Alcohol Addiction

Anybody with a compulsive need for an intoxicant is an alcoholic. It could be beer, wine, spirits, methane, hand sanitizer or any other house hold or lab chemical. If you cannot control it, you have a problem.

As an alcohol addict, you cannot limit or contain your drinking. This not that you lack the desire to do so, but because the body is conspiring to keep you the bottle. Any significant period of time spent without consuming alcohol leads to withdraw symptoms like shaking, nausea, sweating or anxiety. These can lamely be called "signs of the body asking of an intoxicant".

Because the whole body is connected, these signs are also interpreted into the single most important language of. Appetite. But this is not the appetite as we now it. A regular appetite will take any thing into the stomach. This is an uncontrollable craving, with a desire for only and only alcohol.

There are various causes of alcohol addiction. Many of these are social causes. Most of them are traumatic experiences, issues like childhood abuse, loss of a loved one, separation or divorce, job loss / unemployment. Peer pressure cannot also lead to an addiction.

It should also be noted that, whatever the cause of an addiction, once one is addicted, for the duration of time that they are consuming, the cause becomes almost irrelevant. For example someone who got addicted because the lost a job is not necessarily going to sober if a better job was presented to them.

Alcohol addiction like many addiction has many effects for example; social consequences, an alcoholic has to deal with loss of trust among workmates(if he/she still has a job), friends and family. On the health side they stand higher chances of brain cell damage which leads to small to large cognitive reduction. It also affects functioning of the central nervous system, leading to decrease motor capability. Sexual dysfunction also becomes an issue.

Alcoholics have high risks of getting a multitude of cancers. These include mouth cancer, stomach cancer and cancer of the oesophagus. This is attributed to the inflammation capabilities of alcohol. Inflammation damages cells which starts of a race to replace the damaged ones. Rapidly producing cells increases the chances of producing defective cells. When defective cells are in place, they can only produce other defective cells. This is cancer.

Every organ or body tissue in the path of alcohol has a heightened risk of developing cancerous cells. From mouth to stomach. The risk only goes down when the alcohol is diluted and digested.

The problems don't end there, when it is digested and put into the blood stream. The liver has to break it down. If it gets overworked breaking it down it starts malfunctioning. Excessive alcohol intake damages the liver. This is not an increased risk, it is guaranteed damage.

Given the consequences of an alcohol addiction, recovery should be on the thoughts of every alcoholic.