Behavioral Effects of Alcohol on Sexual Health
Alcohol lowers inhibitions, impairs cognition and heightens risk-taking behaviors. In one study, half individuals reported having sex while intoxicated with someone they would not have had sex with otherwise. In one study, one quarter of interviewees reported going home with someone that they just met. In fact, research also demonstrates that people are less likely to use protection when they are intoxicated, increasing the risk for both sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Even when protective measures are taken, lack of coordination and impaired judgment leads to birth control failure and improper—and ineffective—use of protection during sexual episodes. Alcohol can also be used against sexual partners by predators, with approximately half of sexual assaults facilitated by alcohol.

Short and Long Term Effects of Alcohol Dependency on Sexual Health
Alcohol dependency can also take a toll on sexual ability and enjoyment. In fact, even a small amount of alcohol measurably reduces sexual response. Alcohol’s anesthetic properties reduce nerve response, making it difficult to achieve orgasm. Additionally, alcohol dependency can incite erectile dysfunction in men, and lack of sexual arousal in women, leading to painful or unsuccessful sexual endeavors. Alcohol dependent individuals of both sexes can also experience shrinking of the sexual organs, and men can face fertility issues, as alcohol lowers the sperm count. Furthermore, alcohol has a numbing effect on emotional response, leading to disconnected sexual encounters that prevent satisfying intimacy from taking place between partners.

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The Effects of Alcohol Dependency on Digestive Health

Alcohol dependency can affect the mouth and throat, damaging or enlarging the salivary glands, inflaming oral tissues, contributing to oral cancer, and promoting tooth decay as well as gum disease. Alcohol enters the bloodstream quickly (and even faster on an empty stomach), through both the lining of the small intestine and the stomach. The esophagus can also be damaged by chronic alcohol consumption, causing heartburn. Alcohol can also cause gastrointestinal bleeding, inflamed stomach lining, and has even been linked to the development of esophageal cancer.

In the stomach, even moderate alcohol consumption can change gastric acid composition, creating further physical imbalances. The stomach can become less able to remove harmful bacteria, and more prone to hemorrhagic lesions—some developing even from a single night of binge drinking. Stomach muscles can become damaged when alcohol dependency persists without successful alcoholism treatment, causing diarrhea, constipation, and bloating.

One of the organs hardest hit by alcohol dependency is the small intestine. Alcohol dependency prevents proper nutrient absorption, creating less benefit from the foods you eat. Digestive enzymes also become impeded, making it harder to metabolize both food and drugs of any kind. Alcohol can also cause bleeding within the small intestine, as well as bacterial overgrowth. Many alcohol dependent individuals also find themselves becoming sensitive to high-sugar foods, and becoming more prone to bowel problems due to muscular issues in the small intestine.

Finding Digestive Healing at Inpatient Alcohol Rehab Centers

A reputable inpatient alcohol rehab center should provide you with diagnostic testing to assess your digestive function and uncover any potential damage alcohol may have done. Trained medical staff can help you create a course of healing to help the body repair the damage that alcohol may have caused to your digestive tract. Of course, the kindest and most healing thing you can do for your body—and its digestive function—is to seek a cure for alcoholism. Over time and with heavy use, alcohol consumption will only create further digestive problems for dependent individuals.

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Understanding the Function of the Liver

The liver is the one of the most exceptional organs in the human body. Primarily functioning to remove toxins from the bloodstream, the liver performs a host of important tasks for overall health. From storing vitamins to creating necessary proteins from amino acids, the liver also gives your body the energy and strength it needs to survive. Additionally, the liver processes complex fats, metabolizes and stores the body’s sugars for energy, and creates important cholesterols.

How Alcohol Affects Liver Health

Alcohol is essentially a toxin, and the liver processes alcohol when it enters the body. In fact, the liver breaks down alcohol, ensuring that they do not create toxic conditions in the bloodstream. As alcohol consumption becomes prolongs, the liver cannot properly process these toxins. Steotosis (also known as “fatty liver”) can set in when the liver loses this ability to process alcohol. Fat deposits accumulate within the liver, causing dangerous scar tissue or cysts.

If alcohol consumption continues once steotosis has set in, the liver becomes inflamed. Alcohol dependent individuals may experience symptoms such as fatigue, jaundice, cognitive difficulties, or even fluid in the abdomen. If treatment is not sought, alcohol dependent individuals may even develop a condition known as cirrhosis—a perpetual state of liver disease that causes the compromise of healthy tissue and an overabundance of scar tissue. Cirrhosis is currently considered by most medical experts to be irreversible, and can lead to death if untreated.

Treating Liver Conditions at Inpatient Alcohol Rehab Centers

When you can finally cure alcohol addiction, the damage to the liver no longer progresses. In fact, conditions of fatty liver and alcohol-induced hepatitis can usually be treated by medical staff, sometimes including the administration of corticosteroids. Inpatient alcohol rehab centers can ensure that you receive the proper diagnostic tests, medications or nutritional guidance in order to help your liver—and the rest of your body—make a full recovery. Even if you have been diagnosed with cirrhosis, finding freedom from alcoholism will likely improve both your quantity—and certainly the quality—of your life.

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Alcohol Dependency and Stress Responses

While alcohol does trigger euphoric feelings (felt as a “buzz” or “high”) in the brain’s reward centers, the body becomes physically depressed. In fact, when alcohol is working within your system, you may feel a sense of temporary relaxation at first.

Physical Stress and Alcohol Dependency

However, the body is actually more stressed by the consumption of alcohol. Physical systems become taxed and strive desperately to reachieve their original balance. The liver works overtime in order to rid the body of toxins, and the body copes with the aftermath of low hydration and nutrient depletion. In fact, the usual “hangover” signs such as raging headaches and tension in the hands and feet are due to constricted blood vessels. Likewise, blood pressure rises, as the circulatory system struggles harder to function properly.

The nervous system also becomes heavily stressed when alcohol dependency sets in. Additionally, alcohol spikes the body’s HPA output, creating higher production of stress hormones known as glucocorticoids. As a result, the brain experiences chemical reactions of stress—causing short tempers, anxiety attacks, jumpiness and even premature aging.

Emotional Stress and Alcohol Dependency

Emotionally, alcohol leaves us just as frazzled. Sleep quality lowers and rest becomes interrupted when alcohol is consumed, potentially affecting our mental chemical balance, and heightening anxieties while lowering inhibitions. Alcohol also serves as an emotional anesthetic—leaving us in a poorer position to rise to challenges or resolve them at all. Furthermore, emotional perception becomes blurred, and inhibitions lower, leading to heated interpersonal exchanges. Alcohol can also intensify feelings of anger, paranoia and even depression and suicidal thoughts—not only in the time of intoxication, but also in between uses.

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Alcohol Dependency and Long-Term Health

From psychological struggles to damaged organs and lowered immunity, alcohol dependency puts individuals at risk for a host of life-threatening circumstances and health risks. Here are just a few of the ways that alcohol dependency affects long-term health and longevity.

• Alcohol-Related Heart Problems
  Alcohol consumption creates stress on the circulatory system and heart by raising blood pressure as well as the levels triglyceride or “bad” cholesterol, in turn creating greater risk for heart attacks.  Additionally, long-term heavy alcohol use can lead to an enlarged heart and even congestive heart failure

• Alcohol and the Liver
  The primary purpose of the liver is to remove toxins from the blood stream. Even moderate drinking increases the amount of work that the liver must perform. The excess work the liver performs in response to long-term and heavy consumption of alcohol causes the liver to accumulate fatty cells, to swell, and to become less efficient. Prolonged alcohol usage will result in the liver becoming cirrhotic, hardening, and may even leave it unable to function, leading to illness and possibly death.

• Drunk Driving Accidents
  Alcohol impairs both judgment and motor coordination. About 45% of all automobile fatalities in the United States each year are a result of this impairment of body and mind.

• Suicide Risk and Alcohol Dependency
  Alcohol has a profound effect on cognitive abilities, reducing reasoning ability and impulse control. Taken together, these two factors make it more likely that a person will act on momentary impulses that would otherwise be rationally dealt with. As such, alcohol is involved in almost one-third of all suicides in the United States.

• Cancer, Disease and Alcohol Dependency
  The stress alcohol consumption places on the body has a detrimental impact on the immune system. By compromising the immune system, individuals who consume alcohol are at greater risk for immune-related diseases such as cancer, serious infections, or other frequent illnesses.

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Alcohol Dependency and Neurotransmitters

When individuals have been alcohol dependent for years, vital brain chemicals—known as neurotransmitters—become affected. Neurotransmitter levels change, creating chemical imbalances to take place within the brain. Consequently, alcohol dependent individuals experience the effects of a chemical imbalance—undergoing heightened levels of fear, irritability, depression, low self esteem and exhaustion. As the cycle of alcohol dependency persists, these neurological consequences become further evident, as the body now depends on alcohol to maintain its status quo. Eventually, this can lead to physical symptoms such as chronic hangovers and “the shakes” (delirium tremens) when the body is deprived of alcohol.

Effects of Alcohol Dependency on the Brain

Alcohol dependency wreaks havoc on the temporal lobes, causing a host of psychological, emotional and cognitive problems to occur. Many alcohol dependent individuals experience serious mood disorders, sensory problems, altered perception, learning disabilities and memory issues for this reason. In fact, the brain can undergo a condition known as “cortical atrophy,” reducing spatial relation and problem-solving capabilities as the brain’s cerebral cortex shrinks to a smaller size. This can affect intelligence, mental processing speed, and even a sense of higher consciousness. Over time, alcohol dependency also impedes blood flow to the brain, affecting planning ability and behavior modulation in the frontal lobe, making it harder to accomplish goals and deal with relationships.

Alcohol Dependency and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

Perhaps the most distressing neurological effect of alcohol dependency is Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. A serious memory disorder, Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome stems from prolonged alcohol dependency due to shifts in thiamine levels within the body. Ultimately, Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome can lead to mental clouding, lowered cognition, irritability and serious alterations in personality.

If alcohol dependency persists after Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome has been diagnosed, retrograde amnesia can occur, due to the effects on the brain’s cerebellum. As a result, the body begins to show symptoms as well, and alcohol dependent individuals will encounter nerve problems in the feet and legs, causing an unsteady gait and difficulty walking. However, individuals who receive prompt and effective treatment for alcohol dependency can correct these nutritional deficiencies with the help of a professional nutritionist, reversing many of the physical and mental problems associated with Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome.

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The Cardiac Effects of Alcohol Dependency

Alcohol damages the heart and increases cardiac risk, both directly and indirectly. Alcohol dependent individuals experience increased risk for heart attacks, obesity, high blood pressure and organ damage to the heart itself. Here are just a few of the cardiac effects of prolonged alcohol dependency.

• Cardiac Arrest
  Alcohol clogs the heart’s arteries and taxes its structural integrity as alcohol addiction progresses. This often results in sudden cardiac arrest among dependent individuals who have been long-time drinkers—particularly in women, who metabolize alcohol more slowly than men do. Alcohol consumption can also cause enlargement of the heart and irregular heartbeat. Furthermore, because of the lifestyle issues surrounding alcohol dependency, many dependent individuals do not receive adequate exercise and nutrition that could reduce the risk of heart attacks.
• Cardiomyopathy
  As alcohol dependency worsens, dependent individuals can develop a condition known as alcoholic cardiomyopathy. As the heart becomes enlarged, it weakens, possibly leading to death from congestive heart failure.
• Hypertension
  Consistent drinking raises your blood pressure, leading the body to an undesirable state known as hypertension. Hypertension places incredible stress on the heart, damaging the heart’s walls and weakening them over time, leading to irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) or rapid heartbeat (tachycardia).
• Obesity
  Alcohol takes a toll on the heart by contributing to mild and morbid obesity in dependent individuals. In addition to its high caloric value, alcohol raises the levels of fat in the cardiovascular system. This can lead to an increase in triglyceride levels—the main culprits in oil and fat creation within the body.  Obesity also increases physical stress on the heart, placing alcohol dependent individuals at multiplied risk for cardiac arrest and strokes.

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How Alcohol Affects the Liver During Alcohol Dependency

The liver metabolizes alcohol after it is consumed, breaking it down and removing it from the body. However, the liver has a limited capacity for removing alcohol. When alcohol is consumed in excess and over prolonged periods, alcohol byproducts and free radicals begin to damage the liver. As a natural defense, the liver swells, in order to cope with fatty deposits that have accumulated within the liver. These deposits render the liver less efficient in breaking down toxins—including alcohol. If alcohol continues to enter the body during the course of an alcohol addiction, the liver cells begin to die off. This causes the liver to harden (become cirrhotic), and threatens the liver’s entire health and function.

Healing the Liver After Alcohol Dependency

Once abstinence is achieved through alcohol detox, the body’s natural repair process can restore liver function and health. Here are some ways to encourage healing of the liver after alcohol dependency. Any holistic or luxury alcohol rehab center will likely have the resources to help you manage each of these areas. If you cannot afford private rehab, make sure to see doctors, consult with nutritionists, and develop an exercise program that will enable you to bring healing to your liver and the rest of your body.

• Stop Smoking
  Smoking has been shown to increase the hardening of the liver. Additionally, quitting smoking lowers the overall levels of free radicals in the body, thereby removing stress from the immune system.
• Lose Weight
  Fatty deposits in the liver, which reduce liver function, are associated with obesity. Losing weight will reduce the amount of fatty deposits the liver has to cope with.
• Maintaining Carbohydrates Intake
  It is important to get enough carbohydrates in your diet when undergoing treatment for alcoholic hepatitis. Excessive fat and protein in your diet encourages production of damaging fatty deposits.
• Medication
  Doctors can prescribe steroids to help reduce inflammation in order to encourage liver repair.
• Supplements
  Antioxidants are critical to repairing the damage caused by alcohol. Nutritional supplements should include Vitamin C, beta-carotene, Vitamin E, supplemental milk thistle, as well as the amino acids SAM-E and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC).

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