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ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK OFDrugs & Alcohol Related Health Issues

ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK OFDrugs & Alcohol Related Health Issues

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    This illustrated text provides readers information on drug and alcohol use, discussing types of drugs, reasons for using, and the dangers of using chemical substances. Drugs are chemicals. Different drugs, because of their chemical structures, can affect the body in different ways. In fact, some drugs can even change a person?s body and brain in ways that last long after the person has stopped taking drugs, maybe even permanently. Heavy drinking can cause the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells to be abnormally low. This condition, known as anemia, can trigger a host of symptoms, including fatigue, shortness of breath, and lightheadedness. Today, one in four deaths is attributable to illicit drug use. People who live with substance dependence have a higher risk of all bad outcomes including unintentional injuries, accidents, risk of domestic violence, medical problems, and death. The impact of drug abuse and dependence can be far-reaching, affecting almost every organ in the human body.

A drug is any substance that, when inhaled, injected, smoked, consumed, absorbed through a patch on the skin, or dissolved under the tongue, causes a physiological change in the body. Drug or alcohol problems is a pattern of harmful behavior involving the misuse or overuse of substances for mood-altering purposes. This means that the drug or alcohol changes how a person behaves or feels. Drugs that are psychoactive, such as cannabis, alcohol, ecstasy and heroin, have the ability to affect the mood. They can arouse certain emotions or dampen down others.

Illustrated Handbook of Drugs & Alcohol Related Health Issues brings a concise information on drug and alcohol use, discussing types of drugs, reasons for using, and the dangers of using chemical substances. Excessive consumption and abuse of alcohol is a common problem for people of all ages. With habitual consumption and abuse of alcohol, the body develops a higher tolerance for it. A person may drink increasing amounts of alcohol more frequently in response to the increasing desire and need for it. This progressive consumption may result in negative health consequence, both physical and emotional, and may strain personal relationships. An addicted person may displace healthy relationships and activities with alcohol consumption. Drinking large amounts of alcohol, known as binge drinking, can have serious repercussions. Alcohol and other drug use may also lead to other health problems such as respiratory depression, cancer, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, elevated blood pressure, and, in some case, death. Heavy drinking, especially bingeing, makes platelets more likely to clump together into blood clots, which can lead to heart attack or stroke. Heavy drinking can also cause cardiomyopathy, a potentially deadly condition in which the heart muscle weakens and eventually fails, as well as heart rhythm abnormalities such as atrial and ventricular fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation, in which the heart?s upper chambers (atria) twitch chaotically rather than constrict rhythmically, can cause blood clots that can trigger a stroke. Ventricular fibrillation causes chaotic twitching in the heart?s main pumping chambers (ventricles). It causes rapid loss of consciousness and, in the absence of immediate treatment, sudden death. In addition, some drugs of abuse, such as inhalants, are toxic to nerve cells and may damage or destroy them either in the brain or the peripheral nervous system. Drug abuse and mental illness often co-exist. In some cases, mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, or schizophrenia may precede addiction; in other cases, drug abuse may trigger or exacerbate those mental disorders, particularly in people with specific vulnerabilities.

The Illustrated Handbook of Drugs & Alcohol Related Health Issues is predominantly useful for students and researchers in the Nursing and Allied Health areas.