Can Alcohol And Drug Abuse Cause Severe Heart Disorder?

Posted on Wed, 3 Aug 2016

Question: my sstep son who is 38 yrs was just admitted for chest pains they said his heart is only working at 18 percent he has a long history of alochol and drug abuse meth he just checked himself out dr said if he doesnt go to rehab he wil die in two weeks to a month true or just trying to scare him he will not change his ways

Answered by Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich (21 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Partially true

Detailed Answer:
Hi and welcome.
First,this is very serious heart damage especially for someone so young. Second,I don't think that alcohol and drugs are mainly cause if heart disorder,this is more likely to be miocardiopathy but his addiction worsen things definitely. Now,he must doctors advice. He must take medications and his heart function must be restored. it is hard to prognose anything but such young man should live for decades more and it is not smart to calculate with this. if he continues with previous life habits,he will definitely have short life expectancy,it isn't matter if this is weeks,month or year,but it will be definitely short

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Veerisetty Shyamkumar