Alcoholism Facts – Part 2
May 27th, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized — Addiction Recovery AuthorThe physical damages caused by alcohol are many but to understand the alcoholism facts behind them even more complex. Each human body is made differently and thus reacts differently to the same substance; if one addict has severe liver damage the other has pancreatitis.
The first organ to bear the brunt of the alcohol intake is always the stomach, being acidic in nature alcohol increases the gastric acidity. Increased acidity gives rise to heartburn, reflux esophagitis and gastric and duodenal ulcers.
Liver damage is one of the commonest health problems amongst alcoholics, beginning with hepatitis and ending with cirrhosis.
The liver is the organ responsible for production of many enzymes, clotting factors and breakdown of food thus damage to this organ disrupts many body functions. The liver begins getting inflamed by enlarging and giving symptoms of hepatitis like nausea, loss of appetite and icterus. The second stage is fatty infiltration of the liver followed by permanent scarring damage; this is also called end stage liver disease. This is characterized by ascites or water collection in abdomen, bleeding from all body orifices and death.
The other organ to get affected is the pancreas which is responsible for protein digestion and insulin production. The worst affected is the brain mental disorientation, hallucinations, seizures and delirium tremors. Mood swings and worsening temper, increased aggressiveness and violence are all alcoholism facts. The other important alcoholism facts which should be known are about withdrawal symptoms, to know why an alcoholic goes back to the bottle. Absence of intake of alcohol for a specific time makes the body want more or craves for more, if at this time the body doesn’t get alcohol it goes into withdrawal.
