One hundred grams for health. With these words begins any feast. Under the auspices of the struggle for health, people consume alcohol tinctures, alcoholic beverages and everything that burns in moderate and immoderate amounts.
In the minds of an average person, ethyl alcohol has almost a cult significance: it’s enough to use such a panacea and it will immediately remove all illnesses with a hand. In vino veritas. Alcohol as a medicine is a universal remedy for all occasions.
But is truth the fault? The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.
Any, even the most useful substance in excessive quantities turns into poison. This is especially true for alcohol. For this reason, to see articles and materials about alcohol treatment replicated on the Internet is at least strange.
There are a huge number of diseases in which ethanol is strictly contraindicated. To understand under what pathologies ethanol can have a therapeutic effect, one should go from the opposite. So who has a lifelong challenge from libation? There are several groups of such people.
• People suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. This includes gastritis, and ulcers (stomach, duodenal ulcer), and colitis. Alcohol has a pronounced irritating effect on these organs: ethanol is an excellent solvent with both acid and alkaline properties. The situation is aggravated by the fact that in the composition of most drinks "under the degree" all kinds of perfumes, concentrates and extracts are generously located, which have great acidity (they destroy the mucous membrane of organs). So alcohol acts on a healthy person. Needless to say, how destructive does ethyl alcohol have on a sick person? Wanting to get rid of poisoning, gastritis and other diseases with alcohol tinctures and pure alcohol, an unlucky patient risks registering in a "wooden apartment".
• Diseases of the liver and gall bladder. Although the liver is part of the digestive tract, we should talk more about it. According to statistics, one out of ten thousand people has hepatitis. About half of all diagnosed hepatitis are toxic. Discouraging statistics: over time, toxic hepatitis passes into cirrhosis of the liver, and most patients (almost 95%) are individuals who regularly drink alcohol. Statistics eloquently testifies against the use of alcohol for the "treatment" of the digestive tract.
• Mental illness. Another reason to drink is to calm your nerves. According to psychiatric statistics, every second has mental pathologies in active or latent form. Among doctors of such an unusual specialty, this phenomenon is expressed in the principle "there are no healthy, there are under-examined." Any mental disorder from neurosis to schizophrenia negatively responds to alcohol intake. Is it worth the cost of worsening the emotional background, and possibly the loss of adequacy to "calm the nerves" with alcohol? A rhetorical question.
• Cardiovascular diseases. There are many legends regarding alcohol. One of them says that alcohol helps with high pressure: just drink a glass of vodka or cognac and the vessels will thank you. This is only partially true. The vast majority of hypertensive alcohol is strictly contraindicated as a medicine. Drinking is allowed on major holidays and only a certain type of liquor. The same applies to persons with heart failure, coronary heart disease. Alcohol in significant quantities causes a sharp narrowing (stenosis) of the walls of blood vessels. As a result, blood cannot circulate normally through them and blood pressure rises. This can end in failure: a stroke, and in cases when the nutrition of the heart muscle is disturbed - a heart attack. These are dangerous conditions that are ageless and often fatal. Is it worth it to be treated?
• Persons with kidney disease. We are talking about kidney failure, nephritis and pyelonephritis. During processing by the body, ethyl alcohol breaks down into elemental components. Processing products (metabolites) of ethyl alcohol negatively affect the human excretory system and can provoke a deterioration in the condition. Therefore, any argument that alcohol is useful as a diuretic is untenable. This is a dangerous practice.
• Persons suffering from atherosclerosis. Another popular statement, this time reliable: alcohol helps eliminate atherosclerotic plaques in the vessels. As always, this is only half the truth. Indeed, in moderation, alcohol can break down cholesterol. But this is not the merit of ethanol. This is a very small amount of red wine. The composition of this drink includes substances of plant origin, fighting fat deposits on the walls of blood vessels. But no more than that.
• Diseases of the brain, tumors of intracranial localization. Alcohol is strictly contraindicated for people suffering from neurological diseases (especially if there are phenomena of neurological deficit). Neurological diseases are often accompanied by intracranial hypertension - an increase in intracranial pressure. Alcohol does not help with a headache, it leads to an even greater increase in pressure. This can trigger an attack of the disease (for example, epilepsy).
The list is impressive. Does this mean that apologists for taking alcohol for therapeutic purposes are completely misconceived and that alcohol is not suitable for treatment? No, this is also a fallacy. In some cases, alcohol as a medicine can be used, but only as an aid, and not as the main drug. What are these cases?
Alcohol as a medicine: when it can help
Alcohol is not always an absolute evil. So, it can be a good help:
• For colds. Small amounts of alcohol (not more than 100 ml), especially natural cognac, red wine, can have a beneficial effect on immunity and resistance to various infections.
• With hypertension. It is only about red wine and only in an amount of not more than 50 ml per day. Such a therapeutic dose really helps to dilate blood vessels and normalize blood flow. But if a person has been sick for a long time and a severe (3 and higher) stage of hypertension is exposed, this is a withdrawal from alcohol for life. The cores should not be drunk in any case, even a small amount of ethanol will be enough to earn complications.
• In case of atherosclerosis, as already mentioned, it is permissible to consume 100-150 ml of red wine to dissolve cholesterol formed on the walls of blood vessels. It is important to keep in mind that quantity does not go into quality. Rather, the opposite. When drinking a large amount of alcohol, the situation can only worsen.
• For methanol poisoning. Paradoxically, in case of methanol poisoning (sometimes when using low-quality alcohol) ethanol saves the situation, i.e. alcohol in the typical sense.
In all other cases, alcohol is useless and harmful. Do not believe "folk wisdom" and look for an empty reason to drink for the good of health.
How to use alcohol for therapeutic purposes
When using alcohol as a medicine, it is most important not to provoke undesirable effects on the part of organs and systems. To do this, it is important to adhere to a number of rules:
• Never drink on an empty stomach. An empty stomach does not respond well to a dose of alcohol.
• Drink only with a snack. In this case, the snack should be moderate, but nutritious enough. This is recommended based on the toxic effects on the body as a whole and the stomach in particular.
• Drink no more than 50-100 ml of alcohol per day. This is the optimal amount for a relatively healthy person.
• Preference should be given to natural "noble drinks", such as red wine, brandy. Champagne is strictly contraindicated for hypertensive patients and people suffering from heart diseases, since this drink can lead to poor circulation.
Alcohol is far from always evil. The most important thing is to develop a culture of its use and not to overdo it. Using alcohol as a medicine, one should not forget that in such matters one should not rely on "folk wisdom". This practice should be treated exactly as a treatment, which means drinking moderately and with great care.
