Why Legs Pain After Drinking Alcohol
Contributes to Muscle Cramps – Alcohol is a toxic substance, meaning your body will prioritize getting it out of your system and it will take your body longer to rid of other toxins. Lactic acid is a chemical that your body produces when exercising and causes cramps when it lingers in the body.
Contents
Why do my legs hurt after alcohol?
We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission Here’s our process, Healthline only shows you brands and products that we stand behind. Our team thoroughly researches and evaluates the recommendations we make on our site. To establish that the product manufacturers addressed safety and efficacy standards, we:
Evaluate ingredients and composition: Do they have the potential to cause harm? Fact-check all health claims: Do they align with the current body of scientific evidence? Assess the brand: Does it operate with integrity and adhere to industry best practices?
We do the research so you can find trusted products for your health and wellness. Alcohol can be toxic to nerve tissue. People who drink too much may start to feel pain and tingling in their limbs. This is known as alcoholic neuropathy. In people with alcoholic neuropathy, the peripheral nerves have been damaged by too much alcohol use.
The peripheral nerves transmit signals between the body, the spinal cord, and the brain. Thiamine, folate, niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, and vitamin E are all needed for proper nerve function. Drinking too much can alter levels of these nutrients and affect the spread of alcoholic neuropathy. Fortunately, abstaining from alcohol can help restore your nutritional health.
This may improve your symptoms and help prevent further nerve damage. However, some alcohol-induced nerve damage is permanent. Your peripheral nerves help your body manage important sensory and motor functions including:
bowel and urinary eliminationwalkingsexual arousalarm and leg movementspeech
Alcoholic neuropathy is the result of damage to these nerves. The damage may be the direct result of long periods where you drank too much alcohol. Nutritional problems linked to alcohol use, such as vitamin deficiency, can also cause nerve damage. Your doctor will need to examine you to diagnose this condition.
nerve biopsy nerve conduction tests upper GI and small bowel series neurological examination electromyography esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) kidney, thyroid, and liver function tests complete blood count (CBC)
Blood tests can also look for vitamin deficiencies that are linked to both nerve health and alcohol use. Nutrients your doctor might test for include:
niacinthiaminefolatevitamins B6 and B12biotin and pantothenic acidvitamins E and A
The most important thing you can do to treat this condition is to stop drinking. Treatment may first focus on problems with alcohol use. For some people, this may require inpatient rehab. Others may be able to stop drinking with outpatient therapy or social support.
Once alcohol use has been addressed, your doctor can focus on the neuropathy itself. Symptom management is important. Nerve damage can also make it difficult for you to carry out the functions of daily life. Nerve damage may even make injuries more likely. Every person’s needs are different. Treatment for neuropathy may involve one, or many, different types of care.
These include:
vitamin supplements to improve nerve health ( folate, thiamine, niacin, and vitamins B6, B12, and E )prescription pain relievers ( tricyclic antidepressants and anticonvulsants)medication for people with problems urinatingphysical therapy to help with muscle atrophyorthopedic appliances to stabilize extremitiessafety gear, such as stabilizing footwear, to prevent injuries special stockings for your legs to prevent dizziness
Nerve damage from this condition is usually permanent. Your symptoms are likely to get worse if you don’t stop drinking. This could lead to disability, chronic pain, and damage to your arms and legs. However, if caught early enough, you can minimize the damage from alcoholic neuropathy.
avoiding excessive drinking of alcoholnot drinking alcohol if you have symptoms of alcoholic neuropathyseeking help if you are having trouble avoiding alcoholeating a healthy and balanced diet taking vitamin supplements if you have deficiencies (always talk to your doctor before taking supplements)
How do you get rid of leg pain after drinking?
How do you prevent hangover symptoms. and if you have muscle pain the night after drinking too much what should you do? – Make sure to replenish all the lost fluids from excessive alcohol intake. Stay up on drinking water throughout the day and get plenty of rest. Only time can cure a painful hangover. : Here’s Why Your Muscles Are Weirdly Sore After One Too Many Drinks
Why do I feel it in my legs when I drink alcohol?
Alcoholic neuropathy is a severe condition caused by excessive alcohol use. Damage to the nerves leads to unusual sensations in the limbs, reduced mobility, and loss of some bodily functions. Recognizing the symptoms and seeking treatment early can reduce the risk of permanent disability. Share on Pinterest The peripheral nerves can be damaged by drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. A person who drinks alcohol in excess may start to feel a tingling sensation in their limbs. This happens when alcohol has damaged the peripheral nerves. These nerves connect the brain and spinal cord to the muscles, limbs, and sensory organs.
Through the peripheral nerves, the brain is able to control the body and receive sensory information. When alcohol is responsible for damage to the peripheral nerves, a person has alcoholic neuropathy. People who drink heavily on a regular basis are at risk of developing this condition. Some researchers estimate that 65 percent of people in the United States who have been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder also have alcoholic neuropathy.
Excessive, long-term consumption of alcohol can lead to malnutrition as well as nerve damage, and both contribute to the development of alcoholic neuropathy. Alcohol can impede the processing, transportation, and absorption of essential nutrients. Some people with alcohol use disorder also have inadequate food intake.
vitamin Evitamins B6 and B12thiamineniacin folate
Deficiencies in these nutrients can harm overall health and stop nerves from functioning correctly. Alcoholic neuropathy shows itself in different ways. Some may experience only one symptom, while others experience several. People who drink heavily on a regular basis and have one or more of the following symptoms should contact a doctor.
Does drinking alcohol cause leg cramps?
Drinking alcohol in the 24 hour period before training can contribute to a build-up of lactic acid, putting you at increased risk of cramping and muscle fatigue.
Is alcohol bad for your legs?
Worsen existing leg veins symptoms – Heavy alcohol consumption makes leg veins symptoms such as swelling, heaviness, and tiredness worse. One study even said that there is an association between alcohol consumption and nocturnal leg cramps in patients over 60.
- Searching for a vein doctor in North Texas for your leg vein symptoms? Request an appointment with Precision Vascular’s board-certified specialists.
- The reality is that vein disease is extremely common, affecting one out of every three Americans.
- And it worsens the longer it’s left untreated.
- Leg veins symptoms like the ones above progress from annoying to debilitating and dramatically impact your quality of life.
At Precision Vascular, we want you to understand the importance of healthy veins and empower you to recognize the signs of vein disease—even in its earliest stages.
Does alcohol cause inflammation in legs?
4. Alcohol Allergy – If you end up having swollen feet and face soon after drinking alcohol, it could be because you are allergic to alcohol. Actually, you are not allergic to alcohol but your body has trouble metabolizing the yeast used to make specific type of beer. Moreover, alcohol may dilate your blood vessels, which may also affect the arteries in your legs and cause swelling.
How do you treat muscle pain from alcohol?
People have used alcohol to relieve pain since ancient times. Laboratory studies confirm that alcohol does indeed reduce pain in humans and in animals. Moreover, recent research suggests that as many as 28 percent of people experiencing chronic pain turn to alcohol to alleviate their suffering.
What does alcohol do to your legs and feet?
An occasional glass of wine, a beer, or a cocktail isn’t bad for you; in fact, some studies have shown that light to moderate alcohol consumption can protect you against certain kinds of cancers and other illnesses. Excess alcohol consumption, however, can be dangerous.
Alcohol dependency has been linked to physical symptoms, including liver disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. These symptoms, compounded by people with drinking problems, are more likely than others to be malnourished, putting them at increased risk for diabetes, Binge drinking is also a contributing factor in blacking out and poor decision-making, and risky behaviors such as unprotected sex and driving while intoxicated.
Alcoholism is also a danger to your feet. Men and women who drink heavily are at risk of alcoholic neuropathy, nerve damage caused by chronic alcohol abuse. Signs of this condition are numbness, tingling, pain, and weakness in the feet. Alcoholic neuropathy can also affect the hands.
If untreated, the symptoms of alcoholic neuropathy can become permanent, and the damage can affect not only nerves but also the brain itself. Middlesex County podiatrists Dr. Jason Grossman and Dr. Paul A. Osemene are experts in diagnosing and treating all manner of injuries to and illnesses of the feet, ankles, and lower legs.
In addition, their experience offers help from alcoholic neuropathy as part of an overall medical detoxification and recovery plan. They can provide medication to alleviate pain and swelling and provide other treatment modalities to help you as you return to a state of sobriety and wellness.
- Do you suspect that you might be suffering from alcoholic neuropathy, or do you have another concern about the health of your feet, ankles, or lower legs? A visit with an expert podiatrist like Jason Grossman, DPM, and Paul A.
- Osemene DPM is the first step on the path to wellness.
- Schedule a visit to the modern, comfortable Advanced Feet and Ankle Care offices in Old Bridge and Sayreville.
Call our friendly staff at (732) 679-4330 or click here to get started today.
Why do my legs hurt?
Leg pain is a symptom with many possible causes. Most leg pain results from wear and tear or overuse. It also can result from injuries or health conditions in joints, bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves or other soft tissues. Some types of leg pain can be traced to problems in your lower spine.
- Gout
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (formerly known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis)
- Osteoarthritis
- Pseudogout
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Reactive arthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
Blood flow problems
- Claudication
- Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
- Peripheral artery disease (PAD)
- Thrombophlebitis
- Varicose veins
Bone conditions
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Bone cancer
- Legg-Calve-Perthes disease
- Osteochondritis dissecans
- Paget’s disease of bone
Infection
- Cellulitis
- Infection
- Osteomyelitis
- Septic arthritis
Injury
- Achilles tendinitis
- Achilles tendon rupture
- ACL injury
- Broken leg
- Bursitis
- Chronic exertional compartment syndrome
- Growth plate fractures
- Hamstring injury
- Knee bursitis
- Muscle strains
- Patellar tendinitis
- Patellofemoral pain syndrome
- Shin splints
- Sprains
- Stress fractures
- Tendinitis
- Torn meniscus
Nerve problems
- Herniated disk
- Meralgia paresthetica
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Sciatica
- Spinal stenosis
Muscle conditions
- Dermatomyositis
- Medicines, especially the cholesterol medicines known as statins
- Myositis
- Polymyositis
Other problems
- Baker cyst
- Growing pains
- Muscle cramp
- Night leg cramps
- Restless legs syndrome
- Low levels of certain vitamins, such as vitamin D
- Too much or too little of electrolytes, such as calcium or potassium
Causes shown here are commonly associated with this symptom. Work with your doctor or other health care professional for an accurate diagnosis.
Why do my legs cramp at night after drinking alcohol?
Alcohol consumption can lead to muscle cramps – The main job of your liver is to get rid of harmful substances in your body. Your and will, therefore, make it a priority to get rid of the alcohol in your bloodstream. This fact means that other substances that the liver tries to get rid of, may have to wait longer to leave your body than if you had not been drinking.
Why do I ache after drinking?
FAQ – The answers to the following questions can also be helpful:
Is alcohol bad for your muscles?
When consumed in large quantities, alcohol can slow muscle recovery after exercise, increase inflammation, and lead to electrolyte imbalances. All of these factors have a negative impact on your muscles.
Can alcohol cause muscle cramps?
You may experience muscle cramps after a night of heavy drinking. This is because drinking too much can lead to dehydration, which is associated with muscle cramping. Muscle cramps after drinking can also be due to an electrolyte imbalance.
Why do my bones hurt after drinking?
If your bones feel sore after drinking, it is likely a side effect of inflammation. Alcohol is known to increase inflammation throughout the body, which can lead to pain in the bones and joints.
What body is most affected by alcohol?
When you drink alcohol, you don’t digest alcohol. It passes quickly into your bloodstream and travels to every part of your body. Alcohol affects your brain first, then your kidneys, lungs and liver. The effect on your body depends on your age, gender, weight and the type of alcohol.
Can alcoholism cause blood clots in legs?
Ways That Alcohol Abuse Increases Risk of Blood Clots and Cardiovascular Damage – Drinking too much increases blood clotting problems through several mechanisms.
Liver damage : Alcohol is processed through the liver, and excessive drinking damages this organ. One of the problems associated with liver damage is the reduced ability to produce proteins that regulate blood clotting. This thins the blood in moderation, which may be beneficial for some people, but could be problematic for others. At higher levels, this heightens the risk of clotting, which increases the risk of damage from clots. Platelets : Too much alcohol increases platelets in the blood, so they are more likely to clot randomly. Alcohol also activates platelets, meaning they are more likely to begin forming clots. Long-term, excessive drinking causes long-term, consistent platelet activation. Weight gain : Alcohol has a lot of calories, and even among those who choose to drink too much rather than eat meals, there is an elevated risk of gaining body fat. Having more body fat means there are more lipids in the blood, which increases the risk of developing blood clots. Sedentary lifestyle : People who sit for a long time, especially on planes, increase their risk of blood clots in general. Adding alcohol to 12-hour flight or a sedentary job adds to the risk of blood clots. Gender differences : Drinking too much increases the risk of arterial fibrillation in both men and women, but it is a more significant increased risk for men. Arterial fibrillation is a condition in which the upper chambers of the heart, or the atria, twitch or spasm irregularly rather than rhythmically; this can trigger blood clots and lead to a stroke or heart attack. However, women who take hormonal birth control and drink excessively are also at a very high risk for blood clots. Hormonal birth control by itself increases clotting factors in the blood by 170 percent while decreasing anticoagulant factors by 20 percent. Strokes : Drinking more than two servings of alcohol per day increases the risk of a stroke, which can be caused by a blood clot in the brain, by 50 percent. The risk of hemorrhagic strokes also increases. These strokes are not caused by blood clots, but by fewer platelets. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT): Drinking more than three ounces of liquor per week – which is two shots of hard alcohol – increases the risk of DVT by 5 percent. However, the study that discovered this correlation did not further examine personal habits, and there may be a stronger correlation between binge drinking (four or five drinks in two hours) or AUD than just the amount of liquor consumed per week.
People who already suffer from blood clots should not drink alcohol at all, especially if your doctor has prescribed any blood-thinning medication. Mixing alcohol with any prescription drug is dangerous, and mixing alcohol with blood thinners decreases the effectiveness of this drug.
How long does your body stay inflamed after alcohol?
Acute Inflammation – Acute alcohol-induced inflammation describes the body’s immediate inflammatory response when alcohol is consumed. This often results in hangover symptoms like headaches and nausea. Some other acute inflammation side effects include dehydration, face puffiness, inflamed stomach lining, and swollen feet.
Does alcohol affect veins in legs?
Does Alcohol Negatively Affect the Veins? – Vein & Vascular Institute Alcohol doesn’t cause varicose veins, but it can damage your overall circulatory system — which includes your veins. Many factors contribute to the development of varicose veins. Some, like poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle, can change. Others, like heredity, we cannot.
- Of all the many risk factors associated with varicose veins, alcohol may not rank very high.
- Yet heavy alcohol consumption has a damaging effect on our circulatory and cardiovascular systems as a whole — including our veins.
- Veins are essential in moving blood to and from the heart and lower limbs.
- Inside our leg veins are tiny flaps, or valves, whose sole function is to push blood back to the heart.
For the reasons mentioned above, the valves weaken, and blood accumulates in the vein. Strained by this pooled blood, the vein walls stretch out and emerge on the legs and feet in thick tangles of blue and purple varicose veins. Many people wonder whether alcohol may directly cause varicose veins, but the impact is typically minor.
Your family history, smoking, and lack of exercise have more to do with whether you get varicose veins or not. Nevertheless, excessive drinking harms the veins, and that can worsen the pain, swelling, throbbing, and other symptoms of varicose veins if you already suffer from the condition. Let’s look at how drinking affects your veins.
Moderate alcohol consumption, like one glass of wine or a single cocktail daily, isn’t going to do much harm to your veins. In fact, that one sip of alcohol actually relaxes the veins, allowing blood to flow more freely. When you have a second drink, however, your heart beats faster, speeding up blood flow and exerting further pressure on vein valves as they struggle against the gravity of having to pump more blood upward.
If you currently have varicose veins, that’s why you may notice an increase in discomfort when you have more than one alcoholic beverage. What’s more, when the liver is deluged with an excessive influx of alcohol, it cannot process all the toxins. The blood becomes thicker, putting yet another strain on the veins.
That is why excessive, constant alcohol consumption is especially not good for the circulatory system. Alcohol also creates conditions that may lead to spider veins, which are the tinier, less-protruding versions of varicose veins. Alcohol breaks down the collagen in the vein walls, which may result in thin webs of veins rising to the surface of the skin on the legs and face.
Overall, an occasional drink won’t cause varicose veins. Smoking, being overweight, and practicing a generally unhealthy lifestyle — which may include heavy drinking — do negatively impact vein health to a greater degree. So, imbibe moderately, but don’t overdo it if you want to protect your veins from the damaging effects of alcohol.
At the Vein & Vascular Institute, we specialize in vein health. If you have varicose veins or believe you are at risk of the condition, we can help you devise a right plan for your health. That may include diet, exercise, or other lifestyle changes. But if you already have varicose veins, the best bet for treatment is one of several effective surgical procedures.
How long does it take to develop alcoholic neuropathy?
Clinical features of alcoholic peripheral neuropathy develop slowly, extending over a period of months and include abnormalities in sensory, motor, autonomic and gait functions. Painful sensations with or without burning quality represent the initial and major symptom of alcoholic neuropathy.
What does alcohol neuropathy in legs feel like?
What Are the Symptoms of Alcoholic Neuropathy? Alcoholic neuropathy has many of the same symptoms as peripheral neuropathy. For most, this includes a tingling, burning, or painful feeling in their legs, feet, arms, and hands. They may not feel strong sensations in these areas, either, due to the damage to the nerves.
How do I know if I have alcoholic neuropathy?
Signs and Symptoms of Alcoholic Neuropathy – Signs and symptoms of alcoholic neuropathy can progress gradually, and they are usually subtle at first. Often, a person who drinks heavily might not recognize that the symptoms are related to alcohol. Signs and symptoms include any combination of the following:
Bruises, cuts, sores, or skin infections on the toes, feet, or fingers Constipation or diarrhea Decreased pain from injuries, especially on the feet or hands Decreased sensation of the toes, feet, legs, fingers, hands, or arms Dizziness, particularly when standing with eyes closed Lack of coordination of the feet or hands Loss of balance/unsteadiness when walking Pain, tingling, or other unusual feelings in the toes, feet, legs, fingers, hands, or arms Sexual dysfunction Trouble walking a straight line, even without recent alcohol use Urinary incontinence Weakness in the feet or hands
What causes body aches after drinking alcohol?
FAQ – The answers to the following questions can also be helpful:
Is alcohol bad for your muscles?
When consumed in large quantities, alcohol can slow muscle recovery after exercise, increase inflammation, and lead to electrolyte imbalances. All of these factors have a negative impact on your muscles.
Can alcohol cause muscle cramps?
You may experience muscle cramps after a night of heavy drinking. This is because drinking too much can lead to dehydration, which is associated with muscle cramping. Muscle cramps after drinking can also be due to an electrolyte imbalance.
Why do my bones hurt after drinking?
If your bones feel sore after drinking, it is likely a side effect of inflammation. Alcohol is known to increase inflammation throughout the body, which can lead to pain in the bones and joints.