Alcoholic Epilepsy

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Alcoholic epilepsy

Content:

• What is alcoholic epilepsy?
• Symptoms
• Some features
• The reasons
• Diagnostics
• Treatment

What is alcoholic epilepsy?

Alcoholic epilepsy is a serious illness that occurs in people with alcohol abuse. In other words, this disease is the result of alcoholism.

If we turn to statistics, we can draw the following conclusion: in most cases, alcoholic epilepsy affects people who abuse alcohol between the ages of 30 and 50, and especially those who are often addicted to alcohol surrogates.

Of all patients with seizures who are treated in medical institutions, one third of them are people with alcohol dependence.

Symptoms of alcoholic epilepsy

Alcoholic epilepsy is similar in symptoms to ordinary epilepsy. The very first signs of the disease can manifest themselves in the form of pulling or squeezing painful sensations in the muscles. They usually appear after a long period during which a person constantly takes alcohol, that is, after binges.

Often, the patient has so-called absences - these are states of fainting or temporary clouding of consciousness, in which a person's speech and movements freeze.

When a person has a seizure, the following symptoms may occur:

• He loses consciousness
• Muscle cramps appear
• The face turns white, and then the skin around the mouth turns blue
• Eyes roll
• White foam comes out of the mouth
• Vomiting
• Inability to control movement

Psychomotor seizures that characterize alcoholic epilepsy can manifest themselves as follows: the patient begins to spin, take off his clothes, touch himself in different places. Performing all these movements, the person is practically not aware of them, and when the attack ends, the patient may not remember anything.

If we talk about convulsive seizures accompanying alcoholic epilepsy, then many patients may have a premonition of them. Before that, they feel changes in their well-being and behavior - for example, some begin to eat or drink a lot, some become cold or hot. Sometimes the patient may experience auditory hallucinations.

In most cases, seizures last no more than three minutes, after which the patient calms down and may even fall asleep, as he feels weak. It also happens that the patient has several attacks at once, which occur one after the other. This condition is called status epilepticus.

The seizures that occur with alcoholic epilepsy can have serious, dangerous consequences for the patient. First of all, a person can be injured during a fall - it is possible to hit against objects surrounding him, as well as on the floor with his head. Vomit can also be unsafe, as it can enter the respiratory tract, resulting in suffocation.

Some features of alcoholic epilepsy

It is important to note here, first of all, that if a convulsive seizure occurs with a person suffering from chronic alcoholism at least once, then it is safe to say that it will happen again. It is difficult to predict when exactly this will happen, and how often seizures will occur in the future.

Seizures usually occur on the second, third or fourth day after the person stops drinking alcohol - during the hangover period. Patients suffering from chronic alcoholism are not advised to climb to a height or drive vehicles, because their seizures start suddenly.

Reasons why alcoholic epilepsy develops

Physicians, based on the results of numerous studies and observations, have come to the conclusion that alcoholic epilepsy develops mainly in those people who already have a predisposition to epilepsy. Under the influence of toxic substances that are contained in the decomposition products of alcohol, the disease develops and becomes apparent.

And yet, the main cause of alcoholic epilepsy is long-term alcohol intake, namely, alcohol poisoning, which continues for a long time. The development of this disease can also be caused by factors such as traumatic brain injury, and even atherosclerosis.

Seizures in alcoholics can also occur for other reasons:

• All kinds of infections - for example, meningitis, etc.
• Brain tumors

Diagnosis of alcoholic epilepsy

The diagnosis of "alcoholic epilepsy" is made on the basis of the symptoms characteristic of this disease, but it is the alcoholic form of epilepsy that is revealed in the presence of tonic convulsions with prolonged muscle tension, which appear most often during withdrawal. Of course, the patient is asked if he had previously, even before he became an alcoholic, similar conditions.

Diagnosis of the disease is also carried out using specialized equipment. For example, computed tomography, MRI, and electroencephalography are often performed.

On the subject: Treatment of epilepsy - a list of effective remedies and drugs

Treatment of alcoholic epilepsy

There is no specific treatment for a disease such as alcoholic epilepsy. The only measure is control of seizures with medication, but operations are indicated in severe cases. Usually, people are prescribed anticonvulsants to treat the common form of epilepsy.

Since alcoholic epilepsy develops due to dependence on alcoholic beverages, the main measure in its treatment is to avoid alcohol. The success of treatment here depends not so much on the doctor as on the patient himself - it is important that he fully understands the seriousness of the disease and makes a firm decision to undergo treatment. And you need to start it as soon as possible - if the first attack occurs, you cannot leave everything as it is.

Alcoholic epilepsy does not go away by itself, self-healing is impossible. If the patient refuses to be treated, then in the future the constant intoxication of the brain with alcohol and its decay products will lead to serious and irreversible changes in the body.

Author of the article: Sokov Andrey Vladimirovich | Neurologist

Education: In 2005 completed an internship at the IM Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University and received a diploma in Neurology. In 2009, completed postgraduate studies in the specialty "Nervous diseases".