Alcohol-Related Problems

What are alcohol-related problems?

People who drink too much alcohol risk having physical, mental, and emotional problems. This is especially true for older adults, who often have several other medical problems. Alcohol can start causing health problems when men have more than 2 drinks a day, or when women have more than 1 drink a day.

How do alcohol-related problems occur?

Drinking too much for a long time can damage your body's cells and tissues. When you drink too much you may not eat a healthy diet. Alcohol affects your appetite and takes the place of nutritious foods.

Physical Problems

Alcohol can affect your body in the following ways:

• Alcohol increases the acid in your stomach, which can damage your stomach lining. Alcohol can also damage your small intestine and keep it from absorbing nutrients.
• Alcohol keeps you from getting deep sleep, which may mean a less restful night's sleep. Also, drinking alcohol can make insomnia worse. Although it may help you go to sleep, when the drink wears off you may wake up earlier. You may also wake up more often to urinate.
• Alcohol can cause gout. Gout is the buildup of uric acid, which causes inflammation in your joints. Alcohol can keep your body from getting rid of uric acid.
• Drinking too much alcohol increases your risk of cancer of the liver, pancreas, mouth, tongue, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. This risk is even greater if you also use tobacco products.
• Besides liver cancer, alcohol may cause fatty liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis, and other liver disease.
• Drinking too much alcohol makes you lose protein, minerals, and vitamins, especially thiamine (vitamin B-1) and other B-complex vitamins. Your nerves, muscles, heart, and brain need thiamine to work normally. Not having enough thiamine can cause:
  • Wernicke's encephalopathy, which can involve problems with eye movement and walking. The disorder also may cause confusion and coma.
  • Korsakoff's psychosis, a chronic condition which causes short-term memory loss and affects your nerves, brain, and spinal cord. It can cause pain, cramps, numbness, tingling, and weakness in your legs and hands.
  • heart failure.
• Drinking too much alcohol also may contribute to high blood pressure (hypertension) and strokes. Alcohol can damage heart tissue and lead to heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy).

The irritating effects of alcohol may cause:

• gastritis (inflammation of the mucous membrane that lines the stomach)
• pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
• peptic ulcer (a raw area in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract)
• increased blood sugar levels, which makes diabetes worse
• interactions with medications
• worsening of most other medical problems (heart disease, kidney disease, circulation problems)
• injuries from falls and other accidents.

Psychiatric and emotional problems

When you drink heavily you can have changes in moods and emotions, which make you angry and irritable. You can have personality changes, such as becoming suspicious, jealous, or possessive. Your loved ones find it hard to cope with these outbursts and changes. Family members may also develop emotional problems. Your children are at high risk of becoming alcoholics as adults.

When you drink too much alcohol, you lose proper judgment. As drinking problems become worse, arguing can lead to fighting at home, at work, and in social settings. These arguments can lead to domestic violence, child abuse, and losing your job and friends. Many violent crimes, child sexual abuse, assaults, and murders are related to alcohol abuse.

Regularly drinking too much alcohol also can cause major, even life-threatening, mental, emotional, and behavioral problems including:

• anxiety (feelings of uneasiness and fear)
• depression (feelings of sadness and hopelessness, a loss of interest in life, and a reduced feeling of well-being).
• confusion (both short-term and permanent)
• addiction.

Alcohol can make other mental health problems, such as bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia, worse.

Drunk drivers cause about half the deaths from vehicle accidents in the US.