You may attempt to commit to cut back on your drinking but may find that you can’t resist the temptation to drink for more than a marijuana addiction day or two. The brain changes brought about by alcohol could make clear thinking difficult, and that could make it hard for you to stick to your commitments even if you want to do so. That vital organ, which sits on the right side of your body beneath your rib cage, processes all of the blood in your body and cleans it of toxins before releasing it into circulation. All of these impairments can lead to more morning after bruises, but they can also make driving extremely dangerous. Even small amounts of alcohol can affect your cognitive functioning enough to make driving dangerous.
How to minimize bruising
Alcohol can also lead to excessive sweating – known as alcohol sweats or night sweats. For many, this is a problem that will keep us tossing and turning at night, leading to alcohol affecting our sleep. Becky Upham has worked throughout the health and wellness world for over 25 years. She is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and completed a residency at Maine Medical Center. Diagnosed with celiac disease during medical school, she realized the power of improving one’s health through diet and lifestyle habits, which she later incorporated into her practice.
The part of the brain that controls co-ordination and balance, the cerebellum, can deteriorate under the influence of alcohol, making you look unsteady on your feet. The cerebellum is particularly sensitive to severe alcohol consumption. Here’s what you need to know about easy bruising, what’s normal and what’s unusual, and when to see your healthcare provider to get it checked out. Cushing’s is most often caused by long-term use of corticosteroid medications, but it can also be caused by a tumor.
- It increases your chances of being hit in the forehead with an incoming football, but it may also cause you to bump into people or objects.
- But long-term and excessive alcohol consumption can lead to liver inflammation (liver hepatitis).
What Causes Bruising?
It often drives people with alcoholism to keep drinking in order to limit these symptoms. Certain physical signs and symptoms might indicate that you’ve developed an alcohol addiction. Symptoms of alcoholism vary, but in this piece we’ll focus on some of the physical signs of alcohol dependence. It can help to give you a clearer picture of the ailments, sensations and changes to your body that might happen as a result of alcoholism. Most bruises happen when small blood vessels, called capillaries, near the surface of the skin are broken because of the impact of an injury — for example, bumping into a hard surface.
Why Does Alcohol Cause Easy Bruising?
End-stage alcoholics are also at a high risk of dying from accidents, trauma and suicide. It’s common at this point for alcoholics to have lost their jobs as well their friends and family. Mindful drinking offers that middle ground where you’ll proactively improve your drinking habits without any pressure to quit. A bruise develops when blood vessels sustain damage and blood leaks into tissues under the skin. They may also develop large bruises after minor injuries or have bruises that take many weeks to heal.
- An elderly adult’s skin is prone to bruising because the blood vessels underneath the skin are no longer cushioned by fat.
- Eventually, skin becomes fragile and crepe-like to the point that you can easily see structures such as tendons and capillaries in certain areas of your body, including your hands and arms.
- Losing valuable fluid and nutrients from your body can lead to wrinkled, dry, puffy or just generally unhealthy-looking skin.
- Alcohol abuse can also impair judgment and decision-making, increasing the risk of accidents and subsequent injuries.
- We provide online medication assisted treatment for alcohol use, so you can begin your recovery from home.
- This heightened risk is not merely a minor side effect but a serious concern, particularly for individuals with specific health conditions or those in certain age groups.
Can alcohol interact with medications that increase bruising?
But if you often drink a lot of alcohol and you tend to get a lot of bruises, it may mean you’ve got liver problems. Right after a tattoo, it’s normal for can alcohol cause bruising your skin around your tattoo to be red, irritated, swollen, warm, and sometimes bruised. These skin reactions are part of the healing process and usually last about 3-7 days. They may look reddish-purple on lighter skin tones and brownish-black on darker skin tones. If you bruise easily, you might wonder what’s causing it and what you can do.
Mood swings, depression and feelings of guilt and shame are common. As alcohol consumption increases, the liver adapts to break down alcohol more quickly. Over time, repeated alcohol exposure also alters a person’s brain chemistry. Stopping alcohol abruptly after long-term heavy drinking can also lead to alcohol withdrawal syndrome, which commonly manifests as symptoms like nausea and vomiting. Alcohol is a vasodilator, causing blood vessels to relax and expand, which https://ecosoberhouse.com/ increases blood flow throughout the body. This vasodilation can lead to blood vessel breakdown, making individuals more susceptible to bruising, even without any apparent trauma.
- The cerebellum is particularly sensitive to severe alcohol consumption.
- One study showed that the development of a yellow color was the most noticeable change in a bruise over time.
- Chronic drinking makes the liver incapable of performing its work, and the levels of the proteins become deficient.
Alcohol abuse can also impair judgment and decision-making, increasing the risk of accidents and subsequent injuries. ARLD does not often cause symptoms until it’s reached an advanced stage. If you misuse alcohol, you may have liver damage, even though you have none of the symptoms above.
These consequences can include relationship problems, difficulty fulfilling duties at work or home, or a worsening of health problems. To determine the cause of easy bruising, your healthcare provider will conduct a physical examination and review your symptoms, medical history, and any medications you are taking. The symptoms of hemophilia can be mild or severe, depending on how much clotting factor is present in the affected person’s blood. Depending on the severity and type of hemophilia, bleeding may occur spontaneously (without injury) or after trauma or surgery. If alcohol begins to interfere with daily functioning, but you have been unsuccessful with giving up drinking, seeking treatment can help you to stay committed to recovery.
If you are concerned about your drinking or any symptoms, seek prompt advice from a healthcare provider. Earlier, we discussed how alcohol impairs liver function, which can result in bruising easily. However, there are several other factors that can cause liver disease, such as cancer and cirrhosis. Liver disease affects the blood clotting process, increasing your risk of bleeding and bruising easily.
Drink Responsibly
This will cause bruising even if your loved one has careful caregivers. Other health conditions like weight may also lead to an increase in bruises. For most individuals, moderate alcohol consumption does not significantly increase the risk of bruising. For example, health conditions like ITP or certain blood cancers are not entirely preventable. A healthcare provider may advise stopping or adjusting the dose of certain medicines if they cause you to bruise easily. A rare platelet disorder may be to blame if bruises seem to appear for no reason.