Alcoholic Neuropathy: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments

Unfortunately, patient compliance is poor, and the condition often progresses, leading to poor quality of life. Alcoholic neuropathy is a debilitating condition resulting from prolonged excessive alcohol consumption, leading to nerve damage throughout the body. This condition manifests when ethanol in alcohol and its metabolites, like acetaldehyde, harm nerve tissues, disrupting their normal functions. Over time, chronic alcoholism can deplete the body of essential nutrients, particularly B vitamins like thiamine, which are crucial for nerve health. This deficiency, combined with the toxic effects of alcohol on nerve cells, precipitates the development of neuropathic symptoms. Benfotiamine (S-benzoylthiamine O-monophoshate) is a synthetic S-acyl derivative of thiamine (vitamin B1).

How common is this condition?

Affected nerves include the peripheral nerves, primarily located in the arms and legs, and the autonomic nerves, which help regulate our internal body functions. About 46% of chronic alcohol users will eventually develop this condition. The recovery time for alcoholic neuropathy varies significantly among individuals and is influenced by the severity of the neuropathy and the individual’s history of alcohol consumption. Those with mild neuropathic symptoms and a shorter history of alcohol abuse may experience quicker and more significant recovery, especially if they cease alcohol intake and receive appropriate treatment promptly. Alcoholic neuropathy is one of the most common adverse effects of chronic alcohol consumption.

What is alcohol-related neurologic disease?

Your brain and spinal cord are the two components that make up your central nervous system. Your peripheral nervous system consists of all the other nerves in your body. It also includes nerves that travel from your spinal cord and brain to supply your face and the rest of your body. The best way to prevent peripheral neuropathy is to manage medical conditions that put you at risk. If it affects two or more nerves in different areas, it's called multiple mononeuropathy, and if it affects many nerves, it's called polyneuropathy. Preventing alcoholic neuropathy is fundamentally about managing our alcohol intake.

The Symptoms of Alcoholic Neuropathy and Treatment Options

As a result, it is usually necessary to get medical help to manage alcohol use disorder. Avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol is the primary way to prevent alcoholic neuropathy. If you notice you are developing signs of alcoholic neuropathy (such as numbness after drinking alcohol), in addition to seeing a physician, try to stay away from alcohol altogether. If you are having difficulty avoiding alcohol, there are resources that can help you quit.

Call for an appointment with your provider if you have symptoms of alcoholic neuropathy. If you’ve been diagnosed with alcoholic neuropathy, the best thing you can do for yourself is to quit drinking, which we know is easier said than done, but you don’t have to do it alone. Consider joining a support group — there are a number online if your condition prevents you from leaving the house. In some instances, a doctor may wish to carry out a nerve biopsy, which involves the harvesting of a small fraction of a nerve (usually from the ankle area) for closer examination using high-powered microscopes. This may well reveal damage-patterns consistent with alcoholic neuropathy across the nerves of the affected area.

• Treatment for alcoholic neuropathy first focuses on stopping or significantly reducing alcohol intake.
• No amount of alcohol is safe to drink while pregnant, according to the CDC.
• The most common findings are sensory-related and vary, including pain, numbness, and paresthesias.
• The reason for better results in the benfotiamine alone group than in the Milgamma-N group, despite the fact that the benfotiamine dosage was equivalent, is not completely understood.
• We found more potent effects with tocotrienol as compared with α-tocopherol [55].
• Alcoholic neuropathy is a condition in which drinking too much alcohol causes damage to nerve tissue.

Plus, we’re always introducing new features to optimize your in-app experience. We recently launched our in-app chatbot, Melody, powered by the world’s most powerful AI technology. Melody is here to help as you adjust to a life with less (or no) alcohol. alcohol neuropathy stages Doctors or family and friends can provide early intervention, which can help you avoid alcohol-related neurologic disease. In a 2019 study, researchers showed that quitting alcohol had a positive effect on most people’s mental well-being.

What You Can Do If You’re Affected By Alcoholic Neuropathy

Alcoholic neuropathy, also called alcohol-induced peripheral neuropathy, is nerve damage in the body caused by the toxic effects of alcohol. If you receive a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy, you should see your healthcare provider as recommended or if you notice changes in your symptoms. You should also talk to them if you experience side effects from any treatments.

In an animal study, it has been found that chronic alcohol consumption in rats resulted in a significant depletion in thiamine diphosphate (TDP), the active coenzyme form of thiamine. Supplementation with benfotiamine significantly increased concentrations of TDP and total thiamine compared with supplementation with thiamine HCl [96]. An 8 week, randomized, multicentre, placebo-controlled, double-blind study compared the effect of benfotiamine alone with a benfotiamine complex (Milgamma-N) or placebo in 84 alcoholic patients. Parameters measured included vibration perception in the great toe, ankle and tibia, neural pain intensity, motor function and paralysis, sensory function and overall neuropathy score and clinical assessment. Although benfotiamine therapy was superior to Milgamma-N or placebo for all parameters, results reached statistical significance only for motor function, paralysis and overall neuropathy score. The reason for better results in the benfotiamine alone group than in the Milgamma-N group, despite the fact that the benfotiamine dosage was equivalent, is not completely understood.

Consuming alcoholic beverages can cause muscle weakness, tingling, numbness and a heavy feeling because it depletes the body of vitamins and minerals essential for muscle health. The side effect is temporary, but over time, heavy drinking can lead to permanent muscle degeneration that leaves the legs and arms weak and painful. Acetyl-L-carnitine has been tested in clinical [102] and animal studies [103] for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. The decreases in nerve conduction velocity were significantly less in groups supplemented with acetyl-L-carnitine.

Clinical features of alcoholic peripheral neuropathy develop slowly, extending over a period of months and include abnormalities in sensory, motor, autonomic and gait functions. Painful sensations with or without burning quality represent the initial and major symptom of alcoholic neuropathy [2, 4]. Later on, weakness appears in the extremities, involving mainly the distal parts. Progressively, the sensory and motor symptoms and signs extend proximally into the arms and legs and finally the gait may become impaired [11]. Progression of symptoms is usually gradual, continuing over months or years [2, 4].