Effects of Alcoholism

See also: Effects of alcohol on the body and Alcohol consumption and health
Alcoholism can have severe negative effects on a person's physical, mental, emotional and social well-being. In addition to the physical effects caused by the continued consumption of alcohol, the person's regular debilitation can result in a loss of employment, social and marital connections, property, and physical health via mechanisms like auto crashes and falls down stairs.

Alcohol addiction can be harder to break and significantly more damaging than addiction to most other substances. The physical symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol can be quite severe and dangerous, with death reported in extreme cases.

The alcoholic personality can exhibit a radical change when they drink, from passive when sober to aggressive when drunk, though the reverse can also be true.

Long-term

The long-term effects of high quantity alcohol use can include:

• death
• pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas (both the acute and chronic form)
• heart disease, including dilated cardiomyopathy
• polyneuropathy, or damage to the nerves leading to poor sensation or pain
• cirrhosis of the liver, a chronic disease characterized by destruction of liver cells and loss of liver function, and its numerous complications, including bleeding from esophageal varices
• depression, insomnia, anxiety, and suicide
• increased incidence of many types of cancer, including breast cancer, head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer and colorectal cancer
• nutritional deficiency of folic acid, thiamine (vitamin B1) and several others
• Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a neuropsychiatric disorder caused by thiamine deficiency that results from poor nutrition in alcoholics
• personality changes toward others, especially those who are close
• significant damage to occupational, social, and interpersonal areas, including sexual dysfunction
• gait ataxia due to damage to the superior vermis

Social Effects

The social problems arising from alcohol abuse can include loss of employment, financial problems, marital conflict and divorce, convictions for crimes such as drunk driving or public disorder, loss of accommodation, and loss of respect from others who may see the problem as self-inflicted and easily avoided. Alcohol dependence affects not only the addicted but can profoundly impact the family members around them. Children of alcohol dependents can be affected even after they are grown; the behaviors commonly exhibited by such children are collectively known as Adult Children of Alcoholics Syndrome.

Alcohol Withdrawal

There are several distinct but not mutually exclusive clinical alcohol withdrawal syndromes caused by alcohol withdrawal:

• Tremulousness - "the shakes"
• Activation syndrome - characterized by tremulousness, agitation, rapid heart beat and high blood pressure.
• Seizures - acute grand mal seizures can occur in alcohol withdrawal in patients who have no history of seizure or any structural brain disease.
• Hallucinations - usually visual or tactile in alcoholics
• Delirium tremens - can be severe and often fatal.

Unlike withdrawal from opioids such as heroin, which can be unpleasant but never fatal, alcohol withdrawal can kill (by uncontrolled convulsions or delirium tremens) if it is not properly managed. The pharmacological management of alcohol withdrawal is based on the fact that alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines have remarkably similar effects on the brain and can be substituted for each other. Since benzodiazepines are the safest of the three classes of drugs, alcohol consumption is terminated and a long-acting benzodiazepine is substituted to block the alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The benzodiazepine dosage is then tapered slowly over a period of days or weeks.