Alcohol Related TBI?

[Negeen]

Is anyone's injury a result of alcohol consumption? Mine was.. Just wondering how many others- the statistics are quite high for alcohol-tbi relation.

[BaronC]

Mine wasn't. Though I was pissed as a hammock on my birthday six days before the accident. I don't think the two incidents are related

[Negeen in reply to BaronC]

lol Baron, you said "pissed as a hammock" only you would say that... only you...

[RogerCMerriman in reply to BaronC]

Many years ago my self and a mate looked after my folks place in the summer and did indeed get pissed in a hammock well two hammocks any how, very pleasent evening chatting and drinking and looking at the stars, it's one of the few bits of the uk you can see the edge of the milky way.

[CW2002]

Mine was always think if I hadn't gone out that night or not walked into that road.

[Tapper180]

I was drunk. In a strange way alcohol probably was one of the reasons how I got hit by a car! but one of the doctors said if I wasn't so drunk I probably would of died. Strange how things turn out.

[Hidden]

The bloke who struck me from behind was coming home from a party ........

[Negeen in reply to Hidden]

brainedat, I was 17 when I had my injury as well. I'm so sorry to hear that you were hit in a car accident. Tottally not your fault! The one thing I did right the night I got wasted was not drive. Everyone tells you not to drink and drive, i think with the number of fatalities and accidents we have per year as a result of alcohol there should be more people just telling you in general not to drink period.

[Hidden in reply to Negeen]

At the time there was no specific offence of driving under the influence but there is now and jolly good too. Hope your recovery is as good as mine has eventually been.

[Boo40]

Mine was.

[Hidden in reply to Boo40]

Boo40 ... Long Range Sniper - well done!

[femmefatale]

Hi Negeen,

I'm embarrassed to admit, but Yes my TBI was caused through regular alcohol consumption which lead to my blood thinning, my brain to hemorrhage and my skull to fracture when I hit the pavement on November 5th last year !! . I hope you're ok and on the mend? kate

[Negeen in reply to femmefatale]

It's okay i'm embarrassed too. Omg im sorry ur skull fractured. How long did it take u yo get over ur brain hemmorage?

[SAMBS]

so most brain injury is caused by physical accidents and most accidents were caused through drinking too much prior to that. according to replies here therefore a one off-period of Alcohol abuse in itself, is not the major factor in the brain injury. How many of us know people who have heavy drinking sessions, pass out, sleep it off, wake up with a headache, take a paracetamol and in general then are fine, till the next friday/saturday night when it all starts again.

You probably don't see some of our TV news programmes or documentaries broadcast in UK Negeen, but you should see some of the stories and programmes about youngsters falling out of nightclubs in the UK, or on holiday abroad, at 4 am or whatever time, absolutely 'slaughtered and/or legless' another British term - staggering around on 7" high heels, or many of them throwing up on the streets and they would have fallen over if they had not had mates with them to stop them falling over. So sadly again its not the alcohol in itself causing the brain injury - its the accidents it leads to involving the cranium being shaken up or damaged which causes bleeds or swelling of the brain itself.

as you have said on some of your previous posts several hours on a one-off heavy drinking session, caused your BI, and I know you are struggling to get medical confirmation of the fact and can't. But I do hope you are finding a way forward in life and are also engaged now in other interesting hobbies/interests in life to enable that 'moving on' process to happen. You know we are all supportive of you and hoping you find your pathway to a better future. Shirley xx

[patsy34 in reply to SAMBS]

I believe I have arbd from my drinking and using find it hard to get a diagnosis but am sure I have frontal lobe damage I haven't had a drink

[Negeen]

My neuropsych eval results came back very poor. But the neuropsych doesn't want to blame it on the alcohol and wants to say I'm somatoform-which is tottally off base because I actually have a reasonable reason to point to. a time and event happenstance. I think his general outlook is "Well everybody gets drunk" but it's very important to remember that there is a difference between blacking out drunk and falling completely unconscious for half a day drunk. The latter is what happened to me and contrary to popular belief-it is not that common to fall unconscious from alcohol. I had alcohol poisoning for over 9 hours during daytime and still survived-also not common. I think there's just not information on the subject yet. I was also a teenager and the brain isn't even fully developed at that age so that may have been a contributing factor.

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Negeen]

I do remeber one lass we went drinking with did on a number of occasions fall uncoutious, but yes your right most people got drunk but not uncoucyious,

If they think the problem is somatoform fine but are they going to help you cope? It sounds like you've been left to fend by your self?

[Negeen in reply to RogerCMerriman]

I mean they basically told me to find a therapist. The problem with alcohol and it's effects on the adolescent brain is that there's just not enough research on it. Most adolescents don't drink near as much as the movies make it seem, particularly because their access to liqour is often times limited and most people who drink the amount that I did do not live. The point in which alcohol damages the brain in the fetus as well as in the adult is in the point of withdrawal. It is a process called "excitotoxicity" the stronger the withdrawal- the worse the damage to the brain. During the withdrawal process your nmda receptors and gaba receptors are sending out massive amounts of calcium to the neurons in order to make up for basically being poisoned and suffocated. In this process if the neurons are top "excited" it leads to neuronal death or just transformation of the nmda/gaba receptors themselves-this is what happens in fetal alcohol babies, but that is largely because the neurons in their brains are far less resilient than the adult brain. However, in theory the same thing can happen to the adolescent brain depending on withdrawal severity and number of withdrawals. Maybe not the same degree of damage occurs. But the process of excitotoxicity is still at play. I think that's also why I have not really improved any because once receptors are compromised and neuronal death or damage has occurred there's not much reversing that. Also why fetal alcohol babies never get better. Where as people with tbi who have incurred damage to the axons or ends of neurons can refigure out how to carry out the messages it once did.

[Negeen in reply to Negeen]

Here is a good source for all those wondering where some of my information is coming from: Hunt WA. Are binge drinkers more at risk of developing brain damage?

Alcohol 1993;10:559 – 61.

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Negeen]

If it's not too personal what happened after waking in hospital? Just sent home?

[Negeen in reply to RogerCMerriman]

I was never taken to the hospital. I was basically left for dead by my "friends".

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Negeen]

Ooh owch! Not the greatest choice on their part .

[RogerCMerriman]

it does seem to have some correlation, they did keep asking if I drank? I suspect since there is no clear reason for my fall, hence the battery of tests they did, to check if everything was fine.

I rarely drink and haven't felt like drinking since, I was sober at the time, so alcohol paid no part for my self, for what ever reason I fell.

[Negeen in reply to RogerCMerriman]

How far did you fall?

[Negeen in reply to RogerCMerriman]

Rogerr the questions r for u.

[Negeen]

Was it just like a concussion or did you need hospital time?

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Negeen]

be 6ft or so I was on a bike though travelling quite slowly (I was on way to work it is traffic free amble in though the royal park, is a old hunting park of the kings so has deer etc lovely I do miss going though it to be honest.)

I fratured my skull I had some minor damage to hip and wrist, so I was taken to st georges which is one of london's Trauma hospital as the parmedic didn't like the look of me, and after various scans they found the frature and the two hematoma's which in the end decided they wouldn't operate on, my memory stops a few mins before and I have fraqmented memory for the next week, I was aparently awake when my very worried wife arrived but I was far from with it.

I was kept for a few days and then sent home with my wife and a shed load of painkillers, she was warned not to leave me alone for a good 48hrs.

I frankly needed a lot of help at that point just getting out of a bath, and didn't have it in me to make it out of the house for a good few weeks.

I mostly curled up on the sofa/bed and slept though most of December.

But my wife did have me home for christmas which is unlikely to happen again and I was awake (mostly) so she loved that.

I'm back at work since mid Jan though much reduced hrs and work load, work have been fanastic.

[Negeen in reply to RogerCMerriman]

Wow that sounds intense I am very sorry Roget but hands down to your partner for staying with you.

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Negeen]

It was more intence for my wife, I'd say I was for most part unaware and once out mostly just tired.

[B_S_A in reply to RogerCMerriman]

Yeah, I've started to realise that all this stuff was probably worse for my parents than it was (and is) for me.

[RogerCMerriman in reply to B_S_A]

My mother was very keen to see me after and felt a lot better once she had and could see I was walking wounded for most part.

[SAMBS]

good to see things turned out better for you Roger.

[RogerCMerriman in reply to SAMBS]

So am I and my wife, who was a very worried woman.

[iforget]

I found it really hard to come to terms with my injury and the stupid randomness of my accident... I had nowhere to direct my anger, no other person to blame, it was just one of those random things and it just happened...but after reading this I can't help but wonder how I would have felt if my injuries were self inflicted because I was drunk... Is it any easier because you know its your own fault for drinking too much or does that make it worse? Do you even see it as being your responsibility or do you blame the people who did not help you when you were blotto/ people who did not stop you from doing whatever it was you did whilst drunk? And when there was a third party at fault, does it help to have someone to blame? I always thought it would but I'm not so sure... When do you stop blaming / looking for someone to blame and start to move on? Please note this is a rhetorical question and not aimed at anyone at all.

[Hollis]

Mine was. I got very drunk and fell over about 100m from the pub. I'm now on the mend from a fractured skull and concussion. Guess I'm wondering when I can next drink again!