1. The Physical Effects Are Severe
In the short-term, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can cause blurry vision, dizziness, slow muscle coordination and slurred speech. If you drink too much, it can even cause a coma and possibly result in death. When you drink excessively over time, you may experience neurological problems, such as impaired thinking, dementia and numb hands and feet. You may also experience short-term memory loss and bone loss.
2. Your Organs Will Suffer
Alcoholism negatively affects most of the organs in your body. If you're an alcoholic, you run a higher risk of having heart failure or a stroke because of alcohol's damaging effect on your heart. You could also develop hepatitis, which is an inflammation of the liver. If you have hepatitis, you may experience nausea, vomiting, fever and abdominal pain. Your skin may also take on a yellow tone, called jaundice. If you continue to drink while you have hepatitis, it could eventually turn into cirrhosis, which will scar and destroy your liver tissue. Alcoholism also damages your stomach and pancreas, and it puts you at a higher risk of getting colon, liver, esophagus and larynx cancer.
3. Protect Your Unborn Baby
Alcohol abuse can also lead to serious reproductive issues and birth defects. Women may stop having their period and men may experience erectile dysfunction as a result of excessive alcohol consumption. Women who drink throughout their pregnancy may have a baby with fetal alcohol syndrome. This is a very serious condition, which may cause heart problems, physical defects and mental disabilities in your child.
4. Stay in Control of Your Actions
In addition to the negative physical effects of alcoholism, you'll also experience psychological effects. Drinking alcohol impairs your judgment and makes you lose your inhibition, which could cause you to do things you wouldn't do under sound judgment. It could cause you to be violent toward your family or friends, to stop going to work or school and to get behind the wheel of a car and put yourself and others at risk. It also puts you at a greater risk for committing suicide or crimes against others.
5. Alcoholism Hurts Your Family
If you suffer from alcoholism, your children are suffering too. They may experience long-term psychological effects such as guilt, depression, loneliness and low self-esteem as a result of having an alcoholic parent. If you're married or in a relationship, your spouse or partner may isolate him or herself from others and may develop a physical or mental illness because of the stress involved with caring for an alcoholic. Families affected by alcoholism are more likely to experience abuse, incest and divorce. To avoid the severe effects of alcoholism, get immediate help by seeing a mental health professional and by going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in your area.
