Any substance taken into the body may have significant effects. All too often we
ID: 3495265 • Letter: A
Question
Any substance taken into the body may have significant effects. All too often we have discovered these effects to be more harmful than we had previously thought. Chemical additives, fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics given to livestock destined for the table, or chemicals such as BPA and phthalates found in plastics. If only as much attention were paid to alcohol and other drug use as is paid to other products, health would be significantly improved.
Many of the devastating yet largely avoidable problems our society encounters as a result of substance use—including accidents, traffic fatalities, domestic violence, suicide, and homicides—may be lessened if uninformed and ill-considered use is replaced by greater knowledge about the effects of the drugs we use, and in particular the legal drug we drink and the legal drug we smoke.
It is also recognized that those who begin drinking at an earlier age are at increased risk of alcohol dependence in later life.
Analyze whether this early substance use has a disproportionate impact down the road.
What is your advice for the moderate drinker?
Discuss alcohol-drug interactions and the affects.
How much alcohol and in the size of a person raises blood alcohol concentration? How fast does it take for the alcohol to be elevated?
What is the immediate effect of alcohol on the various body organs and functions?
Discuss acute overdose and toxicity with alcohol.
Explanation / Answer
Alcohol many times has harmful interactions with prescription medications, over-the-counter other drugs, and even many herbal remedies. Alcohol interactions with medications may cause problems such as:
Nausea and vomiting
Headaches
Fainting
Changes in blood pressure
Abnormal behavior
Loss of movement and coordination
Accidents
Mixing alcohol and medications also may increase the risk of complications such as:
Liver damage
Heart problems
Internal bleeding
Impaired breathing
In many cases it is observed that, alcohol interactions will decrease the effects of Medicine or render them useless. In other cases, alcohol interactions may make drugs harmful or even much toxic fir the body.
Even in very small amounts, alcohol also causes medication side effects intensify such as sleepiness, drowsiness, fainting and light-headedness, which may interfere with the body concentration and ability to walk or drive a vehicle, and lead to serious or even fatal accidents.
Because alcohol can seriously interact with many commonly used medications used in day to day daily life where it's important to observe warning labels and ask for the doctor if it's safe to use alcohol with any medications and herbal remedies that we apply.
Use of prescription and non-prescription drugs, as well as herbal remedies, also is extremely prevalent. Partly because of the obesity epidemic, people ages are taking more drugs to control chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and very high elevated cholesterol levels. Because the incidence of chronic conditions increases with age, older people are likely to take prescription medications -- often as many as 10 per day -- many of which likely react adversely with alcohol.
Examples of commonly used prescription drugs associated with serious alcohol interactions include heart medications, which causes rapid heartbeat and sudden blood pressure changes; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which increases risk of heart attacks, ulcers and stomach bleeding; blood-thinning medications, which can lead to internal bleeding; and sleep medications, which can lead to impaired breathing, motor control,movement, coordination and unusual behavior.
One of the most common causes of severe liver damage -- including some cases requiring a liver transplant -- is a combination of the pain reliever acetaminophenol and alcohol.
Other serious alcohol interactions are associated with over-the-counter antihistamines..
Alcohol toxicity are complicated by many factors which include reluctance for ingestion, underestimation of the amount ingested, ingestion of other related toxins (eg, methanol in perfume, and related trauma.
Other related issues are Hypoglycemia and respiratory depression are the two most immediate life-threatening complications that result from ethanol intoxication in children..
Ethanol also has brings us to be a effects on cardiac muscle, thyroid tissue, and hepatic tissue. It also affect the GABA receptors and ions channel Hence in case of toxicity it can have a prolonged effect of the receptors, ion channels and all can cause disruption in movement, coordination etc.!!
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