Find Out Everything You Need To Know About Drug Abuse And Cancer
When it comes down to drugs and alcohol, there’s no denying that cancer is one of the deadliest after-effects of drugs and alcohol abuse. Over the years cancer has claimed more lives than any other disease. Cancer has also been the leading cause in countless family heartbreaks. Which means drug addicts and alcoholics should take a moment to think about how cancer can affect them. Perhaps you have a family to look after, or you have children to raise. Or maybe you have a future planned for yourself. Is your drug addiction worth putting yourself in the way of cancer? Don’t let your drug addiction or alcohol addiction take you down a path of destruction. Get the help you need to avoid being diagnosed with cancer. Here’s everything you need to know about how cancer affects people with substance abuse disorders.
Take a few minutes to find out how cancer can affect you. Once you’re done, give us a call. Let our local drug and alcohol rehab help you get the treatment that you need to avoid getting cancer.
Are you ready? Let’s get started.
What is Cancer?
Cancer is an internal disease that breaks down the cells in individuals the body. To be more specific, cancer develops when normal cells in a particular part of the body begin to grow out of control. In other words, cancer causes your cells to divide and re-divide. Eventually, cancer will start to overwhelm a person’s immune system and take over their healthy cells. Once this happens, cancer can multiply. In some cases, cancer can even spread from one part of the body to another through the bloodstream.
Generally speaking, damaged DNA causes cancer. Therefore, an individual can inherit cancer from relatives. Many times though, drugs and alcohol are the reason why most people are diagnosed with cancer.
According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health, “Some of the earliest evidence of human bone cancer was found in mummies in ancient Egypt, and ancient manuscripts date about 1600 B.C. ” The NCBI also states, ” The world’s oldest recorded case of breast cancer hails from ancient Egypt in 1500 BC.” With this in mind, cancer has been around for years. Originally named after a Greek word “karkinos” to describe carcinoma tumors, cancer is a life-threatening disease.
What Kind Of Cancer Can An Alcoholic Get Diagnosed With
In recent studies, alcoholics diagnosed with cancer is becoming more and more common. According to the National Cancer Institute, ” There is a strong scientific consensus that alcohol drinking can cause several types of cancer.” The NIH also states “the more a person drinks regularly over time- the higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol addiction associated cancer. Even light drinkers and binge drinkers have a modestly increased risk of some cancers.” Believe it or not, the NIH estimates that 3.5% of cancer deaths in the United States (about 19,500 deaths) were alcohol-related. This points out that alcoholics that participate in binge drinking have a high chance of being diagnosed with cancer.
Over the years, alcohol consumption has been the leading cause of these types of cancer:
- Head and Neck Cancer: Head and neck cancer is associated with alcohol abuse. Moderate drinkers are prone to be diagnosed with oral cavity and throat cancers. Heavy drinkers are liable to be diagnosed with voice box cancer also known as larynx cancer. The risk of other kinds of cancer increases whenever you combine alcohol with other substances.
- Esophageal Cancer: Esophageal cancer also known as esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is associated with alcohol addiction. In comparison to people who are abstinent, alcoholics have a higher chance of being diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
- Liver Cancer: Excessive alcohol consumption is also associated with liver cancer. According to the American Liver Foundation, ” Liver cancer is the growth and spread of unhealthy cells in the liver, that spreads to the liver from another organ is called metastatic liver cancer. Cancer that starts in the liver is called primary liver cancer.” Long-term alcohol abuse can also raise the risk of liver cancer.
- Breast Cancer: Breast cancer is commonly found in alcoholics. Breast cancer symptoms usually are lumps in the breast, bloody discharge from upper body area, or changes in upper body shape. Breast cancer is more common in women who drink.
- Colorectal Cancer: Alcohol consumption causes colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer starts in the colon-rectum. Colorectal cancer can also be described as colon cancer and rectal cancer.
| Types Of Cancer | Risk of Developing | Risk Of Dying From |
|---|---|---|
| All Invasive Sites | 39.66% | 22.03% |
| Bladder | 3.76% | .94% |
| Brain and Nervous System | .7% | .53% |
| Colon and Rectum | 4.49% | 1.91% |
| Esophagus | .76% | .77% |
| Kidney and Renal Pelvis | 2.09% | .62% |
| Leukemia | 1.79% | 1.02% |
| Oral Cavity and Pharynx | 2.38% | .40% |
| Pancreas | 1.58% | 1.38% |
| Prostate | 11.55% | 2.45% |
| Stomach | 1.05% | .47% |
Alcoholic Men Cancer Risk Data CSV
Alcoholic Men With Cancer
Statistics show that men are more likely than women to be diagnosed with cancer. In recent studies led by the Broad Institute of MIT, Harvard, and General hospital investigators discovered that the genetic disparity between men and women is due to genetics.
According to the Dana Farber Institute, women have a protective layer in their DNA that decreases their chances of being diagnosed with cancer. Another reason why men have a higher chance of contracting cancer is their lifestyle choice.
As we all know, men are typically surrounded by carcinogens in the environment. Especially men that work in the factory Coincidentally, men that work in the factory and perform hard labor have a higher rate of picking up an addiction. In essence, alcohol addiction can also contribute to the rising risk of cancer in men.
Beyond the work environment, most men are diagnosed with cancer because they refuse to seek treatment. According to SAMHSA, “Of the estimated 22.7 million individuals ages 12 or older in 2013 who needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem, 2.5 million received treatment at a specialty facility.”
Therefore, less than 11% of the men with alcohol addiction problems seek drug rehab treatment. Henceforth, this leads to more men being diagnosed with cancer and dying from it.
Another reason why men have a higher chance of developing cancer than women is that men are more likely to consume more alcohol women. One of the reasons that men consume more alcohol than women is that they have a higher Body Mass Index.
As a result, men tend to consume more alcohol than women. Another reason that men consume more alcohol than women is that they are more subjected to the daily stresses in the workforce.
Not to say that women don’t experience stress in the workforce, but women make up less than 40% of the workforce.
All in all, it’s clear that men with alcohol addiction problems should consider the threat of cancer.
While most people don’t think that alcohol can cause cancer, this disease can actually affect men the worst. Therefore, men should take proactive measures and start seeking drug addiction treatment early.
| Types Of Cancer | Risk of Developing | Risk Of Dying From |
|---|---|---|
| All Invasive Sites | 37.65% | 18.76% |
| Bladder | 1.12% | .34% |
| Brain and Nervous System | .54% | .41% |
| Breast | 12.41% | 2.62% |
| Colon and Rectum | 4.15% | 1.74% |
| Esophagus | .22% | .20% |
| Kidney and Renal Pelvis | 1.20% | .33% |
| Leukemia | 1.26% | .71% |
| Lung and bronchus | 5.95% | 4.73% |
| Melanoma of the skin | 1.72% | .21% |
| Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | 1.87% | 0.66% |
| Oral Cavity and Pharynx | 0.68% | 0.18% |
| Ovary | 1.27% | 0.93% |
| Uterine Corpus | 2.85% | 0.06% |
Alcoholic Women Cancer Risk Data CSV
Alcoholic Women With Cancer
While women are less likely to be diagnosed with cancer because of alcohol, they are more vulnerable to cancer from alcohol consumption For starters are more likely to become addicted to alcohol than men.
While most people disagree, we would agree that most women have a lower tolerance for alcohol than men. Therefore they are more likely to become addicted to alcohol.
Not to mention, as more and more women enter into the workforce, alcohol addiction is becoming more common among women. Also, women also experience a vicious cycle of co-occurring that drive them towards alcohol addiction in particular single mothers.
During and after pregnancy women typically go through a wide range of hormonal changes, which leads them to depression, mood swings, and anxieties.
Combined with severe stress, single mothers have a habit of turning towards alcohol as their solution. Nevertheless, this only makes the problem worst.
On top of that, women also struggle with finding a drug rehab facility that supports their needs. To be more specific, women are more likely to seek treatment than men.
But due to their circumstances, some women can’t afford to leave their family to receive alcohol addiction treatment. Inevitably, this causes women to suffer from chronic drinking problems and depression.
Over time, excessive drinking can lead to women developing cancer. In the end, women with cancer tend to experience life long problems or death.
With this in mind, Gatehouse Treatment has decided to create a gender role specific drug treatment program to help women with alcohol addiction problems. We offer :
- Women’s intensive outpatient program
- Affiliated Women’s Sober Living & Halfway House
- Specific Therapies & Programming for Issues Unique To Women
- Women’s Family Program
What Kind Of Cancer Can A Drug Addicts Get Diagnosed With
Substance abuse disorder is a complex condition with serious consequences including cancer. As mentioned before, cancer is a fatal disease that threatens the functionality of the body. Out of all the drugs that cause cancer, tobacco has the worst reputation. Tobacco is a drug that has been commercialized by big industry companies to increase their profit margin at the expense of people’s health. In recent studies, the National Institute of Drug Abuse has been able to link smoking cigarettes to cancer of the mouth, neck, stomach, and lungs. The NIH also states that “Nonsmoking people exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke increase their chances of developing lung cancer in addition to other problems.”
Aside from cigarettes, cocaine also increases the chances of developing cancer. To be more specific, the agents that are used to cut cocaine are deadly. For instance, some of the things that are used to cut cocaine include anesthetics, poisons, and psychoactive ingredients. According to the National Cancer Institute, quinine is more than enough to damage anyone’s DNA. As mentioned before, cancer develops once a drug DNA is damaged. With this in mind, cocaine ingredients include an extensive list of deadly factors. Furthermore, cocaine, opiates, and fentanyl can increase your chances of developing and dying from cancer.
In light of this conversation, everyone should consider the side-effects of drug abuse to be severe. Whether you are male or female, excessive drug abuse can increase your chances of being diagnosed with cancer.
How Do Drug Addicts And Alcoholics Prevent Cancer
Drug addiction and alcohol addiction is a severe matter. Without the right drug rehab treatment, drug and alcohol abuse can take over your life. In the end, both of these substances can cause you to lose everything that you have, including your life. The relationship between cancer and drug and alcohol abuse is more common than you can imagine. Therefore, we want to help you avoid dying from cancer. Contact our local drug rehab near you, and let us help you get the drug and alcohol addiction treatment that you need, today. Call us at (855) 448-3558.
Even if you’re not located in Nashua New Hampshire, our drug rehab treatment facility can help you get the help that you need. Don’t wait. Contact Gatehouse Treatment, today.
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