Alcohol heavy drinking

Epidemiology of Drinking, Heavy Drinking, and Alcohol Use Disorders... 

Kristenson H, Ohlin H, Hulten-Nousslin M, et al Identification and intervention of heavy drinking in middle-aged men results and follow-up of 24-60 months of long-term study with randomized controls. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 7 203-209, 1983... 

Toxicologists nowadays take a broad view of developmental toxicity they consider not only structural but also functional abnormalities to qualify as adverse, as long as they were produced as a result of exposures incurred in utero. Thus, for example, the developmental effects of chronic alcohol abuse by pregnant women, known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), are characterized not only by the presence of certain craniofacial abnormalities, but also by a variety of disabilities such as shortened attention span, speech disorders, and restlessness. Although fully expressed physical deformities included in FAS are associated with heavy drinking, debate continues on the level of alcohol consumption, if any, that is without these more subtle effects on behavior. 

Gastro intestinal bleeding, acute pancreatitis, a toxic confusional state, and acute hepatistis/hepatic failure are each possible results of a very heavy drinking binge . Heredity appears to play a major role in the contraction of alcoholism, with recent discoveries of genes that influence vulnerability to this disorder. 

Heavy drinking—and especially "binge" drinking—are associated with both atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal syndrome can develop severe arrhythmias that may reflect abnormalities of potassium or magnesium metabolism as well as enhanced release of catecholamines. Seizures, syncope, and sudden death during alcohol withdrawal may be due to these arrhythmias. 

Dependence becomes apparent 6-12 hours after cessation of heavy drinking as a withdrawal syndrome that may include tremor (mainly of the hands), nausea and vomiting, excessive sweating, agitation, and anxiety. In some individuals, this is followed by visual, tactile, and auditory hallucinations 12-24 hours after cessation. Generalized seizures may manifest after 24-48 hours. Finally, 48-72 hours after cessation, an alcohol withdrawal delirium (delirium tremens) may become apparent in which the person hallucinates, is disoriented, and shows evidence of autonomic instability. Delirium tremens is associated with 5-15% mortality. 

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