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Nerves help you to move (motor nerves) and feel physical sensations (sensory nerves). Some of your bodily functions are autonomic, which means that you don’t directly control them. Nerves that are part of the autonomic nervous system help to regulate heart rate, body temperature, respiration, and blood pressure.

What causes alcohol-related neurologic disease?

Behse & Buchthal [31] compared 37 Danish patients with alcoholic neuropathy with six patients with nonalcoholic post gastrectomy polyneuropathy. The authors noted that Danish beer at the time of the study contained thiamine and vitamin B6. Thus, deficiency of these vitamins was felt to be unlikely in Danish beer drinkers at that time and, indeed, measured vitamin concentrations were mostly normal.

Spotting The Early Warning Signs Of Peripheral Neuropathy

By reaching out for help, you can start taking the necessary steps towards recovery and improved quality of life. This condition can be acute, affecting people for a short period of time before resolving, or chronic, lasting for a longer period of time. Researchers have not determined if this is caused by the effects of alcohol on the brain or is the result of thiamine deficiency. Females can be more susceptible than males to many of the negative consequences of alcohol use, such as nerve damage, as they may begin to see effects from a lower amount of alcohol consumption. As with any medical condition, prompt treatment is key to heal existing damage and prevent further harm.

Alcoholic Myopathy

• There are no medications that can help improve loss of sensation, strengthen muscle weakness, or assist with the coordination and balance problems caused by alcoholic neuropathy.
• The researchers also took into account demographics, liver and kidney function, vital signs, health care use, medication use, recent visits to pain or mental health clinics, or comorbid conditions.
• Gabapentin, while commonly prescribed for various conditions, comes with its own risks.

Thankfully, there are certain aspects of alcoholic neuropathy that can be treated. For instance, painkillers, antidepressants, and anti-seizure medications can be instrumental in terms of pain management, although these aren’t considered scientifically approved treatments. Maintaining a healthy diet supplemented with plenty of B12, vitamin E, folate, and thiamine can help with the deficiency side of things. But if you have developed neuropathy as a result of alcohol use, it’s important to stop drinking as soon as possible. Professional and peer help through programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous or other substance abuse programs can help you reduce your alcohol consumption.

Identifying Symptoms and Effects

Alcohol has a toxic effect on the nerve tissue, and excessive alcohol use can lead to a condition called alcoholic neuropathy. The disease manifests itself through a tingling sensation in the limbs, caused by nerve and brain damage from alcohol consumption. Vitamin E is used to refer to a group of fat-soluble compounds that include both tocopherols and tocotrienols. Treatment with vitamin E was found to be beneficial in the treatment of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy [104] and neuropathic pain in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats [105]. We found more potent effects with tocotrienol as compared with α-tocopherol [55]. One of the other important issues in alcoholic individuals is the source of their calorie intake.

The hyperalgesia was acutely attenuated by intradermal injection of nonselective PKC or selective PKCε inhibitors injected at the site of nociceptive testing. Miyoshi et al. [15] found that a significant decrease in the mechanical nociceptive threshold was observed after 5 weeks of chronic ethanol consumption in rats. Injection of (S)-2,6-diamino-N-[[1-(oxotridecyl)-2-piperidinyl]methyl] hexanamide dihydrochloride (NPC15437), a selective PKC inhibitor, once a day for a week after 4 weeks of ethanol treatment. Moreover, phosphorylated PKC was significantly increased in the spinal cord following chronic ethanol consumption. These findings constitute direct evidence that spinal PKC plays a substantial role in the development and maintenance of an ethanol-dependent neuropathic pain-like state in rats.

• Someone who struggles with alcoholism may replace meals with alcohol, take in a lot of empty calories, and not maintain a healthy and balanced diet.
• However, if caught early enough, you can minimize the damage from alcoholic neuropathy.
• However, this allodynia was reversed completely immediately after the mice were allowed to drink alcohol.
• Malnutrition due to alcoholism can contribute to nerve damage and alcoholic polyneuropathy as well.

Alcohol enters the bloodstream from the digestive system within 5 minutes of consumption, and peak absorption is seen within 30 to 90 minutes. One of the many inhibitory effects of chronic alcohol use is malnutrition. Patients who abuse alcohol tend to consume fewer calories and have poor absorption alcohol neuropathy stages of nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract. There are also direct toxic effects of alcohol and its metabolites on neurons affecting cellular cytoskeletons and demyelination of neurons. Among patients with chronic alcohol use disorder, neuropathy is the most common harmful sequelae.

Alcohol can damage nerves and blood cells, which, in turn, can lead to neuropathy and make neuropathy symptoms worse. People with the most common forms of neuropathy often need no other diagnostic tests, she says. However, some “red flags,” such as one-sided symptoms, weakness or symptoms that develop suddenly, call for a workup by a neurologist, says Gordon Smith, M.D., a professor of neurology at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Causes of Alcoholic Neuropathy