In a study from the University of Florida, scientists found that people who self-medicate pain with alcohol may be vulnerable to hazardous drinking, with their experience of pain relief a potentially powerful driver of alcohol consumption.
Both pain and dangerous alcohol use are major public health issues. Each affects millions of US adults and costs hundreds of billions of dollars annually in health care and lost productivity.
Recent studies have found a strong link between pain and alcohol use; people with chronic pain are more likely than others to report heavy drinking, and those with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are more likely to report chronic pain.
In the study, the team examined the analgesic effects of alcohol on regular drinkers with and without chronic pain, measuring alcohol’s impact on pain threshold, intensity, unpleasantness, and relief.
They worked with 48 social drinkers aged 21–45, predominantly women, who filled out questionnaires on their demographics and typical drinking.
The 19 participants with chronic jaw pain were evaluated by an orthodontist and an orofacial pain expert and completed a questionnaire on pain severity and quality-of-life impacts.
All participants underwent alcohol testing sessions and jaw pain tests.
The team found after drinking alcohol, participants showed a higher pain threshold, lower pain intensity, and unpleasantness, and—most strikingly—greater perceived relief, compared to the placebo beverage.
People with chronic pain reported much greater pain sensitivity than the other participants; lower pain threshold, higher pain intensity, and greater pain unpleasantness.
The study did not, however, find that the analgesic effects of alcohol differed between those with and without chronic pain.
The study provides further evidence that people with chronic pain may use alcohol to self-manage it, increasing their risk for hazardous drinking and alcohol-related consequences.
This may be a result of their experiencing pain more frequently and intensely than others, rather than any differential analgesic impact of alcohol in people with chronic pain.
The team says alcohol’s pain-relieving effects may particularly reinforce the urge to drink—more so than its influence on pain Intensity, unpleasantness, or threshold.
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The study was published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
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