"Just as a person with diabetes might ultimately develop loss of sensation and feeling in extremities, people with alcohol addiction might permanently lose balance and coordination," Hill said.
"A lot of people don't think about addictions as chronic medical illnesses, but they are in every way," Hill said, explaining that alcohol addiction has a genetic link and long-term health effects. While the study implies there is "a point of no return where the brain cannot recover," Hill said the findings underline the importance of viewing alcohol addiction as a disease. "What we have shown is that these effects are present in alcoholics in the general population," Fein said. Until now, balance problems that continue for years after sobriety have usually been noted only in extreme cases, such as in people whose alcohol abuse led to a form of psychosis, said Fein. Hill, psychiatrist-in-charge at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. Ken Thompson, medical director at Caron Treatment Centers.Īddiction experts attribute this "temporary ataxia," or lack of muscle coordination, to damage to the cerebellum in the brain, said Dr.
"In the first year of recovery, generally, more minor accidents occur than in the year preceding," said Dr.
"There's an 80 to 90 percent recovery, but there's still some residual effects," said Fein, the senior scientist and lab director at the company.īalance problems are commonly seen among the recently sober in detoxification centers.
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