In the United States, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 25 women, or more than 6% of adults, have an alcohol use disorder. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a medical condition characterized by an inability to manage or limit alcohol consumption, even when it has negative effects.
People have different drinking levels. One or two drinks per day are the maximum for a moderate drinker.
A binge drinker will have four to five drinks in two hours.
Meanwhile, a heavy alcohol drinker is a person who regularly consumes large amounts of alcohol, a man consuming more than 14 drinks per week or four drinks each day, or a lady drinking more than three times per day or seven times per week.
Additionally, individuals who consume alcohol five or more days per week.
Your Major Organs and the Effects of Alcohol
You might know that drinking too much alcohol damages your liver, but other organs are also damaged by long-term alcohol consumption. Alcohol can harm both the structure and function of your brain. A recent study in brain imaging reveals a considerable loss of brain tissue in a person with long-term alcohol abuse.
Another example is Wernicke’s-Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS), a disorder caused by vitamin B-1 deficiency. WKS effects can cause alcoholic dementia, short-term memory loss, the inability to learn new information, cognitive impairment, eye problems, and poor physical.
Chronic, excessive drinking can cause cardiomyopathy, a heart condition characterized by symptoms such as exhaustion, lack of energy, dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, swelling of the lower extremities, and cough with a pink discharge. This condition can lead to heart failure.
Another major organ affected by long-term alcohol abuse is the liver. The liver can develop cirrhosis, hepatitis, and fatty liver disease.
Recovery from alcohol abuse disorder is hard, and facing withdrawal symptoms is scary but developing major organ diseases is much more terrifying.
Alcohol abuse disorder is treatable. The early you seek help, the faster your recovery will be. Skyward Treatment in Sugar Land, Texas, offers a holistic Alcohol Addiction Treatment that surely helps with your healing.
If you want to get away from the grasp of alcohol abuse disorder and take your life back, call us.