Over months, years and decades of drinking, alcohol effects the functioning of the brain, causing mood and personality changes. It overwhelms the liver and kidneys, destroys the lining of the stomach and weakens the heart muscle. Making matters worse, the body begins denying itself nutrient rich foods, which the cells need to rebuild themselves, in favor of the quick sugar fix supplied by the alcohol molecule. Adding to the problems caused by the alcohol is the addict’s every increasing tolerance. In a cruel twist, tolerance not only grows, but as drugs destroy the central nervous and digestive systems, tolerance lessens. This means that in the end stages of the disease, the body of the person who is used to drinking tremendous amounts of vodka or smoking a great deal of another drug one day finds that their body simply cannot process the drug. The amount that for years produced their desired high becomes a potentially lethal dose. Many in the chronic stage of addiction have died due to an overdose caused by an amount that their body was previously capable of handling. Additionally, when the drug leaves the addict’s system and the withdrawal process (the central nervous system struggling to regain balance) begins, this leads to the addict feeling worse and worse. Thus agitated, the addict returns to use. This agitation is why people mistakenly think that outside events, circumstances, or the feelings themselves cause the addict to use.
