Alcoholic neuropathy - panicking
 

Hi!

I'm a 27 year old male and I've never considered myself an alcoholic but I've definitely been a problem drinker on and off. These past few months I've been drinking twice a week, not to the point of blacking out or anything, but I've been drinking quite a lot. I had hangovers that lasted 2-3 days but that didn't deter me from drinking. Last friday I drank at a club with my friends and it got a bit out of hand. Following this, I had a hangover for a week and on the eighth day I started feeling tingling in my feet and numbness in my hands along with tremors. This affected my balance and I felt "round" underneath my feet. This alone made me vow to stop drinking entirely and I think I'll be able to do that, but I'm worried about permanent damage to my nerves and that this will last forever. I went to the hospital and got a vitamin B1 injection. I've read that alcoholic neuropathy is reversible if caught early and the alcohol intake is ceased but I'm scared to death that this will last a life time. I'm now taking vitamin B supplements daily and I'm on day 10 since my last drink. My balance is slightly improved but the tingling is still there.

Anyone here have experience with alcoholic neuropathy? Did you recover? How much were you drinking before? How old are you?

Please tell me there's a chance my body recovers. This has been a real wake up call. I'm never drinking again. I know what's at stake now.

Grateful for replies!

Welcome,
I moved your post here to the PN forum.
Explore the sticky threads above and past posts or use our site search to find specific topics. Also near bottom of page is related topic threads to check out..

Hey Jaybot,

At 27 you have every chance of making a full recovery. There is a period after ceasing alcohol where the body, symptoms wise, appears to make no progress. This is common in toxic neuropathies and known as coasting. It can even feel like things are getting worse. Typically it takes thirty days to see any progress. The liver may be ridding itself of toxins so eat plenty of fruit and veg, rich in anti oxidants and/or supplements like Triphala or Grape Seed Extract [sorry Caroline]

Your questions are irrelevant in the sense that it depends on the sensitivity of the individual to alcohol as a neurotoxin. Some get PN after one drink. Alcoholics may never experience PN.

Set yourself a 1 month or 3 month challenge to do everything you can to get better. Eat an optimum diet. Take the optimum supplements. ( Don't overdo B6 - that can cause neuropathy) Exercise. Drink water. Those hangovers suggest dehydration. Meditate. The body is a great healer. Give it every chance do to its job.

Best wishes,

Atty

Please don't panic! Stress is not good for neuropathy. Please read my story here:
https://www.neurotalk.org/new-member...ighlight=cured

Although I am now experiencing a setback, but things are way better than last year. I am 50 and have been drinking way more than you have.

The tingling will probably go, it takes time and good diet. It can take weeks, months, but every week or month will be better than the last one. You have a good chance!

Don't give up and don't drink!

Welcome Jaybot95. :welcome_sign:

Thank you Atty, this was really encouraging. I've set a mental horizon of 3 months during which I shall live sober, take vitamins and exercise and try not to worry about the symptoms. I have hope that I will see improvements by then. I will never drink again, that's for sure. This was an eye opener.

Thank you! This was encouraging. I read your story and I am inspired. Here's to complete recovery for the both of us!

Hey Jaybot95

What would be really good is if you could send us updates and share things you have learned along the way.

Good luck,

Atty

Hi Jaybot,
Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.

If you can, please check out the information in the

https://www.neurotalk.org/alcoholism...-and-recovery/

forum here. There's a wealth of information and very helpful and courageous people there to give advice.
take care.

Hi guys!

So it's 16 days since my last drink and 8 days since I first started having symptoms. My worry has been on peaks and in valleys but today I can confidently say that I feel a change. The tingling and pain in my feet have lessened. Now they're mostly just cold.

I took a walk, about 3 miles and I felt slightly uncomfortable but it wasn't like walking on pillows anymore, but rather, my leg muscles felt weak.

Instead of going out to the club with my university mates, I went out to the countryside to my mum's cottage. I do confess that I felt like going out drinking, that I was missing out on something, but I realized I was in the best place I could be considering the circumstances. In the future, I will go out with my mates without drinking.

I will update you further on my journey to recovery later.

Stay blessed!

Hello folks,

Just an update that I hope can bring hope to anyone else in my situation and to let the other commenters know how I'm faring.

It has now been roughly three weeks since my last drink and two weeks since the onset of my symptoms. I'd say at least 75% of my symptoms have disappeared entirely. I feel in control of my body again and the tremors and spasms, as well as the tingling in my feet and hands are almost completely gone.

I'm on a strict regimen of vitamin B and I have improved my diet vastly with more nutrient rich foods (to the best of my ability on a student budget).

The panicked state I found myself in was abysmal but in some way it prompted me to make lifestyle changes that I believe have amounted to my recovery.

I went out last Friday with my friends and drank 0,0% beer. To be honest, I had a great time still and I believe the taste of beer alone tricked my brain into getting into a jolly mood.

The only remaining symptom right now is weakness of the legs and I make it my mission to take a short walk each day to regain muscle strength and coordination.

Thank you for all the kind support in the trying times that I've had.

I hope that I will be completely symptom-free in my next update. To anyone who finds this thread and is in the same place that I was two weeks ago, trust that this condition is reversible (or at least partially in congruence with the extent of your alcohol abuse). I shall stay off the drink in the future!

That is a promising progress. How are things now? I myself had a bad setback for a week, but now I am almost symtom free since 5 days. I could even eat some Swiss chocolate now and still no symptoms on the next day. I workout a lot, walk, bike, hike or just work around the house to burn any excess sugar.

If there is any setback, please don't panic! You have to see the big picture and progress in the long run. My bad days are getting fewer and further in between. I go almost 1 year without drinking.

Neuropathy can have several reasons. Make sure you check the list! It can be a combination of alcohol and something else. I am not saying that is your case, just make sure you exclude all other options too. You are young, you can do this!

Are your symptoms bilateral? I've been having quite a few issues as well but mine aren't bilateral except for the burning feet. I thought it was AN as well but the more I read into it I think mine might have been a reaction to the covid booster I got and Covid a month later. It seems like some sort of nerve inflammation or irritation in my case that would hopefully resolve in a year or two. Alcohol really brings out the burning feet which makes sense if it's nerve related. But I'm having my doubts that mine is caused by alcohol which I originally thought. Seems like a lot of these cases are bilateral and progressive in nature while mine came on strong out of nowhere with different symptoms on each side. That leaves me with hope that I'll continue to improve with time. Still some bad days but overall starting to feel a bit better. I'm able to workout again and not feel like I want to die at work because the symptoms make me so uncomfortable. Best case scenario is that this was indeed just inflammation and goes away and that this was the scare I needed to stop being a weekend warrior with the booze.

Glad you're improving as well. Hope it continues.

Good luck to you!

Hi guys! Unfortunately I had a setback. I drank two weekends ago. I don't know what I was thinking. I had recovered pretty much fully. I guess I felt like I was out of the woods and that it couldn't happen again. Well I was wrong. The same song and dance had befallen me, only to a slightly lesser degree with more headaches than tingling and numbness. I didn't drink much, yet the results were the nearly the same. Now I don't doubt recovering like last time as I have a full arsenal of vitamins at my disposal. This time however, I realize that last time wasn't a one off for whatever reason. I will commit to not drinking AT ALL again.

Just to play devils advocate here. I was in a very similar situation drinking wise which was noted in my thread. A few weeks ago I had my B6 tested on a whim and I was 3x the upper limit for the test. B6 that high can cause neuropathy symptoms so yours may not be alcohol related at all. Of course if something else is damaging your nerves alcohol is doing any favors. In my case I'm laying off of any supplements that contain B6 and will see where I'm at down the road. Since this all started sometimes alcohol made no difference other times it kicked up the burning feet but that could have been coincidental because it happens when I don't drink as well. Then again I've only drank a few times since this all started. Would be nice to have a few every now and then but we'll see.

Your nerves may have healed a bit but not enough to withstand alcohol whether or not it's your cause. Just a thought. Not sure how much you drank before but 2x per week shouldn't cause neuropathy unless you're going to town on a bottle or something. Anyway you may want to check your B6 to see if that is part of the reason for the symptoms. A lot of complexes and multivitamins contain a ton and some people just can't eliminate it as well.