How alcohol consumption contributes to chronic pain (article)

“Alcohol use disorder (AUD), which encompasses the conditions commonly called alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence and alcohol addiction, affects 29.5 million people in the U.S. according to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Over time, AUD can trigger the development of numerous chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, liver disease and some cancers.

Among the many impacts of long-term alcohol consumption is pain: more than half of people with AUD experience persistent pain of some type. This includes alcoholic neuropathy, which is nerve damage that causes chronic pain and other symptoms. Studies have also found that AUD is associated with changes in how the brain processes pain signals, as well as changes to how immune system activation occurs. In turn, this pain can lead to increased alcohol consumption. Moreover, during withdrawal, people with AUD can experience allodynia, in which a harmless stimulus is perceived as painful.

When Roberto's group then measured levels of inflammatory proteins in the animals, they discovered that while inflammation pathways were elevated in both dependent and non-dependent animals, specific molecules were only increased in dependent mice. This indicates that different molecular mechanisms may drive the two types of pain. It also suggests which inflammatory proteins may be useful as drug targets to combat alcohol-related pain.”

My Takeaways:

• Alcohol consumption dependence and withdrawal can be associated with chronic pain and there may be specific changes to the pathways that may be causing this pain versus any other kinds of pain from other conditions/drug abuse.

• Alcohol is an inhibitory drug and increased amounts of it on a chronic basis can alter our neurochemistry to induce chronic pain including inducing allodynia which is an increased threshold to what we think is pain. Suffers of withdrawal can think a regularly normal stimulus may be painful to them.

• Of course this affects mood as well, if you’re constantly more in pain and find yourself more sensitive to stimulus you may be more apt to be frustrated and angry as well. In general levels of inflammatory proteins were found elevated in mice who were exposed to alcohol use.

Full article is here!

#Alcohol #Dependence #Pain

What are some ways that can help prevent alcohol abuse?