Can alcohol use cause a full-blown neurological problem?
Hi guys,
Forgive me if this isn't the right place for this question - and I'm glad to have finally signed up!
Three years ago, I began experiencing some strange symptoms, such as dizziness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), a feeling of weakness/shakiness and muscle twitching that began in the immediate aftermath of a three day drinking session.
Unfortunately, although they settled down a lot, the symptoms never really fully went away. After I brought them to the attention of my doctor, I/we assumed them to be some sort of neurological illness and began down a diagnostic process that has so far proved unsuccessful.
I recently began to wonder if there was a connection between alcohol and my symptoms after I started noticing that they became worse (particularly the hand tremor) after each bout of binging ( of note: I don't really drink besides these 'nights out' with friends which usually occur every second weekend).
Because I have a blood test that could point to a neuromuscular condition (my creatine kinase, which is a muscle enzyme, is slightly elevated), and doctors have generally given me the impression that this is what I like have, I have always been working under the assumption that this is my problem and that, if I persist with the docs, it will finally be diagnosed with something to explain what I'm experiencing.
As the post-drinking exacerbations became more obvious to me recently, I found myself on SR and learned about PAWS and the kindling effect, which is significantly worse in binge drinkers than it is in traditional alcoholics.
Has anyone heard of a comparable situation to mine? Is it too far of a stretch to think that something that mimics a neurological condition could simply be the result of acute withdrawals and some kind of damage produced from that from that as well as PAWS? I realize that we're not doctors, and can't give each other medical advice, but I thought that somebody might have a comparable experience.
Simply for my health, I have stopped drinking altogether a month ago, but I would be interested to hear if anybody has any thoughts about the above.