KEY TAKEAWAYS
✅ Alcohol may harm nerve tissue. Overindulgent drinkers may experience tingling and soreness in their limbs.
✅ We call this alcoholic neuropathy. Peripheral nerves in persons with alcoholic neuropathy have been harmed by excessive alcohol consumption.
✅ The spinal cord, the brain, and the body are all connected by peripheral nerves.
✅ For healthy nerves, one needs thiamine, folate, niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, and vitamin E.
✅ Drinking excessively can impact these nutritional levels and the progression of alcoholic neuropathy.
✅ Fortunately, refraining from alcohol can improve your dietary well-being.
✅ This could lessen your discomfort and stop further nerve damage, too. However, some nerve damage brought on by alcohol is irreversible.
Alcoholic neuropathy symptoms
Movement and sensation can both be impacted by alcohol-related neuropathy. From minor discomfort to severe incapacity, symptoms might vary. Despite not being a life-threatening ailment, the condition can nonetheless affect your quality of life. Alcoholic neuropathy can damage certain bodily parts, such as:
Legs and Arms
- movement abnormalities
- numbness;
- tingling and burning
- prickly feelings
- cramps and spasms in the muscles
- muscle weakness and atrophy
- loss of muscle function
Bathroom and bowel
- difficulty starting to urinate
- incontinence
- constipation
- diarrhea
- feeling as though the bladder hasn’t been completely empty
Other
- impotence
- impaired speech
- difficulties swallowing
- heat intolerance, particularly after exercise
- nausea and vomiting
- dizziness or lightheadedness
If you experience signs of neuropathy, call your doctor. It is more likely that you will be able to recover if you receive early diagnosis and treatment.
Alcoholic neuropathy causes
Your body’s peripheral nerves assist with a variety of vital sensory and motor processes, such as bowel and urine evacuation, walking, sexual desire, arm and leg movement, and speech.
These nerves get damaged as a result of alcoholism, resulting in neuropathy. The protracted durations of excessive alcohol consumption may have caused the damage. Nerve damage can also result from nutritional issues associated with alcohol use, such as vitamin deficiencies.
Alcoholic neuropathy diagnosis
To identify this problem, your doctor will need to examine you. If you have ever consumed alcohol, be sure to tell your doctor about it so they can make an appropriate diagnosis. Other possible reasons for your symptoms must be ruled out by your doctor:
- Neurological examination
- nerve biopsy
- nerve conduction tests
- upper GI and small bowel series
- electromyography
- esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), kidney
- thyroid
- and liver function tests are among the tests that could reveal further probable causes of neuropathy.
- Full blood count (CBC)
Blood testing can also check for vitamin deficiencies, which have been linked to both alcohol consumption and neurological health. Your doctor may test for the following nutrients:
- Niacin Thiamine
- Folate
- Vitamins B6 and B12
- Biotin
- Pantothenic Acid
- Vitamins E, and Vitamin A
Alcoholic neuropathy treatment
Stopping drinking is the most crucial thing you can do to recover from this illness. The initial focus of treatment may be on alcohol consumption issues. This might necessitate inpatient therapy for certain folks. With outpatient therapy or social support, other people might be able to stop drinking.
Your doctor can concentrate on the neuropathy itself after addressing the issue of alcohol consumption. Management of symptoms is crucial. You can find it difficult to do daily tasks if you have nerve damage. Even more so, injury risk may increase due to nerve damage.
Each person has unique requirements. One or more forms of care may be used in the treatment of neuropathy. These include:
- prescription painkillers like tricyclic antidepressants and anticonvulsants
- vitamin supplements like folate, thiamine, niacin, and vitamins B6, B12, and E
- medication for people who have trouble urinating
- physical therapy to help with muscle atrophy
- orthopedic appliances to stabilize extremities
- safety gear like stabilizing footwear to prevent injuries
- and special stockings for your legs to prevent vertigo.
Future of Alcohol-Related Neuropathy
Usually, this illness permanently harms the nerves. If you don’t quit drinking, your symptoms will probably worsen. Your arms and legs can get hurt, and you might become disabled. However, you can lessen the harm caused by alcoholic neuropathy if it is discovered in time. Sometimes, avoiding alcohol and making dietary improvements might result in a mild to complete recovery.
Keeping Alcoholic Neuropathy at Bay
Avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, abstaining from alcohol if you experience alcoholic neuropathy symptoms, and seeking assistance if you have problems abstaining from alcohol are all ways to prevent alcoholic neuropathy.
Try to maintain a balanced diet, (taking vitamin supplements if necessary) however, always talk to your doctor before taking supplements.