Introduction
Though alcohol is as a social beverage, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages can have devastating effects on the body. Alcohol is considered a toxic chemical, and aside from causing intoxication, it has significant adverse effects on muscles cells thus creating muscle cramps (Shenkman et al., 2013) . This research paper will look on long-term abuse of alcohol and how it alters levels of nutrients such as vitamin B-1, Folate, Vitamin E, and vitamin B-6. Deficiency of these vitamins inhibits proper nerve function making individuals vulnerable to myopathy. Individuals experience muscle cramps after a night out of consuming alcoholic beverages. Muscle cramps are involuntary painful contractions of skeletal muscle tissues. The condition can be acute, and chronic is an individual continues to drink alcohol frequently and over an extended period. Symptoms of myopathy include decrease in muscle mass (atrophy) body stiffness, spasms, and general muscle weakness (Noble, & Weimer, 2014).
Literature Review
According to Messing (2014), alcoholism comes with severe detriments to a person's overall health. It affects a person's ability to think and fight for diseases. There is also a probability that it increases the risk and heart diseases, pancreatitis, and the risk of cancer ( Messing, 2014) . Drinking habits alcoholics further exposes them decreased muscle strength and changed their muscle structure. Nutrient deficiency in the body system of alcoholics is as a result of poor nutrition. Heavy drinkers replace food in their diet with alcohol. Another effect of heavy alcohol drinking is that it limits the ability of the body to absorb the nutrients it needs from consumed food. Lack of vitamin B in the body destroys nerve cells thereby resulting in a sensation of neuropathy which in turn makes myopathy inevitable. Symptoms neuropathy includes impaired speech, dizziness, numbness in arms and legs, movement disorders, vomiting and nausea, and sexual dysfunction (González et al., 2014).
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Other researchers such as Wijnia et al. (2013) argue that myopathy means muscle disease and that it is attributed to low vitamin D content in the body. Their argument is based on the fact that symptoms of myopathy and alcoholism and vitamin D deficiency have some similarity. Their research findings found that 40 to 60 percent alcoholics who suffer from alcohol-related myopathy have low vitamin D content in the body. The established results made the researchers raise questions whether vitamin D deficiency might cause muscle weakness. Though there is a similarity between muscle weakness caused by alcoholism and that created with vitamin D deficiency, there are also some differences. Research authors reviewed articles on alcoholic myopathy and hypovitaminosis D myopathy (Wijnia et al., 2013) . The review was to try to establish whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the two causes of muscle weakness. The results of the review findings were that there is possible interdependence of vitamin D deficiency with muscle weakness in chronic alcoholism. Wijnia et al. (2013) asserted that vitamin D deficiency might at least explain the occurrence of observed myopathy in chronic alcoholism. The researchers further suggested a deficiency of vitamin D in alcoholics may result from liver dysfunction, inadequate dietary intake, and lack of sun exposure.
Preventive Measures
Myopathy condition might get worse if individuals continue with alcohol drinking. The adverse effects of myopathy include disability, chronic pain, and even death. Full recovery from myopathy is possible if individuals refrain from consuming alcohol and eat a healthy diet rich in nutrients such as vitamin B and vitamin E (Vidot et al., 2014) . National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism show that excessive alcohol drinkers show some improvement in brain functioning within a year of avoiding alcohol. Generally, people can prevent myopathy by seeking early intervention from doctors, family, or friends. Prevention measures include educating oneself on how much alcohol is considered too much. Consequently, prevention can be done by limiting daily alcohol intake to one drink or less for women and two drinks or less for men (Vidot et al., 2014).
References
González-Reimers, E., Santolaria-Fernández, F., Martín-González, M. C., Fernández-Rodríguez, C. M., & Quintero-Platt, G. (2014). Alcoholism: a systemic proinflammatory condition. World Journal of Gastroenterology: WJG , 20 (40), 14660.
Messing, R. O. (2014). Alcohol and the nervous system. In Aminoff's Neurology and General Medicine (Fifth Edition) (pp. 713-724).
Noble, J. M., & Weimer, L. H. (2014). Neurologic complications of alcoholism. CONTINUUM: Lifelong Learning in Neurology , 20 (3, Neurology of Systemic Disease), 624-641.
Shenkman, B. S., Lomonosova, Y. N., Lysenko, E. A., Kazantseva, Y. V., Zinovyeva, O. E., & Yakhno, N. N. (2013). Proteolytic signaling mechanisms in skeletal muscles in patients with alcohol-induced muscle disease. Human Physiology , 39 (5), 545-550.
Vidot, H., Carey, S., Allman ‐ Farinelli, M., & Shackel, N. (2014). Systematic review: the treatment of muscle cramps in patients with cirrhosis. Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics , 40 (3), 221-232.
Wijnia, J. W., Wielders, J. P., Lips, P., Wiel, A., Mulder, C. L., &Nieuwenhuis, K. G. A. (2013). Is vitamin D deficiency a confounder in alcoholic skeletal muscle myopathy?. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research , 37 (s1).
