DVT and Alcohol

Alcohol-related cardiomyopathy is a type of dilated cardiomyopathy, which is when your heart’s shape changes because its muscles are stretching too much. The effect is much like how a rubber band or spring weakens when stretched too much. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. 6Alcohol also may affect LDL and triglyceride levels, but its influences on these substances are beyond the scope of this article (for more information, see the exhaustive review by Dreon and Krauss 1996). Schematic illustration of a normal heart (A) and a heart in dilated cardiomyopathy (B). Both hearts are shown in their state at the end of contraction (i.e., at endsystole).

Estimating the shape of the risk-outcome relationship

Once a blood clot forms, it may eventually clog the vessel or break off (becoming an “embolus”) and lodge elsewhere in the circulatory system. For example, a thrombus or embolus interrupting the blood supply to the heart could produce a heart attack (i.e., myocardial infarction), whereas a blood clot impairing the blood supply to the brain could cause a stroke. Thus, any factor that reduces platelet aggregation, inhibits blood clot formation, or promotes blood clot dissolution (discussed in the next section) could attenuate the thrombotic complications of atherosclerosis. Moderate alcohol consumption may ameliorate all of these processes, which would help explain the antithrombotic effects of alcohol reported by several researchers.

How is this condition treated, and can it be cured?

Heavy alcohol consumption, on the other hand, has precipitated ischemic strokes caused by blood clots (i.e., non-atherosclerotic, or emoblic, ischemic strokes) (Hillbom 1995). The association between excessive alcohol consumption and enlargement of the heart and is alcohol a blood thinner the occurrence of CHF in chronic alcoholics was first reported more than 100 years ago. More recent research has further established the association between cardiomyopathy and heavy alcohol consumption (Moushmoush and Abi-Mansour 1991; Rubin and Thomas 1992).

Impact of Drinking Patterns and Types of Alcoholic Beverages on Risk

For example, my work and others’ has found that people who both drink heavily and smoke cigarettes are more likely to benefit from naltrexone. This may be because the additive effects of alcohol and nicotine on dopamine release in reward-related brain regions makes these people particularly likely to benefit from a medication that can block dopamine release by alcohol. Naltrexone also appears to be more effective among people whose drinking is motivated by a desire for the positive, rewarding effects of alcohol, consistent with its ability to reduce these effects.

• Both experimental approaches also prevented accumulation of ethanol-induced scarring (collagen and fibronectin); apoptotic cell death; and changes in the size, shape, and function of the heart after injury to heart muscle (ventricular remodeling).
• Diagnosing hemolysis in alcoholic patients is not easy, because these patients frequently exhibit confounding conditions, such as alcohol withdrawal, abnormal folic acid levels, bleeding, or an enlarged spleen.
• Speak to a healthcare provider before drinking alcohol while on blood thinners.
• However, ascertaining the exact alcohol consumption threshold for determining both the benefit and risk has been challenging, and threshold levels continue to differ across studies.
• The available research shows that if you limit your alcohol intake to a certain amount, you’re less likely to develop alcohol-related health problems, including alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy.

Data availability

What about wine and high blood pressure?

Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Heart Health

• This may lower your risk for the type of strokes caused by blockages in blood vessels.
• Building on this foundation, the article next examines several specific consequences of long-term heavy alcohol consumption on the cardiovascular system.