Some people don’t consider alcohol a drug because it doesn’t give a person the same symptoms as say cocaine or heroin would. But this is not the case. Alcohol is as much a drug as any other because it causes impairments and can be highly addictive just like actual drugs. Just because alcohol is a social item and millions of people drink it during social occasions does not mean it is any different.
Our article on the topic of ethanol focused on the intracellular signaling pathways that are thought to regulate behavioral responses with the consumption of ethanol. In the article, evidence shows that alcohol “modulates” the functions of specific cascades within the brain that include cAMP, PKA, PKC, the tyrosine kinase Fyn, cyclic adenosine 3′, and PLD. With their experiments, they found that some of the cascades mediated the effects of ethanol while others modified the response to ethanol. The authors stated that the studies they looked at found that the specific effects of alcohol on signaling appeared to be only in certain parts of the brain due to the restricted distribution of the proteins during their experiment.
The article talks about the neurological aspects of ethanol behavior but it doesn’t talk about what the actual behaviors are and what they can lead to. The behaviors that come with alcoholism include frequent intoxication, an established pattern of heavy drinking and drinking in dangerous situations, such as when driving. Other early signs of alcoholism include black-out drinking or a drastic change in demeanor while drinking, such as consistently becoming angry or violent. The main symptom of alcohol abuse occurs when someone continues to drink after their drinking reaches a level that causes recurrent problems. Continuing to drink after it causes someone to miss work, drive drunk, avoid responsibilities or get in trouble with the law is considered alcohol abuse. For someone who is alcoholic or alcohol dependent, the symptoms include all of those associated with alcohol abuse. But alcoholics also continue to drink in spite of all the problems it has caused in their lives. When alcohol abuse reaches the alcohol dependence stage, the person also experiences at least three of seven other symptoms, including neglect of other activities, excessive use of alcohol, impaired control of alcohol consumption, persistence of alcohol use, large amounts of time spent in alcohol-related activities, withdrawal symptoms and tolerance of alcohol.
The topic that interest me is the event of alcohol withdrawals. Do alcohol withdrawals actually happen or is that simply something that happens with narcotics? The answer is yes they actually happen and they can be equally as bad as the symptoms of drug withdrawals. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms usually occur within 5 – 10 hours after the last drink, but can occur days later. Symptoms get worse in 48 – 72 hours, and may persist for weeks. Common symptoms include:
- Anxiety or nervousness
- Depression
- Not thinking clearly
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Jumpiness or shakiness
- Mood swings
- Nightmares
- Clammy skin
- Enlarged (dilated) pupils
- Headache
- Insomnia (sleeping difficulty)
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pallor
- Rapid heart rate
- Sweating
- Tremor of the hands or other body parts
A severe form of alcohol withdrawal called delirium tremens can cause:
- Agitation
- Severe confusion
- Seeing or feeling things that aren’t there (hallucinations)
- Fever
- Seizures
Looking at all of these symptoms and the way people can act during intoxication being an alcoholic does not seem anywhere close to fun but as of June 2011 almost 18 million people have alcohol addictions…that’s one in 12 adults! This is an outrageous number and it only seems to get higher every year. Prevention of alcoholism is being studied but specific treatments are still to be found. Right now they are using treatments that make the person physically ill and the other treatments make the person want to drink less but it does not get rid of their cravings completely. Going back to the article, could it be possible to treat alcoholism using the intracellular signalling pathway cascades talked about in the article? Time will only tell what we can use within the body to help treat this ever growing disease.
http://alcoholism.about.com/od/about/a/symptoms.htm
http://www.bettermedicine.com/article/alcoholism-1/symptoms
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001769/
