Alcohol-Induced Cardiomyopathy: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Cleveland Clinic can diagnose and treat heart failure of any kind, at any stage, with advanced therapies and compassionate care. Some of the above tests may also use materials injected into your bloodstream that are highly visible on certain types of imaging scans. Those materials, such as contrasts or tracers, marijuana addiction are helpful because they can reveal blood flow blockages that would be very hard to see otherwise.

Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy Treatment

Patients may present with dilated cardiomyopathy with systolic dysfunction. Symptoms include gradual onset worsening shortness of breath, orthopnea/paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. Palpitations and syncopal episodes can occur due to tachyarrhythmias seen in alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Chronic alcohol consumption can cause multi-organ damage including myocardial dysfunction.

Epidemiological studies

Long-term alcohol abuse weakens and thins the heart muscle, affecting its ability to pump blood. When your heart can’t pump blood efficiently, the lack of blood flow disrupts all your body’s major functions. This can lead to heart failure and other life-threatening health problems. Daily consumption of low to moderate amounts of alcohol has beneficial effects on cardiovascular health among both ischemic and non-ischemic patients1-3. In contrast, chronic and excessive alcohol consumption could lead to progressive cardiac dysfunction and heart failure (HF)3. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a type of heart disease that can result from chronic alcohol consumption.

Differential Diagnosis

Changes in your heart’s shape can also disrupt that organ’s electrical system. An electrical current travels through your entire heart with every heartbeat, causing each part of the heart to squeeze in a specific sequence. Your heart’s shape is part of how that timing works, and when parts of your heart stretch, it can disrupt that timing. If it takes too long — even by tiny fractions of a second— that delay can cause your heart to beat out of sync (a problem called dyssynchrony). Similarly, alcohol can have a toxic effect on your heart and cause scar tissue to form. That scar tissue can also cause potentially life-threatening arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms).

While many people will recover from this condition if they abstain from alcohol, others will have symptoms and related problems for the rest of their life. If you are a heavy drinker, talking to a primary care provider can help keep this condition from becoming even more severe in the future, or even prevent it from happening. Your provider is the best source of information and guidance, and they can connect you to other resources that can help and experts who can assist. In general, most people who stop drinking alcohol will feel better over the next three to six months. However, certain symptoms may start to improve even sooner, depending on treatments and the severity of your case.

It is therefore possible that patients with ACM could also harbour a genetic substrate that predisposes them to this form of cardiomyopathy. Epidemiological studies analysing the relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and the development of DCM have found the existence of a reciprocal link between both disorders. The existence of a direct causal link between excessive alcohol consumption and the alcoholic cardiomyopathy is especially dangerous because development of DCM is a controversial issue.

• If it takes too long — even by tiny fractions of a second— that delay can cause your heart to beat out of sync (a problem called dyssynchrony).
• It is a type of dilated cardiomyopathy since it involves dilation or enlargement of one of the heart’s chambers.
• Basic research studies have described an abundance of mechanisms that could underscore the functional and structural alterations found in ACM.
• Men between 35 and 50 have a higher risk of developing alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy.

Doctors & locations

Individuals https://saiishaclinic.com/dry-drunk-signs-symptoms-recovery/ who completely quit alcohol generally have improved overall outcomes. They typically require fewer hospitalizations and show improved heart function on ECG readings. Without an adequate supply of blood and oxygen, the body’s organs and tissues can no longer function properly. This can result in various symptoms, including fluid retention and episodes. These patients may also benefit from a dietary consult to assess nutrition.