Heavy alcohol use of three or more drinks in a day can also increase the frequency of seizures in those who already have epilepsy. Additionally, epilepsy medications can increase the effects of alcohol, causing each drink to make you more intoxicated than it usually would. Someone with epilepsy should use alcohol very carefully, as it can increase the risk of severe health problems and complications.
What is the risk of mixing epilepsy and alcohol?
Someone with epilepsy should not drink alcohol without first discussing the potential risks with a doctor who is familiar with their specific condition. Alcohol withdrawal seizures may begin within hours to days of stopping alcohol use or starting an alcohol detox. The timeframe will be different for everyone, but seizures will normally start within the first 72 hours. Alcohol withdrawal seizures can occur within a few hours or up to 72 hours after stopping drinking. If you or someone you care about abuses alcohol, you might be concerned about the negative consequences of drinking too much.
Focal seizures
People with epilepsy who drink alcohol may also be less likely to adhere to their medication schedule. If you are especially sensitive to either your AED or alcohol, it may be best to avoid drinking while taking that particular medication. Some common epileptic triggers are physical or emotional stress, eating certain foods, flashing lights, and even lack of sleep. But one of the most discussed triggers on MyEpilepsyTeam is alcohol. Let’s take a look at the relationship between alcohol and seizures to shed some light on why drinking is a potential trigger.
What Does an Alcohol-Induced Seizure Look Like?
Fifteen out of 95 (15.8%) alcohol-experienced but now abstinent subjects had experienced alcohol-related seizures in the past. In that group, the mean amount of alcohol intake prior to the seizures was 10.9 standard drinks. All of these patients stated that they had stopped alcohol consumption because of the experience of alcohol-related seizures. Human and animal data have shown that acute alcohol intake has a biphasic effect on the central nervous system (CNS). Initially, the inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic effect of alcohol exerts CNS depressant and anticonvulsant properties (4, 5).
Neurologic effects of alcohol
“Specifically, when you’re younger, your brain is going through a lot of changes. A huge risk factor for people who develop alcohol use disorder is early-onset drinking. So, if you drink before the age of 14, there’s about a 50% chance you’re going to develop an alcohol use disorder in your adulthood,” explains Dr. Anand.
- Alcohol acts on the brain through several mechanisms that influence seizure threshold.
- This illustration has been shown to the participants of this study to guide them in estimating their individual average alcohol intake per drinking occasion.
- Out of 310 interviewed subjects, 204 (65.8%) had used alcohol within the last 12 months, 158 (51%) within the last 30 days, and 108 (34.8%) within the last 7 days.
Everyone is different, so how much someone with epilepsy can safely drink varies from person to person. There are no official guidelines about drinking alcohol for people with epilepsy. But if you do choose to drink, you might decide to follow the NHS guidelines about low risk drinking for everyone. These say that adults should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week. If people have an alcohol use disorder, they can talk with a healthcare professional about treatment options. If people withdraw from alcohol after heavy use, it is important to do so with medical supervision.
Avoid binge drinking
No amount of alcohol is safe to drink while pregnant, according to the CDC. This condition can be acute, affecting people for a short period of time before resolving, or chronic, lasting for a longer period of time. This means that some people who do not actually have epilepsy may also experience seizures when drinking.
The interaction of alcohol and ASMs makes driving more hazardous, even if you have consumed an amount within the legal limit, so you should avoid driving in these circumstances. However, other people with epilepsy find they can drink moderately without triggering a seizure. In fact, research shows that a drink or two does not increase seizure activity. Electroencephalogram (EEG) tests show brain activity remains the same, as long as the amount of alcohol ingested is small.
These effects can happen even after one drink — and increase with every drink you have, states Dr. Anand. “When you drink alcohol, it makes you a little bit more talkative. But as you drink more — and can you drink alcohol on vivitrol or will you get sick you don’t need to drink that much more — eventually, the enzymes that break down the alcohol get saturated. So, the alcohol builds up quite quickly,” explains addiction psychiatrist Akhil Anand, MD.
But Linde, a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco, who provided psychiatric emergency services at S.F. General Hospital for 24 years, said there’s solid science behind the idea of limiting the damage caused by addiction. Antiseizure medication toxicity can happen if you take too much of the medication at once — accidentally or knowingly. Neurons transmit and relay chemical and electrical signals to each other. At any given time, neurons can be resting or exciting (triggering) or inhibiting (blocking) other neurons.
In the end you are an adult and you can make the best choices for yourself. For many people with epilepsy it is perfectly fine to drink small quantities of alcohol from time to time without having a higher risk than usual of seizures. By making sensible choices about epilepsy and alcohol, you could possibly enjoy a drink without worrying about the consequences. That being said, there is evidence that alcoholism could cause long term epilepsy too. Studies have shown that when someone repeatedly binges on alcohol and then withdraws, it gradually causes permanent changes in the brain. These changes mean that the person would be more likely to have seizures in future, even if they stopped drinking alcohol altogether.
An aura is different for everyone and can include a visual disturbance, a smell, a taste or even a strong emotional feeling. Auras occur right before a seizure and can help someone with a history of seizures know that a crack vs coke crack and cocaine differences and drug risks seizure is about to happen. Ultimately, the best way to prevent alcohol-related neurologic disease is to not drink alcohol. The alcohol will continue to circulate in the bloodstream and eventually affect other organs.
This is not the same as having epilepsy, which is a tendency to have seizures that start in the brain. People who drink in moderation are not likely to experience seizures. Here are some of the interactions to do with recovery motivation ways to get motivated to achieve sobriety. Join the conversation today to share your experiences and connect with others on MyEpilepsyTeam. Although these are general guidelines, your tolerance or consumption recommendation can vary based on your overall health, size, and medical condition. It’s important to always talk with your doctor about whether it’s safe to consume alcohol with your medication.
For example, Keppra and alcohol may increase your risk of liver problems. Meanwhile lamotrigine and alcohol may cause you to feel very sleepy. Anti-epilepsy drugs can also reduce your tolerance to alcohol which means you will feel drunker faster. This change in smaller amounts can lead to the person feeling relaxed. This is because the neurons are not able to fire as rapidly once the drink is introduced to the system.
Details were only recorded on those alcohol-related seizures that subjects were able to remember the best. As a consequence however, alcohol-related seizures may have also occurred after smaller amounts of alcohol intake or in other circumstances that were not taken into account in the present study. For people with epilepsy, alcohol may interfere with anti-seizure medications and increase the risk of seizures. Studies(1) show that persons who regularly consume large amounts of alcohol can increase their risk of seizures by abruptly reducing or discontinuing consumption (withdrawal seizures). This drastic change in habit also increases the risk of developing epilepsy three-fold. When this effect occurs deeply or over a long period of time, brain activity can rebound during alcohol withdrawal, exceeding normal levels and creating the risk of a seizure.
In larger doses though, there is an increased risk that there will be a chemical imbalance which leads to an alcohol seizure. ASMs can make you more sensitive to the sedating effects of alcohol, leading you to feel drowsy or feel intoxicated more easily. Mixing ASMs and alcohol can also reduce the effectiveness of medication and/or increase side effects by affecting how the ASMs are metabolised, increasing the risk of seizure activity.