Effects of chronic alcoholism

In the brain, alcoholism can result in cognitive problems, Wernicke's and Korsakoff's syndromes and cerebellar damage.

In the gastrointestinal system, alcohol can cause fatty change in the liver which progresses to cirrhosis, pancreatitis, and, secondary to portal hypertension from liver cirrhosis, oesophageal varices.

Alcohol also causes red blood cells to become macrocytic, decrease the production of white blood cells and cause deranged platelet function.

In women of child-bearing age, fetal alcohol syndrome may arise if mothers drink heavily during pregnancy.

Chronic alcoholics are also prone to malnutrition, giving rise to vitamin deficiencies. Thiamine deficiency in particular is the cause of Korsakoff's syndrome, while a folic acid deficiency will accentuate the hematological effects of alcohol.

This is all separate, of course, from the direct intoxicating effects of alcohol itself which cause numerous road accidents and fights in pubs worldwide.

September 2001 - A patient of mine died from the effects of chronic alcoholism. She was only in her 40s and had 5 children but had been drinking at least one to two bottles of wine a day for years. She declined quite rapidly over the course of a few weeks with worsening jaundice and ascites. She had a liver that extended below her umbilicus. She succumbed to renal failure secondary to the hepatorenal syndrome.

Some of this information from Harrison's Textbook of Internal Medicine