Alcohol hand sanitizer

[Roy1955]

Is sanitizer safe if someone has cirrhosis?

Reason I ask is that my initial GGT was 400 but when I quit drinking it went down to 70ish for 3 years and now it's gone up to 128.

Other bloods were "off" as well and prompted my Dr to order an MRI

Dr asked if I was drinking again and that's a definate no!

Only change is the excessive use of alcohol hand sanitizer.

I was also making my own in my kitchen during lockdown using 99.8% pure alcohol and supplying it free to ambulance crews and a couple of hospitals so probably inhaled quite a lot of fumes. (1000+bottles)

Probably totaly wrong but if it is possible it's the cause then perhaps the trust can make others aware.

[Millie09]

Hi Roy ,

That’s a very good question !! Thing is I have been using hand sanitizer for years now, not just during the pandemic and it has never affected me and my cirrhosis.

Could very well do so maybe with other people ? I do not know as I’m no medic , the best person to ask would be your GP , or consultant .. my guess would be that it was the making of it at home ☺️.. but may a say a wonderful gesture .

Hope you find some answers 😊

[velvetunderground]

I think I've seen some research that suggests that alcohol vapour inhalation can have very similar effects to other methods of alcohol ingestion. I would strongly suggest avoiding working with a lot of pure alcohol if you can. I imagine that simply using hand sanitiser would be ok, as long as you're not sniffing your hands too much afterwards!

[Roy1955]

I have been busy googling.

It looks like hand rub IS absorbed and to normal people it's not a big problem.

BUT to us liver people it might be!

We all know we cant use painkilling gell as its absorbed and it looks like sanitizers similar.

Perhaps the Trust boffins can look into it?

Heres one study that shows it does show up quite quickly in the blood stream.

bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral....

[Millie09 in reply to Roy1955]

Interesting Roy 🧐

[X19Dave]

Hi asked at the hospital as my wife was worried they said it is not a problem at all it is a different type of alcohol and cannot cause problems

Dave

[Hidden]

Im just being honest here, I'd use the sanitizer not going to kill you irrelevant of our problems, as I don't want to be fighting that virus on top of my health issues, a little bit of hand gel is not going to be a issue.

[Hidden]

This is indeed an interesting question. There seem to be differing opinions, as always, as to the absorption level. Everyone seems to agree that there is some absorption but the debate is whether it is enough to cause a rise in blood alcohol levels. The link given by Roy1955 implies that absorption is minimal and non toxic. Perhaps your local pharmacist will have information on this issue and your own liver team should be able to advise you as to its use. I am now off to find a boffin ! '

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

You found that boffin yet? 😉

[CarpeDiem11]

Firstly the term alcohol implies it is always ethanol that is used in hand sanitisers, but in fact whilst some use ethanol (the type found in drinks), others use isopropanol alcohol (not drinkable). According to the WHO there is very little absorption in either case of the alcohols through the skin. They also state that there was no evidence to suggest problems being caused by inhalation.

This report was written in 2008 and they state if they found evidence to the contrary then they would publish it. I found no such source, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. However, they also state that if they find evidence that formulations containing ethanol do then cause problems through inhalation, then they will no longer recommend this formulation. Since we are still using this formulation in 2020, this would imply that the WHO saw no reason to ban it.

who.int/gpsc/tools/faqs/abh...

[Roy1955]

MRI has shown everything as normal.

This is a mystery!

GGT and other bloods went up including the tumor marker one.

Only thing I can put it down to is a big weight gain during lockdown or the excessive use and contact with alcohol sanitizer.

I will mention it to my consultant.

[hun64_D0chIk]

Hi Roy, do you eat fermented food? My levels changed when I went through a stage of eating pickled vegetables every day in my salad. I mean I would eat pickled gherkins out of the jar sometimes as well. I’ve weaned myself off all of them as the brine in olives contains a lot of salt and I’m not allowed that after conquering two long bouts of a ascites in the past two years. I gave up alcohol 6 years ago after liver cirrhosis diagnosed. But GGT is still high 193 in July and 187 in Sep 2020. Weirdly they do check my alcohol level now and again and on the blood test under Toxicology and Drug Monitoring they test for Ethanol Plasma. Mine is <100 mg/L. Check if they do this test because they’ll know you’re not drinking alcohol. They even said no to 0.0% non-alcohol beers so I don’t drink them.

Take care.