The Effects of Alcoholism on Person and Their Life

When a person cannot control their drinking habits and drink excessive amounts that put their health at risk, that is considered Alcoholism. The disorder can be caused genetically or from the environment that people live in. The cost of drinking excessively is a person’s own health. It can cause things like liver disease, heart disease, and an overall weakened immune system. Alcoholism can first be detected when a person notices that they can no longer have just a “few” drinks or find themselves drinking a lot more than they normally would. Help for alcohol addiction can be found through doctors and support groups. It is possible to overcome Alcoholism and maintain a healthy lifestyle after the diagnosis. Correct treatment can help a person get better, help family and friends gain their loved one back, and improve overall standards of life.

Alcoholism affects a person’s home, work, and social life.When someone can no longer control how much they drink and have lost their tolerance drinking but continues to do it when it affects their ordinary daily routine is alcoholism. Over time drinking excessively can cause damage to the brain changing functions of the brain associated with judgement and a person’s ability to control their behavior and actions (mayo clinic). The craving for alcohol comes when a person feels like they no longer want to be completely be in control and begin to let alcohol take over. Signs and symptoms of this disorder can be not completing tasks due to over consumption, not being able to limit yourself drinking, giving up work and social duties, strong craving of alcohol all the time, experiencing nausea or sweating when not drinking. These symptoms will start to take over a person's life making the addiction so strong it becomes harder and harder to overcome. When the first signs of alcoholism occur doctors will perform a physical exam and run different lab and imaging tests to confirm the disease (mayo clinic).

Once the diagnosis of the disease is made treatments options are put into place. Options for treatment vary from detoxing to medications and professional help. Detox and withdrawal is medically managed and usually takes seven days to become active. Psychotherapy is common because alcoholism is found within other mental health disorders. Drug therapy is another treatment option. The oral drug given to the patient is called disulfiram, if the person drinks alcohol it creates a reaction where nausea, vomiting, and headaches take place. This is used to make the patient stop drinking to avoid the symptoms from happening again. Since alcohol is a depressant drug, it suppresses the central nervous system affecting muscle coordination, speech, and ability to process information. The effect of this disease on family and friends can be socially and genetically. For children of alcoholics, they are more prone to getting the disease. The same thing for people who even have distant relatives with the disease. For family and friends it take a toll because they have a person in their life they love that cannot control themselves. Since they also have to deal with the repercussions of alcoholism, support groups are available to them as well.

Major health complications of alcohol consumption over time can be liver disease, heart disease, birth defects, digestion problems. Impacting the overall immune system, an alcoholics body is more susceptible to diseases and viruses. Liver disease is when the alcohol creates fat build up on the liver causing inflammation and tissue damage leading the organ to eventually fail. If a person is an alcoholic they are not allowed on the transplant list because they have struggled with addiction, making their recovery and survival chances very slim. Tests a doctor might have to run in order to determine liver disease are liver biopsies, blood count, and liver function tests.

Overall, when a person becomes an alcoholic they let drug dependence and substance abuse take over who they are and let it control their lives (medlineplus). When the person can no longer control themselves they begin to lose their drive to work and communicate socially like any other person. The amount of health risks a person has being an alcoholic is increased because of the loss of control.