Surjit Singh Flora
(Samajweekly) Alcoholism is a complex condition that affects both mental and physical health. Individuals with alcoholism are those who have lost the capacity to manage their alcohol consumption. An individual struggling with alcoholism is unlikely to regain control over their drinking habits. Over an extended duration, the situation deteriorates rather than improves.
Consequently, the sole recommendation proposed is complete abstinence. A medical detox typically serves as the initial step in this process.
Medical professionals knowledgeable about alcoholism concur that it is not possible to transform an alcoholic into a normal drinker. While science holds the potential to achieve this in the future, it has not yet reached that point.
In 1956, the American Medical Association classified alcoholism as a disease, primarily to enable physicians to bill both patients and insurers for the treatment of this condition. I was involved in the alcohol and drug treatment industry from 1985 to 1992, with short stints as a consultant in 2009 and 2014.
Alcoholism does not align with the disease model, although there are indeed biochemical and biogenetic factors that may predispose individuals to develop a drinking problem. Currently, medical researchers are unable to identify a single gene on a specific chromosome as the definitive cause of alcoholism; however, there are four or five genetic markers that suggest a predisposition to the condition.
Alcoholism leads to cellular damage in the brain as well as in other major organ systems of the body. Although alcohol can cause damage to brain cells, the human brain possesses millions of unused cells that can compensate for this loss. This cellular damage represents the physiological basis of addiction. The destruction of sufficient cells in the human body results in a craving for additional alcohol, simply to achieve a sense of feeling “normal” or acceptable. For example, physical dependency. Excessive dead cells ultimately lead to brain damage in individuals with chronic alcoholism. The liver, responsible for metabolizing alcohol, starts to encounter difficulties in performing its function due to cellular damage. The pancreas experiences inflammation. Stomach ulcers can occur. The kidneys’ function decreases. The ability to filter toxins from the body diminishes. For the chronic alcoholic, the body can suffer damage in various degrees as a direct consequence of alcohol consumption.
The three main parts of the patient’s brain, the prefrontal cortex (the part of understanding), the hippocampus (the part of thinking), and the amygdala (the part of anxiety), which alcohol numbs, are the main and real cause of the disease of alcoholism. As a result, the patient loses his intelligence and does not understand even when family members explain it to him. His mind constantly replays a series of thoughts about alcohol consumption. This series of thoughts prevents him from quitting alcohol, and he consistently experiences anxiety. Alcohol causes a physical disease, disorder, or problem known as liver damage.
Take a look at alcohol from this perspective: do you know how rubbing alcohol is painful to your skin when you have a cut? In order to eliminate microorganisms, it is used as a disinfectant. Although they have distinct molecular structures, beverage alcohol and isopropyl alcohol are essentially the same chemical and share characteristics. One is taken by mouth, while the other is applied topically to wounds and cuts in order to alleviate pain and promote healing. When they come into touch with cells, both types of alcohols have the same effect: they destroy those cells. Hard liquor is a poison, which means that it causes your throat to burn and dry up. One reason why people use alcohol is because it has the ability to change their mood by attaching itself to certain receptors in the brain. You could experience feelings of euphoria, relaxation, and so forth. The fermentation of hops, which gives beer its distinctive flavour, is the process by which beer is formed. Beer includes the same kind of alcohol as wine. Grapes are fermented to produce wine. Therefore, the effects of hard liquor, wine, and beer on cells are same; the only differences are in the technique of manufacturing and the amount of alcohol ingested. In other words, the only difference between a shot glass of bourbon and a can of beer that is 12 ounces is that the bigger volume of beer causes an increase in the amount of urine that is produced while drinking it.
Why do individuals develop alcoholism?
To begin, both addiction and mental diseases have a hereditary component, which means that environment is not the only factor in these conditions. Regardless of how well life had been going up to that point, a person who comes from a family that has been in and out of rehabilitation and chooses to drink one day to celebrate or hang out with friends is a lot more likely to have problems with alcohol in the future.
It is also impossible to know for certain that “everything in their lives is going well.” I have met a great number of people who seemed to have everything and were well-liked by a great number of people. As long as they did not discuss what was going on, I would have been completely unaware of the following:
Substance misuse in the household
a relationship that is abusive
Having a gang of pals sexually assault you
Having one’s family turn their backs on one following a death in the family
They were being told by their own perfectionism that they were not talented enough.
Having to deal with a significant medical problem
Every night, parents argue with each other at home.
An abortion or miscarriage
Having a fiancé in a conflict zone
Growing up with the experience of surviving a school shooting
It is impossible for anyone’s life to be flawless, even if it seems to be so from the outside. Some individuals are very secretive and keep their negative traits hidden from everyone save a select few. As a means of covering up their suffering, some people become achievers. Certain individuals just do not want to discuss it.
Why is the treatment of the brain more important than the liver?
When the patient suffers from any physical disease/disorder/problem due to alcohol, the family members’ direct attention goes towards the treatment of the patient’s liver. The family members are not to blame for this. In fact, they do not understand the disease of alcoholism. Innocent family members keep wasting their valuable time and money by treating the patient’s liver. When the patient’s liver partially recovers, the family members experience a false sense of comfort, unaware that the liver treatment has not cured the patient’s alcoholism, but rather exacerbates it. When the patient comes home from the hospital, he starts drinking alcohol again.
The patient’s family members can learn valuable lessons from this situation.
The family members should learn that treating the patient’s alcoholism, which includes brain damage or numbness, instead of treating the liver from the outset prevents the patient’s disease from worsening and avoids wasting their time and money. Sometimes, delaying treatment can incur significant costs.
Also, it’s a request to many doctors and clinics treating alcoholic liver patients to advise the family members as a matter of humanity that the patient cannot give up alcohol by treating the liver alone. Alcoholism, the primary cause of liver damage, requires more intensive treatment.
Scientific treatment of the brain
They detoxify the patient’s body and brain. Later, through special medicines and special therapies such as R. T. M. S. therapy (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation), they treat the parts of the brain that have become numb due to the disease, the hippocampus (part of thinking), the prefrontal cortex (part of understanding), and the amygdala (part of anxiety) and the cells formed in the brain due to alcohol addiction. Once the disease heals these parts of the brain and destroys the cells, the patient begins to comprehend everything; his personality transforms, and he begins to understand and fulfill his responsibilities towards himself and his family. The thoughts and restlessness about alcohol disappear from his mind, and he gives them up forever.
The bottom line is, there is no cure for alcoholism since it is a chronic illness; nevertheless, it can be handled in the same way that chronic diabetes may be maintained successfully. If not treated or controlled properly, both disorders have the potential to cause early mortality.
First and foremost, cease all alcohol consumption. It is noted that the brain is the final major organ to achieve “full” functioning after an individual has consumed alcohol excessively. Consume highly nutritious foods not only for your brain but for your entire body as well. Aim to minimize your consumption of junk food. I knew someone whose struggle with alcoholism was so severe that when she finally achieved sobriety, it took her a considerable amount of time to even read the Big Book. However, she persevered and ultimately found her way back to her “normal.” Every day, you might observe variations in your thought processes and information processing, yet it can take up to three years (and sometimes longer) for the brain to revert to its previous state.
