FREE ESSAY ON ALCOHOLISM

ALCOHOLISM

Alcoholism is a wide-ranging and complex disease that heavily plagues society. Drinking is
defined as the consumption of a liquid, and/or the act of drinking alcoholic beverages
especially to excess. Every year alcohol is responsible for 1/2 of all murders,
accidental deaths, and suicides; 1/3 of all drowning, boating, and aviation deaths; 1/2
of all crimes; and almost 1/2 of all fatal automobile accidents (Overview 1).
Alcohol is a potent nonprescription drug sold to anyone over the national legal drinking
age, 21. 
Unlike carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, which can be manufactured by the body, alcohol
is a substance that is not made within the body. It is a food, because it supplies a
concentrated number of calories, but is not nourishing and does not supply a significant
amount of needed nutrients, vitamins, or minerals. These are empty calories that result
in an unattractive "beer belly."
Most foods are prepared for digestion by the stomach so that their nutrients can be
absorbed by the large intestine. However, 95% of alcohol is absorbed directly through the
stomach walls or the walls of the duodenum (part of the small intestine nearest the
stomach)and small intestine (Overview 2).
Various factors effect the speed of alcohol's absorption into the body.
- Watery drinks such as beer is absorbed more slowly.
- Foods (especially fatty foods) delay absorption
- Carbonated beverages speed up the emptying of the stomach into the small intestine
where alcohol is absorbed more quickly.
- The drinker's physical and emotional state (fatigue, stress), and individual body
chemistry affect absorption.
- Gender: Women have less dehydrogenates (a chemical that breaks down alcohol in the
stomach, so more alcohol is absorbed in the bloodstream.
Within moments of ingestion, alcohol moves from the blood stream into every part of the
body that contains water, including major organs like the brain, lungs, kidneys, and
heart. Alcohol stimulates and agitates, depresses and sedates, produces calmness and
tranquility, and begins a hypnotic state of drowsiness and sleep. Alcohol impairs your
judgement, and strongly affects motor skills, muscle function, reaction time, eyesight,
depth perception, and night vision. As a drinker continues to drink, alcohol depresses
lung and heart function, slowing breathing and circulation. 
Death can occur if alcohol completely paralyzes breathing. However, this state is seldom
reached because the body rejects alcohol by vomiting. Acute alcohol overdose leading to
death occurs in colleges where individuals are encouraged to drink large amounts of
alcohol rapidly. Relatively speaking, the twelve million U.S. College students drink over
430 million gallons of alcohol a year- that is 3,500 Olympic sized swimming pools filled
with alcohol. Binge drinking is the number one public health hazard for more than six
million college students in America (MADD 2).
Only five percent of alcohol is eliminated from the body through the breath, urine, or
sweat; the rest is broken down in the liver.
In the Liver:
-Alcohol is broken down in steps by enzymes until only carbon dioxide remain as
by-products.
-Alcohol is processed at the rate of three tenths of an ounce of pure ethanol per hour
(less than one ounce of whiskey) and unprocessed alcohol circulates in the body. (The
alcohol from two cocktails, each about 1.5 ounces, drank before dinner is still present
in the body three to four hours later) (Overview 2).
The liver's fixed rate of alcohol breakdown means that drinking coffee or taking a cold
shower does not speed the sobering process. Therefore, giving coffee to a person who is
drunk may make a wide-awake drunk, who thinks he/she is sober enough to drive a car.
Occasional users of alcohol, who are healthy, do not appear to suffer negative affects
from use of alcohol. In moderate doses, alcohol has beneficial effects: relaxation,
appetite stimulation. However, consumed in large amounts, alcohol is a toxin. The
short-term result of the toxin is a hangover. A hangover has a combination of physical
symptoms:
-Headache: Blood vessels in the head, dilated by alcohol, painfully stretch as they
return to their normal state.
-Upset stomach: Alcohol irritates gastric lining.
-Dehydration: Alcohol stimulates the kidneys to process and pass more water than is
ingested.
A hangover is a withdrawal state. The best hangover cure is aspirin, liquids, sleep, and
time. Bland foods, especially liquids, may also help. The best prevention for hangover is
moderation or abstinence from alcohol at all. The long-term results may develop into
alcoholism and alcohol-related diseases. Alcohol has a direct toxic as well as sedative
affects on the body, and failure to take care of nutritional and other physical needs
during prolonged periods of excessive drinking may further complicate matters. Advanced
cases often require hospitalization. The physical effects of alcohol abuse are wide
ranging and complex. They include a wide range of digestive-system disorders such as
ulcers, inflammation of the pancreas, and several liver diseases. The liver breaks down
alcohol in the body and is therefore the major area for alcohol damage.
Liver damage may occur in three irreversible stages:
-Fatty Liver: Liver cells are worked in with abnormal fatty tissue, enlarging the liver.
-Alcoholic Hepatitis: Liver cells swell, become inflamed, and die, causing blockage.
-Cirrhosis: Fibrous scar tissue forms in place of healthy cells, obstructing the flow of
blood through the liver. Various functions of the liver deteriorate with often fatal
results. 
A diseased Liver:
-Cannot convert stored glycogen into glucose, thus lowering blood sugars and producing
hypoglycemia (an abnormally low level of glucose in the blood).
-Inefficiently detoxifies the bloodstream and inadequately removes drugs, alcohol, and
dead red blood cells.
-Cannot manufacture bile (for fat digestion), prothrombin (for blood clotting and bruise
prevention), and albumin (for maintaining healthy cells) (Overview 4).
Alcohol in the liver also alters the production of digestive enzymes, preventing the
absorption of fats and proteins and decreasing the absorption of the vitamins A, D, E,
and K. The decreased production of these enzymes also causes diarrhea (Overview 4).
Alcohol strongly disturbs the structure and function of the central nervous system,
interrupting the ability to retrieve and integrate information. Even small amounts if
alcohol affect the brains retrieving and processing abilities, while larger amounts
interfere with the oxygen supply to the brain. Blackouts, hallucinations, and extreme
tremors may occur (LeClair 1). Alcohol abuse destroys brain cells and whether the damage
can be reversed is unknown. Alcoholics who do not quit drinking decrease their life
expectancy ten to fifteen years (Overview 3).
Large amounts of alcohol may irritate the mouth, esophagus, and stomach. Alcohol
increases the stomach's digestive enzymes, which can irritate the stomach wall, producing
heartburn, nausea, gastritis, and ulcers. The stomach of a chronic drinker loses the
ability to adequately move food and expel it into the duodenum, leaving some food always
in the stomach, causing sluggish digestion and vomiting. Alcohol may also inflame the
small and large intestine (Overview 4).
Moderate daily drinking may be good for the heart, but for many the risks outweigh the
benefits. Even one binge may produce irregular heartbeats, and an alcohol abuser
experience increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart arrhythmia, and
heart disease. Alcohol may cause cardiomyopathy (a disease of the heart muscle) (Overview
4). Quitting drinking aids in recovery from this condition. 
Growing evidence supports the theory, that alcoholism is a hereditary disease.
Alcoholism, as appeased to merely excessive or irresponsible drinking, has been variously
thought of as a symptom of psychological or social stress or as poor coping behavior.
More recently, and probably more accurately, it has come to be viewed as a complex
disease entity in its own right (LeClair 1).
With the acceptance of alcoholism as a disease, we have been able to develop new
treatments, an understanding, and a way to recover. A vast majority of this research has
focused on mutations in the enzymes that metabolize (The sum of the processes of life
support and especially the processes by which a substance is assimilated or eliminated by
the body) alcohol and may effect the body's ability to excrete this toxin (Overview 1).
Evidence shows there may be genetic factors that help determine whether a person will
become and alcoholic. A child of an alcoholic has four times the risk of becoming an
alcoholic compared with a child of nonalcoholic parents (Overview 6).
There are two types of genetic alcoholics: 
1) Male-limited susceptibility: Found mostly in males, this condition is passed on
frequently and occurs at an early age. This type is associated with most criminal cases
and often requires extensive therapy. 
2) Milieu (environmental)-limited susceptibility: More common, this condition is found in
both males and females. Although inherited, this type of alcoholism must be stimulated by
environmental factors (Overview 1).
Alcoholism usually develops over a period of years. Early and subtle symptoms include
placing excessive importance on the availability of alcohol. Ensuring this availability
strongly influences the person's choice of associates or activities. Alcohol becomes a
staple in the abusers daily life.
Initially, the alcoholic may demonstrate a high tolerance to alcohol, consuming more and
showing less adverse effects than others may. Subsequently, however, the person begins to
drink against his or her own best interests, as alcohol becomes more important than
personal relationships, work, reputation, or even physical health. The person commonly
loses control over drinking and is increasingly unable to predict how much alcohol will
be consumed on a given occasion or, if the person currently abstaining, when the drinking
will resume again. Physical addiction to the drug may occur, sometimes eventually leading
to drinking around the clock to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
In some cases the "diagnosis" of alcoholism is made by the courts, when a judge issues a
drunk driving sentence that requires the offender to attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), or
enter a rehabilitation program. As the public becomes more aware of the nature of
alcoholism, the social attractiveness attached to it decreases, alcoholics and their
families tend to conceal it less, and diagnosis is not delayed long. 
Alcoholism has a good recovery rate once the alcoholic stops drinking. Treatment is
provided in many different forms because there are many kinds of alcoholics. Treatment
sources include hospitals, alcoholism units within hospitals, private clinics designed
specifically for the care of alcoholics, residential alcoholic rehabilitation facilities,
self-help groups such as Alcoholic Anonymous, and private practitioners such as
alcoholism counselors, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, and psychiatrists. In
addition to managing physical complications and withdrawal states, treatment involves
individual counseling and group therapy techniques aimed at complete and comfortable
abstinence from alcohol. Alcoholics Anonymous, a support group commonly used for those
undergoing treatment, in many cases helps alcoholics to recover without extensive formal
treatment. This organization of men and women help each other solve their common problem
of alcoholism. They also offer to share their recovery experiences with others that have
a drinking problem and want to do something about it.
Such abstinence, according to the best current evidence, is the desired goal, despite
some highly controversial suggestions that a safe return to social drinking is possible
(LeClair 2). 
Despite these encouraging signs, estimates of the annual number of deaths related to
excessive drinking exceed 97,000 in the United States alone. Economic costs related to
alcoholism are at least 100 billion a year (LeClair 2).
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines moderate drinking as an
average of not more than two drinks per day, and estimates that fifteen million adults
(fifteen percent of the drinkers in the United States) consume more than that amount. The
fifteen percent of men and three percent of women who ingest more than four drinks a day
risk a serious drinking problem. 
Most problem drinkers are not presently receiving formal treatment apart from what
Alcoholics Anonymous offers. The available treatments are most effective for socially
stable, middle-class alcoholics and least effective for the homeless without families.
The need to provide increasing services of better quality to those with alcoholism is
urgent. The major burden of coping with this complex drug problem continues to fall on
the individuals and families most directly affected. A further enlightened public policy
on alcoholism addressing legal drinking ages, liquor labeling, laws governing drunk
drivers, and public education is still necessary.
Bibliography
Bibliography
1. "Alcoholic Beverage, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Alcoholism." World Book Encyclopedia.
1997ed. 335-338.
2. "Alcohol and Drug Abuse." Pacific Bell Smart Yellow Pages: 1998ed. 20.
3. "Alcohol and Drug Consumption." Encyclopedia Britannica Macropaedia. 1990ed. 219-244.
4. "Drink" Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus. .
5. "Drinking/Driving or Operating Vessels." 1998 California Driver Handbook. 76-82.
6. LeClair Bissell. "Alcoholism." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. 1998ed. 1-2.
7. MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Available http://www.madd.org/under21/ (25 Oct.
1998).
8. Overview of Alcohol-Related Problems. Available
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/texts/guide/hmg06_0003.html (19 Nov. 1998).