Later, it can cause fatigue, bleeding and bruising, itchy skin, yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes and fluid accumulation in the abdomen known as ascites. Fluid buildup in end-stage liver disease is a particularly ominous sign. Fifty percent of patients with ascites typically die within two years if they don’t have a liver transplant.
- Medications commonly prescribed to older adults, such as blood thinners, also contribute to easy bruising.
- Treatment also consists of evaluation for other risk factors that can damage the liver or put the liver at higher risk, such as infection with hepatitis C and metabolic syndrome.
- Furthermore, if alcohol bruises are a result of liver damage, you likely have alcoholic liver disease, which causes severe dysfunction in the liver.
Blood thinners
Since the skin isn’t cut or broken, you won’t see external bleeding. But damage to blood vessels below the skin causes them to rupture and leak blood. According to the National Library of Medicine, a bruise is a mark under the skin, usually painful and swollen, that occurs because of blood trapped beneath the skin’s surface. When a person gets a bruise, some sort of injury crushes blood vessels, but the skin does not break and cause external bleeding. There are many other potential causes of bruising, including injury, certain medications, and underlying medical conditions. If you’re concerned about bruising, talk to your doctor about other possible causes.
Blood and Platelet Disorders
- If you also feel tired, achy, and weak all the time, or lose weight without trying to, give your doctor a call.
- If you have cirrhosis from alcohol liver damage, you’re also more likely to bleed and bruise easily.
- The CDC defines binge drinking as drinking that brings your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or more.
- Consistently drinking over a period of time leads you to develop a tolerance for the substance.
- “If an individual has a vitamin C deficiency, they might also experience bleeding gums, along with bruising and wounds that don’t heal or take a longer period of time to heal,” Dr. Johnston says.
Your body’s ability to form a proper clot can be affected if you don’t have enough platelets (low platelet count) or they aren’t functioning properly. These physiological changes contribute to the increasing tolerance seen in early-stage alcoholics. Despite heavy alcohol consumption, they may show few signs of intoxication or ill effects from drinking, such as a hangover. And as tolerance builds, they’ll begin to drink more and more to achieve the same buzz or high they’re used to. Your healthcare provider may also test you for individual nutrient deficiencies.
Can You Prevent Random Bruising?
Other medical conditions that can cause easy bruising include Cushing’s syndrome and leukemia. A host of proteins (clotting factors), attracted by the platelets and damaged vessel wall, then combine to thicken the blood at the site and form a blood clot. Like all blood cells, platelets are why do alcoholics bruise easily made in the bone marrow, while clotting factors are mostly made in the liver. When the organ is damaged and slows or stops producing the proteins needed for blood clotting, you will bruise or bleed easily, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Signs Your Body Is Telling You You’re Drinking Too Much
- Cirrhosis is further categorized as compensated and decompensated.
- Anemia may be your first thought, but it’s not always the case.
- “Any medications that have a blood-thinning effect or reduce your blood’s ability to create clots will trigger bigger bruises after experiencing impact on the body,” Dr. Johnston says.
- After all, studies have shown that almost 50% of adults wish to reduce their intake without giving up alcohol altogether.
- This is especially true when you consider the increased likelihood of them falling.
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