Patients may experience improved heart function and reduced fatigue and shortness of breath within a few weeks, though careful monitoring is needed to avoid toxicity. Patients may notice gradual improvements in heart function and symptoms like shortness of breath and fatigue, though benefits may take several weeks to appear. They may also use diuretics to help your body remove excess fluid and reduce swelling.
Various Signs and Symptoms
When alcohol is consumed in large amounts, over time, it damages the heart muscle. When the heart can’t pump enough blood, it starts to expand to hold the extra blood. At some point, the heart muscle and blood vessels could stop working due to this type of strain.
- Accurately diagnosing alcoholic cardiomyopathy requires a combination of clinical insight, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory tests.
- The only likely cure for alcoholic cardiomyopathy is to stop drinking altogether.
- There isn’t a set amount of time or alcohol consumption that will definitely cause a particular type of heart disease known as dilated cardiomyopathy.
- Because alcoholic cardiomyopathy is influenced by how much alcohol you drink, lessening your alcohol intake can reduce the likelihood of developing the condition.
What else can Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy (Alcohol-related Heart Damage) be?
- The only way to cure alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy is with a heart transplant.
- When the rats were given an inhibitor of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase to increase levels of the ethanol metabolite acetaldehyde, an 80% decrease in protein synthesis occurred.
Prolonged and sustained alcohol use leads to irreversible dysfunction and the mortality rate for ACM can be as high as 50% in the following four years after diagnosis. All information provided in featured rehab listings is verified by the facility officials. The details are kept up to date to help people with addiction treatment needs get the most full and precise facts about the rehabilitation facility. Clinical Review BoardAll Ignite Healthwise, LLC education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals. The length of time and how much you drink are two factors that directly influence your long-term survival. The NIAAA provides an Alcohol Treatment Navigator, where people can learn about AUD treatments and access care and support networks locally.
The importance of setting boundaries in recovery
In the study by Gavazzi et al10, ACM patients who continued drinking exhibited worse transplant-free survival rates after 7 years than those who stopped drinking alcohol (27% vs 45%)10. In this review, we evaluate the available evidence linking alcohol consumption with HF and DCM. This forces the heart to work harder to pump blood to the rest of the body. After a person with AUD completes a rehab alcoholic cardiomyopathy symptoms program, they may need aftercare support. Many treatment programs offer ongoing support groups that continue to meet and provide peer support or recommend attending community support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
For instance, a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology demonstrated that patients who abstained from alcohol showed marked improvement in left ventricular function within six months to one year. Another study in the European Heart Journal found that patients who adhered to comprehensive treatment plans, including medication Alcoholics Anonymous and lifestyle changes, had better long-term outcomes and reduced mortality rates. Evidence of altered bioenergetics or mitochondrial dysfunction has been observed in various investigations of ethanol effect on the heart.