism process and lead to fatty liver. Fatty liver is a chronic condition that involves the buildup of bad fats in the liver. Obesity is one of the biggest factors of fatty liver. It can also cause liver failure and type 2 diabetes.
Other serious liver complications associated with prolonged and excessive alcohol consumption are alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis. While each of these conditions is treatable, they require a proper medical diagnosis and intensive treatment plan.
Pancreas
The pancreas is part of the digestive process and helps regulate your body’s blood sugar levels. Drinking alcohol over many years can start to negatively impact your pancreas and cause lasting health complications. Unfortunately, the early stages of many pancreatic conditions are often unfelt and therefore, left untreated.
Long-term alcohol abuse can eventually cause the blood vessels around the pancreas to swell, leading to pancreatitis. This greatly increases your risk of developing pancreatic cancer – a type of cancer that spreads rapidly and is very dangerous. Symptoms of an acute pancreatic attack may include abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, fast heart rate and fever. While medications and other treatment methods can help manage the effects of pancreatitis, it is very difficult to reverse the condition.
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