Alcoholism is an incredibly dangerous disease.It is classified as a "disease" by the medical community because of two important factors.One,it progresses. In simple terms it means that the affects of alcohol only get worse for the drinker, and not better.This is also true of the alcoholic who stops,and then begins drinking again. The brain of the alcoholic has a memory.The memory begins where the alcoholic left off in his/her drinking career. Therefore,if a person who has had 20 years of sobriety, begins to drink again, the brain cells of the alcoholic "wake up" and remember where the drinker left off,and the drinker goes back to where they were 20 years ago.

This is one of the most baffling truths of the disease. Not one alcoholic who was drinking 20 years before, can now, after 20 years of sobriety, drink one or two and get away with it, like a "normal" drinker. Alcoholism will bring them back to how much they were drinking 20 years before, and even exceed the number of drinks that they now can consume.It is not so much the amount,as it is the result.Alcohol is classified as an "ether",and can kill by suppressing all of the organs.

The second classification which makes alcoholism a disease is that it is incurable.So far, the only action which can be taken by an alcoholic to insure their living another day, is to abstain from alcohol and other mood altering chemicals.
This does not cure the person of the disease,but puts it into check, and brings the disease into a remission.by not drinking, the alcoholic in affect puts their brain's cravings to sleep. This does not happen overnight,and many will feel the call of craving long after having put down the drink.

Because the brain chemistry of an alcoholic is completely different from the brain chemistry of a person without alchoholism, alchohol affects the alchoholic completely differently than a normal drinker. When an alchoholic continues to drink alchohol,the disease gains strength and gets worse. Much like a diabetic whose pancreas cannot process sugar, the alchoholic's system cannot process alchohol. The alchoholic may have one drink and go into a black-out.A black-out is a memory loss which will never be regained. Some drinkers have small black-outs, others have had weeks of their lives erased.

The alchoholic may be able to drink more than anyone else and not get drunk.In other words, the drink has stopped giving the alchoholic the feelings of elation and calm, and has either the opposite

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Alcoholism explained?
We want to hear your view. Write now!