Alcoholis a depressant, which is a substance that slows down all processes in the body. A small dose of alcohol gives a sense of relaxation and self-confidence. In large doses, it slows down reactions and negatively affects, for example, eyes and coordination. Driving while unconscious is extremely dangerous. A person in a state of severe intoxication experiences nausea, dizziness, and may lose consciousness, then above all there is the danger of choking on his own vomit.
The level of alcohol concentration in the blood depends on several factors.
- If you eat fatty foods, then the hangover will not be as fast.
- The high content of animal and vegetable fats slows down the absorption of alcohol and the digestion of the food itself.
- The fuller the stomach, the longer it takes alcohol to reach the circulatory system.
- The thicker your body fat, the slower alcohol is digested and absorbed into the blood.
- Weight: the heavier you are, the less alcohol affects you.
- Your reaction to drinking 80 mg of alcohol may be completely different from someone else's. Usually, young people and women are more vulnerable to alcohol.
The ability to consume alcohol and its effect on different people varies; however, it is believed that a safe dose (from a health point of view) is about 5 liters of medium-strength BEER or 10 large glasses of wine per week for men and 2/3 of this dose for women, provided, of course, that this amount willdisappear evenly for a week, and not in 1-2 times. If possible, try not to drink on an empty stomach.
Alcoholism - what is it?
Alcoholism– compulsive consumption of large quantities of alcohol on a regular basis over a long period of time. It is the most serious form of drug addiction in modern times, affecting between 1 and 5% of the population in most countries. Compulsive drinking in response to psychological or physical dependence on alcohol.
Anyone can become an alcoholic. However, studies have shown that for children of alcoholics, the risk of becoming dependent on alcohol is 4-6 times higher than non-alcoholic children.
The study of alcohol consumption among young people in our country is largely based on the experience of similar studies abroad, which in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were widely conducted in Western Europe and North America and were carried out in various directions:
- The prevalence and patterns of alcohol consumption among students have been studied.
- The effects of alcohol on the body of children and adolescents have been studied.
- The relationship between academic performance and alcohol consumption has been determined.
- Anti-alcohol education programs have been developed and tested.
An important place among studies of this period is occupied by works that describe the prevalence and nature of drinking habits, when children are given alcoholic beverages to:
- "health promotion"
- "Appetite"
- "better growth"
- "to relieve teething"
- "warm up"
- "satisfy hunger"
- "calm"
Six stages of alcoholism
Casual drunkenness can lead to alcoholism: because the drinker begins to turn to alcohol to relieve stress, or because it is so strong that the initial stages of addiction remain unnoticed.
Early alcoholism is marked by the appearance of memory loss. Alcohol consumption of the younger generation is considered by most researchers as an important indicator of microsocial environment dysfunction. This determines the continued interest in studying the problem of prevalence and nature of early alcoholism.
Boys were more likely to drink the main types of alcoholic beverages than girls, and as their strength increased, this difference became more pronounced. Among urban school students, it is common to consume weak alcoholic beverages - beer, wine, while students in rural schools are more familiar with the taste of strong alcoholic beverages. In the 1920s and 1920s, one can find quite widespread use of moonshine by schoolchildren: 1. 0–32. 0% among males and 0. 9–12% among females. The frequency of vodka consumption increases with age.
Almost all socio-hygienic and clinical-social studies on youth alcoholism use survey methods in various modifications - from correspondence questionnaires to telephone interviews and clinical interviews.
Basic alcohol addiction– the drinker cannot stop until he reaches the point of intoxication. He encouraged himself with self-righteousness and arrogant promises, but all his promises and intentions remained unfulfilled. He begins to avoid family and friends and ignores food, past interests, work and money. Physical deterioration of health occurs. Resistance to alcohol is reduced.
Chronic alcoholism is characterized by further moral deterioration, irrational thinking, vague fears, fantasies and psychopathic behavior. Physical damage is increasing. The drinker no longer has an alibi, and he can no longer take steps to get out of the current situation. A person can reach this level in 5-25 years.
Treatment is usually carried out through a special program for alcoholics. Psychologically, the desire to get help is revived in alcohol, and he begins to think more rationally. Ideally, he also develops hope, moral responsibility, external interests, self-esteem, and satisfaction with abstinence from alcohol.
The final stages of alcoholism occur if the alcoholic refuses treatment or breaks down again after treatment. Irreversible mental and physical damage usually ends in death.
If you write all of this down, this is what you get:
- Household drunk
- Early alcohol addiction
- Basic alcohol addiction
- Chronic alcohol addiction
- The cure
- The final stages of alcoholism
What determines a person's level of intoxication?
The effect of alcohol on behavior depends on the amount of alcohol that reaches the brain through the blood. This "blood alcohol level" is determined by several factors other than the amount you drink.
The size of the liver determines the rate of oxidation and removal of alcohol.
The weight of the person itself determines the amount of blood in the body, because the amount of blood is proportional to it. The older the person, the more blood is diluted by the alcohol used and the more it is needed to have the same effect.
The speed and manner of alcohol consumption is also important. The slower a person drinks a certain amount of alcohol, the weaker the effect.
Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach has a stronger and faster effect than drinking it during or after a meal. Food acts as a buffer during absorption.
Drunk process.
When drinking alcohol, the transmission of impulses in the nervous system slows down. The highest levels of the brain are the first to be affected - inhibition, pleasure and anxiety disappear, giving way to feelings of satisfaction and euphoria. When the lower levels of the brain are affected, coordination, vision and speech deteriorate. Small blood vessels in the skin dilate. Heat is emitted and the person becomes hot. This means that blood has been diverted from the body's internal organs, where the blood vessels have already narrowed due to the effects of alcohol on the nervous system. Therefore, the temperature of the internal organs drops at the same time. The possibility of increased sexual desire is associated with the suppression of normal inhibitions. As blood alcohol levels increase, physical sexual performance becomes increasingly impaired. Finally the toxic effects of alcohol cause nausea and possibly vomiting.
Hangover
Drunk is bad. . . And now in more detail:
Hangoveris a physical discomfort after consuming too much alcohol. Symptoms may include headache, stomach ache, thirst, dizziness and irritability. Hangovers occur as a result of three processes. First, the gastric mucosa is irritated by excessive alcohol, and stomach function is affected. Second, cell dehydration occurs if the amount of alcohol consumed exceeds the capacity of the liver, causing alcohol to remain in the blood for a long time. Thirdly, the level of alcohol has a "shock" effect on the nervous system, from which it takes time to recover.
The best way to avoid a hangover is to not drink too much (or better yet, not drink at all). But the possibility of intoxication is reduced if alcohol is mixed with light food (Havka): the intake and absorption of alcohol is extended over a longer period of time, and food acts as a barrier. Non-alcoholic beverages taken at the same time or after will dilute the alcohol. Adverse effects are also usually reduced if alcohol is consumed in a relaxed environment and smoking is minimized.
Effects of alcohol on the body
A characteristic manifestation of alcohol poisoning is repeated vomiting. Even a single use of small doses of alcoholic beverages is accompanied in adolescents with significant manifestations of intoxication, especially in the nervous system. The most severe poisoning is observed in people with a complicated medical history, against the background of organic cerebral insufficiency or concomitant somatic pathology.
It is more or less clear to explain the nature of the influence of alcohol on the psyche of teenagers. In general, the clinical picture of severe poisoning of a teenager in most cases looks like this: short-term excitement is then replaced by general depression, fainting, increasing drowsiness, lethargy, slow slurred speech, and loss of orientation.
When drinking alcohol for the first time, 53% of teenagers feel disgusted. Over time, with an increase in the "experience" of drinking alcohol, the objective picture, however, changes dramatically. More than 90% of teenagers surveyed with two or more years of "experience" drinking believe that getting drunk is accompanied by feelings of energy surges, feelings of satisfaction, comfort, and improved mood, which are those attributes. the mental state that ordinary consciousness often associates with the action begins to appear in their statements. alcohol.
Illness or simply PSYCHOSIS
Delirium tremens usually occurs on the background of intoxication, with a sudden cessation of drinking or during a period of abstinence, in the case of the addition of somatic diseases, injuries (especially fractures). The initial symptoms of psychosis are worsening night sleep, the appearance of vegetative symptoms and tremors, as well as the general cheerfulness of the patient, which is noted in his movements, speech, facial expressions and especially mood. In a short period of time, a person can see different shades of mood, while during periods of intoxication the mood is monotonous, characterized by depression and anxiety. Unusual changes in mood and general cheerfulness increase in the evening and at night, while during the day these disturbances decrease sharply and may disappear completely, which allows the patient to carry out his professional duties. As the symptoms of psychosis increase, complete insomnia appears, in which visual illusions first arise, and then various hallucinations and delusions.
Delirium tremens is characterized by a predominance of actual visual hallucinations. They are characterized by a variety of images and mobility. Most often these are insects (bugs, cockroaches, beetles, flies) and small animals (cats, rats, mice). Less often, patients see large animals and humans, in some cases having a fantastic appearance. Visions of snakes, demons, as well as dead relatives, the so-called wandering dead, are very typical. In some cases, visual illusions and hallucinations are single, in other cases they are multiple and scene-like, i. e. the patient sees a complex picture. Often there are hallucinations of hearing, touch, smell, the sensation of disturbance of the position of the body in space. The patient's mood is very variable. In it, in a short time, one can see fear, contentment, bewilderment, surprise, and despair. Patients usually move continuously, their facial expressions are expressive. Motor reactions correspond to the hallucinations that occur and affect at this time - with fear and frightening visions, the patient hides, defends himself, is excited; during the period of satisfaction - passive.
Patients are characterized by extreme interference with external events; everything around them attracts their attention. Delirium in alcoholic delirium is fragmentary and reflects a hallucinatory disorder. In terms of content, these are often persecutory delusions. Patients are usually falsely oriented in place (while in the hospital, they say they are at home, in a restaurant, at work), but oriented in their own personality. Alcohol delirium is characterized by periodic temporary loss of most of the mental disturbances, the so-called lucid - light - intervals, as well as a significant natural increase in psychotic symptoms in the evening and at night.
Delirium tremens is always accompanied by various somatic disturbances - trembling, sudden sweating, hyperemia of the skin, especially the face. Temperatures are often low grade. Pulse increased. Protein often appears in the urine; in the blood - an increase in the content of bilirubin, a shift in the leukocyte formula to the left, an acceleration of ROE. The course of the disease is usually short-term. Even without treatment, psychotic symptoms disappear within 3-5 days. Less common, this disease lasts for 1-1. 5 weeks. Recovery is more often observed in the form of a crisis - after a deep sleep. Sometimes recovery is gradual, worse in the evening and at night and better during the day. Signs that indicate a poor prognosis for delirium tremens are the development of symptoms of occupational delirium and delirium, high fever, and collapse.
Alcoholic hallucinations develop either during intoxication or at the peak of heavy drinking. The main disorder is auditory hallucinations that are often combined with persecutory delusions. Verbal auditory hallucinations predominate, and the patient usually hears words "spoken" by a large number of people - a "chorus of voices", as the patient often defines it. Often, the "voices" talk to each other about the patient, less often they are directed at the patient himself. The content of verbal hallucinations is threatening, accusing discussion of the patient's past actions, cynical abuse, insults. Often hallucinations are mocking and teasing. The voices either grew louder into screams or weakened into whispers. The idea of delusion in content is closely related to auditory hallucinations - the so-called. hallucinations. They are fragmented and unsystematic. The main effect is intense anxiety and fear. At the onset of psychosis, the patient is motorically excited, but soon some retardation appears or highly organized behavior is observed, masking the psychosis. The latter creates false and dangerous ideas of improvement. As a rule, symptoms of psychosis increase in the evening and at night. Somatic disturbances, common to hangover syndrome, are constant. The duration of alcoholic hallucinosis is from 2-3 days to several weeks; in rare cases, the disease lasts up to several months.
Alcoholic depression always appears against the background of hangover syndrome. Characterized by feelings of depression-anxiety, self-deprecating ideas, tearfulness, and individual ideas about relationships and victimization. Duration - from several days to 1-2 weeks. In a state of alcoholic depression, alcoholics most often commit suicide.
Alcoholic epilepsy is symptomatic and associated with toxicosis. Seizures most often occur at the height of intoxication during intoxication or during alcoholic delirium. As a rule, epileptiform seizures are observed. Small convulsions, twilight stupefication, and aura do not occur in alcoholic epilepsy. With the cessation of alcohol abuse, seizures disappear.
Alcoholic paranoid is an alcoholic psychosis, the main symptom of which is delusion. Occurs in the state of hangover syndrome and at the height of alcohol consumption. The content of imaginary ideas is limited to persecution or envy (adultery idea). In the first case, the patient believes that there is a group of people who want to rob or kill them. They see confirmation of their thoughts in the gestures, actions and words of others. Characterized by confusion, severe anxiety, often giving way to fear. The patient's actions are impulsive - they jump from a moving vehicle, suddenly run away, call for help from government authorities, and sometimes attack imaginary enemies. In some cases, delirium is accompanied by verbal illusions and mild hallucinations, and individual delirious symptoms that occur in the evening and at night. The course of this paranoid form is usually short-term - from a few days to a few weeks. Sometimes, psychosis lasts for months.
Alcoholic encephalopathy– alcoholic psychosis, developed in connection with metabolic disorders and, first of all, vitamins B and PP. Alcoholic encephalopathy occurs as a result of years of alcohol addiction, accompanied by chronic gastritis or enteritis and, as a result of the latter, impaired absorption in the intestine. Alcoholic encephalopathy develops mainly in individuals who drink a lot but eat little. Most often, alcoholic encephalopathy occurs in the spring and early summer. Autonomic symptoms usually include heart rhythm disturbances, fever of central origin, respiratory problems, and sphincter weakness. You can always observe an increase in muscle tone. The general physical condition of the patient is characterized by progressive weight loss up to severe cachexia. Pale or dark brown skin.
Chronic forms of alcoholic encephalopathy include Korsakoff's psychosis and alcoholic pseudopalsy. In some cases, they develop gradually, over several months, and then the nature of the onset corresponds to Gaye-Vorik encephalopathy, in others - acute, after alcoholic psychosis, usually after delirium tremens.
Treatment of alcoholic psychosis. Patients with alcoholic psychosis must be admitted immediately to a special hospital. Some patients with intoxication syndrome are also subject to hospitalization in cases where mental disorders, especially mood swings, are intense. Treatment of alcoholic psychosis in the hospital should be comprehensive - the use of multivitamins (B1, C, PP), cardiac and hypnotic with doses of insulin or hypoglycemic psychotronic drugs and coma. The only effective treatment for alcoholic encephalonitis, especially acute, is therapy with large doses of vitamins: B1 - up to 600 mg, C - up to 1000 mg, PP - up to 300-400 mg per day for 2-4 weeks.
Alcohol poisoning.
People who abuse alcohol sometimes fall into a state of unconsciousness, causing a coma. In very severe cases, breathing may stop.
However, don't assume that someone who looks drunk has necessarily consumed alcohol. Similar symptoms are observed in other conditions (head injury, stroke and diabetes, as well as overdose of certain drugs).
first aid.
If the victim is unconscious but still breathing, remove anything that prevents breathing (snacks, breakfast) from the mouth and throat with your fingers, do not try to vomit. Place the victim in the resuscitation position, free the neck and waist from tight clothing, and ensure that the airway remains patent.
If the victim is unconscious, call an ambulance.
Conclusion
Alcoholism is a serious disease that in some cases develops over many years. So it's better not to drink a lot and often! And if you drink, then drink BEER! ! ! : )