When you’re planning cremation services in the area of Blaine, WA, you may be planning them for a loved one who died as a result of long-term alcohol abuse. The physical and neurological damage that happens in the body because of habitual alcohol abuse or alcoholism is extensive.

With chronic alcohol abuse, the liver is one of the organs that is seriously impacted. As alcohol abuse continues over the years, liver disease develops. Sometimes, when liver damage is diagnosed while it is still in the fatty liver (a condition where fats build up in the liver) disease stage, the condition can be reversed. The liver has a miraculous ability to heal itself, and if all alcohol use is terminated for good, then the liver will likely heal itself completely.

However, most of the time, when physical symptoms of liver disease – because the liver is inflamed or scarred and cannot function properly – appear, the liver is already permanently damaged. This can lead to many severe health conditions like alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. It can also lead to the development of liver cancer.

In addition, chronic alcohol abuse affects the digestive system by wearing down the stomach lining and increasing acid production. This can lead to the development of stomach ulcers. Chronic alcohol abuse can also cause serious digestion problems such as impaired nutrient breakdown and absorption (leading to malnutrition, resulting in anemia) and faulty blood sugar control.

Pancreatitis, a painful and potentially fatal condition, is often another health-related problem with long-term alcohol abuse.

The brain is another organ that is negatively impacted by chronic alcohol abuse. The central nervous system usually is affected most severely. Thiamine (vitamin B1) is vital to proper functioning of the central nervous system.

Long-term alcohol abuse creates a thiamine deficiency that can lead to Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (with or without bleeding lesions in the brain). Symptoms of this condition may include mental confusion, irreversible memory loss, and impaired motor coordination.

Chronic alcohol abuse’s effect on the brain can additionally produce disruption in sleep cycles, mood and personality changes, depression and anxiety, and reduction in the ability to concentrate. New brain cell growth is also inhibited by long-term alcohol abuse.

Heart disease is another health effect that chronic alcohol abuse can create. Symptoms of heart disease include chronic high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, blood clots, strokes, cardiomyopathy, and heart attacks.

The neurological effects of long-term alcohol abuse are extensive. Since alcohol suppresses the central nervous system, there can be dramatic and negative impacts on breathing, speech, movement, thought, and memory. Chronic alcohol abuse can lead to a neurological disorder that is known as confabulation.

Confabulation happens when someone who regularly abuses alcohol is telling stories and recalling memories and there are blanks in their brain where the real details or memories were stored, so they create something out of nothing to fill in the blank.

The new information is not true and sometimes can be outright fantastical, but long-term alcohol abusers will insist that what they are saying is true and that it’s exactly the way it happened, no matter how outrageous it sounds.

Because they cannot be dissuaded from the reality of their new story or memory, friends and family members of the alcohol abuser may find themselves frustrated when they are dealing with them.

Chronic alcohol abusers die more frequently from the complications of cirrhosis of the liver than from any other cause. However, in rare case, long-term alcohol abusers die because they decide to quit drinking suddenly, without medical supervision, and it sends their bodies into irreversible shock that kills them.

For additional information about cremation services in the area of Blaine, WA, our compassionate and experienced team at Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory – Greenacres Memorial Park is here to help.