In addition, a support group can help you cope with the life changes you’re experiencing as a result of your condition. You might look for a support group specifically for alcoholic neuropathy or for people coping with chronic pain. You may also benefit from a support group to help you reduce your drinking or completely quit drinking alcohol. While peripheral neuropathy generally cannot be cured, there are several medical treatments that can be used to manage the pain of alcoholic neuropathy, aiding in your recovery.
Synthesis of results
However, experts still do not have a full understanding of how alcoholic neuropathy happens, which can make treatment challenging. In a 2019 article, researchers explain that breaking down alcohol in the body produces a chemical that damages axons. Axons are the groups of nerve fibers that carry impulses between the brain and the nervous system. Treatment for alcoholism may include counseling, social support such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), or medicines. It is important to supplement the diet with vitamins, including thiamine and folic acid.
- Deficiency of vitamins other than thiamine may also contribute to clinical features of alcoholic neuropathy.
- A common adverse effect of chronic alcohol consumption is alcohol neuropathy.
- Apart from above function, over-activation of epsilon form of protein kinase C (PKCε) is known to be involved in mediating neuropathic pain, such as pain induced by cancer chemotherapy (vincristine) [56] and diabetes [57].
Alcoholic Neuropathy Treatment & Management
- According to many studies, alcohol-induced autonomic neuropathy (AAN) not only leads to potential damage to internal organs but also increases the mortality rate of patients [157, 158].
- This device also can help with ankle proprioception and can improve gait and prevent ankle sprains.
- Our muscles need to receive a message from nearby nerves in order to function.
- These two groups, however, were distinct from the standpoint that nerve conduction velocities were slower and sural nerve biopsy specimens revealed more segmental demyelination in the post gastrectomy group.
- As axons break down, the nerve fibers become less dense and cannot function properly.
In vivo study on rats showed impaired retrograde axonal transport [107, 108]. Thus, ALN might be induced by the combination of the effects of the direct activity of alcohol metabolites on the nerve fibers along with nutritional deficiencies primarily in a form of thiamine deficiency. In one clinical study, aimed alcohol neuropathy stages at studying distinct clinicopathologic features of alcoholic neuropathy, 64 patients were assessed. In 47 of these patients sural nerve biopsy was performed, with discrimination in terms of their thiamine status [3]. The ethanol consumption of these patients was more than 100 g day–1 for more than 10 years.
Other Treatment
Damage to nerves caused by alcoholic neuropathy, however, is usually permanent. Symptoms of AAN are non-specific; in the sympathetic division, these include impairments in perspiration, orthostatic hypotension, whereas in parasympathetic hoarseness, swallowing difficulties, or cardiac arrhythmias [111, 166]. Gastrointestinal symptoms include delayed stomach emptying and intestinal transit, dyspepsia, and faster emptying of the gallbladder [165].
Risk factors
The decreases in nerve conduction velocity were significantly less in groups supplemented with acetyl-L-carnitine. In addition, acetyl-L-carnitine did not interfere with the antitumour effects of the drugs. Due to the breadth of the literature surrounding this topic, this review shall focus exclusively upon peripheral neuropathy, without discussing autonomic neuropathy. The most important strategy against alcoholic neuropathy lies in preventing the symptoms from getting worse by decreasing alcohol consumption as soon as possible.
Antiepileptic drugs, such as the gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue (gabapentin), have proven helpful in some cases of neuropathic pain. These drugs have central and peripheral anticholinergic effects, as well as sedative effects, and they block the active re-uptake of norepinephrine and serotonin. Recently, extended release gabapentin relieved symptoms of painful polyneuropathy [120].
Malnutrition and Micronutrients Deficiency
Four studies reported abnormalities only in sensory nerves [33, 47, 63, 64], while ten reported abnormalities in both sensory and motor nerves [2–4, 16, 38, 54, 56, 58, 59, 65]. This may be a reflection of the severity of the neuropathy in which motor nerve function is affected at a later stage. The abnormalities were usually of reduced amplitude, in keeping with axonal loss [2, 3, 5, 11, 12, 16, 21, 27, 37–39, 47, 51, 53, 54, 56, 63–68].
Alcohol-Induced Neuropathy in Chronic Alcoholism: Causes, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options
However, neuropathy is generally an exclusion criterion for transplantation. Your health care provider will perform a physical exam and ask about symptoms. Autonomic nerves are concerned with muscular functions which are reflexive, such as breathing, heartbeats and peristalsis (rhythmic movements of the intestines).
Medical Professionals
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- Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is a mitochondrial enzyme which undergoes a single amino acid substitution (mutation) in about 50% of the Asian population in a way similar to the genetic changes in sickle cell anaemia [21].
- The cause is multifactorial, from both nutritional deficiencies and alcohol metabolism’s direct toxic effects on neurons.
- 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.
- Acetyl-L-carnitine has been tested in clinical [102] and animal studies [103] for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.
- If you are having difficulty avoiding alcohol, there are resources that can help you quit.