” This can be confusing — especially if you or someone you love has been newly diagnosed with epilepsy and is deciding whether or not to drink. Luckily, current research can help you make wise decisions about your relationship with alcohol. Tell the person you’ll help them find the right treatment program for alcohol abuse.
We cannot exclude that subjects might have been more prone to seizure occurrences due to AED non-adherence. Furthermore, we cannot exclude hypoglycemic episodes caused by acute heavy alcohol consumption (26), which may have contributed to the manifestation of epileptic seizures (27). In one small study from 2018, people with epilepsy who reported seizures after drinking had consumed seven or more standard-sized drinks before their seizures occurred. Nearly all of the seizures occurred within 12 hours after they stopped drinking. Furthermore, seizures seemed particularly likely if the participants did not regularly drink that much alcohol. The amount of alcohol intake before alcohol-related seizures was at least 7 standard drinks, or the equivalent of 1.4 liters of beer or 700 milliliters of wine.
- People whose seizures are controlled by drugs or a medical device may have fewer problems drinking alcohol.
- The data collection on alcohol use was part of a research project systematically gathering information on nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drug use in epilepsy patients within the last 12 months.
- Janz (21) later observed that alcohol-related seizures were more likely to occur in subjects with generalized genetic epilepsy than in those with focal epilepsy, which is consistent with our findings (21).
- The brain is always slightly sedated, and the body is always trying to return to normal.
- The researchers also found that the risk of epilepsy increased as alcohol consumption increased.
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This indicates a potential selection bias and our results may not be generalized to all epilepsy patients without restrictions. Continuous data are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD) or median where appropriate. Amounts of different alcoholic beverages that correspond to 1 standard drink as defined by the World Health Organization. This illustration has been shown to the participants of this study to guide them in estimating their individual average alcohol intake per drinking occasion. Alcohol consumption usually represents a taboo in the doctor-patient relationship and questions on the smoking status are answered more easily.
Initially, the inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic effect of alcohol exerts CNS depressant and anticonvulsant properties (4, 5). In the post-alcohol state, however, when alcohol blood levels decline, neuronal excitability is increased which may facilitate the occurrence of seizures in patients with epilepsy (6, 7). Heavy alcohol use can lead to seizures, especially when you stop drinking and start to enter a period of withdrawal.
How Alcohol Affects the Brain
According to the Epilepsy Foundation, some studies have linked chronic alcohol misuse to the development of epilepsy. Heavy alcohol consumption is a common trigger for seizures in those who already have epilepsy. In another 2020 study, researchers found that people with epilepsy were more 5 times more likely to die from alcohol-related causes than people without epilepsy. On MyEpilepsyTeam, the social network and online support group for people with epilepsy and their loved ones, members have discussed alcohol, epilepsy, and seizure triggers. Finally, the present study population was exclusively recruited at a tertiary care epilepsy center where usually patients with more severe variants of the disease are treated.
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Only 2.9% of our interviewed study subjects were AUDIT positive indicating hazardous and harmful alcohol intake. By contrast, data from the general adult German population showed that a proportion of 19.7% is AUDIT positive (9). 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).
This article explores how alcohol affects people with epilepsy and provides recommendations for how much alcohol is best to consume. The answer to whether alcohol can trigger seizures is more complex than you might think. Ninety-five patients (30.7%) were alcohol-experienced but had been abstinent in the last year. When the person you love has recovered from the seizure, explain how treatment works.
Status epilepticus is a life threatening condition in which a person has a seizure lasting longer than 5 minutes without regaining normal consciousness or has more than one seizure within 5 minutes. Before taking your medications, it’s a good idea to check with your doctor or your pharmacist to see if it’s safe to mix with alcohol. Alcohol and some antiseizure medications can have similar side effects, and taking them together can cause potentially dangerous complications. Prolonged drinking can lead to compensatory changes in your brain, such as the down-regulation of GABA receptors and increased expression of NMDA receptors.
Our retrospective data collection on alcohol-related seizures also depended on subjects' recall capability, and may reflect bias due to recall errors. We addressed this by focusing only on alcohol-related seizures that had occurred within the last 12 months. Details were only recorded on those alcohol-related seizures that subjects were able to remember the best. As a consequence however, alcohol-related seizures may have also occurred after smaller amounts of alcohol intake or in other circumstances that were not taken into account in the present study.
Epilepsy vs. Psychogenic Nonepileptic Attacks
Once a person stops using alcohol, they can often experience recovery from symptoms, though in some cases, some damage may be permanent. Once you stop alcohol intake, a doctor can address your specific symptoms. Doctors tailor specific treatments and alcohol abstinence programs to the individual. A report from 2021 also found that alcohol-related deaths were five times more likely in people with epilepsy than those without the condition. Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous for many reasons, what is a drinker's nose but seizures and the possible development of delirium tremens increase the risk of severe complications or even death.
The CMA suggests patients with alcohol dependence, including alcohol withdrawal seizures, should not be allowed to drive any type of motor vehicle. If a patient wishes to regain their licence, s/he must complete a recognized rehabilitation program for substance dependence and remain sober and and seizure free for 12 months. People whose seizures are controlled by drugs or a medical device may have fewer problems drinking alcohol. On the other hand, if your seizures are not controlled, drinking alcohol is more risky. Many people with epilepsy have their first seizure when they are hungover.
In this study, we aimed to systematically analyze alcohol drinking and the occurrence of alcohol-related seizures in 310 epilepsy patients. Even ketamine withdrawal timeline though alcohol use may trigger seizures, 65% of interviewed subjects had consumed alcohol within the last 12 months and every third patient had consumed alcohol within the last 7 days. 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). Regarding chronic heavy alcohol consumption, our cohort of patients had used alcohol far more responsibly than the general adult German population.
If you have epilepsy, consult your physician for more information on the approach to alcohol that is right for you. A person with epilepsy should speak with their doctor to determine how much alcohol, if any, is safe to consume with their condition. This article looks at the connection between alcohol, seizures, and epilepsy, as well as treatment options and support. It’s important to always talk with your doctor about whether it’s safe to consume alcohol with your medication.
Even if alcohol itself doesn’t trigger your or your loved one’s seizures, it’s important to understand whether your antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are compatible with alcohol. 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. A typical alcohol withdrawal seizure is a tonic-clonic seizure (also called a grand-mal seizure).[4] This episode involves a loss of consciousness accompanied by violent muscle spasms. But some people can experience smaller liberty cap gills episodes that don’t seem like full-body seizures.