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What is Alcoholism?

Alcoholism or Alcohol addiction is a disease that appears, in many cases, to be a genetically transmitted biochemical defect. However, in other instances of alcoholism, addiction appears to be caused by overwhelming bombardment of the body with repeated episodes of heavy drinking, resulting in the incapacity to handle alcohol normally. Psychological and/or social pressures may aggravate alcoholism. Alcoholism is characterized by a typical progression of alcoholic drinking behavior that requires an average of twelve-and-one-half years of drinking to reach fully developed, overt alcoholism symptoms and an average of 18 years to reach the stage of deterioration. Alcoholism is seen most frequently in people of Eskimo or American Indian descent. Among those of Caucasian descent, the Irish, French and Scandinavians exhibit a far higher incidence of alcoholism than other European population groups. The effects of alcoholism are characterized by physical damage in all systems of the body, the most serious in the cardiovascular system, the nervous system and the liver. In these three areas the damage from alcoholism may eventually prove fatal.

Living the life of an alcohol addict is hard work - the body suffers. There is complete unanimity of opinion that alcoholism is very bad for the heart. Not only does the alcoholic suffer increased risk of heart disease, but he may also sustain direct damage to the heart from alcohol. Alcoholic drinking results in increased lipid levels (blood fats) that may result in arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), increased risk of stroke and possible early death. Another possible development is alcoholic cardiomyopathy, an injury to the energy-producing portion of the heart muscle that may lead to death from heart failure.

Damage to the nervous system with alcoholism has been recognized for many years. A possible neurological effect of alcoholism is the development of diseases caused by vitamin B deficiencies, such as alcoholic poly-neuropathy and Wernicke's hemorrhagic encephalopathy. Overall mental functioning can be impaired also. Some of the ancient physicians recognized an impairment of overall mental functioning in those who drank excessively, and recent brain cell studies suggest that an alcoholic literally kills off brain cells at a more rapid pace than normal. If a person destroys brain cells rapidly enough and for a long enough period of time, eventually the "cell bank" of reserves will be depleted, and the subject will begin to show impaired mental functioning. This appears to be the sequence of events observed in the EEG tracings and clinical observations of alcoholics.

The gastrointestinal system is prominent among the organ systems damaged by alcohol. We may see fatal ulcer problems (bleeding or perforated ulcers), fatal pancreas problems (acute pancreatitis) or an increased incidence of carcinoma of the esophagus. However, by all accounts, the liver deserves the most attention when discussing alcoholic damage to the gastrointestinal system.

Alcoholism begins a vicious cycle called cirrhosis of the liver. In the first step of cirrhosis, the liver cells are injured and accumulate tiny droplets of fat (fatty infiltration or fatty degeneration). As more and more cells suffer fatty infiltration, the liver becomes enlarged. If the alcohol addiction cycle continues, scars continue toform until the process becomes irreversible.

As cirrhosis of the liver progresses, the alcoholic faces more and more severe health problems including:

• build-up of "poisons" in the bloodstream (ammonia and bilirubin)
• accumulation of estrogen in the bloodstream and possible impotence
• development of low levels of clotting factors resulting in bleeding and bruising tendencies
• development of esophageal varices
• swelling of ankles and legs
• development of ascites (accumulated fluid in the abdominal cavity)
• eventual death

Researchers have confirmed an easily recognizable time-ordered sequence of drinking symptoms that takes place in the typical alcoholic. This progression is a step-by-step pattern, with one phase merging almost imperceptibly into the next, often taking months or years to go from one step to the next. The progression occurs in the same form in people of high or low I.Q., great or little education and in any station in life.

• Stage 1 - Developmental Zone
  Social Drinking
  Once a week
  Drinking faster than associates
  Drinking more than associates
  Doubles
  Memory blackouts
  More drunk than associates
• Stage 2 - Zone of Overt Alcoholism
  Loss of control
  Weekends and week days
  Protects supply
  Before breakfast
  Solitary drinking
  Tremors
  Decreased tolerance
• Stage 3 - Zone of Deterioration
  Delirium Tremens(DT)
  Vague fears
  Sleeplessness
  Avitaminosis
  Death