Whether rheumatoid arthritis and alcohol are compatible is of interest to many patients who have encountered this disease. However, doctors cannot give a single answer. Alcohol-containing drinks are harmful to human health, but a positive effect on the body, in particular the condition of the joints, has also been identified. However, only high-quality alcohol, taken in small doses and only under the supervision of a physician, will be useful.
How does alcohol affect musculoskeletal tissue?
When you abuse alcohol, gradual deformation of bone tissue occurs, and beer is considered the most harmful to bones. This drink has been shown to lead to calcium deficiency, causing joints to become inflamed, brittle and easy to break. The toxic substances of alcohol also have a negative effect on the blood. By thickening it, they prevent the natural flow of nutrients into the mobile joint. Therefore, people with alcohol addiction often have pain in their knees and it becomes difficult to move.
Drinking a large portion of beer disrupts metabolism and eliminates reserves of vitamins and minerals. At the same time, the load on the joints increases, and they gradually collapse. Rheumatoid arthritis is not the only disease that can be caused by alcohol. Excessive alcohol consumption can cause gout and osteoarthritis. The opinion that alcoholic drinks destroy bone tissue is undeniable, but there is another side to the problem. Doctors have been able to prove that reasonable consumption of high-quality alcohol strengthens bones and helps stop the progression of arthritis.
Return to contents
Causes of joint diseases from alcohol
In people with an increased tendency to drink, the knee joints suffer the most. Alcohol-containing drinks have the following negative effects:
Alcoholic drinks cause swelling in damaged tissues.
- contribute to the development of inflammation;
- provoke pain and swelling of tissues;
- lead to exacerbation of existing inflammation;
- lower plasma potassium levels.
When the body is poisoned by toxic substances of alcohol, fluid pressure increases in the joints of the skeletal bones and the pain syndrome is activated. The walls of all cells suffer, and this contributes to disruption of the metabolic cycle and the mechanism of distribution of electrolytes throughout the connective tissue, as well as a deficiency of reserves of B vitamins.
In addition to the fact that alcohol causes arthritis, it also leads to the development of gout, a disease characterized by excessive accumulation of uric acid. Alcohol-containing drinks are especially dangerous for overweight people, as they provoke osteoarthritis. Drinkers are more susceptible to aging joints if they wear uncomfortable shoes or their feet are under constant stress.
Return to contents
Research
When studying the effect of alcohol on the human body, it was discovered that a drink made from natural ingredients helps to rejuvenate tissues, normalize metabolic processes and strengthen the immune system. In addition, it reduces the likelihood of inflammation in the joints and prevents arthritis.
- Alcohol and rheumatoid arthritis. What do you need to know?
Natural wine eliminates joint pain.
Wine and other alcohol stop reactions responsible for pain and formations that destroy joint tissue. It was possible to prove that rheumatoid arthritis is 2 times less common among representatives of the fair sex than among wine drinkers. For women, the optimal portion of alcohol is 10 g of pure alcohol; men are not recommended to drink more than 30 g per day. Beer will not cause any harm if consumed up to 300 ml per day by representatives of the stronger sex and no more than 200 ml by women.
As safe doses increase, the positive qualities of alcohol are destroyed.
Return to contents
Is it possible to drink alcohol during exacerbation of joint arthritis?
In case of rheumatoid arthritis, which occurs in the acute stage, drinking alcoholic beverages is contraindicated. The patient is prescribed a special diet that excludes the consumption of fatty, fried foods and a number of other foods, including alcohol. The main reason for the ban on alcohol during the acute phase of arthritis is considered to be its effect on medications that are prescribed to cure the disease. Doctors say that ethyl weakens the effect of anesthetics and anti-inflammatory drugs. You should not combine medications with low-alcohol drinks, as this can lead to undesirable consequences, manifested in the form of dizziness, abdominal pain, impaired coordination of movements, nausea and vomiting.
Are arthrosis and alcohol compatible? Doctors always warn patients about the dangers of drinking alcohol while taking medications, but not many follow this rule. This leads to various problems. Why do my joints hurt? This is exactly the question that alcohol abusers come to medical institutions with.
Arthrosis is the most common disease of the musculoskeletal system, which can be found in both mature and young people. The disease is considered incurable; its occurrence is facilitated by genetic predisposition. If a person wants to maintain joint mobility and live a normal life without experiencing constant pain, he must stop drinking alcohol once and for all.
Degenerative processes in soft or bone tissues cannot appear without cause. Most often, the development of arthrosis and arthritis is facilitated by metabolic disorders. If a person eats fatty, fried and salty foods and does not know how to limit alcohol consumption, you should not be surprised at the diagnosis you hear. Alcohol and rheumatoid arthritis - are they compatible? The disease develops asymptomatically for a long time.
A detailed clinical picture appears only when irreversible changes occur in the body. With age, cell division processes slow down, causing tissues to lose their ability to quickly recover. The aging of the body accelerates with the systematic intake of ethyl alcohol. The risk of developing arthrosis and arthritis is reduced by following these rules:
- You need to start with organizing a regime of work and rest, leading a sober lifestyle.
- A person should eat foods rich in vitamins and minerals.
- An active lifestyle helps maintain joint mobility.
What to do if your joints hurt after drinking alcohol?
Quitting alcohol
The first thing that is required from a person is a complete abstinence from alcohol forever. Not a restriction, not a temporary refusal, but complete abstinence.
If, after the process of even the most successful and successful treatment and recovery, the patient begins to drink again, soon the process of destruction will be started again, and this time the destruction can be much more serious and dangerous.
Change your lifestyle
The second action is to reconsider your attitude to lifestyle and nutrition. If you have excess weight, it is necessary to reduce it, and this should be done not by following extreme diets, but according to science, intelligently, slowly, so as not to harm an already unhealthy body and not provoke other problems, for example, excessive loss of calcium and bone mass due to “hungry” » diets.
To ensure that weight loss does not affect your health and further worsen the condition of your joints, you need to lose weight with the help of an experienced nutritionist.
It would also be wrong to refuse mobility. It is necessary to limit movements only in an acute condition, when the inflammatory process in the joint is in full swing.
Drug treatment
To remove it, you will need to see a doctor. He will prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs, mainly non-steroidal drugs, which can “extinguish” the source of inflammation in the joint.
After this first stage, the doctor will rely on the condition in which the patient’s damaged joints are located. Treatment mainly consists of prescribing painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs and agents whose action is aimed at restoring lost or damaged cartilage tissue.
In case of severe injuries, the doctor may recommend the introduction of special preparations containing anti-inflammatory substances, hyaluronic acid and chondroprotectors into the joint capsule. Doctors can also prescribe medications based on glucosamine and chondroitin - substances that can restore damaged or lost cartilage tissue.
To prevent joint destruction and as maintenance therapy, it is possible to use dietary supplements based on chondroitin, glucosamine, hyaluronic acid and collagen, especially type III. But such remedies do not have an immediate or quick effect; they must be taken for a long time, in six-month courses, taking a month's break and returning to them constantly.
Reconsider nutrition
You will have to pay significant attention to your diet. It must be balanced and correct, contain a sufficient amount of nutrients and a full range of vitamins and minerals. With demineralization of bone tissue, which is often found in older people, menopausal women and chronic alcoholics and alcohol abusers, the doctor can prescribe calcium, magnesium and vitamin D supplements, which will slow down the destruction process and help restore lost minerals, making bones stronger. strong and healthy.
Village healers have always known about the role of natural collagen, which is found in the cartilage and veins of animals, as well as in the skin and bones of fish. That is why, in case of any damage to bones and joints, injuries, cracks, fractures or diseases, they “prescribed” the patient a large number of dishes based on such products. These are a variety of jellies, jellied meats, aspic from meat and fish, “skin” from lard, as well as any gelatin-based dishes, for example, fruit or berry jelly. This tasty and healthy food contains collagen, which will help restore the injured joint's own cartilage.
Move more
It is impossible not to note the influence of movement on recovery. In nature, everything is arranged in such a way that an organ that is not used gradually atrophies. To prevent this from happening to the joints, they need to be gently but constantly loaded. But this must be done after the acute inflammatory process has subsided and without excessive enthusiasm. Overload will only bring harm, but regular walks, swimming, gymnastics, Pilates and especially yoga will help restore mobility and alleviate the patient’s condition.
Why alcohol is dangerous for joints
The earlier a person starts drinking alcohol, the more negative consequences it will have in old age. According to doctors, diseases are most severe in people who drink alcohol. However, drinking small amounts of a quality drink can have beneficial effects. Where is the line between proper drinking and developing addiction?
Beer produced on an industrial scale is significantly different from what was brewed several centuries ago. A drink made from natural ingredients can have a healing effect on the body. Benefits of homemade beer for the body:
- Joint pain after alcohol is a serious cause for concern
- normalizes metabolic processes;
- rejuvenates tissues;
- strengthens the immune system.
Alcoholic drinks sold in every modern store do not have such properties. This beer can cause:
- development of arthrosis;
- arthritis;
- renal failure;
- cardiovascular diseases.
No less dangerous are alcoholic drinks imported from abroad. Beer ranks first among alcoholic products that negatively affect joint health. When consuming large quantities of this drink, calcium is gradually washed out of the bones, and cartilage loses nutrients. Against the background of a long-term inflammatory process, the intake of even a small amount of ethanol leads to increased pain.
Drinking alcohol contributes to blood thickening, which leads to an increase in the severity of the inflammatory process. Beer produced in modern factories disrupts the nutrition of soft tissues, so arthrosis and its complications in people who constantly drink it are more severe than in people leading a sober lifestyle.
However, the external use of alcoholic beverages for diseases of the musculoskeletal system is useful. They have a warming, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect. When consumed internally, the effect is the opposite.
According to numerous studies, 70% of patients with symptoms of arthrosis or arthritis suffer from alcohol addiction.
Knee joint damage is the most common musculoskeletal disorder among alcoholics. Associated with the structural features of the bones and cartilaginous tissues of the lower extremities. Violation of neurohumoral regulation is accompanied by the development of an acute inflammatory process. This leads to the appearance of severe pain. Alcohol speeds up any processes occurring in the human body. Arthrosis becomes more severe when the level of calcium in the blood decreases, which is observed with a constant intake of ethanol.
How does beer affect joints: benefit or harm?
The appearance of joint pain in humans, as a rule, occurs as a result of numerous external negative influences. One of them is excessive alcohol consumption, which has destructive consequences. Most often, discomfort appears the very next morning, fluid accumulates in the joint cavities and swelling occurs.
That is why pain often occurs in the lower extremities, especially the knee joints. Due to their sensitivity, the alcohol in them:
- Depletes the body's nutritional reserves.
- Causes irritation of nerve endings during physical activity.
- Disrupts blood supply. This is especially important as it leads to avascular necrosis of the knee joint.
But alcohol is only a catalyst for the deterioration of the body’s condition, especially if the patient already has:
- arthrosis;
- arthritis;
- gout.
In this regard, regular consumption of alcoholic beverages weakens the immune system and only leads to negative consequences. In particular, regular consumption of beer removes calcium, which is necessary for strengthening the bone structure of the body. The immune system also weakens, the salt balance collapses, resulting in uric acid salts depositing on the joints.
Beer for arthrosis
The most common joint disease is arthrosis; alcohol is a common causative agent of early disease in humans. Drinking beer that does not contain artificial additives in reasonable quantities, on the contrary, has a beneficial effect on strengthening bone tissue in the body.
It is important to understand that such beer is considered natural, while regular store-bought beer is often not. joint treatment
drinking beer for arthrosis is possible, but it is better to undergo special physiotherapy and take the necessary medications.
The effect of alcohol on the occurrence of joint diseases
Frequent consumption of alcohol-containing products causes inflammation of the joint capsule, leading to arthritis, in which the patient experiences pain during flexion and extension of the joints. This disease can develop at any age, but most often occurs in older people. This seems obvious, but the appearance of such pathologies is still the result of prolonged alcohol dependence.
When drinking low-quality beer in the presence of arthrosis, the blood thickens and slows down the saturation of the joints with important macroelements. In addition to slowing blood circulation, alcohol provokes the appearance of inflammatory processes in the body.
Good quality beer that uses only natural ingredients is hard to find and comes at a higher price than usual. Drinks from abroad are no less dangerous, and control over their production is even worse.
Low alcohol consumption increases the production of important components that remove harmful substances found in the liver. The normal dose of alcohol per day for men is 30 g. For women, the optimal dose is 10 g. As for beer, the norm is 300 ml and 200 ml, respectively.
With arthrosis, the synovial fluid in the joint cavities, which allows them to move painlessly, thickens. And when drinking large amounts of alcohol, this degradation only accelerates. But in addition to internal use, alcohol can be used as a means for external use in the form of compresses or rubs. In this case, it is possible to achieve the opposite effect - relieving inflammation, this is the treatment of arthrosis
refers to folk methods.
Beer during treatment
The negative combination of alcohol and medications has long been a proven fact. Therefore, if you neglect this rule, you can provoke certain side effects:
- dizziness;
- loss of consciousness;
- vomit;
- intoxication of the kidneys and liver.
Including, if you are already undergoing treatment for arthrosis and are taking special medications, you are strictly prohibited from drinking alcohol, because such carelessness leads to death.
This rule applies not only to strong alcoholic drinks, but also to low-alcohol ones, because if you take medications and drink alcohol, you only aggravate the negative impact on the liver and kidneys several times over.
A universal method for maintaining healthy joints
The occurrence of joint pain regularly occurs in people suffering from alcoholism. It is worth making an important note, alcoholism causes:
- Violation of uric acid synthesis.
- Deformation of the joints of all limbs.
- Inflammation of the synovial membrane.
- Aseptic necrosis.
At the same time, despite some of the restorative properties of beer, it is still not a medicine, so you should avoid alcohol completely. Of course, you should limit alcohol as soon as you are convinced that it is after drinking it that you experience discomfort.
If you drink rarely, but a lot at a time, then if discomfort occurs, drink as much water as possible. This will allow you to quickly remove alkalis and salts from the body. Fermented milk products also perform well in the fight against “alcoholic arthrosis.” Additional products that restore cartilage tissue are dried fruits and foods rich in phosphorus.
As a rule, problems with joints occur in the older generation.
But ideally, it is better to reduce alcohol consumption to a minimum at a young age. Only in this case will it be possible to preserve important macroelements and replenish the missing ones, including potassium, calcium and magnesium. Author: K.M.N., Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences M.A. Bobyr