Something people might notice with ongoing, severe alcohol misuse is bruising from alcohol. Learn the answer, as well as how to get help with medication assisted treatment for alcohol use, below. While end-stage alcoholism is a dire situation, it’s not a hopeless one. Late-stage alcoholics can get better if they seek treatment, and some of their health problems can even be reversed if caught early enough. The end-stage alcoholic suffers from a host of physical problems, including severe damage to vital organs such as the liver. Alcohol, in fact, is the cause of more than 50 percent of liver-disease related deaths in this country, and alcohol-related liver disease costs more than $3 billion annually.
Kidney Disease
Some conditions, such as pregnancy or breastfeeding, can temporarily increase the need for dietary iron. Abstaining from drinking alcohol is the first step in treating ALD. A team of healthcare providers, which may include psychologists or addiction specialists, can help https://ecosoberhouse.com/ if you find it challenging to stop drinking. If the alcoholic liver disease is not treated, it can progress to later stages which include alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, a scarring of the liver. If you experience increased bruising, don’t stop taking your medications.
Health and Nutrition Tips
An intervention from loved ones can help some people recognize and accept that they need professional help. If you’re concerned about someone who drinks too much, ask a professional experienced in alcohol treatment for advice on how to approach that person. If your pattern of drinking results in repeated significant distress and problems functioning in your daily life, you likely have alcohol use disorder. However, even a mild disorder can escalate and lead to serious problems, so early treatment is important. Alcohol use disorder is a pattern of alcohol use that involves problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol or continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems. This disorder also involves having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking.
What Causes Bruising?
- Because of the severity of the disease, medically monitored alcohol detox is a necessity.
- Perhaps the most common cause of bruising from alcohol is that alcohol acts as a vasodilator, making blood vessels larger.
- They may stop participating in hobbies, or withdraw from friends and family members, because their desire to drink is stronger than their need for social interaction or other forms of recreation.
- It’s important to see a healthcare provider for an accurate diagnosis and treatment, even if the bruises typically go away in a week or two.
These physiological changes contribute to the increasing tolerance seen in early-stage alcoholics. Despite heavy alcohol consumption, they may show few signs of intoxication or ill effects from drinking, such as a hangover. And as tolerance builds, they’ll begin to drink more and more to achieve the same buzz or high they’re used to. Alcoholics tend to bruise easily because of the blood vessels in their body breaking down.
You will likely see some discolored skin until the bruise completely heals. But a serious bruise is more likely to be large, painful, swollen, or lumpy. Take an over-the-counter pain medicine, do alcoholics bruise easily such as acetaminophen. Check with your doctor before using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like aspirin or ibuprofen, because these can make bleeding and bruising worse.
Other physical signs of alcoholism
- People with diabetes may develop hyperglycemia which creates too much glucose in the blood.
- More rare are genetic collagen vascular diseases such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and Marfan syndrome.
- Another serious cause of bruising is domestic violence or abuse.
- The CDC defines binge drinking as drinking that brings your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or more.
Go to the ER right away if you get a bruise (sometimes called a “goose egg”) on your head and can’t remember what happened or think you’ve got a concussion. People who run regularly may get something called a stone bruise (metatarsalgia). This is swelling and tenderness where your toe bones connect on the bottom of your foot. With a stone bruise, you may notice pain or tenderness when you press on that point on your foot, pull up on your toes, or flex your foot upward. It can be caused by wearing old or worn-out shoes while you train, running or walking on hard surfaces like concrete, or training for too long.
These marks often show up as petechiae — very small red dots from bleeding under the skin — but can look like large bruises as well. When you bump against an object, your body normally responds by forming clots to stop the bleeding, which prevents bruising. But sometimes your blood isn’t able to form clots as it should.
- Alcoholics tend to bruise easily because of the blood vessels in their body breaking down.
- Other ways to get help include talking with a mental health professional or seeking help from a support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous or a similar type of self-help group.
- To counteract the sedating effects of alcohol, for example, the brain increases the activity of excitatory neurotransmitters, which speed up brain activity.
- If you have cirrhosis from alcohol liver damage, you’re also more likely to bleed and bruise easily.
He has a nursing and business/technology degrees from The Johns Hopkins University. If you develop a hematoma (a collection of blood larger than the average bruise), seek medical attention right away. The affected area will swell—you’ll get a lump or bulge like the classic goose egg on the head you see in comics and cartoons. If you notice you are bruising easy, you should stop asking yourself, “Why am I bruising easily” and go see your doctor. You don’t want to let an underlying medical condition go undetected. Some medicines can cause bruising by decreasing blood clotting.
Do not stop a medication or change a dosage unless under the advice of a healthcare provider. Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a bleeding disorder that occurs when a protein called von Willebrand factor in the blood is lacking or not working properly. Even though most people with VWD are born with the condition, it often remains undiagnosed until adulthood, as symptoms tend to be mild. Your body’s ability to form a proper clot can be affected if you don’t have enough platelets (low platelet count) or they aren’t functioning properly. Bruising occurs more readily as a person ages, making age the most common cause of easy bruising. Aging skin becomes progressively thinner, making blood vessels more prone to injury.
