It also leads to blood clotting, which prevents you from bleeding out. No research clearly indicates what amount of alcohol is safe regarding blood viscosity. However, your risk factors for certain health complications rise with any amount of regular consumption. A treatment center will attempt to verify your health insurance benefits and/or necessary authorizations on your behalf.
Spring Hill Recovery Center
If a special occasion is approaching, aim to space out drinks from your medication doses and limit alcohol thin blood them to only one or two. More watery blood may be better for your circulatory system and heart, it says. Some research-based evidence suggests that people who have thicker blood may be at higher risk of developing a stroke or having a heart attack. The blood is viscous, or thicker, and higher viscosity makes it more difficult for a fluid to flow; think of honey or thickened oil. When blood is thick enough not to flow easily, your heart has to work that much harder to move it throughout your body.
Does Alcohol Act As A Blood Thinner?
Get a professional addiction expert to help craft a recovery plan that puts you in charge of your own sobriety journey. If you were to get in a motor vehicle crash and lose a lot of blood, you need your body’s full clotting ability to keep what precious little blood you have inside your body. But drinking and driving does more than increase your risk of injury because it slows down your reaction times. Alcohol may have some blood-thinning benefits but it also has adverse side effects, especially when consumed in excessive amounts. These side effects can include organ damage, high blood pressure, weakening of the heart muscle, and an increased heart rate. If alcohol is abused, it can increase the risk of heart attacks and cause damage to other organs.
Alcohol & Blood Thinner Medications
Alcohol consumption has been a common practice for centuries, with people enjoying a drink during social gatherings or simply to relax. While moderate alcohol consumption may not pose significant health risks, excessive drinking can have severe consequences on the body, including thinning of the blood. Drinking alcohol in moderation may have a protective effect on your blood vessels.
How to Thicken Blood After Drinking Alcohol
When alcohol is introduced into the equation, the blood’s ability to clot is compromised. Research has found that alcohol affects the process of blood coagulation. «Coagulation» is a term used to describe the process of blood cells known as platelets sticking together. When a person experiences an injury, those platelets travel to the area to form together into a blood clot to stop the bleeding. Short- and long-term alcohol use has different effects on the blood. Short-term alcohol use can lead to high blood pressure and thinned blood because it hinders blood cells’ ability to clot.
- For example, a blood clot can form elsewhere in the body and travel to the heart, lungs, or brain.
- Both alcohol and blood thinners like warfarin (Coumadin) thin your blood.
- When this artery is completely blocked, it can result in a heart attack.
Can chronic alcohol abuse lead to permanent blood thinning?
- This process makes the platelets less sticky and less likely to form blood clots.
- After all, thicker blood could increase your risk of a stroke or heart attack.
- At best, the effect of alcohol can last long enough if it is consumed in moderation and on every alternate day.
- Therefore, a person should not drink alcohol instead of taking blood thinning medications as a doctor has prescribed.
- It’s important to stick to the recommended levels of alcohol consumption and to avoid excessive drinking or binge drinking.
Also, viscous blood is more likely to develop into clots in your veins and arteries. Consuming alcohol will thin your blood, making you more susceptible to heavy bleeding or bruising if you experience an injury. The effects of alcohol on the blood are either short- or long-term.
Short-term, you can expect an increase in blood pressure and higher cortisol levels. Do not drink alcohol for its blood-thinning effects as an alternative to medication prescribed by a doctor. Drinking alcohol for its blood thinning effects may undoubtedly produce it, but the other unhealthy effects are sure to outweigh, or even exacerbate, the desired one. While moderate alcohol use can work as a blood thinner, heavy alcohol intake and binge drinking can have very serious consequences. Always ask your doctor if it’s safe for you to consume alcohol while taking blood thinners.
Health Conditions
Blood cells, called platelets, move to the injured area of the body when you’re cut or bruised. These cells are sticky and cluster together and work to stop bleeding. Platelets also deliver proteins called clotting factors that create a plug to close a wound. Binge drinking, particularly when you do it multiple times per week, is where many of the larger risks come into play. Consistently consuming four or more drinks (for men) or three or more drinks (for women) several days each week can cause you to create dangerous clots.
If you or a loved one is struggling to stop using alcohol, contact Restore Mental Health today. Our multidisciplinary team can help you with every step of the process, from medical detox to long-term help with your sobriety at home. In severe cases of alcohol abuse, thin blood can lead to internal bleeding and hemorrhaging, which can be life-threatening if not treated promptly. The liver processes alcohol at a rate of about one standard drink per hour. Therefore, it may take several hours for alcohol to be fully metabolized and for blood to return to its normal thickness.
Pancreatitis, both acute and chronic, is another possible illness directly related to drinking too much alcohol for too long. Simply getting pancreatitis increases your risk of developing diabetes, making it the last two-for-one special on your list. Moderate your drinking and stop immediately if you have any disease affecting your pancreas.
If you drink to excess on a regular basis, you run the risk of excessive bleeding or even a bleeding stroke, even if you stop taking your blood thinners for a time. Additionally, some medications, such as Coumadin (warfarin), interacts badly with alcohol. Blood thinners are medications given to people with a high risk of dangerous levels of blood-clotting. Too much clotting is dangerous because platelets can build up in your veins and then dislodge. Clots can travel to your heart or brain and cause a heart attack or stroke.
The American Heart Association doesn’t recommend drinking alcohol solely to protect your blood vessels and improve your circulation. But in people who drink heavily, there can be a rebound effect in which the bleeding risk increases, even after they’ve stopped drinking. Exceeding the recommended guidelines above is considered heavy drinking.
These amounts may vary, depending on a person’s alcohol tolerance. However, a blood clot can sometimes develop in, or travel to, an artery that delivers oxygen-rich blood to your heart or brain. Thick blood (hypercoagulability) stops oxygen, hormones, and nutrients from moving smoothly throughout your body.
