Alcohol Abuse - Symptoms and Signs

Symptoms and Signs

Individuals with an alcohol use disorder will often complain of difficulty with interpersonal relationships, problems at work or school, and legal problems; additionally patients do complain of irritability and insomnia. Alcohol abuse is also an important cause of chronic fatigue.

Signs of alcohol abuse are related to alcohol's effects on organ systems. However, while these findings are often present, they are not necessary to make a diagnosis of alcohol abuse. Signs of alcohol abuse shows its drastic effects on the central nervous system acutely include inebriation and poor judgment; chronic anxiety, irritability, and insomnia. Alcohol's effects on the liver include elevated liver function tests (classically AST is at least twice as high as ALT). Prolonged use leads to cirrhosis and failure of the liver. With cirrhosis, patients develop an inability to process hormones and toxins. The skin of a patient with alcoholic cirrhosis can feature cherry angiomas, palmar erythema and - in fulminent liver failure - jaundice and ascities. The derangements of the endocrine system lead to gynecomastia. Inability to process toxins leads to hepatic encephalopathy.

Binge drinking is associated with individuals reporting fair to poor health compared to non-binge drinking individuals and which may progressively worsen over time. Alcohol also causes impairment in a person's critical thinking. Person's ability to reason in stressful situation is compromised, and they seem very inattentive to what is going on around them. Social skills are significantly impaired in people suffering from alcoholism due to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol on the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. The social skills that are impaired by alcohol abuse include impairments in perceiving facial emotions, prosody perception problems and theory of mind deficits; the ability to understand humour is also impaired in alcohol abusers. Patients who abuse alcohol are less likely to survive critical illness. Research conducted at Ohio State University Medical Center found that patients who suffer from alcoholism or alcohol withdrawal are at a much higher risk for having sepsis and were more likely to die during hospitalization.

Alcohol abuse causes neuroinflammation and leads to myelin disruptions and white matter loss; the developing adolescent brain is at increased risk of brain damage and other long lasting alterations to the brain. Adolescents with an alcohol use disorder damage the hippocampal, prefrontal cortex as well as the temporal lobes. Children aged 16 and under who consume alcohol heavily display symptoms of conduct disorder. Its symptoms include troublesome behaviour in school, constantly lying, learning disabilities and social impairments.