Alcohol consumption can be a recreational activity, using it once a while is not that harmful and red wine is even touted as a great aperitif too. But things go haywire when the occasional use turns to more frequent usage and doesn’t stop there. Alcohol abuse or Alcohol Use Disorder as it is known more discreetly is an issue that plagues millions of people worldwide and causes numerous deaths. Not just personal harm by affecting the user’s liver badly, alcohol affects the brain of the user too that can lead to multiple emotional and physical outbreaks that can be seen as a threat to the people with them.
It is these ill effects of excessive alcohol use that make it a problematic issue to deal with. There have been many methods and programs that have been claimed to help with alcohol dependency, but not all of them are as effective as they claim. CBD has come up as a great alternative to reduce the cravings of alcohol and may just be beneficial in helping restore the damage it does to one's liver and brain. The best way to avail the benefits of CBD and medical marijuana is by procuring a medical marijuana card. What’s amazing is how you can even get an MMJ Card Renewal, all the while sitting at home.
Let us take a closer look at how CBD counteracts the negative effects of alcohol dependency.
How Does CBD Help Reduce Alcohol Intake and Its Side Effects
There have been countless studies that look to either curb the use of alcohol in people with AUD and/or help in managing the side effects that plague people for longer. CBD has shown promising results towards excessive alcohol intake and its side effects.
A 2019 study hinted that the administration of CBD in humans can bring down their consumption of alcohol. The study also provided insight that CBD can be helpful in providing neuroprotective effects against alcohol-related brain damage and injury.
Another study in 2018 suggested that the administration of CBD with an FDA-approved alcohol use disorder corrective medication naltrexone can be better than any one of them alone. Though there are more clinical trials that await this corrective measure, this is a clear indicator of how CBD can be immensely productive in counteracting excessive alcohol usage.
What is Alcohol Use Disorder?
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is an addictive and progressive condition where one falls into the pits of using alcohol in unnatural amounts. There are over three million reported deaths by Alcohol Use Disorder, as recorded by the WHO. This amounts to more than five percent of all deaths worldwide. This is a clear indicator of how bad the situation can be for people down with AUD. Not just that, people with alcohol dependency can be susceptible to Alcohol-Related Liver Damage (ARLD)and Alcohol-Related Brain Injury (ARBI), which also are major contributors to the death toll.
Alcohol-Related Liver Damage (ARLD)
This is a progressive decline in the health of the liver, because of constant and large intakes of alcohol. The liver is the organ that helps in processing blood and breaks it down, creating nutrients and also metabolizing drugs into forms that are easier to use for the rest of the body or that are nontoxic. With excessive alcohol, the liver doesn't get time to cleanse itself of the toxicity of alcohol and goes into a downward spiral of damage, culminating in cirrhosis.
Alcohol-Related Brain Injury (ARBI)
Patents with Alcohol Related Brain Injury (ARBI) have a significantly reduced amount of gray matter. This means that cognitive functions like working memory, executive functions, long-term memory, or emotion recognition are severely impaired, depending on how long the alcohol dependency has lasted. Even though alcohol abstinence and withdrawal can show better functioning in a couple of weeks or about a month, some functions might still remain hampered.
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