Chinese man proves what excessive drinking can really do to you

[Jabberwocky]

A MAN who drank two litres of spirits a day has shown just what excessive drinking can really do to your body.

For more than 30 years, Hong Shu consumed two litres of the Chinese spirit, baijiu, a day.

And now the man from Guangzhou in southern China is paying the price, The Mirror reports, developing a fatty tumour described as a “horse’s neck”.

The distilled spirit is made from rice, sorghum or other grains, and has an ABV (alcohol by volume) of anywhere between 40 and 60 per cent.

Over the course of 30 years, Shu consumed tens of thousands of litres of the hard liquor, which triggered the rare Madelung disease.

Shu has struggled to eat, sleep or breathe after being diagnosed with the disease, which causes fatty deposits to accumulate in numerous parts of the body including the neck, arms and legs.

It was a decade ago when the 53-year-old started to see the changes in his body. It began with swelling behind both of his ears, but slowly spread to around his throat area.
In time, the fatty deposits took over his neck, leading him to be called “the man with the horse’s neck”.

The swelling around Shu’s throat was more than 15 centimetres wide and around 14 centimetres long. He also had two lumps on his neck that measured 18 centimetres inches wide.

This has caused him to became withdrawn, depressed and he rarely went outside.

But since being diagnosed doctors have no performed three successive surgeries on Shu to remove the fatty deposits.

He is due to be discharged from hospital, the People’s Daily Online reported.

There are only around 400 instances of the extremely rare disease worldwide.


Source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/he...really-do-to-you/story-fneuzlbd-1227588086514

 

[slimvictor]

Yuck.
Chinese baijiu is such low-quality alcohol, though... gives a nasty hangover, for example.
I wonder if he had drunk something cleaner/purer if he might not have been less affected.
But, in any case, alcohol is a strong drug. One of the strongest, with some of the worst side-effects.

 

[belligerent drunk]

30 years of drinking 2 litres of any 40% liquor no matter how clean it is you're gonna end up with a fucked liver, pancreas, kidneys and whatnot. It's a poison.

 

[Foreigner]

Baijiu is the most disgusting liquor I have ever tasted. Even the smell of it is vomit worthy.

 

[SmokingAces]

If I were him I would seriously consider ending it. A shame for him, but his drinking was stupid and irresponsible. I do think low quality stuff does lead to more negative sides but even then he would still be done for, drinking like that.

 

[PerfectDisguise]

30 years of drinking 2 litres of any 40% liquor no matter how clean it is you're gonna end up with a fucked liver, pancreas, kidneys and whatnot. It's a poison.

Exactly. Horrible drug that is legal, and will continue to be legal. Not that I'm complaining, because I indulge in alcohol every weekend.

 

[rokkinrollaa6]

I am Russian. I have known people who drink more than this daily and have no real problems but the obvious social ones. if this was due to alcohol alone, Russians would have this en masse, and yet I have rarely heard of such a thing. it is uniue to his physiognomy, the stuff he is drinking, and where he lives. Russians and eastern european people don't have this issue. my father drinks every night for 43 years and has no issue like this. many people drink for decades in russia with only heart or liver problems, then they stop, problems often go away. many more drink withhout any real issue other than a social one.

 

[belligerent drunk]

I am Russian. I have known people who drink more than this daily and have no real problems but the obvious social ones. if this was due to alcohol alone, Russians would have this en masse, and yet I have rarely heard of such a thing. it is uniue to his physiognomy, the stuff he is drinking, and where he lives. Russians and eastern european people don't have this issue. my father drinks every night for 43 years and has no issue like this. many people drink for decades in russia with only heart or liver problems, then they stop, problems often go away. many more drink withhout any real issue other than a social one.

Northerners have developed somewhat a tolerance to the toxic effects of alcohol. My father's been drinking all his life and he's fine and like you said, I don't really hear about people getting cirrhosis or something that often. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen a lot. You should look at the statistics, especially in Europe and US - the number of people with alcoholic liver disease is quite... sad. Also, asians are notorious for being intolerant to acetaldehyde, the toxic metabolite of ethanol which is responsible for most of the damage to organs.

Also you should understand that just because alcoholics you know appear more or less fine it doesn't mean they really are. Few go to doctors to get checked out, especially if you live by the bottle. They may have fucked their organism up a long time ago but it hasn't come out yet. I have some contact with the russian culture and from my perspective I would say that russians are ones who don't really care about their health, especially men of the soviet generation; I think it comes from the mentality that one has to be tough and deal with their problems on their own, I don't know. But going to the doctor is something not a lot of russians do, which means these problems go by unnoticed.

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

I like how they blur out this dudes eyes as if you wouldn't be able to recognize him immediately cause of this horse neck shit.... 8)

 

[Screaming_Skull]

That's alot of drinking. Use to be a heavy drinker myself around 17 (everynight, whiskey, would usually get shitfaced) then thankuflly I found a steady connect for bud at 18 and booze no longer(once in a blue moon with friends), just what a shitty drug, bleh. Found a steady suppy of opiates at 19 and it's been that ever since with dashes of amphetimines,ummm, a lot more benzo's since being on subs since they actually take away my craving for opiates, while Sub alone doesn't for some reason, and makes me anxious on its own for some reason. But I have noticed in periods of not having anything in the past(opiates, weed) I tend to start drinking heavily, which makes me never wanna go off maintaince, because I kinda stayed drunk for a brief second. Nasty drug thats cheap and legal to get that can kill ya from w/d's, tear up your body, cause violence of sorts...and weed is still illegal, makes no sense...Hell, none of our drug laws makes sense here in America..The two that kill the most are Legal it seems(alcohol/tobbacoo) but I'm rambling this isn't news to anyone...don't get me started on making precription pain meds harder to get, just leading people/addicts to go to Heroin, which would be way safer than alcohol if it was a prescription too and the person knew how much they were getting..

 

[HeatherWesling]

I like how they blur out this dudes eyes as if you wouldn't be able to recognize him immediately cause of this horse neck shit.... 8)

This so true lmao

 

[aihfl]

I am Russian. I have known people who drink more than this daily and have no real problems but the obvious social ones. if this was due to alcohol alone, Russians would have this en masse, and yet I have rarely heard of such a thing. it is uniue to his physiognomy, the stuff he is drinking, and where he lives. Russians and eastern european people don't have this issue. my father drinks every night for 43 years and has no issue like this. many people drink for decades in russia with only heart or liver problems, then they stop, problems often go away. many more drink withhout any real issue other than a social one.

This is true. I worked in Japan for two years after college and Asians do process alcohol differently than people in the rest of the world:

http://www.berkeleywellness.com/self-care/preventive-care/article/asians-and-alcohol

Also, the highest recorded blood alcohol was a Bulgarian who clocked in at .97. He had consumed two liters of vodka to get to that BAC and I'm willing to bet that wasn't the first day he had done that. He was trying to cross a street and was hit by a car and was transported to a hospital where he was conscious and able to communicate with doctors. Again, evidence that the Chinese man's physiognomy and possibly the liquor he was drinking were the factors in him developing this condition. And I agree with everyone who's said that baiju is nasty. I tried doing one shot and vomited.

http://www.pravdareport.com/news/society/sex/10-01-2005/60923-0/

 

[DRUGZNOTHUGZ]

2 litres of straight piss every day for 30 years? How he's alive at all is beyond me.

 

[ro4eva]

If only "please drink responsibly" and/or "please enjoy responsibly" were changed to accurately portray the health risks associated with the consumption of this especially toxic drug, I have no doubt that we as a society would look at the consumption of booze in a similar light to the way we currently view the consumption of tobacco.

 

[RDP89]

If only "please drink responsibly" and/or "please enjoy responsibly" were changed to accurately portray the health risks associated with the consumption of this especially toxic drug, I have no doubt that we as a society would look at the consumption of booze in a similar light to the way we currently view the consumption of tobacco.

Yeah, the only warnings the U.S. government requires are (1. Women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risks of birth defects and (2. Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems. "May cause health problems" gives no real idea of the actual risks.

 

[Erikmen]

If only "please drink responsibly" and/or "please enjoy responsibly" were changed to accurately portray the health risks associated with the consumption of this especially toxic drug, I have no doubt that we as a society would look at the consumption of booze in a similar light to the way we currently view the consumption of tobacco.

Agree totally with you. That and all the social consequences.

 

[aihfl]

Yeah, the only warnings the U.S. government requires are (1. Women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risks of birth defects and (2. Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems. "May cause health problems" gives no real idea of the actual risks.

Here in Florida, we have tv and radio commercials that demonstrate the horrific outcomes of prolonged tobacco use. Dr. C. Everett Koop (President Reagan's surgeon general) is largely responsible for turning public opinion against tobacco. I have often wondered why there hasn't been a Dr. Koop for alcohol and commercials showing an end stage alcoholic in a hospital bed or someone with Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (wet brain). Of course with our government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations, it isn't going to happen. The alcohol lobby would never allow it.

 

[poledriver]

^ 10-20 years ago we'd have never have thought the tobacco industry could have been restricted like they have, especially here in Australia they have been enforced to do certain things like plain packaging (no branding or colours), graphic warnings on packs, no advertising (on TV, sporting events and in magazines and newspapers etc), products sold from behind closed doors (not visible to public) and quit ads on tv/radio/newspapers and tax price hikes etc. It seems to have been pretty effective in reducing smoking rates and the image of smoking.

I hope that the alcohol industry gets reeled in soon to follow some similar sorts of restrictions on how they operate.

 

[Erikmen]

I know! People get drunk as if this is the most normal thing to be done on weekends and while you are enjoying your soccer game.

I can relate to the cigarettes' campaign as I saw these glamorous TV films from my time and all sort of positive propaganda and outcomes from smoking compared to now where people can't hardly smoke outside in front of a restaurant.

I often talk to my son saying that in the future (from my perspective) this will be treated differently and generations will look back on time and see how easygoing and hypocrite at some extent society has been towards alcohol.