Alcohol-related peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis PMC

The liver metabolizes most of the alcohol you consume, breaking it down into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a toxin that can damage the body’s organs and tissues before it is further broken down into acetate. Years of moderate to heavy drinking can cause liver scarring (fibrosis), increasing the risk of liver diseases like cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis, fatty liver disease, and liver cancer.

What Does Alcoholic Neuropathy Feel Like: Understanding the Symptoms and Impact on Daily Life

Individuals with alcoholic neuropathy often make a partial or full recovery, depending on the extent and duration of their alcohol consumption. The best thing a person with alcoholic neuropathy can do is to stop or significantly reduce their alcohol intake. People who drink too much may start to feel pain and tingling in their limbs. Alcoholic neuropathy is simply peripheral neuropathy triggered by the excessive consumption of alcohol over extended periods of time. The first step in treating alcoholic neuropathy includes stopping alcohol use altogether. If your drinking is out of your control, know that many treatment options are available.

Vitamins That May Help To Treat Neuropathy Symptoms

Be patient with yourself and take each day at a time, celebrating progress and learning from setbacks along the way. If you or someone you care about is struggling with the effects of alcoholic neuropathy, remember that you do not have to face these difficulties alone. You can seek guidance from trained experts and trusted resources that understand your situation, such as Sabino Recovery.

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It’s such a common issue that 25% to 66% of chronic alcohol drinkers have some kind of neuropathy. There is no alcoholic neuropathy cure, but the first step to do is to stop drinking. The doctor might also suggest an inpatient detox or outpatient rehab in an alcohol treatment center if the patient’s alcohol disorder is severe.

The prevalence of denervation findings on EMG ranged from muscle to muscle, with the highest being in the muscles of the lower limbs suggesting a length-dependent pattern [35, 45, 52, 59]. Alcoholic neuropathy is damage to the nerves that results from excessive drinking of alcohol. The damage may affect the autonomic nerves (those that regulate internal body functions) and the nerves that control movement and sensation. The peripheral nervous system sends information from the brain and spinal cord, also called the central nervous system, to the rest of the body through motor nerves. The peripheral nerves also send sensory information to the central nervous system through sensory nerves. Alcoholic neuropathy is a severe condition caused by excessive alcohol use.

• Having a healthcare professional come to your house to assist with your needs can relieve a lot of added stress on you to keep track of your treatment plan alone.
• For example, the most common single-nerve form of neuropathy, Feldman says, is carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Frequencies and descriptive characteristics extracted were calculated.
• Thus, these vitamin deficiencies were not considered to be major causal factors of neuropathy [26].

Polyneuropathy involves damage to more than one nerve at the same time, usually multiple nerves throughout the peripheral nervous system and all over the body. When alcoholic neuropathy causes nerve damage, this damage is often permanent. With continued alcohol abuse, people become vulnerable to chronic pain, disability, and damage to their extremities. A medical detox program alcohol neuropathy stages followed by a comprehensive alcohol rehab program can manage alcoholism and help a person to get sober and stay that way. Many alcohol rehab programs help to manage co-occurring disorders, such as alcoholic polyneuropathy. A program that caters to co-occurring disorders ensures that the alcoholism is being treated and so are any other medical or mental health issues.

And exactly four studies reported noticing some level of abnormalities in the sensory nerves. Depending on how severe the nerve damage is, it can cause mild discomfort to severe disability. This is also something that can have a long-term psychological impact. It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact amount of alcohol intake that could cause alcoholic neuropathy.

What Are the Causes of This Type of Nerve Damage?

It is estimated that in the United States 25% to 66% of chronic alcohol users experience some form of neuropathy; however, the true incidence in the general population is unknown. The majority of patients were middle-class, working men and continuous drinkers were more affected than episodic drinkers. Parental family history is a risk factor for developing this condition. Women are more likely to develop alcohol polyneuropathy and suffer from a more rapid onset and greater severity. In people with alcoholic neuropathy, the peripheral nerves have been damaged by too much alcohol use.

• Meanwhile, drinking dehydrates your entire body which can lead to heel fissures as well as flaky, cracked foot skin.
• Some studies suggest gabapentin can help treat some anxiety disorders.
• Wine, beer and cocktails also have quite an effect on your feet and legs.
• When you consume alcohol, it’s absorbed into your bloodstream from the stomach and the small intestine.