Seizure triggers: Alcohol

Taking cannabis, ecstasy, speed, cocaine, and other recreational drugs can trigger, or increase the frequency of, seizures for some people. Taking recreational drugs increases the risk of seizures and of mental and physical health problems, which in turn may make seizures more likely. Learning more about your own epilepsy and treatment means you can make informed choices about your lifestyle. Hangovers do not generally increase the risk of seizures, but they can play a role in seizures occurring.

Common Seizure Triggers and 9 Tips To Avoid Them

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. In severe cases, seizures can last more than five minutes or reoccur repeatedly; this is a dangerous condition called status epilepticus. Status epilepticus is a medical emergency and can lead to lasting, irreversible brain damage.

How To Identify Your Seizure Triggers

The then applied syndromatic allocation, however, may not be in exact conformance with the present classifications (16, 17). 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. The data was collected by a standardized questionnaire (see Supplementary Material). Only subjects ≥18 years who had suffered from epilepsy for at least 1 year were included. Epilepsy types and seizures were classified according to the International League Against Epilepsy (16). Heavy alcohol use can lead to seizures, especially when you stop drinking and start to enter a period of withdrawal.

Ultimately, everyone’s brain is different and responds to alcohol in different ways. You may choose to try a drink or two of alcohol in a controlled environment to find out if it triggers seizures, or you may decide drinking is not worth the risk of having a seizure at all. It’s important to discuss drinking with your doctor, especially as it relates to any medication you may be taking. People with epilepsy who take anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) must drink alcohol with caution. AEDs can reduce tolerance to alcohol, and alcohol can reduce AED efficacy. There is also some risk of negative interactions between alcohol and epilepsy medicine.

Medical

• These include effects on calcium and chloride flux through the ion-gated glutamate NMDA and GABA receptors.
• It is imperative for people who have had alcohol-induced seizures to abstain from any alcohol use.
• Stress and anxiety can sometimes trigger a seizure in people with epilepsy.
• However, even small amounts of alcohol can interact with anti-seizure medications, reduce their effectiveness, or worsen side effects such as drowsiness or dizziness.
• People who drink large amounts of alcohol and suddenly stop are at a higher-than-usual risk of seizures.
• Outpatient treatment can help them learn how to avoid triggers and deal with stressful situations in healthier ways.

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 seizures. It’s important to always talk with your doctor about whether it’s safe to consume alcohol with your medication. Alcohol and some antiseizure medications can have similar side effects, and taking them together can cause potentially dangerous complications. This article explores how alcohol affects people with epilepsy and provides recommendations for how much alcohol is best to consume. Your specialist may be able to prescribe additional medication you can take around this time of the month to give you added protection against a possible increase of seizures.

This is most likely due to low blood sugar or major changes in ion concentrations in the blood and brain. Getting a good night’s rest is important for proper brain function in all people and especially for those living with epilepsy. Like taking your medication, getting the proper amount of sleep at the right time is important for controlling seizures.

Alcohol Consumption and Antiepileptic Medications

However, people with epilepsy may be more likely to have seizures while going through alcohol withdrawal. Light, infrequent drinking isn’t linked to seizures, but people who are regular or heavy alcohol users have an increased risk of alcoholic tremors or seizure activity. Though alcohol can trigger seizures, they are more often linked to withdrawal from alcohol if your body has developed a tolerance for it and dependency on it. In the study population, generalized genetic epilepsy was an independent predictor for the occurrence of alcohol-related seizures. The mean alcohol intake prior to alcohol-related seizures was not higher in patients with generalized genetic epilepsy than in subjects with focal epilepsy. Lennox stated that alcohol-related seizures had occurred more often in patients with symptomatic than in cryptogenic or idiopathic epilepsies (1).

If you or a loved one are struggling with alcoholism and need help safely detoxing, we are here for you. We are committed to helping you medically detox safely and maintain long-term sobriety. Contact us today to learn how we can help you start your journey to lasting freedom from addiction.

• A double-blinded, randomized, interventional study on 52 subjects with epilepsy demonstrated that a social alcohol intake over a 4-month-period did not increase seizure frequencies (2).
• Withdrawal seizures also happen independently of delirium tremens, and having seizures during withdrawal doesn’t necessarily mean that delirium tremens is present.
• The most common reason for a seizure is forgetting to take your anti-epileptic drugs (AED) or deliberately not taking it.
• However, people who are addicted to alcohol or drink significant amounts of alcohol regularly may be at increased risk of seizures when they stop drinking.
• Most of these antiepileptic medications also have side effects that mimic those of alcohol.
• Additionally, epilepsy medications can increase the effects of alcohol, causing each drink to make you more intoxicated than it usually would.
• Patients with epilepsy may feel unsure about alcohol consumption on chronic medication and therefore may be willing to follow physicians’ advices more often.

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. This indicates a potential selection bias and our results may not be generalized to all epilepsy patients without restrictions. Ninety-five can alcohol trigger epileptic seizures patients (30.7%) were alcohol-experienced but had been abstinent in the last year.

With proper management, his hallucinations and paranoia may have resolved, allowing treatment of any underlying mood disorder (perhaps with anticonvulsants and antipsychotics). He would be admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit (if beds were available) to hopefully prevent the tragic decline that led to his suicide. If you have epilepsy, drinking a large amount of alcohol in a short space of time can trigger a breakthrough seizure putting you at risk. Even people without epilepsy can sometimes have a seizure after a night of binge drinking.