By Heidi Moawad, MDHeidi Moawad is a neurologist and expert in the field of brain health and neurological disorders. Dr. Moawad regularly writes and edits health and career content for medical books and publications. Especially if you have been drinking heavily for many years, coping with alcohol use disorder is not easy. But with the proper resources to help, you are better set up for success with sobriety. 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. Nerve damage typically affects the axons, which are the projections that send electrical signals from one nerve to another.

• Naik et al. [38] suggested the involvement of oxidative stress in experimentally induced chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve model in rats.
• Painful sensations with or without burning quality represent the initial and major symptom of alcoholic neuropathy [2, 4].
• People with alcoholic neuropathy who stop drinking may alleviate their current symptoms and prevent further nerve deterioration.
• As the nerve conduction velocity in the limbs increased, their functional status improved.

Nutritional factors responsible for alcoholic neuropathy (indirect toxicity)

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]. 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]. PKC and protein kinase A (PKA) are both known to be important in nociceptor function [57–59].

Alcohol and Stroke Risk

A mechanism of cisplatin chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy was elucidated in an in vitro mouse model. Apoptosis of neurones was induced by cisplatin, but pre-incubation with N-acetylcysteine completely blocked apoptosis [112]. The available data addressing the role of hepatic dysfunction is presently inconclusive.

Peripheral neuropathy

The authors point out that this could be an anomaly due to the wine drinkers consuming more ethanol than other alcohol abusers but offer an alternative explanation that wine may contain more toxic impurities than other beverages. But if you have developed neuropathy as a result of alcohol use, it’s important to stop drinking as soon as possible. Professional and peer help through programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous or other substance abuse programs can help you reduce your alcohol consumption. Talk to your healthcare provider about the best treatment plan to start on your road to recovery. This condition is typically not life-threatening, but the nerve damage from alcoholic neuropathy is usually permanent.

The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. People who drink heavily on a regular basis and have one or more of the following symptoms should contact a doctor. Use of this website and any information contained herein is governed alcohol neuropathy by the Healthgrades User Agreement. © Copyright 2024 Healthgrades Marketplace, LLC, Patent US Nos. 7,752,060 and 8,719,052. Verywell acknowledges that a private nurse or caretaker may not be feasible for everyone and that readers do not have uniform access to safe, affordable, high-quality health care.

• Damage to the nerves leads to unusual sensations in the limbs, reduced mobility, and loss of some bodily functions.
• PKC and protein kinase A (PKA) are both known to be important in nociceptor function [57–59].
• The mechanism of direct damage of nerve fibers due to alcohol intoxication remains unclear.
• The average dropout rate of participants was 4.1%, with 4 RCTs reporting a rate between 13.7% [27, 28] and 17.5% [40, 54].
• The previous effects of acupuncture-related interventions in improving chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) symptoms and quality of life (QoL) remain unclear in terms of pairwise comparisons.

This may help prevent drug dependence and other side effects of chronic use. Hawley et al. followed up 11 patients with alcohol-related neuropathy who were abstinent from alcohol and who had begun to consume a normal diet [67]. This identified improvement in sensory symptoms within a few days and a clinical improvement in strength over a period of weeks to months, but in up to 2 years in the most severe cases. There was not however, complete resolution of symmetric neuropathy with persistent mild loss of vibration sense or pinprick sensation in the feet or loss of ankle tendon reflexes. Epidermal nerve fibre density was assessed in two studies, both of which supported decremental nerve fibre density distally in the lower limb, anecdotally supportive of a length-dependent pattern [53, 63]. The sometimes-conflicting findings between biopsy findings may be representative of the complex interplay of pathological factors in alcohol-related peripheral neuropathy and is indicative of the need for further research in this area.

Nevertheless, heavy alcohol drinkers are usually significantly malnourished because of the improperly balanced diet and impaired absorption of the essential nutrients and elements [58, 59]. Benfotiamine (S-benzoylthiamine O-monophoshate) is a synthetic S-acyl derivative of thiamine (vitamin B1). A deficiency of vitamin B1 in chronic alcoholics can be due to inadequate dietary intake, reduced capacity for hepatic storage, inhibition of intestinal transport and absorption or decreased formation of the active coenzyme form.

Involvement of the sympatho-adrenal and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in alcoholic peripheral neuropathy

• Ultimately, the best way to prevent alcohol-related neurologic disease is to not drink alcohol.
• Talk with your doctor before consuming alcohol if you have any diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy.
• If the sensation is decreased enough, you may feel actual numbness after drinking alcohol.
• Thus, there is an urgent need to screen the vitamin E isoforms, especially tocotrienol for evaluating clinical efficacy in patients with alcoholic neuropathy.
• 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.

Alcohol-related peripheral neuropathy generally presents as a progressive, predominantly sensory axonal length-dependent neuropathy. The most important risk factor for alcohol-related peripheral neuropathy is the total lifetime dose of ethanol, although other risk factors have been identified including genetic, male gender, and type of alcohol consumed. Chronic alcohol consumption can have deleterious effects on the central and peripheral nervous systems.