Does chronic drinking (of alcohol) damage anything besides the liver?

Question

Not that I drink or anything...

Answer 1

Effects
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 physical health effects
The long term health effects caused by the consumption of large amounts of alcohol, or of continually having alcohol in one's system include:

death from many sources, primarily alcohol toxemia
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 of pain and impaired mobility
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
sexual dysfunction

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.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does chronic drinking (of alcohol) damage anything besides the liver?
Not that I drink or anything...

Answer 3

Well lets see if chronic drinking damages anything else besides the liver, in which you can die from. Well you can get drunk, this can damage, your car, your friends, someone walking or driving you don't even know. Kids can die, or be hurt for a lifetime. Your brain cells die, it can cause stomach ulcers, blood poisoning, your judgment and reactions are dulled. It can causes rickets, uncontrollable shaking, and Alcoholism. It causes break up of relationships, and families. Other then that it is fine.

Answer 4

Alcoholism can lead to a number of physical ailments, including hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, brain and heart damage, enlarged blood vessels in the skin, chronic gastritis and pancreatitis.

Alcoholism can also lead to impotence in men, damage to the fetus in pregnant women, and an elevated risk of cancer of the larynx, esophagus, liver, breast, stomach, pancreas and upper gastrointestinal tract. Because alcoholics seldom have adequate diets, they are likely to have nutritional deficiencies. Heavy drinkers typically have impaired liver function, and at least one in five develops cirrhosis.

Answer 5

If you drink most days of the week, you will increase your risk of developing liver disease.Evidence about how much and how often you need to drink to increase your chances of developing liver disease is unclear. But all the research shows that the more alcohol you drink, the more likely you are to develop liver disease. and other health problem


You can know more other ways to improve liver and health, such as suitable diet, natural measures .you can refer to here to understand more:http://adola.net/go/fattyliver-bible/

Hope this useful

Answer 6

Bless you. I will pray that you continue on your journey. Funny I have gone through most of what was listed above but I am not the alcoholic, I am the wife of one, or should I say EX wife. We remained close after the divorce, I was listed as his emergency contact.
We just lost him on the 15th of June. Stay strong my friend I am rooting for you!

Answer 7

Yes! Relationships, and the rest of your organs. When you damage your liver, all of your other organs get damaged as well.

Answer 8

it pickles your brain, dumba s s.

what a moron! haven't you ever heard of the DT's?

Delirium Tremens? google it, einstein!

besides all the damage it does to your brain it wrecks havoc on your heart and circulatory system.

chronic drinking is a killer.

Answer 9

well
alcohol is so dangerous that it can damage not only your liver but also your character as well.
no need to surprise if you will drink,you will not be in your conscious and you can do any thing unpleasant.

thanks
salim swati
pakistan

Answer 10

THE BRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CAUSES ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION
CAUSES STAREOFFS (SEZUIRES)
CAUSES STUPIDITY
CAUSES JAIL
CAUSES MENTAL HOSPITALS
CAUSES LOSS OF FRIENDS,GIRLFRIENDS,WIFE,KIDS,PARENTS,JOBS AND MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DID I MENTION DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



so allow me to introduce myself im a grateful recovering user and boozer with a name and a problem called ray clean/sober date 08-01-2001



Well LQQKING @ all the answers people have given you i can speak from my own personal experiences i am 32 years old and just now in a successful relationship for the first time in my life i am in my 6th term of Microsoft classes presuing my MOS,MCSA & other certifacations i am epileptic i ahve had 3 brian surgeries i have bene a mess my whole life and even after 5 years of no drink or drugs i am just now getting it together right now i am living with my mother and my girlfrienmd, how sad huh? so keep it simple and before its to late dont start it will destory your life i have had most of the consequences i named above!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i am just now still recoving from alot of them

GOD (AS YOU UNDERSTAND HIM/HER/IT) BLESS YOU KID