Alcohol has a number of effects on our brain and body, and while it may be able to seemingly drown out some pain sensations in a very short-term manner, it’s obvious that turning to alcohol is not a smart or healthy way to cope with your chronic pain condition. That sentiment only becomes more true on the heels of a new study that found that turning to alcohol to cope with chronic pain can actually lead to worsening pain sensations.

Chronic Pain And Alcohol Use

To get a better understanding of the effects of alcohol and pain perception, researchers turned their attention to three groups of mice. One group was dependent on alcohol (excessive drinkers), another had limited access to alcohol (moderate drinkers), and the final group had never been given alcohol. The mice then had their access to alcohol restricted before having it reintroduced.

Researchers found that in mice that were dependent on alcohol, allodynia was a common symptom during alcohol withdrawal. Allodynia is a condition in which a normally harmless nerve stimulus is perceived as painful by the brain. In other words, the mice going through withdrawals were more likely to experience phantom pain.

Interestingly when these mice were reintroduced to alcohol, pain sensitivity decreased, which would likely only continue to worsen a dependency issue. However, that decrease in pain sensitivity was not the same across the board. About half of the mice in the moderate groups showed signs of increased pain sensitivity during alcohol withdrawal, but they did not see pain sensitivity decrease when reintroduced to alcohol.

Additionally, when researchers measured the level of inflammatory proteins in the animals, they discovered that specific inflammatory molecules were only increased in dependent mice. This suggests that different molecular mechanisms may be driving the two types of pain, but on a positive note, it may make it easier to create medications that targets these specific proteins.

“These two types of pain vary greatly, which is why it is important to be able to distinguish between them and develop different ways to treat each type,” said study first author Vittoria Borgonetti, PhD, a postdoctoral associate at Scripps Research.

The team hopes that their findings and their future research will be make it easier for medical experts to help treat chronic pain conditions that are being fueled or worsened by alcohol.

“Our goal is to unveil new potential molecular targets that can be used to distinguish these types of pain and potentially be used in the future for the development of therapies,” said co-senior author Nicoletta Galeotti, PhD, associate professor of preclinical pharmacology at the University of Florence.

So not only is alcohol unhelpful at treating the underlying cause of chronic pain, it can actually increase your risk of phantom pain signals. Instead of turning to alcohol, turn to a pain care provider like Dr. Cohn. We’re confident we can find the right treatment option for your unique pain condition. For more information, or to set up an appointment with Dr. Cohn, give his office a call today at (952) 738-4580.