why is it that when an alcoholic stops drinking alcohol they become sick even though alcohol is incredibly bad for us, what is happening in our body that makes us sick for not having it?
In: Biology
Can’t speak for alcohol but have plenty of experience with opiates and heroin. The simplest explanation is that that body is very good at regulating and adjusting itself. The normal baseline for heroin in a human body is (hopefully) zero. But when you put a lot of it in you for a long time, that becomes the new baseline. Then when you stop cold turkey, your body is essentially missing something that it thinks it needs. You experience withdrawals until it re-normalizes back down to zero. Its not very scientific, but it made sense to me while in rehab
It makes the brain work slower, so the brain compensates by making stuff that makes the brain work quicker in an attempt to cancel it out. If you take out alcohol completely, the brain kinda over stimulates and causes problems as it’s making too much stuff to make it work quicker.
When I quit 30 years ago my body reacted badly coz I just suddenly stopped having been a heavy daily drinker. Long time sober now though.
Commenting because the top comments aren’t quite right. So alcohol is a depressant meaning it functions by slowing or inhibiting the firings within your brain. If someone is constantly inebriated, the brain finds ways to increase firing to approach more normal function despite constant depressant use. When the alcohol is taken away, the brain is no longer in its slowed down state and misfires which is why a common symptom of severe alcohol withdrawal are tremors and seizures. This is also one of the reasons why alcohol is one of the few substances in which withdrawal can kill.
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