Alcoholism as a Disease
Amy Kliber 
Unfortunately, alcohol brings on the risk of many diseases. "Recent evidence 
indicates that a wide variety of diseased conditions are brought about by a 
substance that coats the body's red cells, causing them to adhere to one another 
in clumps. These clumps, sometimes called 'sludge,' can be created by the 
ingestion of alcohol"(Burgess,p.130). Alcohol has a disastrous affect on all of 
the body's organs, the main one being the brain. "At death, the brain of the 
dependent drinker or alcoholic invariably will reveal enormous numbers of small 
areas of atrophy in which brain cells have been destroyed"(Burgess,p.131). The 
brain begins to shrink when under the influence of alcohol. This means that the 
space that a brain cell took up is now gone because the cell has been destroyed. 
"In extreme cases most of what is left [of the brain] may be nothing but 
connective and structural tissue. The neurons themselves, the cells that do the 
work of the brain, have been destroyed"(Burgess,p.132). If drinkers, casual or 
heavy, knew more about alcohol and the effects this drug has on the brain, the 
number of drinkers would probably drop to a very low amount of people. 
Unfortunately, this type of material is not made available to many people unless 
people got suddenly interested to look up the effects alcohol has on the body. 
There is another type of disease people do not know about called the D.T.'s. 
This disease is that of body convulsions. This disease is commonly mistaken as 
being epilepsy, but it is caused by alcohol. It is caused by people trying to 
quit drinking. The body is suddenly taken off a sedative and is having 
withdrawals. The withdrawals are convulsions which also kills brain cells. 
"Dependent drinkers and alcoholics run eight times the normal chance of being 
afflicted with cirrhosis of the liver. Many medical authorities. . .declare 
[that] alcoholics are highly vulnerable to ulcers, chronic pancreatitis, 
gastritis, and complications affecting their blood and bone marrow. Heart 
disease. . .may also be more common among alcoholics"(Burgess,p.138). Alcoholics 
have a lower resistance to a number of different infections. An alcoholics life 
span, therefore, will be much shorter than that of a nondrinker. 
A person can spot an alcoholic by the way he or she acts. The alcoholic may use 
polydrugs and may have had several experiences with hospitals and emergency 
rooms for alcohol related illnesses. These illnesses can be anything from a 
comas to hallucinosis. Some other diseases are hepatic disease, peripheral 
neuropathy, nutritional deficiencies, internal bleeding, and alcohol psychoses. 
These alcoholic may suffer "acute withdrawal reactions, rationalization, 
resentments, sexual impotency, loss of efficiency at work, geographic moves, 
changes in friends and family, changes in drinking places, emotional and 
physical violence, traffic accidents, and feelings of guilt about 
drinking"(Denzin,p.19). Vital organs are the ones most affected by the use of 
alcohol. They suffer vitamin deficiencies, bone fractures, bruising, dermatitis, 
weakening of muscles, loss of body heat, and adrenal failure. None of these 
bodily problems are uncommon to the body of an alcoholic. Another interesting 
fact is that alcohol is carried in the bloodstream. Blood reaches every tissue 
in the body therefore, respiratory diseases have been prevalent. "About 25% of 
all alcoholics develop tuberculosis and, conversely, about 25% of all 
tuberculosis patients are alcoholic"(Burgess,p.139). No matter how healthy 
alcoholics may think their bodies are, alcohol can sneak into any system of the 
body without letting the person know what is happening to their body. An 
alcoholic may have never smoked a day in his or her life, but may die from a 
lung disease because of alcohol. 
Genetics have always been a huge myth with alcoholics and the society. ". . 
.Genetics play virtually no part in the making of a dependent 
drinker"(Burgess,p.141). The only role the family might play is parents 
dependent on alcohol in front of their children. If children see their parents 
constantly drinking and getting drunk, the children will grow up doing the same 
thing their parents taught them to do. Most adults do not realize that children 
do the exact same things that they have seen their whole life because they do 
not know any better. If genetics does perhaps play some little part, that should 
want to keep people from drinking and turning out the way their parents did. 
"Psychological and physiological dependency upon [alcohol] . . .produces all the 
classic symptoms of addiction: changes in tolerance, cellular adaptation or 
tissue change, and withdrawal. Chemically it is a sedative, a hypnotic, a 
tranquilizer, a narcotic, a depressant, and, sometimes, a hallucinogenic, as 
well as an anesthetic"(Denzin,p.20). These signs of alcohol dependency can only 
be found if the alcoholic is taken to a doctor. Easier signs of alcoholism for 
normal people to spot is the way alcoholics deal with other people. "This will 
include the alcoholic's mode of self-presentation, the manner in which he or she 
manages emotion, . . .making jokes, accomplishing daily routines, following 
rituals and commands, taking turns in conversation, deferring to others, 
listening; how he or she sleeps, eats, drinks, drives an automobile, makes love, 
shows affection to his or her children, pays bills, keeps appointments, plays 
golf, and reads the newspaper"(Denzin,p.20). Alcoholism's effects can be seen 
through the daily routine of a person. Alcoholism may be spotted through how a 
person thinks of his or her self in a world of others. 
Alcohol can destroy the lives of the alcoholic and family of the loved one. 
Destruction of the body should be taken literally in the case of alcoholism and 
it should not be taken lightly. No one should put themselves or their families 
and friends through such a horrible ordeal. People do not want to see others 
wasting away because of some foolish habit. Not only is alcohol bad, medically 
for the person addicted to the drug, but also all of the innocent people that 
are involved. With so many scary things that can happen to the body, why enhance 
death when a person ca try to prevent it? 


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