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Abnormally low blood sugar levels can lead to seizures, and this drop normally occurs at the same time as a hangover, causing people to connect the hangover with the seizure. Those on blood sugar medications are most at risk for this complication. While alcohol withdrawal can cause seizures, they are not guaranteed to happen. Alcohol withdrawal seizures are more likely to occur in those who have used alcohol heavily over prolonged periods.
Alcohol-Induced Seizures: Why Does Alcohol Cause Seizures?
Call 911 and tell the operator you think the person is experiencing an alcohol seizure. Sometimes, those changes are so strong that they disrupt normal electrical communication between cells. According to the Epilepsy Society, consuming alcohol may make your epileptic medications less effective and may make the side effects of your medications worse.
Patient with findings of IGE in our series was having moderate degree of alcohol related problem. His age was lower compared to mean, had a lower AUDIT score, no withdrawal symptoms and had seizures within the first 6 h following alcohol consumption. No clinical pointers such as recurrent seizure, myoclonus or seizure precipitated by sleep deprivation were present. Short of an EEG, it would have been impossible to identify such a patient in this group.
The Recovery Village Columbus offers a 5–10 day medical alcohol detox program that ensures seizures are quickly detected and treated during withdrawal. Our program provides comprehensive follow-up care after medical detox to help maintain long-term sobriety. We are also an in-network provider for a range of insurance companies, including Cigna, BCBS and Humana. Alcohol poisoning can also lead to slow or absent breathing, reducing the amount of oxygen in the brain, a condition called hypoxia. This can lead to temporary and lasting brain damage and increase the likelihood of alcohol related seizure seizures.
Alcohol-related seizures: Need for clarity
This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article. If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol use, The Recovery Village Ridgefield can help. We offer comprehensive addiction treatment programs that can address all aspects of substance use and recovery. Drinking too much alcohol can lead to life-threatening conditions, such as seizures. An alcohol-related seizure may result in your inability to control your actions, which could be dangerous. If you experience an alcohol-related seizure, you may experience falling to the floor and shaking violently for a few minutes.
Treatments
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Chronic alcohol consumption disrupts the brain’s neurotransmitter systems, particularly gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate. Alcohol enhances the GABAergic system (inhibitory) and inhibits glutamate (excitatory) receptors. Abrupt cessation leads to a hyperexcitable state due to the sudden unopposed excitation, potentially triggering seizure activity. Additionally, chronic alcohol use can lead to structural brain changes and neuronal loss, further increasing seizure susceptibility. In multivariate analysis, alcohol consumption within the last 12 months was independently related to AED monotherapy.
Alcohol-Related Epilepsy
- Out of 310 interviewed subjects, 204 (65.8%) had used alcohol within the last 12 months, 158 (51%) within the last 30 days, and 108 (34.8%) within the last 7 days.
- Someone who drinks alcohol heavily or binge drinks has a higher risk of seizures.
- Excessive alcohol use is a well-known precipitant of idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE).
- Alcohol-related seizures are defined as adult-onset seizures that occur in the setting of chronic alcohol dependence.
- Instead, median and range would have conveyed better information on variance or dispersion from mean.
- According to the Epilepsy Foundation, seizures by themselves typically are not fatal.
In almost all cases, seizures occurred within 12 hours of stopping alcohol consumption. Among the IGE syndromes,17 IGE with GTCS is the one most likely to present to the clinician initially as ARS. Searching for signatures of IGE in patients with ARS with the help of a scalp EEG will still be helpful to identify a very small subgroup (~1%) that may require long-term antiepileptic medication.
- In multivariate analysis, alcohol consumption within the last 12 months was independently related to AED monotherapy.
- Because of the risk of seizures and other serious symptoms, detoxing from alcohol should only be attempted with medical support.
- He had one seizure within 6 h of intake of alcohol and no withdrawal symptoms.
- In our study population, alcohol consumption is probably underestimated.
- Furthermore, we cannot exclude hypoglycemic episodes caused by acute heavy alcohol consumption (26), which may have contributed to the manifestation of epileptic seizures (27).
- Patient with findings of IGE in our series was having moderate degree of alcohol related problem.
Cited by other articles
Alcohol poisoning can lead to seizures, but these may not result from the alcohol intake itself. Lower blood sugar or head trauma caused by a sudden fall could be the underlying cause. 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. SUDEP is the sudden and unexpected death of a person with epilepsy who is otherwise healthy without a known cause. When people stop consuming alcohol after chronic use, they lose the inhibitory effects of the GABA receptors, resulting in the central nervous system being overstimulated. Heavy alcohol consumption is a common trigger for seizures in those who already have epilepsy.
Alcohol consumption
He had one seizure within 6 h of intake of alcohol and no withdrawal symptoms. He had no history of myoclonic jerks or absence seizures and probably had IGE with GTCS. Considering all alcohol induced seizures as unmasking of late onset IGE would be unwise.
