A person should speak with a doctor about their individual outlook. Alcoholic neuropathy is a severe condition caused by excessive alcohol use. Damage to the nerves leads to unusual sensations in the limbs, reduced mobility, and loss of some bodily functions. It doesn’t happen overnight, but diabetes can cause nerve damage, especially if your blood sugar is out of control.
Sensory Neuropathy
The toxins can impact the nerve cells and interfere with their function. Anything from sniffing paint, glue, or various inhalants can have such an effect. Although the pain was common, not every patient experienced nerve damage the same way. The symptoms may vary depending on their autonomic, sensory, and motor nerve damage.
Is alcoholic neuropathy fatal?
The treatments depend on what’s causing it and the symptoms you experience. For others, treating and minimizing the symptoms and their effects is the best approach. This condition can affect a single nerve, a connected group of related nerves, or many nerves in multiple places throughout your body. The symptoms also depend on the type of nerve signals affected, and multiple signal types may be involved.
- It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact amount of alcohol intake that could cause alcoholic neuropathy.
- Sometimes symptoms get better, especially if caused by a condition that can be treated.
- Affected nerves include the peripheral nerves, primarily located in the arms and legs, and the autonomic nerves, which help regulate our internal body functions.
Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes
In a 2019 study, researchers showed that quitting alcohol had a positive effect on most people’s mental well-being. Some tests can be performed by a doctor to rule out other causes of neurologic symptoms. Cerebellar degeneration caused alcohol neuropathy by alcohol occurs when neurons in the cerebellum deteriorate and die. The cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls coordination and balance. These symptoms can occur in addition to the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
Does Alcoholic Neuropathy Go Away?
Sometimes, when neuropathy affects a single nerve, symptoms are clearly confined to one area. For example, the most common single-nerve form of neuropathy, Feldman says, is carpal tunnel syndrome. It happens when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the hand, gets inflamed or squeezed, causing numbness, pain and weakness in the hand and wrist.
She tailors interventions to individual needs, drawing from modalities like mindfulness, DBT, CBT, and EMDR. Originally from Chino Hills, California, Chanel began her education at Gonzaga University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Philosophy. She continued her education at the University of Denver and earned a master’s in clinical mental health counseling. Chanel completed internships at AspenRidge during her studies and eventually joined the team as a full-time primary clinician. Symptoms can include numbness in hands and feet, digestive issues, and loss of balance due to loss of nerve function. These are some other questions people often ask about alcoholic neuropathy.
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.
- Although the pain was common, not every patient experienced nerve damage the same way.
- Between post-graduate work and additional training courses, she honed her skills in treating first responders and military personnel from a trauma-informed perspective.
- The subgroup without thiamine deficiency consisted of 36 patients, while the subgroup with thiamine deficiency consisted of 28 patients.
- A doctor may also want to test the functioning of the kidneys, liver, and thyroid.
- Human studies have also suggested a direct toxic effect, since a dose-dependent relationship has been observed between severity of neuropathy and total life time dose of ethanol [6, 13].
After completing her bachelor’s degree, she continued her education at the University of Denver and earned a master’s in clinical mental health counseling with a side specialization in addiction. During grad school, she treated clients involved in the legal system as well as at a detox facility. After graduating, Karlie gained experience working in a residential program for eating disorders and a private practice before joining the AspenRidge team. If you’re concerned that you might have developed alcoholic neuropathy, your first port of call should be to contact a doctor and book yourself in for a check-up ASAP.
And without a sufficient amount of water, the kidneys can suffer heavy damage and lose functionality. When you pair that with pain and hypersensitivity, it becomes difficult for the hands and feet to function. So, people tend to lose coordination of their extremities and balance.
