gfireboy22

For privacy sake, I won't say much about my past, but I will say that I have a degree in Bio-Chem. Many of you appear to have questions about your alcoholism, relapses, and blackouts.

Alcoholism-heavy drinking promotes increases of CRF(corticotropin releasing factor) and decreases dopomine.This causes a chemical imbalance, stress, and depression. This imbalance triggers your brain to try to think alcohol will fix the imbalance. You know how some people get an allergic reaction and your body responds with histamines because it thinks that will fix the reaction, but it actually makes you worse. It's kinda the same thing, your body is basically trying to do something to obtain balance, but it's wrong!! I hope that helps you a bit.


Blackouts- simply put, the hippocampus in your brain is responsible for memory formation. Heavy,mostly fast intakes of alcohol leads to non-firing of CA1 pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus. If these neurons stop firing, then you make no new memories. This is why you can still walk and talk, but have no memory. You cerebrum regulates your ability to walk and talk, but without the hippocampus, you won't remember anything until you alcohol levels recede.



I hope this helps all you who wonder if your blackouts are normal as an alcoholic. By the way, if you are one of those puzzle piece memory people, the condition is called( alcohol induced fragmentary blackout)


P.S. I had to go find my textbooks to get this info, it wasn't just something I remembered, but I'm sure the internet could tell you the same stuff


One more note: Blackouts, usually mean you are in the advanced stages of alcoholism, so if you are blacking out, you could be in trouble with liver shut down, pancreas, kidney, and brain damage.

I started blacking out, and I now know my alcoholism has to stop immediately.

mle-sober

Very interesting. Thank you. I only had two black outs during my illustrious career. They were so scary. They did help signal to me that my drinking had become intolerable.

NewDayNow

My poem,

It took my liver. It took my brain. Today I’m sober and feelin no pain.

Ed

Hope

Thanks for the information! Great thread.

Glad that you are here beginning your recovery from alcoholism!

Toomutch

Thanks for that information. I never fully understood the meaning behind a blackout. I actually thought it was induced by an allergy to the alcohol. In addition to blackouts my neck would always get very red when I was drinking wine - I think that was an allergy...

gravity

Blackouts were a regular occurence and I accepted it as a normal part of my drinking. My friends were/are all blackout drinkers, we would laugh about it.

Alcoholic insanity.

Pelican

Hi gfire and welcome to SR!

Thank you for posting this information. I love facts. I had to gather my facts to get my head and heart in agreement about drinking and what it was doing to my physical body.

I look forward to reading your posts.

CarolD

We have had this link as a sticky in our Alcoholism Forum
for several years. Blackouts are explained on #17.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html

Until I read that book...I thought blackouts were
simply a part of my heavy drinking nights....

They stopped immediately once I quit drinking.


gfireboy22....thanks for sharing your information
with us...

NoelleR

"...One more note: Blackouts, usually mean you are in the advanced stages of alcoholism, so if you are blacking out, you could be in trouble with liver shut down, pancreas, kidney, and brain damage..."

You may want to redo your research. Although blackouts MAY be one of many signs that a person MAY be an alccoholic, they are much more common that was once thought (among all kinds of folks, even including non-alcoholics).....see the following links......:

Alcohol and memory: Blackouts
Alcohol-induced blackouts

Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BAC) and blackouts
Alcohol-induced blackouts

Do blackouts always suggest alcoholism?
Alcohol-induced blackouts

Blackouts beyond alcoholics
Alcohol-induced blackouts

Are some people more likely to blackout than others?
Alcohol-induced blackouts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope some of these are helpful..... (o: Even though all the links seem to be the same, honest, they'll take you to the specific parts that address the statement just above each one. In short, what they all boil down to is that all blackouts just a sign that someone took in too much alcohol too fast; could happen to ANYONE.


NoelleR

gfireboy22

Dear Noelle, please don't bash my post. I kept my post simple and to the point. If I wished to write a 5 page article on the hippocampus, then I would have. At no point, did I say CA1 disturbance was only due to alcohol. This is an alcohol forum, and therefore I simply explained that blackouts are quite common and told the members why. If you would prefer, I shall keep my degree on the shelf and not share anything, as it appears you are a forum basher.

As for previous articles on blackouts, of course it has been done before, but new worries of blackouts made me believe that perhaps some members needed a refresher. You will find that many people in forums do not know how to search, and simply want an answer to their question today, regardless as to whether they could find it by looking.

joinedintime

Informative thread. A little tense here in the last couple posts, but informative non the less.

I was a binge drinker for decades and had never blacked out until July 12th 2008. I knew I had a problem before then but that scared the Hell out of me.

Today is day 101 without a drink. Feeling much better on many levels. Working on the rest when I can.