OCR Text |
Show Illness and Alcohol ' ' . ...i. ,i .,,.1 , ttt main pi U-m-. u itll the use and ' . , jl.ohol An ' hoi ". .ind "''' " "h.J.SK jl '-'- '''' I",,U'1 "h.ll.'ll. HUH I'M"' :.-iiii f ,vuU''1 ,'"11 ...jaif mJ lvt ; u i in aho r;l. ll'J l',nM-' l"",'U'IU' ,., oi iUvti'l include such 'v'v,a:ijU.'". sluned speech, ' 0f jiuljji'llll'lll and the hnr t'jvulties of the ,.,! IVsc 4K' 11,0 "nk,K,i sicjis of alcohol ,,lK-jiiun. A los mmMc diut 'jM le l"-tt reaction is r.4"iii. 4,1 iidlaniuuiion 1,1 ?S(. ,UIIU'h- If OOlltlllllcd. tills VilfiJ'i'uKvrsainl bleeding ",.,lVijs from the miljlivMi ol jU'iiuvh luiiiij;-Victor luiiiij;-Victor common result ot S; .vinmon drinking bout is vcll known hitic,ocr. I Ins J5 re u.u,le 1,1 "'t'11'". cJ jt it ii'liullv AltlOllllts v o thit the" bt) "' ''ecu wneJ iJ n,Ust I,m'tt 1,11 y ftT.li 'f pOlsOII. SlIKV - loJv met aboli.-c s the H it 1 fixed rale, the -orf i Jruik. the longer the .j-kvct lasts Nothing but ;-.c mil curt this problem. :r;h there ire some s mpt-;v.i'M mpt-;v.i'M treatments such as i;:nn. fluids, and rest. Many c'.t hold the false aum-costal aum-costal taking another drink iu help eist the runner. : son'.e people nu i.-:ce rr.tld comfort from -.. it mere!) prolongs the xrwi M uv.:e that is required ! Fqur Corners : ; (i) mntal Health : j I 1 "A "llMN SIHVUIS UNIIK" i : , My KK iiKrti i:. simi,it.,,u m n j loi the I-,kIv lo nd iKoll of lli0 poison Uioie exists a somewlim uncommon condition known as lMtlioloHic.il alcohol reaction. An occasional person will, alter only one or two beers, base a eiv siron. psycholoni'-cal psycholoni'-cal reaction consistiiif- of bell i science, disoi lentation. and unconliollable violent bcluMor. Ihis cle.us up as scs'ii as (he alcohol has worn oil. wuh (he person having little or no inenioiv of his or her behavior duinii; the wildly violent period. When this does ivcur to someone, they should be evlieincly cautious about ever dunking ac;ain, as they mav lue the same reaction aijain. Ihis reaction can occur alier only one or two beers or it may take somewhat more heavy diinknii;. but the person certainly d,e- nol have to be seriously or even heavily intoxicated for it to happen. I he consequences of intermediate inter-mediate or lom; term use of alcohol include some other more serious problems. These include such ihinus as the shakes when comini; down off of the booe. and also (here is a condition known as alcoholic paranoia. In this slate, people hevomc quite suspicious and often hear voices tcllini; them bad things about themselves. Ibis is usually limited in its duration but quite frightening to the patient and his or her family. Ireatment consists of support and withdrawal of all alcohol for several weeks. A very important physical problem with even A one time drinking bout is that it can produce coma, which may be so deep as to produce respiratory and cardiac arrest and death. This has occurred when people have consumed a tarce amount of alcohol, such as one or two pints of whiskey vers rapidly or they have taken a lot of alcohol plus other medications such as sleeping pills and tranquilizers. This is i becoming an increasingly I're-qiicnt I're-qiicnt cause of death, either accidentally, us people when they ate intoxicated iiml can't remember how nuiny sleeping pills they've had, or as a melius of suicide. tietling into the more chronic physical problems assiviated w ith chronic alcohol abuse we find: (1) cirrhosis of the liver which has some serious complications such us producing a condition known as varices of the esophagus which when translated means dilated blood vessels in the lining of the esophagus. These blood vessels can and do rupture causing heavy bleeding bleed-ing and threat of death. Of course, cirrhosis of the liver can be deadly since once it reaches a certain point it is irreversible, producing a slow and uncomfortable form of death. (2) Wernicke's-Korsak-off's syndrome. This two dollar word represents a confused, delirious sort of condition in w hich the person has an extremely bud memory and will make up stories about his past life or recent events and not really know the difference between the truth and his fantasy. This is a very serious condition which responds re-sponds only minimally to treatment and these people very often end up in nursing homes being unable to be employed in any kind of productive work. This Wcr-ickc'sKorsakotl's Wcr-ickc'sKorsakotl's syndrome usually appears after many years of drinking abuse have occurred. In the chronic category we also find delirium tremens, or the D.T.'s as they are commonly called. This condition condi-tion occurs in withdrawal from alcohol after a four to six week binge in a person who is already pretty debilitated and weakened by long-term abuse of alcohol and malnutrition. Malnutrition is an important aspect of the alcoholic's problems and is partly responsible respon-sible for these last two mentioned syndromes. The treatment, therefore, for many of these problems includes large doses of vitamins of the B variety, along w ith adequate fluid intake and rest and nutrition. Continuing on with the description of the D.T.'s we see in this condition an extremely agitated confusion, violent shakes and visual hallucinations of a frightening nature. This is a life threatening threaten-ing condition and ten to twenty percent of people in D.T.'s will die if they are left untreated medically. They die of collapse of the circulatory system, or shock. Again, treatment includes in-cludes vitamins, fluids, rest, adequate nutrition, and use of certain tranquilizers. Another problem which may occur in the withdrawal stage is that of seizures of the grand-mal grand-mal variety. These can be quite serious, continous, and physically damaging to the alcoholic, especially if they occur unexpectedly. They can be treated effectively. If this lengthy list of horrors scares someone away from drinking or from abusing alcohol, the article has been a success. Alcohol is a systemic poison, affecting all systems in the body in one way or another. But in spite of the Sbviousharmfureffectsofalco ...c uuman race has practiced its use for thousands of years. Its use is likely to continue for a wide variety of complex social, psychological, and physical reasons. It should be pointed out that all drugs and many foods such as table salt are, in varying dosages. poisons to the body. Alcohol is in some cases a useful drug for people with circulatory problems prob-lems and it could be used for mild anxiety or problems of this sort. However, its uncontrolled uncon-trolled use is universally dangerous to the user and those about him. |