If you are concerned that you may have a problem with alcohol, you should consider speaking to a doctor or seeking specialist support. Bruising easily can be a sign of alcoholism, but it can also be caused by other factors, such as vitamin deficiencies or underlying health conditions. However, if you are a chronic heavy drinker and you bruise more easily all the time, it may be a sign of significant health concerns, such as liver damage or disease. Furthermore, if alcohol bruises are a result of liver damage, you likely have alcoholic liver disease, which causes severe dysfunction in the liver. Alcohol is known to be toxic to the liver, and a majority of people who regularly consume 4 or more drinks per day will develop a fatty liver.
Impaired Platelet Function
Bruises result from direct trauma, bumping into something, among others that may cause damage to blood vessels. You may get it if you hit your thumb with a hammer or stub your toe, but you may also get it from wearing tight shoes or training for a marathon. At the time of injury, your nail may feel sore or tender, but the pressure that builds up under your nail as the blood pools can cause severe pain. Your nail may lift off your finger or toe, and the color of your nail may change. You should go see your doctor if you’re bleeding and it won’t stop, the pain is too intense, or you see a lot of damage to the base of your nail. If you have a bruise on your arm or leg and signs of a blood clot in the same limb, call your doctor.
Alcoholism is a colloquial term, and it really isn’t a politically correct way to refer to an alcohol addiction. In addition to filtering your blood, your liver’s job involves blood cell management. Your liver helps your blood to clot, and the liver helps blood to move evenly throughout the body.
Physical Signs You’re Drinking Too Much
Signs of a blood clot include redness and swelling that gets worse over time and pain in the limb. For instance, if you have a blood clot in your leg, you may have pain in your calf, behind your knee, or in your thigh or groin. People with hemophilia don’t make much of several blood clotting factors, such as factor VIII and factor IX. These disorders are rare, but they can be life-threatening if you don’t treat them. If you’re having nosebleeds for no reason, if your gums bleed a lot after you brush or floss, or if small cuts or scrapes seem to bleed heavily, call your doctor. Your body uses vitamin K to help your blood form clots to stop bleeding.
How to Avoid Getting Bruises From Alcohol
Here are three aspects of your brain that are affected by alcohol and why that can contribute to morning-after bruises. If you regularly experience bruising after drinking, along with other signs like blackouts, strong cravings, or neglecting responsibilities, it may be time to assess your alcohol consumption. Recognizing the signs of alcoholism is the first step toward recovery. If you’re struggling to control your drinking or are worried about the health effects, reach out for professional help. Chronic drinking makes the liver incapable of performing its work, and the levels of the proteins become deficient. Bruises all over your body after drinking because the wounds take more time to heal and let blood leak under the skin.
The Skin’s Vital Role in Protecting Your Body
- You will likely see some discolored skin until the bruise completely heals.
- Alcohol misuse can also cause a vitamin C deficiency, which is essential for wound healing.
- Dry skin may be present at the same time but is unlikely to be related to binge drinking.
- 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.
- The problem is that alcohol is a wellspring of empty calories—which are calories with minimal nutritional value.
Finally, a person with an alcohol use disorder will likely give up other activities, because their focus is on drinking. When someone develops an alcohol use disorder, they will show signs or symptoms that are characteristic of this condition. But a liver that is damaged needs a perfectly pure environment to heal, and that means alcohol at any level must be eliminated.
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. For the same reason you have trouble with motor control and coordination, you will also have a worse reaction time while drinking.
- If such cases befall you, step back for a moment to weigh on the more significant health issue it has brought upon your health condition.
- Ensuring that you do not drink at this level could be a wise way to limit your risk of unusual bruising.
- It can be hard to think through an alcoholism problem on your own, but with the help of a therapist and addiction treatment professionals, you can gain control.
- Chronic alcohol misuse has a negative effect on every system of the body.
- So, the next time you’re out with friends, remember to pace yourself and drink plenty of water.
- Hence, drinking alcohol makes it harder for your immune system to gear up and mount a defense response against invading pathogens and viruses.
The combination of dilated blood vessels and impaired liver function due to heavy drinking creates a heightened risk of easy bruising. Liver disease often causes bruising because it affects the liver’s ability to perform its functions, including filtering blood and producing proteins that aid in blood clotting. When the liver is damaged and unable to function properly, its ability to produce these clotting proteins is impaired, leading to a condition called alcoholic fatty liver disease. This condition results in the accumulation of fatty acids in the liver, causing severe dysfunction and impairing its ability to filter toxins from the blood effectively.
While alcohol sends you into dreamland quicker, there’s a good chance that having too much will lead to a night of tossing and turning once its sedative effects wear off. Because alcohol is a potent diuretic, it can quickly dehydrate you, leading to the characteristic symptoms of a hangover, including a throbbing headache. Research reviews have also listed alcohol as a culprit for triggering migraine attacks. If you’ve ever had to nurse a hangover, nausea and vomiting are commonly part and parcel of the ordeal. While throwing up can make you feel miserable, it is one of your body’s self-defense mechanisms to remove excess toxins from the alcohol consumed. In short, alcohol may increase your risk of experiencing gastritis and digestive symptoms.
How Is Alcohol Withdrawal Treated in a Hospital Setting?
And since alcohol is a diuretic, you’ll probably visit the bathroom more frequently at night, which can significantly hinder sleep. If you’ve noticed consistent weight gain, it may be time to reflect on your drinking habits. Additionally, drinking can aggravate certain skin conditions, such as psoriasis and rosacea. Alcohol can change circuitry in the brain, and those changes can make it difficult for you to curb an alcohol habit. 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 day or two.
You may avoid these nasty markings by adopting the proper lifestyle practices and following the tips mentioned in the blog. Mixing alcohol and medicines is harmful and may cause unpleasant side effects, one of which is bruising. Before consuming alcohol while taking medication, always consult with a healthcare professional. It is important to be aware of the possible dangers of combining these two, as such encounters may have detrimental repercussions for your general health and fitness. Well, alcohol intake may lead to night sweats by speeding up your heart rate and widening your blood vessels, triggering the release of perspiration.
Your liver can begin to develop fatty deposits because of alcohol exposure, and that fat makes it harder for your liver to work effectively. If you keep drinking, your liver can swell, and cells within the liver can die. If the scarring is extensive, the liver may not be able to do its vital work. Hydration will make your skin elastic and blood vessels strong, reducing the chances of bruising due to alcohol. 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.
Because of this fact, a person with an alcohol use disorder may have several failed attempts to stop drinking. All of these symptoms indicate that drinking has Drinking and Bruising become a major problem in your life, and you should consider getting professional help to recover. It can be hard to think through an alcoholism problem on your own, but with the help of a therapist and addiction treatment professionals, you can gain control. While the liver is designed to filter out toxins, the sensitive cells that line the liver can be damaged by alcohol exposure.
Platelets are important for the coagulation of blood and heavy drinking impairs the generation as well as function of these platelets. The more you drink, the lesser the chance that your blood will clot, you get bruises after drinking due to those left by some minor bruises. Alcohol addiction and heavy drinking can have detrimental effects on the body and can cause vitamin deficiencies, which may increase bruising.
