This is one of the most common side effects of long-term alcohol consumption. Genetic, psychological, social and environmental factors can impact how drinking alcohol affects your body and behavior. Theories suggest that for certain people drinking has a different and stronger impact that can lead to alcohol use disorder. Many people with alcohol use disorder hesitate to get treatment because they don’t recognize that they have a problem. An intervention from loved ones can help some people recognize and accept that they need professional help.
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In other words, bruising alone isn’t enough to diagnose alcoholism, but it can be a sign. Bruising can be one of the side effects of alcohol dependence, but it’s not the sole cause of it. A chronically damaged liver may not produce the proteins required for coagulation.
Complications of alcohol use disorder: How does it affect the body’s systems?
Heavy drinking can lead to easy bruising and bleeding, and not just because you’re more prone to falling and hitting table corners when drunk. Meanwhile, binge drinking focuses more on how quickly and how much you drink in one sitting. The CDC defines binge drinking as drinking that brings your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or more.
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Alcohol can cause abnormalities in the blood cells in several ways, including nutritional deficiency, marrow toxicity, and liver disease. After stopping drinking, which is the first step in any treatment of ALD, an assessment will be made as to the extent of the damage and the overall state of the body. Treatment also consists of evaluation for other risk factors that can damage the liver or put the liver at higher risk, such as infection with hepatitis C and metabolic syndrome. In compensated cirrhosis, the liver remains functioning, and many people have no symptoms.
- As a result, it is usually necessary to get medical help to manage alcohol use disorder.
- A person with AUD has an impaired ability to stop consuming alcohol, despite adverse consequences.
- The early signs of alcoholic liver disease are vague and affect a range of systems in the body.
- For instance, treating alcohol addiction, losing weight, and using medications to treat viral hepatitis and other conditions can limit damage to the liver.
- If you bruise easily and are worried that it may be a sign of alcoholism, talk to your doctor.
- Other alcohol-related liver diseases resulting from consistent liver inflammation, like alcoholic jaundice (aka alcoholic hepatitis), are also common with chronic drinking.
See the Resources, below, for guidelines to help clinicians manage pain in patients with or in recovery from substance use disorders. Shine365 is your source for healthy living information from Marshfield Clinic Health System. Every day you’ll find helpful ideas and advice on a wide variety of health topics to help you and your family live well. “The good news is that most bruises aren’t a big deal even if you can’t explain them,” said Shannon Jahn, a Marshfield Clinic Health System Oncology/Hematology Nurse Practitioner. For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s webpage «Alcohol and Cancer Risk» (last accessed June 6, 2024). This article will use the terms “male,” “female,” or both to refer to sex assigned at birth.
AUD and alcohol use increase the risk of various health complications. These 5 Key Differences Between Crack and Cocaine complications affect several bodily systems, including the GI, neurological, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems. Someone with decompensated cirrhosis may develop ascites (or fluid in the abdomen), gastrointestinal bleeding, and hepatic encephalopathy, in which the brain is affected. Alcohol-related neuropathy is a condition caused by consuming large amounts of alcohol over a long period.
The liver is responsible for metabolizing or processing ethanol, the main component of alcohol. Over time, the liver of a person who drinks heavily can become damaged and cause alcoholic liver disease. Liver damage from cirrhosis is not reversible, and it is linked to high mortality rates. After all, heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of serious injuries from falls, burns, and motor vehicle crashes. Finally, one potentially serious cause of alcohol and bruising is alcohol liver disease. As liver functioning declines from chronic alcohol misuse, a person is likely to bleed and bruise easily.