Alcoholic Neuropathy: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

The sooner you stop drinking alcohol, the more favorable your outlook is if you have alcohol-related neuropathy. Research suggests you can recover from some or all of the nerve damage caused by alcohol-related neuropathy. It’s important to speak with a healthcare professional if you experience any symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. Early diagnosis and treatment can help increase your chances of fully recovering. Femoral neuropathy is an uncommon peripheral neuropathy, which most commonly occurs when the femoral nerve is compressed as it passes under the inguinal ligament anterior to the iliopsoas muscle. HVRC’s Drug & Alcohol Addiction Program provides medically supervised detox and rehab for alcoholism and other types of chemical dependency.

• A doctor may diagnose a person with alcoholic neuropathy, if alcohol use has damaged the peripheral nerves.
• N-acetylcysteine, an amino acid, is a potent antioxidant and helps to enhance glutathione concentrations.
• The diagnostic process may involve neurological examination, blood tests, and electromyography.

Diagnosis of Alcohol-Related Peripheral Neuropathy

It is possible that hepatic dysfunction and alcoholic toxicity each cause neuropathy independently, and that there is frequently overlap between the two. It may also be that comorbid hepatic dysfunction is a risk factor for alcohol-related peripheral neuropathy. Further studies are required to develop a greater understanding of the interaction these entities. Alcoholic neuropathy alcoholism treatment damages the nerves due to prolonged and excessive alcohol consumption.

Progressive & Permanent Side Effects

However, recognizing the symptoms and seeking medical attention early may minimize the impact of the condition. There’s no exact timeframe for how quickly alcohol-related neuropathy develops. However, stopping consuming alcohol sooner can help stop the progression of nerve damage.

Alcoholic Neuropathy Causes, Warning Signs, Symptoms, & Treatment

However, those who do not stop drinking or who have experienced too much nerve damage and degeneration before receiving treatment often experience permanent and irreversible effects of alcoholic neuropathy. The earliest symptoms of alcoholic neuropathy/alcoholic polyneuropathy are usually minor but will gradually worsen over time as a person’s problematic abuse of alcohol https://ecosoberhouse.com/ continues and their nerves become increasingly exposed. Alcoholic neuropathy is not typically fatal, but it can cause serious complications due to loss of nerve function.

How do doctors diagnose alcoholic neuropathy?

This can be achieved by complete alcohol abstinence and a balanced diet primarily supplemented by B6, B12, and E vitamins, as well as folate, thiamine, and niacin. Benzodiazepines are commonly used to reduce the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal syndrome; acamprosate and naltrexone are effective to treat alcohol dependence; however, the latter usually induces withdrawal symptoms 175. Further, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are prescribed to treat alcohol-induced neuropathic pain via exerting antinociceptive properties by increasing serotonergic and noradrenergic neurotransmissions 71. In an animal model, Kaur et al. (2017) showed that curcumin and sildenafil administrated alone or in combination represent a therapeutic advantage in alcohol-induced neuropathic pain 176.

• In this case, there may be some improvement in the symptoms of alcoholic neuropathy after the liver transplant, but the neuropathy may also be so advanced that there may be little, if any, improvement, even after a transplant.
• Take the following steps if you suspect you have neuropathy from overconsumption of alcohol.
• The pain is described as burning, cramp-like, or itching; also, a common symptom is a subjective feeling of cold in both feet 118,119,120,121,122,123.
• Chronic alcoholism can alter the intake, absorption and utilization of various nutrients (nicotinic acid, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate or vitamin E).
• If that diagnosis is confirmed, you’ll need supervised detox in a hospital, plus long-term counseling to reinvent your life and avoid relapse.
• If you have a diagnosis of alcoholic neuropathy, abstinence from alcohol is the primary treatment to restore nerve function.

Lifestyle Quizzes

Other botanical or nutrient therapies include myo-inositol, vitamin E, topical capsaicin, and N-acetylcysteine. The onset of ALN is intensified by several risk factors such as malnutrition, thiamine deficiency, direct and indirect toxic effects of alcohol and its metabolites on nerve fibers, and genetic predispositions of patients 55, 139,140,141,142,143. It is still unclear what is the alcoholic neuropathy major determinant in the pathogenesis of ALN. Primarily, thiamine deficiency is the crucial risk factor of ALN since it induces the progression of Korsakoff’s syndrome and beriberi 144, 145.

Studies have also found that two groups of people show a higher rate of alcoholic neuropathy than others. Alcoholic neuropathy requires a comprehensive treatment approach focused on both halting the condition’s progression and alleviating its symptoms. This dual strategy is essential to manage the condition effectively and improve our quality of life. It is important to supplement the diet with vitamins, including thiamine and folic acid. Thus, there is a need to screen acetyl-L-carnitine in both preclinical and clinical models of alcoholic neuropathy.

• There is damage to the nerves due to the direct toxic effect of alcohol and the malnutrition induced by it.
• Treatment for alcoholic neuropathy first focuses on stopping or significantly reducing alcohol intake.
• Benzodiazepines are commonly used to reduce the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal syndrome; acamprosate and naltrexone are effective to treat alcohol dependence; however, the latter usually induces withdrawal symptoms 175.
• In this way, a high alcohol intake is able to both damage a person’s nervous system and, through malnutrition, prevent the body from properly maintaining and resolving that damage.

Nerve Damage

Activation of spinal cord microglia, mGlu5 spinal cord receptors, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis also seem to be implicated in the pathophysiology of this alcoholic neuropathy. The goal of treatment is to impede further damage to the peripheral nerves while also restoring their normal physiology. Protein kinase C (PKC) is a family of protein kinases consisting of approximately 10 isozymes. PKC is involved in receptor desensitization, modulating membrane structure events, regulating transcription, mediating immune responses, regulating cell growth and in learning and memory. These functions are achieved by PKC mediated phosphorylation of other proteins 16.