How is the Brain Affected by Alcohol Poisoning?

Once a person stops using alcohol, they can often experience recovery from symptoms, though in some cases, some damage may be permanent. But delirium tremens is a medical emergency and requires a hospital stay. You may need to be sedated for more than a week until the alcohol withdrawal symptoms go away. And a doctor may use brain-imaging techniques to monitor treatment over time. According to a 2017 review, muscle myopathy is common in alcohol use disorder.

• Alcohol is highly toxic, and heavy drinking that leads to alcohol poisoning causes immediate damage to the brain and body.
• A doctor will take a thorough health history and have you complete questionnaires related to alcohol intake to help diagnose these conditions.
• These regions include the key areas for cognitive control and executive function in the frontal and anterior temporal regions.
• “You build up a tolerance, and after a while, you don’t feel as good as you once did with the same amounts of alcohol.”
• Learning about substance-related brain injury can help you understand whether these conditions are permanent or reversible, and it may also encourage you to start the path to recovery from substance use.
• This relationship is easier to discern because the effects of injury on the developing nervous system can be profound,39 and because this population is less affected by many of the confounders already discussed.

And if a person has an underlying mental health disorder, like depression or bipolar disorder, alcohol can exacerbate symptoms and increase mood swings. According to the CDC, binge drinking is defined as consuming four or more alcoholic drinks for women or five or more alcoholic drinks for men on the same occasion. Several treatment options and interventions can help a person recover from alcohol dependence.

Understanding the Dangers of Alcohol Overdose

Once you stop alcohol intake, a doctor can address your specific symptoms. Doctors tailor specific treatments and alcohol abstinence programs to the individual. It usually develops as symptoms of Wernicke’s encephalopathy go away. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drinking less or not at all may help you avoid neurological harm. Keep reading to learn about the different types of alcohol-related neurologic disease and its signs and symptoms. If you suspect an alcohol overdose and the person is unconscious, do not leave them alone.

Alcohol begins affecting a person’s brain as soon as it enters the bloodstream. In a healthy person, the liver quickly filters alcohol, helping the body get rid of the drug. However, when a person drinks to excess, the liver cannot filter the alcohol fast enough, and this triggers immediate changes in the brain. Researchers have not determined if this is caused by the effects of alcohol on the brain or is the result of thiamine deficiency. Females can be more susceptible than males to many of the negative consequences of alcohol use, such as nerve damage, as they may begin to see effects from a lower amount of alcohol consumption.

Long-Term Brain Damage

While drinking can certainly make you act and feel as though you’ve lost a brain cell or two, there’s no evidence that this actually happens. Someone who is “just drunk” will be slurring their words, stumbling around, and acting drowsy. Someone with alcohol poisoning will be breathing slowly alcohol overdose or irregularly, have cold skin, be vomiting a lot, and perhaps have a seizure or lose consciousness. A drunk person can recover with rest, fluids, and eating a balanced meal, while a person with alcohol poisoning needs to go to the hospital and get an IV or maybe their stomach pumped.

• According to a 2020 review in the journal Alcohol Research, men and women experience alcohol-induced blackouts at equal rates, even though women tend to drink less often and less heavily than men.
• Even a non-fatal alcohol overdose can cause permanent brain damage.
• Alcohol-related neurologic disease refers to a range of conditions caused by alcohol intake that affect the nerves and nervous system.

Alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells, but it does have both short- and long-term effects on your brain, even in moderate amounts. Going out for happy hour a few nights a month likely won’t cause any long-term damage. But if you find yourself drinking heavily or binge drinking often, consider reaching out for help.

Short-Term Effects of Alcohol

Perhaps the most significant psychological effect, however, is addiction. Over time, people who consume large quantities of alcohol develop a tolerance to the drug. This dependency means that their brains crave the drug, causing them to experience withdrawal when they do not drink. Over time, excessive alcohol consumption can damage both the brain and liver, causing lasting damage. There can be significant and dangerous impairment of judgment, decision-making, all driving-related skills, balance, coordination, speech, reaction time, attention, and memory.