Alcohol and Epilepsy: A Potential Seizure Trigger

We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers. If someone has a seizure from alcohol withdrawal symptoms, you should move things out of the way that they could accidentally hurt themselves with during the seizure. You should also call 911 and get emergency medical help as soon as possible, even if the seizure has stopped.

Seizures After Drinking Too Much Alcohol

1. Seizures may occur in around 5% of people with alcohol withdrawal syndrome.
2. The potential for serious side effects due to alcohol withdrawal is the reason that individuals who want to stop drinking are encouraged to attend a medically supervised detox.
3. The main concern over the development of delirium tremens during alcohol withdrawal is the threat of mortality that comes with it.

It’s important to know that alcohol effects the brain, acting as a depressant to the central nervous system. Most studies show that alcohol-related seizures often occur when a chronic drinker abruptly stops consuming alcohol. Hangovers do not generally increase the risk of seizures, but they can play a role in seizures occurring. The greatest risk of a seizure during a hangover is not due to the hangover itself but to the long-term blood sugar effects of alcohol. Alcohol causes an initial spike in blood sugar levels, followed by a drop below normal levels for the next 12 hours.

How Does Alcohol Work in the Brain?

Yet, there is currently little knowledge on the alcohol-drinking behavior of epilepsy patients. In the 1940s, William G. Lennox comprehensively analyzed alcohol consumption and the occurrence of alcohol-related seizures in 1,254 subjects with epilepsy (1). However, only about 30% of patients used alcohol, thus excluding 70% from any analysis of potential alcohol-related effects on the disease. Apart from this, there is little research on the occurrence of alcohol-related seizures in patients with epilepsy. A double-blinded, randomized, interventional study on 52 subjects with epilepsy demonstrated that a social alcohol intake over a 4-month-period did not increase seizure frequencies (2).

Symptoms of alcohol withdrawal delirium

This section answers some frequently asked questions about alcohol and seizures. So, that hasn’t changed and continues to grow as a problem within society. We can correlate based on the evidence that as we improve or create more access to alcohol, subsequent to that, we will see more addiction or disease and so that notion hasn’t changed.

Alcohol Consumption and Keppra: What Are the Effects?

Alcohol can have significant negative effects on the central nervoussystem (CNS). Drinking alcohol can also have negative effects on the peripheral nervous system (PNS). This includes the nerves that send signals to the muscles and organs. Fetal alcohol syndrome can occur when a person is exposed to alcohol before birth. Alcoholic neuropathy occurs when too much alcohol damages the peripheral nerves.

Medical detox programs may also involve therapies to address alcohol use disorders. Individual and group therapy sessions can help to address some detox and treatment articles of the underlying causes of your alcohol addiction. Kindling is caused by the chronic use of drugs that cause GABA receptors’ downregulation.

You may be given anxiolytic and sedative medications to help overcome the anxiety and insomnia that is common with alcohol withdrawal. Drugs like benzodiazepines are often used to treat alcohol withdrawal, and they can also be used to taper you off alcohol. Medical detox is highly intensive inpatient treatment with medically managed services.

People with moderate-to-severe alcohol use disorder often begin with a medical detox program. Research has shown that after having alcoholic seizures due to alcohol withdrawal and binge drinking, the brain becomes more reactive. This increase in reactivity increases the potential for repeated, or epileptic, seizures even without the presence of alcohol use. For some people, these symptoms pass quickly while for others they hang around for weeks.

You may need to be sedated for more than a week until the alcohol withdrawal symptoms go away. And a doctor may use brain-imaging techniques to monitor treatment over time. People who drink a lot of alcohol for an extended period can develop permanent changes in their brains, and removing alcohol can lead to withdrawal symptoms. Seizures, and a severe condition called delirium tremens, are possible complications of alcohol withdrawal. Fifteen out of 95 (15.8%) alcohol-experienced but now abstinent subjects had experienced alcohol-related seizures in the past.

Many doctors and pharmacists recommend total abstinence from drinking, if possible. Epilepsy is defined as a spectrum of disorders that involve the central nervous system (brain and spine). The seizures that occur in epilepsy are caused by abnormal brain activity. These seizures may cause people to have unusual sensations or emotions, behave in unexpected ways, or experience convulsions or loss of consciousness. Several treatment options and interventions can help a person recover from alcohol dependence.

Once the person becomes conscious, they are likely to be extremely confused, tired, and sore. Watching someone have a seizure can be scary, however, it is important that everyone remain safe. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not necessary to place an object in someone’s mouth while they are having a seizure. While the seizure is unlikely to be fatal, it can lead to injuries that can be very dangerous or potentially fatal.

The brain is always slightly sedated, and the body is always trying to return to normal. Alcohol can also cause seizures in a person who doesn’t a single dose of kudzu extract reduces alcohol consumption in a binge drinking paradigm have epilepsy. Some common epileptic triggers are physical or emotional stress, eating certain foods, flashing lights, and even lack of sleep.

This means consuming roughly five or more drinks for a man, or four or more drinks for a woman, in about two hours. It’s best to seek medical advice before having any alcoholic beverage since each person is unique. A heathcare provider can assess whether light or moderate alcohol drinking is safe.

Your chances for recovery depend on how early the disease is diagnosed and how much damage has already occurred. Up to 46 percent of people with alcohol-related myopathy showed noticeable reductions in strength compared with people without the condition. Researchers have not determined if this is caused by the effects treatment and recovery national institute on drug abuse nida of alcohol on the brain or is the result of thiamine deficiency. Cerebellar degeneration caused by alcohol occurs when neurons in the cerebellum deteriorate and die. The cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls coordination and balance. It usually develops as symptoms of Wernicke’s encephalopathy go away.

This process makes the brain and body want more of the alcohol, and the person will continually seek it out. If a person is going to experience seizures during withdrawal from alcohol, they will most likely occur between hours after the last drink. There are treatments for delirium tremens, but it’s best to start the withdrawal process in the presence of trusted and will-informed healthcare practitioners. Although most people with alcohol-linked seizures experience them during withdrawal, others can get them while drinking heavily. Alcohol acts on receptors in the brain called gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA receptors, which are closely linked to seizure risk. If you or a loved one has a history of seizures or alcohol withdrawal, learning about the link between drinking and seizures is important.

Abnormally low blood sugar levels can lead to seizures, and this drop normally occurs at the same time as a hangover, causing people to connect the hangover with the seizure. Those on blood sugar medications are most at risk for this complication. Dehydration during a hangover may also increase the risk of seizures.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) tests show brain activity remains the same, as long as the amount of alcohol ingested is small. Alcohol withdrawal seizures (delirium tremens) occur when the body undergoes severe and unexpected nervous system changes after an alcohol-dependent person stops drinking. Alcohol-related seizures can happen when people are acutely intoxicated. It can also occur when an alcoholic suddenly stops drinking and experiences alcohol withdrawal.

Our results are in line with previous population-based study findings from Canada reporting a 12-month prevalence of alcohol use in patients with epilepsy of 57.6% (20). In our study, most subjects were occasional or light alcohol users. Regarding chronic heavy alcohol consumption, our cohort of patients had used alcohol far more responsibly than the general adult German population. Only 2.9% of our interviewed study subjects were AUDIT positive indicating hazardous and harmful alcohol intake.