Alcoholism is a disease which is not the same as drunkenness. A person many et drunk occasionally but that does not make an alcoholic. It is rampant in the US, Britain and in some affluent Eastern countries like Japan. A large proportion of alcoholics from one third to half are women. Some people drink to be sociable, to experiment or to show off. Alcoholics drink because they must. They are dependent on the drug alcohol. They do not plant to drink, they may even dislike the taste of the beverage but they cannot resist the urge to drink. Many do so to escape temporarily their frustrations, their anxieties. Ultimately alcohol overtakes them.
The drug alcohol is a depressant. It affects the control centres of the brain and so an intoxicated person may behave in ways that are usually restrained by self control. He is likely to be disoriented and confused. Prolonged drinking leads to more serious effects like delirium tremens leading to mental confusion, hallucinations and violent trembling. Excessive amounts of liquor damage the liver and can lead to cirrhosis. Treatment for alcoholism includes care for the physical and emotional needs of the patient. The first step is withdrawal from dependence on alcohol. Several rehabilitation centres like Alcoholics Anonymous are now functioning in India.
Alcohol
One of my good friends, a reporter in a leading English daily in Mumbai is addicted to drinks. He drinks at least half a bottle at one time during night. The addiction is endemic, he hardly eats, goes to bed late and does not sleep well. His face has become bloated. We have tried persuading him to give up the habit, but he is tired of suggestions. He said: “Doctor, at least after my death people will say that he died because he drank too much”. Alcoholism or alcohol dependence unfortunately is becoming an alarming feature.
More so in affluent countries. People seek the bottle to drown their frustrations, their setbacks and also their joys. Whether in Russia, China, India, Europe, Africa or America people drink sufficiently over a ling time period to become slowly dependent on alcohol. Alcohol has been a bread snatcher for many poor Indian families, because the frustrated man, the bread earner, often wastes all his money on drinks. There is disharmony in the family. The wife and children suffer. They have no money to buy food. Our religious leaders and well meaning social workers have been active to make addicts disown alcohol which in the long run can also affect one’s sex life.
The most serious consequence of this syndrome is death related to alcoholic behaviour. It is estimated that 50 per cent of highway fatalities are caused by drunken driving. 20 per cent of suicides have a history of prolonged alcoholism. Alcohol and alcohol related diseases can also lead to cirrhosis of liver, acute and chronic gastritis, aggravation of gout and other medical complications. The most common cause of death in hard – drinking countries after heart disease, strokes and cancer is alcohol. Excessive drinking can causes osteoporosis or weakening of the bones causing fracture of the hip bone, mainly neck femur, in old age.
It is definitely better to drink alcohol in moderate quantities than smoke. If you have a heart problem, watch your smoking and alcohol level. Stop smoking altogether and restrict alcohol to one or two small pegs a day or half to one pint of beer or one or two small glasses of wine. Alcohol in small quantities is relaxing: it increases mental activity and works as an anxiety relieving agent.
In small amounts it produces euphoria. It makes a person emotionally more excitable more talkative. It acts both as a stimulant and a relaxant. Some cardiologists recommend to their heart patients, to take a tiny drink a day. They claim that a drink or two (small) may reduce the collection of the platelet layer around the damaged wall of an artery, thereby which will impair the flow of blood. But the hazards of excess drinking are well known.
On the other hand, a few cardiologists tell their patients to give up alcohol completely. Firstly this restriction will help to maintain body weight. Very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) secretion is increased dramatically by even a limited use of alcohol. VLDL is always found with accelerated atherosclerosis (constriction of the arterial wall) in cases of coronary disease. It is bad for the heart. Therefore alcohol should be eliminated in the diet of those patients with a coronary disease or elevated glycerides in the blood.
Wise people keep away from a vice even if it many initially seem to do good. It does not take time to fall into the trap of addiction, increases the quantity with an excuse of mental tension or tiredness. Many patients feel they cannot sleep without their drink. Many are surprised to know that alcohol may initially help to sleep, but they tend to sleep much less and wake up after 2-3 hour. They will also have disturbed sleep.
A more than moderate intake of alcohol produces emotional imbalance, slurred speech and ataxia. A high level of drinking produces lethargy, stupor and coma and overdrinking beyond this level can contribute to death from cardiac and respiratory failure. Alcohol is a high empty-calorie food. Alcoholism is the end result of a series of interacting processes. There is no doubt that the ingestion a alcohol provides temporary gratification of a need for euphoria or temporary relief from a psychological or physical tension.
However chronic alcoholism triggers psychologic and physiologic processes which create a greater craving for more alcohol. The tolerance increases. A spiral develops in that the substance that satisfies a need increases that need. Ultimately the alcoholic becomes dependent, a slave to alcohol and comes out of the addiction if at all only with utmost difficulty.
If consumed by pregnant mothers, alcohol has definite bad effects on the to-be-born baby. This is so even if consumed by the pregnant mother in small quantity. Alcohol is high calorie food. One large peg contains 500 calories. These are empty calories with no minerals, amino-acids and vitamins or essential nutritional elements. In fact alcohol causes vitamin deficiency diseases like beri beri, anaemia and malabsorption syndrome. It may cause cancer of the head, neck and oesophagus.
Being a high calorie food, a person consuming 4-5 pegs a day ingest about 2000-2500 calories. Under such conditions alcoholics consume very little or no food. Those prone to obesity, heart disease or diabetes should not consume alcohol because of this high calorie content.
Alcohol is toxic to both brain and stomach. That is the reason why we get a hang over in the morning. It may lead to headaches, giddiness, tremors and nausea. These symptoms are self-limiting and pass off in few hours.