HEAVY DRINKING AND HEALTH HAZARDS

Alcohol consumption causing major health problems is no longer a myth and every stone is aware of that.Now researchers have linked alcohol consumption to more than 60 diseases.

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Alcohol which is a pretty little molecule is associated with mainly the 12 physical impairments listed below.Have it not been time to evaluate them and pose a self restriction before you sip away your next peg?

ANEMIA
Heavy drinking results in pulling down the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells The condition termed as anemia, can trigger a host of symptoms, including fatigue, shortness of breath, and lightheadedness.

CANCER
Habitual drinking increases the risk of cancer.The increased risk comes when the body converts alcohol into acetaldehyde which happens to be a potent carcinogen. Cancer risk rises even higher in heavy drinkers who also use tobacco.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Heavy drinking makes the platelets vulnerable for clumping into blood clots, which can lead to heart attack or stroke. It also causes cardiomyopathy, a potentially deadly condition in which the heart muscle weakens and eventually fails.

CIRRHOSIS
As alcohol is toxic to liver cells, it’s hard to predict which drinkers will develop cirrhosis. Some people who drink huge amounts  may never get cirrhosis, and some who don’t drink very much do get it. For some unknown reason, women seem to be especially vulnerable.
DEMENTIA
Heavy drinking speeds the shrinkage of certain key regions in the brain, resulting in memory loss and other symptoms of dementia. It also leads to potentially debilitating deficits in the ability to make  plain judgments, solve problems, and other aspects of high level functions that allow us to establish ourselves as human beings.Heavy drinking can cause nutritional deficiencies so severe that they trigger other forms of dementia.
DEPRESSION
Heavy drinking often goes simultaneous with depression. Whether alcohol and depression are directly or inversely proportional continues as a matter of debate.
SEIZURES
Heavy drinking cause epilepsy and can trigger seizures. It can also interfere with the action of the medications used to treat the particular disorder as well.
GOUT
Gout is caused by the formation of uric acid crystals in the joints Alcohol also seems to aggravate existing cases of gout.
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
Alcohol can disrupt the sympathetic nervous system,. Heavy drinking  especially binge drinking can cause blood pressure to rise to very high levels. High blood pressure in turn can lead to many other health problems including kidney disease, heart disease, and stroke.Alcohol consumption is a common cause of uncontrolled blood pressure.
INFECTIONS
Heavy drinking suppresses the immune system, exacerbating tuberculosis, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases . People who drink heavily also are more likely to engage in risky sex.
NERVE DAMAGE
Heavy drinking can cause a form of nerve damage known as alcoholic neuropathy, which can produce  painful pins-and-needles feeling in the extremities, as well as muscle weakness, incontinence, constipation, erectile dysfunction, and other problems.
PANCREATITIS
In addition to causing stomach irritation (gastritis), drinking can inflame the pancreas. Chronic pancreatitis interferes with the digestive process, causing abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea.

written by

Dr.SAJY  KURUTTUKULAM