There are some diabetes and stroke prevention cures that indicate some benefits to social consumption. However, chronic alcohol abuse can lead to severe heart failure and that is why the prognosis in these individuals is poor. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a type of heart disease that can result from chronic alcohol consumption. Experts do not know what quantity of alcohol a person needs to consume to develop ACM. They also have not identified the minimum length of time someone needs to drink alcohol before developing the condition.

Symptoms

Commonly seen cellular structural alterations include changes in the mitochondrial reticulum, cluster formation of mitochondria and disappearance of inter-mitochondrial junctions. In later stages, minor mitochondria and septic mitochondria can be seen. According to the NIAAA, many people with AUD recover, although setbacks are common among those receiving treatment.

Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy and Your Health

Other lifestyle changes a person will likely need to make include reducing the amount of fluid they drink or salt they eat. A person can speak with a doctor about any concerns regarding lifestyle changes. Generally, various tests are necessary to find the underlying cause. For instance, healthcare professionals can carry out a stress test or heart catheterization to rule out coronary artery disease (CAD), which is another cause of cardiomyopathy. Let your healthcare professional know if you have a family history of the condition. If the heart weakens, as it can with heart failure, it begins to enlarge.

ACTIONS

In some cases, ACM can cause arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats, which can be life-threatening. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a cardiac disease caused by chronic alcohol consumption. It is alcoholic cardiomyopathy symptoms characterized by ventricular dilation and impairment in cardiac function. ACM represents one of the leading causes of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. The major risk factor for developing ACM is chronic alcohol use; however, there is no cutoff value for the amount of alcohol consumption that would lead to the development of ACM.

Dilated cardiomyopathy causes the chambers of the heart to grow larger. People with heart failure often require diuretics, which remove salt and water from the body, to help manage fluid overload. Fluid overload is one of the body’s ways to compensate for heart failure.

This includes a combination of beta-blockers, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, diuretics, aldosterone receptor antagonist and angiotensin blocker-neprilysin inhibitor (if LVEF is less than or equal to 40%). The use of carvedilol, trimetazidine with other conventional heart failure drugs have been proven to be beneficial in some studies. Incidence of alcoholic cardiomyopathy ranges from 1-2% of all heavy alcohol users. It is estimated, approximately 21-36% of all non-ischemic cardiomyopathies are attributed to alcohol. The prevalance of alcoholic cardiomyopathy in addiction units is estimated around %.

Treatment / Management

• A person may not be able to withstand the amount of exercise or activity as they had previously.
• Research shows that alcohol is the most frequently consumed toxic substance, but when it is abused, it can cause a host of health problems, including alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
• People with heart failure often require diuretics, which remove salt and water from the body, to help manage fluid overload.
• Additionally, we can’t say for certain what mechanism cause cardiac damage.

The prevalence of chronic pulmonary diseases among patients with AC was approximately 30% and has remained unchanged through the years studied. This possibly reflects concomitant maladaptive coping behaviors and cocausation with depression precipitating alcohol use and vice versa.19 Rates of hypertension, however, have doubled from 30% to 60% over the studied timeframe. This requires close attention, considering the ill effect of high blood pressure on the cardiovascular system. The rate of liver disease including but not limited to cirrhosis in our cohort was between 15% and 19%.