Alcoholic Heart Disease

Excessive use of alcohol has a devastating impact on the human body. Heart, brain, pancreas, stomach, liver, esophagus suffers first of all. At the same time, red blood cells are clumped under the influence of ethyl, forming clumps that spread throughout the body, contributing to clogging of the small capillaries.

A heart “accepts” first, the strongest hit. As a result of systematic consumption of strong drinks, alcohol heart disease occurs, and in the structure of fibromuscular organ irreversible changes develop.

Epidemiology of alcoholic heart disease

Taking into account the data of the World Health Organization, alcohol dependence has enslaved more than 70 million people. Thus, the highest mortality rate occurs as a result of cardiovascular disease.

Clinical manifestation of alcoholic heart disease is the alcoholic cardiomyopathy, which in accordance with the ICD-10 has a code – I42.6.

At the initial stage of ethyl dependence the compensatory mechanism is starting immediately, the so-called peripheral vasodilatation, which veils the depressing effect of alcohol on the myocardium. Alcohol not only suppresses the contractility of the middle muscular layer in heart but also causes disturbance of conduction, excitability.

Let’s consider the pathogenetic mechanisms of myocardial damage with alcohol.

The deterioration of the cardiomyocytes membranes.
Damage of adduct compound.
Indirect effect strongly pronounced in the hypertrophied myocardium.
Failure of exogenous nutrients receipts.
Autoimmune myocardial damage occurs as a result of the formation of complexes plasma + proteins + acetaldehyde.

As a consequence of reducing the contractility of the heart, reducing the number of cell nuclei, disturbing the structure of muscle fibers, and protein synthesis a human can have atrioventricular block, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, myocardial, cardio sclerosis, and ischemic heart disease.

Pathology and pathogenesis

The pathogenesis of alcoholic defeat of muscular organ is mediated through the following mechanisms:

effect of other substances, which may be added into strong drinks, for example, cobalt;
direct toxic effect of ethyl;
the nutritional effect, due to a lack of thiamine, with typical developing state like beriberi.

Alcohol and products of its metabolite – acetaldehyde, have a toxic effect on the processes of transport and binding of calcium, lipid metabolism, the activity of myofibrillar ATPase, mitochondrial respiration, protein synthesis with myocardiocytes. Long-term use of alcoholic beverages before the defeat of myocardium reduces muscarinic, alpha 1-adrenergic receptors in the heart. Alcohol can not only strengthen or weaken contractility of the heart muscle but also to conduct excitation in the atria, ventricles.

Remember, ethyl is able to influence even on the state of the human myocardium, once drank moderate doses of alcohol. And during this there is often an acute stage of poisoning organism with acetaldehyde. In a non-drinking man who drinks a small amount of alcohol, gradually there is a violation of the contractile function of the left ventricle.

Morphological signs of alcoholic affection of fibromuscular organ are reminiscent of dilated cardiomyopathy.

The main features include:

sweating;
excitement;
tachycardia;
heart pain;
shortness of breath;
increased blood pressure;
heart palpitations;
increasing of heart size.

The systematic poisoning of the body with ethanol is the cause of pathological changes of the heart. In case if a patient isn’t provided a timely help, the clinical picture of the disease is compounded, as a result, there will be a risk the onset of myocardial infarction or a quick death.

Prevention of alcoholic heart disease

If you couldn’t avoid the disease, you must immediately visit your doctor, who will prescribe a treatment after the diagnosis, and the treatment should be aimed at the heart restoration and other internal organs (liver, pancreas, stomach), which have suffered as a result of the adverse impact of green snake.

The first condition of healing is a complete rejection of the use of alcoholic beverages. Otherwise, therapy will not bring the desired results.

Remember, it is much easier to prevent disease than to treat it.

For this reason, you should keep the following preventive measures:

to minimize or eliminate the consumption of alcoholic beverages;
avoid stress, over-stress;
diet, which would reduce the cholesterol in the blood;
quit smoking;
to respect the sleep and rest;
do exercises every day;
take periodically the following herbal tinctures: succession, hawthorn, lily of the valley, birch leaves, chicory, which will help normalize the cardiovascular system.

Implementation of the listed above recommendations would support the heart in a healthy condition and reduces the likelihood of development of its pathology to a minimum.