Alcohola depressant, that is, a substance that slows down all processes in the body. A small dose of alcohol gives relaxation and self-confidence. In large doses, it slows down the reaction and negatively affects, for example, the eyes and coordination. Impaired driving is extremely dangerous. A severely intoxicated person experiences nausea, dizziness, may lose consciousness, and above all, there is a risk of suffocation from his own vomit.
Blood alcohol concentration depends on many factors.
- If you eat fatty foods, poisoning will not be so 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 for alcohol to reach the circulatory system.
- The thicker the body fat, the slower alcohol is digested and absorbed into the blood.
- Body weight: the heavier you are, the less alcohol affects you.
- Your reaction to drinking 80 mg of alcohol may be completely different than someone else's. Typically, young people and women are more susceptible to alcohol.
The ability to drink alcohol and its effect on people varies, but it is believed that a safe dose (from a health perspective) is somewhere around 5 liters of medium-strength BEER or 10 large glasses of wine per week. for men, 2/3 of this amount for women, provided, of course, that this amount is lost evenly over a week, and not 1-2 times. If you can, don't drink on an empty stomach.
Alcoholism - what is it?
Alcoholism– regular, compulsive, long-term consumption of large amounts of alcohol. It is the most serious form of drug addiction in modern times, affecting 1-5% of the population in most countries. An alcoholic drinks compulsively in response to a psychological or physical dependence on alcohol.
Anyone can become an alcoholic. However, studies have shown that children of alcoholics are 4-6 times more likely to become addicted to alcohol than children of non-alcoholics.
In our country, the study of alcohol consumption by young people is largely based on the experience of similar studies abroad, which were widely carried out in Western Europe and North America at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, and in many different directions:
- They examined the prevalence and patterns of alcohol consumption among students.
- They studied the effect of alcohol on the bodies of children and adolescents.
- The relationship between academic performance and alcohol consumption was determined.
- Anti-alcohol education programs have been developed and tested.
Among the studies of the present era, the works that illustrate the prevalence and nature of drinking habits when children were given alcoholic beverages occupied a significant place:
- "health promotion"
- "appetite"
- "improved growth"
- "to relieve teething"
- "warming up"
- "hunger relief"
- "calm"
Six stages of alcoholism
Occasional 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 go unnoticed.
Early alcoholism is characterized by the appearance of memory disorders. Most researchers consider the alcoholism of the younger generation to be a significant indicator of the dysfunction of the microsocial environment. This determines the constant interest in studying the problem of the prevalence and nature of early alcoholism.
Boys drink the main types of alcoholic beverages more often than girls, and this difference becomes significant as they get older. It is typical for urban schoolchildren to consume mostly weak alcoholic beverages - beer, wine, while students from rural schools are more familiar with the taste of strong alcoholic beverages. In the 1920s and 1920s, moonlighting was quite widely used among schoolchildren: 1. 0-32. 0% for boys and 0. 9-12% for girls. The frequency of vodka consumption increased with age.
Almost all socio-hygienic and clinical-social studies of youth alcoholism have used the questionnaire method in various modifications – from postal questionnaires to telephone interviews and clinical interviews.
Basic alcoholism– the drinker cannot stop until he reaches the stage of intoxication. He encourages himself with self-affirmations and grandiose promises, but all his promises and intentions remain unfulfilled. You begin to avoid family and friends and neglect food, past interests, work, and money. Deterioration of physical health occurs. Resistance to alcohol decreases.
Chronic alcoholism is further characterized by moral decline, irrational thinking, vague fears, fantasies, and psychopathic behavior. Physical injuries are increasing. The drinker no longer has an alibi and can no longer take steps to get out of the current situation. A person can reach this stage in 5-25 years.
Treatment is usually provided through special programs for alcoholics. Psychologically, the desire for help revives in the alcoholic and he begins to think more rationally. Ideally, it also develops hope, moral responsibility, outside interests, self-esteem, and satisfaction associated with abstinence from alcohol.
The final stage of alcoholism occurs when the alcoholic refuses treatment or crashes again after treatment. Irreversible mental and physical damage usually ends in death.
If you summarize all of this, you get the following:
- Home drunkenness
- Early alcoholism
- Basic alcoholism
- Chronic alcoholism
- Cure
- The final stage of alcoholism
What determines a person's degree of intoxication?
The effect of alcohol on behavior depends on how much alcohol reaches the brain through the blood. This "blood alcohol level" is determined by many other factors besides how much you drink.
The size of the liver determines the rate of oxidation and elimination of alcohol.
The weight of the person itself determines the amount of blood in the body, since the volume of the blood is proportional to it. The bigger the person, the more the alcohol consumed dilutes the blood and the more is needed to achieve the same effect.
The speed and method of alcohol consumption is also important. The slower a person drinks a certain amount of alcohol, the weaker its effect.
Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach has a stronger and faster effect than during or after a meal. Food acts as a buffer during absorption.
The process of poisoning.
In case of alcohol consumption, the transmission of impulses in the nervous system slows down. The highest levels of the brain are affected first – inhibitions, excitement and anxiety disappear, giving way to feelings of contentment and euphoria. Since 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 gets hot. This means that the blood has moved away from the internal organs of the body, where the blood vessels have already narrowed due to the effect of alcohol on the nervous system. Therefore, the temperature of the internal organs decreases at the same time. A possible increase in sexual desire is associated with the suppression of usual prohibitions. As blood alcohol levels rise, physical sexual performance deteriorates more and more. Finally, the toxic effects of alcohol cause nausea and possibly vomiting.
Hangover
Hangovers are bad. . . And now in more detail:
Hangoverphysical discomfort after consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. Symptoms may include headache, upset stomach, thirst, dizziness and irritability. A hangover occurs as a result of three processes. First, excess alcohol irritates the gastric mucosa and impairs the functioning of the stomach. Second, cellular dehydration occurs when the amount of alcohol consumed exceeds the liver's capacity, causing the alcohol to remain in the blood for a long time. Thirdly, the level of alcohol has a "shocking" effect on the nervous system, from which it needs 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 probability of a hangover is reduced if alcohol is mixed with a snack (Havka): the intake and absorption of alcohol is prolonged, and food acts as a barrier. Non-alcoholic drinks consumed at the same time or afterwards will dilute the alcohol. Harmful effects are usually lessened if alcohol is consumed in a relaxed environment and smoking is kept to a minimum.
Effects of alcohol on the body
A typical manifestation of alcohol poisoning is repeated vomiting. Even a single consumption of a small amount of alcoholic beverages is associated with a pronounced manifestation of intoxication in adolescence, especially in the nervous system. The most severe poisonings were observed in persons with a complicated medical history against the background of organic cerebral insufficiency or concurrent somatic pathology.
It is much less clear to describe what effect alcohol has on the teenage psyche. In general, the clinical picture of severe poisoning in a teenager in most cases looks like this: short-term excitement is then replaced by general depression, stupor, increasing drowsiness, lethargy, slow incoherent speech and loss of orientation.
When drinking alcohol for the first time, 53% of teenagers felt disgusted. However, over time, as the "experience" of alcohol consumption increases, the objective picture changes dramatically. More than 90% of the interviewed adolescents, who had at least two years of "experience" of alcohol consumption, believed that intoxication is accompanied by a surge of energy, a feeling of satisfaction, it is accompanied by a sense of comfort and an uplifting mood, i. e. these qualities. a mental state that ordinary consciousness often attributes to action.
Diseases or simply PSYCHOSIS
Delirium tremens usually occurs against the background of a hangover, when suddenly stopping drinking or during a period of abstinence, in association with somatic diseases and injuries (mainly fractures). The initial symptoms of psychosis are the deterioration of night sleep, the appearance of vegetative symptoms and tremors, as well as the patient's general vivacity, which is manifested in his movements, speech, facial expression, and especially his mood. Within a short time, different shades of mood can be detected, while during the hangover period the mood is monotonous, characterized by depression and anxiety. Unusual mood swings and general invigoration intensify in the evening and at night, and during the day these disturbances are sharply reduced and may even disappear completely, which allows the patient to carry out his professional duties. As the symptoms of psychosis increase, complete insomnia appears, which is first attacked by visual illusions, then by various hallucinations and delusions.
Delirium tremens is characterized by a predominance of true visual hallucinations. They are characterized by a variety of images and mobility. Most often these are insects (beetles, cockroaches, beetles, flies) and small animals (cats, rats, mice). Less often, patients see large animals and people, which in some cases have a fantastic appearance. Visions of snakes, devils, and deceased relatives, the so-called walking dead, are very typical. In some cases, the visual illusions and hallucinations are single, in others they are multiple and scene-like, i. e. the patient sees complex images. There are often auditory, tactile, and olfactory hallucinations, as well as feelings of disorientation in space. Patients' moods are extremely variable. Within a short time, fear, complacency, bewilderment, surprise and despair can be seen in him. Patients are usually constantly moving, their facial expressions are expressive. Motor reactions correspond to momentary hallucinations and affects - with fear and frightening visions, the patient hides, defends, is excited; in periods of complacency—passive.
The patients are characterized by extreme detachment from external events, everything around them attracts their attention. In alcoholic delirium, delirium reflects fragmentary and hallucinatory disorders. In terms of content, this is most often persecutory delirium. Patients are usually wrongly oriented to their location (in the hospital they say they are at home, in a restaurant, at work), but they are oriented in their own personality. Alcoholic delirium is characterized by the periodic temporary disappearance of a significant part of the mental disorders, the so-called lucid-light intervals, and the naturally pronounced intensification of the symptoms of psychosis in the evening and at night.
Delirium tremens is constantly accompanied by various somatic disorders - tremors, sudden sweating, hyperemia of the skin, especially the face. The temperature is most often of low quality. The heart rate rises. Protein often appears in the urine; in the blood - increased bilirubin content, shift of the leukocyte formula to the left, acceleration of ROE. The course of the disease is usually short-term. Even without treatment, the symptoms of psychosis disappear within 3-5 days. Less often, the disease lasts 1-1. 5 weeks. Recovery is more often observed in the form of a crisis - after a deep sleep. Sometimes the recovery is gradual, worse in the evening and at night, and better during the day. Signs of an unfavorable prognosis for delirium tremens include the development of occupational and delirium delirium symptoms, high fever, and collapsed states.
It develops during an alcoholic hallucination or hangover or at the peak of excessive drinking. The main disorder is abundant auditory hallucinations and delusions of persecution. Verbal auditory hallucinations predominate, and the patient usually hears words "spoken" by many people—a "chorus of voices, " as patients often define them. Most often, the "voices" talk among themselves about the patient, less often they speak to the patient himself. The content of verbal hallucinations is threats, accusing talk about the patient's past actions, cynical abuse, insults. Hallucinations are often mocking and teasing. The voices either intensify into screams, orthey weaken to a whisper. Content delusions are closely related to auditory hallucinations - the so-called hallucinatory delusion. They are fragmentary and disorganized. The dominant effect is intense anxiety and fear. At the beginning of psychosis, patients are motorically excited, but soon some retardation or very ordered behavior is observed, masking psychosis. The latter creates a false and dangerous idea of development. The symptoms of psychosis usually intensify in the evening and at night. The somatic disorders characteristic of hangover syndrome are constant. The duration of alcoholic hallucinosis lasts from 2-3 days to several weeks, in rare cases the disease can last for severallasts for months.
Alcoholic depression always appears against the background of hangover syndrome. It is characterized by a depressive-anxious mood, self-deprecation, frivolous thoughts, and individual ideas about relationships and persecution. Duration - from a few days to 1-2 weeks. Alcoholics most often commit suicide in a state of alcoholic depression.
Alcoholic epilepsy is symptomatic and associated with toxicosis. Seizures most often occur at the peak of intoxication, during a hangover or alcoholic delirium. Epileptiform seizures are usually observed. Minor seizures, twilight stupor and auras do not occur in alcoholic epilepsy. With the cessation of alcohol abuse, seizures cease.
Paranoid alcoholic is an alcoholic psychosis whose main symptom is delusion. It occurs in the state of hangover syndrome and at the peak of excessive drinking. The content of delusions is limited to persecution or jealousy (thoughts of adultery). In the first case, patients believe 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. It is characterized by confusion and intense anxiety, often giving way to fear. Patients' actions are impulsive—jumping off vehicles while moving, running away suddenly, calling government authorities for help, and sometimes attacking imaginary enemies. In some cases, delirium is accompanied by mild verbal illusions and hallucinations, as well as individual delirious symptoms in the evening and at night. The course of this form of paranoid is usually short-term - from several days to several weeks. Sometimes the psychosis lasts for months.
Alcoholic encephalopathies- alcoholic psychoses, which develop in connection with metabolic disorders and, above all, B and PP vitamins. Alcoholic encephalopathy occurs as a result of many years of alcoholism, which is accompanied by chronic gastritis or enteritis, and as a consequence of the latter, absorption impairment occurs in the intestine. Alcoholic encephalopathy occurs mainly in individuals who drink a lot but eat very little. Most often, alcoholic encephalopathies occur in the spring and early summer months. Autonomic symptoms are usually cardiac arrhythmias, fever of central origin, breathing problems and sphincter weakness. You can continuously observe the increase in muscle tone. The general physical condition of patients is characterized by progressive weight loss leading to severe cachexia. The skin is pale or dark brown.
Chronic forms of alcoholic encephalopathy include Korsakoff's psychosis and alcoholic pseudoparalysis. In some cases, they develop gradually over several months, and then the appearance corresponds to Gaye-Vorik encephalopathy, in others - acutely, after alcoholic psychoses, usually after delirium tremens.
Treatment of alcoholic psychoses. Patients suffering from alcoholic psychosis must be urgently transported to a specialized hospital. Some patients with hangover syndrome also need to be hospitalized in cases where mental disturbances, especially mood swings, are intense. Hospitalization of alcoholic psychosis should be comprehensive - use of multivitamins (B1, C, PP), cardiac and hypnotics with hypoglycemic and comatose insulin or psychotronic drugs. The only effective treatment of alcoholic, especially acute encephalitis is high-dose vitamin therapy: 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 go into a stupor, which leads to a coma. In extremely severe cases, breathing may stop.
However, don't assume that a person who appears intoxicated has necessarily consumed alcohol. Similar symptoms can be observed in other conditions (head injuries, stroke and diabetes, and overdose of certain drugs).
First aid.
If the victim is unconscious but still breathing, remove objects obstructing breathing (snacks, breakfast) from the mouth and pharynx with your fingers, do not try to induce vomiting. Place the victim in the CPR position, free the neck and waist from tight clothing, and ensure that the airway remains open.
If the victim does not regain consciousness, 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, drink beer! ! ! : )