AS and alcohol?

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'nother question for u guys:

In previous years, I've been consuming "vast amounts of alcohol" to keep my social life going. Recently, I've become afraid that any more boozing may cause me permanent brain damages or alzheimers. If I drink as little as a 33 cl 4.5% cider i can feel totally lost the next day. Also, I really don't get drunk anymore unless I drink INORDINATE amounts of alcohol. For me, that means a lot. Maybe I'm getting paranoid here, but it feels like the region of my brain that normally responds to alcohol has gotten tired/worn out, and cant be stimulated anymore.

I know this post was pretty grim/depressing, but does anyone have similar experiences? Please post if you do. It would mean a lot to me, since it would mean I'm not actually going out of my mind =S

Sounds more like alcoholism. Strangely the brain is usually one of the last organs to go in alcoholism. You should be worrying about other organs like your liver. The liver is so good at rebuilding itself and rarely complains, when it really is screwed, you won't have any warning.

Alzheimer's has no link to alcohol, and if there was a link it would most likely be in the very long term.

ooooo maybe you should dry out? Both of my parents are chronic alcoholics and my mom was worried I would follow in their footsteps. You are building a tolerance to the alcohol. It's bad for your liver too, the higher your tolerance, the more you drink, the more toxic it is to your liver.

I, too, drank to improve my sociability. I drank more, and more and more in order to reach that place of comfort. It got to the point that people marvelled at how much I could consume and stay relatively unimpaired (or so they thought).

Alcoholism is a serious disease and harms so many functions in your body. I didn't think I had a problem. I didn't get massive hangovers, or get violent or anything. However, I was wrong.

When I decided to quit, when I admitted that there might be a problem, I played that game....I could manage my drinking. I tried that for a year before I realized it wasn't working. Furthermore, once I admitted I had a problem, I couldn't enjoy it anymore.

I've been clean and sober for over two years now...I may not have that so-called 'ease' of socializing that I believed I had, but I'm SO much better off in all other areas.

Take it easy...

My liver is fine, thanks. Im not really addicted to alcohol either (I can stop whenever I want to but I dont lol). It would make no sense since i don't really reap the benefits of it, but only get stuck with the unconfortable side-effects.

I don't think you're quite right about the brain being the last thing to go. I read a bit about korsakoff's syndrome; apparantly, an inordinate amount of alcohol can lead to a deficiency in Vitamine D, which in turn can cause brain damage and severe memory loss.

I read once in Newsweek that neural pathways in People with ASD tend to be longer/more complicated than in NT:s. I've read elsewhere that alcohol kills (albeit a few) brain cells and causes synapses to degenerate.

Wouldnt a long/complicated neural pathway (consisting of more synapses that has to be restored, and brain cells that might die) then be more vunerable to alcohol, and harder for the body to restore, than a short, simple one?

oooo it's fine now, see, but take my word for it, if you keep consuming vast amounts it will take a toll on your liver. Better to read it now than later when it's too late.

Whatever floats you boat, I'm not going to argue with you. One of the fastest way to create brain damage through drinking is by drinking while pregnant, and it is not your brain you are damaging. You could hope for a blood clot or massive heart attack, it helps if you are obese / have high blood pressure.

Perhaps I should clarify myself;

-I havent been drinking heavily since last februay (I felt confused/forgetful/u name it for two weeks straight, I was horrified.). I STILL don't get stimulated by ordinary amounts of alcohol (1-2 cidres) and I STILL get confused/"lost" the next day.

-Im in no danger of getting pregnant, really, im not.

What is the answer you are looking for?

I have cognitive problems similar to what you describe that weren't caused by alcohol, and have had it for much longer. It is an enigma a grey area in science. As far as it is getting any worse, probably slowly, if at all, but it not very satisfactory to say the least.

You have only had this problem for 2 weeks. You need at least 6 moths to a year to assess if you have permanent brain damage, unless you had catastrophic brain damage in which of case you wouldn't posting this.

It probably is a sign you should be easing off or stopping.

Whether you fit the pattern of what is accepted as an alcoholic is sort of irrelevant. I was just mentioning for general info about organ failure and alcohol. The liver doesn’t discriminate against alcoholics or binge drinkers. Also there are genetic factors that could make somebody more predisposed to cirrhosis.

It is sort of the same with eating vast quantities of corn starch, etc. You can litterally turn you liver in pâté mush.

I used to be able to drink a whole 24 in one sitting, and more. I quit for 6 months because i knew it wasn't a road i wanted to go down, and i was also worried it owuld lead my cousin to alcoholism, i can't stop him from drinking, but i can cut down his drinking by not drinking with him. After the 6 months my family pushed me over the edge like they always do. Now i've been slowly drinking more and more since. Although i know that i can quit whenever i want, at the moment, i don't want to, it makes things feel a bit better then they currently are. Im actually typing this while holding my beer bottle in my mouth, Ha.

Because of drug interactions with one of my medications, I usually limit myself to no more than 3 beers per month. Very rarely will I even have more than that. I've never been s***-faced, and frankly, I don't want to.