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Symptoms of varying BAC levels. Additional symptoms may occur. The short-term effects of alcohol consumption range from a decrease in anxiety and motor skills and euphoria at lower doses to intoxication (drunkenness), to stupor, unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia (memory "blackouts"), and central nervous system depression at higher doses.
An alcoholic will continue to drink despite serious family, health, or legal problems. Like many other diseases, alcoholism is chronic, meaning that it lasts a person's lifetime; it usually follows a predictable course; and it has symptoms. The risk for developing alcoholism is influenced both by a person's genes and by his or her lifestyle." [62]
Warning signs of alcoholism include the consumption of increasing amounts of alcohol and frequent intoxication, preoccupation with drinking to the exclusion of other activities, promises to quit drinking and failure to keep those promises, the inability to remember what was said or done while drinking (colloquially known as "blackouts ...
Alcohol intoxication leads to negative health effects due to the recent drinking of large amount of ethanol (alcohol). [6] [20] When severe it may become a medical emergency. Some effects of alcohol intoxication, such as euphoria and lowered social inhibition, are central to alcohol's desirability. [21]
Finally, he concluded that "dipsomania is a syndrome, always identical with itself, whilst alcoholism is an intoxication varying much in its clinical symptoms." [ 13 ] Over time, the term dipsomania became less common, replaced by newer ideas and terms concerning chronic and acute drunkenness and alcohol use disorder.
Avoiding or restricting alcohol is the most straightforward way to prevent the symptoms of alcohol intolerance. [5] [6] [13] Tobacco use or exposure to secondhand smoke should be avoided, as smoking may increase levels of acetaldehyde. Certain medications may interact with alcohol and worsen symptoms.
A protracted withdrawal syndrome can occur with symptoms persisting for months to years after cessation of substance use. Benzodiazepines, opioids, alcohol, and any other drug may induce prolonged withdrawal and have similar effects, with symptoms sometimes persisting for years after cessation of use. Psychosis including severe anxiety and ...
In pregnant women, alcohol is carried to all of the mother's organs and tissues, including the placenta, where it easily crosses through the membrane separating the maternal and fetal blood systems. When a pregnant woman drinks an alcoholic beverage, the concentration of alcohol in her unborn baby's bloodstream is the same level as her own.