Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol abuse refers to the excessive intake of alcoholic beverages. This can be either on individual occasions (binge drinking) or as a regular practice.

Alcohol abuse can lead to many social, psychological and physical problems:

Social problems

Relationship difficulties e.g. divorce/separation, aggression and violence, lowered sex drive/impotence.

Work difficulties e.g. redundancy, long-term unemployment, difficulty getting to work on time, drinking whilst working, disciplinary procedures, generally poor performance, difficulty with re-employment. Financial difficulties arising from work difficulties e.g. meeting mortgage payments and repossession orders, maintenance payments, savings running low or running out, debts.

Pleasure difficulties i.e. replacement of previous pleasurable activity (hobbies, exercise, eating etc) with drinking; inability to take pleasure from such activities even when trying.

Legal difficulties e.g. drink-drive charges, assault charges

Psychological problems

Depression

Irritability

Anxiety and panic attacks

Paranoid feelings and ideas

Sleep problems

Memory loss

Difficulty with concentration

Physical problems

Permanent memory loss

Dementia

High blood pressure

Stomach ulcers

Strange sensations in feet and hands – typically pins and needles

Loss of all sensation in feet and hands

Wasting of thigh muscles

Skin complaints such as psoriasis and dermatitis

Impotence and erectile failure

Road traffic and other accidents (often fatal)

Liver disease (sometimes fatal)

Pancreatitis (sometimes fatal)

Fertility problems and foetal malformations (often fatal for foetus)

Brain damage (sometimes fatal)

Epilepsy and fits (sometimes fatal)

Heart attacks (often fatal)

Vascular disease and amputations (sometimes fatal)

Vomiting blood (sometimes fatal)

Bleeding from the rectum (sometimes fatal)