Either it’s Cold Outside or You Like Your Vodka

Alcohol is a vasodilator, meaning the blood vessels dilate. Chronically dilated veins are often associated with liver problems, and the "enlarged red nose" of the chronic alcoholic is normally the result of long-term dilated blood vessels. Dilation of the veins of the esophagus can cause one to vomit blood. Late-stage alcoholics have been known to drown in their own blood because of ruptured esophageal blood vessels.

Edema, the accumulation of tissue fluid, also known as swelling, occurs with alcohol usage because alcohol causes the blood vessels to expand, whereby the proteins and fluids within the capillaries leak into the interstitial space. This accumulation between the cells leads to tissue swelling. Because the fluid is not within the blood vessels, apparent dehydration exists. So you’re full of liquid but still thirsty.


Something You Didn't Expect

Drinking too muchcan lead to a buildup of bilirubin, the yellow breakdown product of normal heme catabolism. Heme is found in hemoglobin, a principal ingredient of red blood cells. Bilirubin is excreted in bile and urine, and elevated levels may indicate certain diseases. Bilirubin is responsible for the yellow color of bruises, urine, and the yellow discoloration in jaundice whose presence may indicate liver disease.


Unexpected Aggression? Maybe Here’s a Couple of Reasons

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, meaning alcohol decreases the efficiency of your nervous system. That’s why you can’t walk the white line when you get pulled over for a Driving Under the Influence. Alcohol depresses all of the major systems in the body. High quantities of alcohol function as an anesthetic.

Alcohol also depresses psychological inhibition, which sometimes causes some to confuse it as a stimulant. Because of this apparent stimulation of certain behaviors, psychologists call alcohol a biphasic drug. The combination of Central Nervous System depression and inhibition release leads to the symptoms of drunkenness. Drunkenness, a term for which there is no precise definition, varies with body size, metabolic rate, individual absorption, and individual tolerance.


Convulsions, Seizures and Possibly Pink Elephants

Prolonged and chronic use of alcohol can lead to the body to compensate for the depressed normal nervous system activity. The nervous system tends to "work harder" to maintain equilibrium and when the alcohol is taken away the nervous system may experience excessive excitement, leading to convulsions, seizures, and ultimately delirium tremens (the DT's), a state of restlessness, disorientation, and possible hallucination.

Mental impairment in chronic alcohol use is difficult to quantify because some impairment is reparable either by itself or by the construction of alternate nervous routes in the brain. Perhaps the most noticeable of the reparable impairments is personality loss.

The major nutritional problem with alcohol is poor diet. Also, excessive alcohol uptake often leads to gastrointestinal irritation, and this can lead to ulcers, colitis, and other chronic ailments.

Pop is Always Drunk. Is that wrong?

It is estimated that about 10 percent of the human population is addicted to alcohol. Probably no single cause of alcohol addiction exists, maybe there are many. We’ve found some genetic markers, and the genetic component of alcoholism is well documented. notwithstanding, genetics alone does not explicate all alcohol addiction. Psychological components to alcohol addiction have also been identified.
For most alcohol addicts, the only treatment is total abstinence from alcohol.

Participation in a program such as Alcoholics Anonymous and alcohol awareness classes can be a huge help in an addict beginning and maintaining abstinence from alcohol. There are also online alcohol classes and alcohol awareness classes that can be taken from home that can be of help.  The alcoholic's body does not "forget" alcohol, and the induced enzymes mentioned earlier remain ready to continue their metabolic actions if alcohol use resumes.

Despite its legal status, it is important to be aware that alcohol is a drug and its use must be controlled.  If you or anyone you know may be suffering from alcohol dependence, please have them seek help immediately.  There are online options to take alcohol classes.