What is alcoholic neuropathy?
neuropathy is a condition in which nerves are damaged, known as peripheral nerves that carry signals between the brain and the rest of the body. These nerves normally transmit information about movement, touch and body functions that are automatically carried out, such as sweating and breathing. Alcoholic neuropathy is a type of neuropathy that occurs in people who have long consumed a large amount of alcohol. The physical effects of alcohol then lead to nerve damage in a way that is not fully understood. Usually the lower legs and legs are first affected, with symptoms of insensitivity, burning and tingling, often followed by muscle weakness. Alcoholic neuropathy usually develops slowly for a long time, although it occasionally proceeds quickly. It is assumed that the condition affects from a quarter to the half of all chronic alcoholics, these are people who are dependent on alcohol to the extent that they harm their health and quality of life.
symptoms of alcoholic neuropathy resulting purely from alcohol abuse tend to include the loss of normal skin feeling, while in the fingers and legs commonly experience a feeling of prick or burning feeling. Many people with alcoholic neuropathy also suffer from vitamin B1 or thiamine deficiency due to insufficient diet. Thiamine deficiency causes its own neuropathy, so a person suffering from both states at a time can experience a number of different symptoms of neuropathy that can be difficult to attribute to one or the other.
As alcoholic neuropathy deteriorates, a person may have trouble walking and falls can become quite common. Finally, symptoms found in the legs and lower limbs, such as dullness, reduce awareness of the feeling of touch and temperature and weakness and waste of muscles can proceed to include the upper limbs. The resulting pattern of symptoms of alcoholic neuropathy in the upper and lower limbs is known as the distribution of gloves and stockings.
TreatmentAnd alcoholic neuropathy depends on stopping further alcohol consumption to recover the damaged nerves. Eating a healthy and balanced diet with extra vitamin B can help restore nervous function. Physical therapy may be required to strengthen muscles and improve walking, and if neuropathy has become serious enough to cause pain, medicines may be needed. In order to increase the chances of withdrawal from alcohol, psychiatric assistance and entry from support groups such as anonymous alcoholics may be required.