Research
Physical Effects Of Alcohol
Drinking alcohol regularly can increase your risk of:
- liver cancer
- bowel cancer
- mouth cancer
- pharyngeal cancer (upper throat)
- oesophageal cancer (food pipe)
- laryngeal cancer (voice box)
- anxiety
- depression
- blood clots
- insomnia
Chronic pancreatitisHeavy drinking can cause cirrhosis of the liver (where damage to the liver causes scar tissue to build up) which can then lead to cancer.
Cirrhosis is scarring of the liver as a result of continuous, long-term liver damage. Scar tissue replaces healthy tissue in the liver and prevents the liver from working properly.
The damage caused by cirrhosis can't be reversed and eventually can become so extensive your liver stops functioning. This is called liver failure.
Cirrhosis can be fatal if the liver fails. However, it usually takes years for the condition to reach this stage and treatment can help slow it progression.
How alcohol affects appearance?
Alcohol dehydrates the body generally, including the skin - the body's largest organ. Drinking too much is also thought to deprive the skin of vital vitamins and nutrients over time, drinking heavily can have other, more permanent, detrimental effects on your skin. Rosacea, a skin disorder that starts with a tendency to blush and flush easily and can eventually lead to facial disfigurement, is linked to alcohol.
Alcohol can also cause the face to look bloated and puffy. Sometimes it bloats the stomach too, and toxins contribute to cellulite.
The liver processes most of the alcohol, but some of it leaves the body straight through the persons breath, sweat and urine.
Alcohol Poisoning
It can:
- slow down your brain functions so you lose your sense of balance.
- irritate the stomach which causes vomiting and it stops your gag reflex from working properly - you can choke on, or inhale your own vomit into your lungs.
- affect the nerves that control your breathing and heartbeat, it can stop both.
- dehydrate you, which can cause permanent brain damage.
- lower your blood sugar levels, so you could suffer seizures.
Alcoholics Help Groups
AA - Alcoholics Anonymous
A group of people from all walks of life who share their experiences and
try to help each other solve problems as a group.
"Like passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck."
Big Book, Chapter two, Page 17.
12 Steps Of AA
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol.
- Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our short comings.
- Made a list of all the persons we have harmed.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admit it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Addaction
- A support charity for people addicted to drugs and alcohol.
- Offering resources like a residential rehab centre.
- Helping with employment, housing, debt or family relationships.
- Building a relationship between the person and an Addaction worker, who can give cognitive therapy and prescribe drugs (should the person need it).
- Treatment could last for around six months but this depends on the person. Their aim is to get the person to stop using the substance altogether.
Supporting Family's
- One in five has a family member with a drug or alcohol problems.
- As well as causing concern, it can also have a negative effect on our family's health, wellbeing, finances, social lives and relationships with others.
NACOA - National Association for Children Of Alcoholics
NACOA, founded in 1990 to address the needs of children growing up with families where one or both parents suffer from alcoholism or a similar addictive problem. This includes children of all ages, many of whose problems only become apparent in adulthood.
NACOA has four broad aims:
1. To offer information, advice and support to children of alcohol-dependent parents.
2. To reach professionals who work with these children.
3. To raise their profile in the public consciousness.
4. To promote research into:
1. The particular problems faced by those who grow up with parental alcoholism.
2. The prevention of alcoholism developing in this vulnerable group of children.
The 6 "C"s
I didn't cause it
I can't control it
I can't cure it
I can take care of myself
I can communicate my feelings
I can make my own choices
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