Can alcohol literally make someone crazy? Any doctors who know?
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Can alcohol literally make someone crazy? Any doctors who know?
I am so confused. I saw my former best friend and Ex for the first time in months. He seems completely cuckoo now. He did not even seem drunk, but I am sure he was the night before. He was not "tracking" with the conversation, had serious problems listening, remembering and following my instruction to keep his hands off me (I am involved with someone else). It was not just childish behavior but really bizarre and rash.
He was not reactive and belligerent like a drunk, but calculating and mean and lashing out at a stranger passerby (who I know from work and he does not) to try and embarrass me and hurt my feelings. Then he had a somewhat put upon trumped up temper tantrum... it seemed like he was trying to do that in a drama king sort of way rather than out of control. He also was making weird false accusations against me.
So.. I have barely seen him in 6 months and he seems to have gone from a drunk that is a real mean a-hole when drunk to someone so nuts that when he seems to be sober he is still acting up or acting slightly discongruous.. not quite disoriented but wow. I would never have ever been friends with him had he acted this way in the past. I was sincerely trying to help him get counseling and AA..
What exactly does 24 years of alcoholism do to the brain.. is this reversable or has he lost it forever?
I am truly concerned, he has a little kid.
He was not reactive and belligerent like a drunk, but calculating and mean and lashing out at a stranger passerby (who I know from work and he does not) to try and embarrass me and hurt my feelings. Then he had a somewhat put upon trumped up temper tantrum... it seemed like he was trying to do that in a drama king sort of way rather than out of control. He also was making weird false accusations against me.
So.. I have barely seen him in 6 months and he seems to have gone from a drunk that is a real mean a-hole when drunk to someone so nuts that when he seems to be sober he is still acting up or acting slightly discongruous.. not quite disoriented but wow. I would never have ever been friends with him had he acted this way in the past. I was sincerely trying to help him get counseling and AA..
What exactly does 24 years of alcoholism do to the brain.. is this reversable or has he lost it forever?
I am truly concerned, he has a little kid.
Iceberg Ahead!
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Out at Sea
Posts: 1,177
The book Getting Them Sober, Volume 3 (1986), by Toby Rice Drews lists the following secondary or associated diseases/disorders in the psychiatric area on top of the early onset of aging processes:
Chapter 15
Chronic Neuropsychiatric Deterioration
A. Generalized Neuropsychiatric Deterioration (Alcoholic Dementia or Chronic Organic Brain Syndrome)
B. Personality alterations [17 including obsessional or undefinable fears, and inability to think clearly]
C. Withdrawal Symptoms
D. Malnutrition [5 including Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (Acute Organic Brain Syndrome or "Wet Brain")] . . .
Chapter 33
Psychiatric Disorders and Alcoholism [18 including uni and bi-polar disorders, BPD, pathological narcissism, schizophrenia and sociopathy].
Chronic Neuropsychiatric Deterioration
A. Generalized Neuropsychiatric Deterioration (Alcoholic Dementia or Chronic Organic Brain Syndrome)
B. Personality alterations [17 including obsessional or undefinable fears, and inability to think clearly]
C. Withdrawal Symptoms
D. Malnutrition [5 including Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (Acute Organic Brain Syndrome or "Wet Brain")] . . .
Chapter 33
Psychiatric Disorders and Alcoholism [18 including uni and bi-polar disorders, BPD, pathological narcissism, schizophrenia and sociopathy].
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Canada
Posts: 230
I am currently in disbelief at the things STBXAH does and says. As are all of our friends. He does much of the same things that you are talking about.
He absolutely cannot follow a conversation. He only has one thing on his mind (it changes with each conversation, wanting bank records, having me do something for him, paying off his visa, etc.). He makes outlandish accusations. He accused me of running up his phone bill even though he talked to the phone company and they assured him that the charges were from his air card. (they were mistaken, he claims). He is down right mean....which he has never before been like that 24/7 with me. He cannot make a smart decision. He is cold and somewhat calculating. (the problem is his calculating part is so skewed, it is obvious even when he thinks he is being sneaky.) He constantly lies and tries to create drama. I am not the only one who has noticed. Many of his friends have called questioning me on his behavior. I tell them the same thing that I tell him. I don't know what is wrong, only that there is something very wrong. His best friend feels that it is some sort of psychosis.
I believe that it is alcohol related, but I also believe that it is drug related. I am sure there is plenty scientific data to support that these things change your brain.
I know how your feeling. Thank your lucky stars that you are out of there!
He absolutely cannot follow a conversation. He only has one thing on his mind (it changes with each conversation, wanting bank records, having me do something for him, paying off his visa, etc.). He makes outlandish accusations. He accused me of running up his phone bill even though he talked to the phone company and they assured him that the charges were from his air card. (they were mistaken, he claims). He is down right mean....which he has never before been like that 24/7 with me. He cannot make a smart decision. He is cold and somewhat calculating. (the problem is his calculating part is so skewed, it is obvious even when he thinks he is being sneaky.) He constantly lies and tries to create drama. I am not the only one who has noticed. Many of his friends have called questioning me on his behavior. I tell them the same thing that I tell him. I don't know what is wrong, only that there is something very wrong. His best friend feels that it is some sort of psychosis.
I believe that it is alcohol related, but I also believe that it is drug related. I am sure there is plenty scientific data to support that these things change your brain.
I know how your feeling. Thank your lucky stars that you are out of there!
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I recommend this thread (and the study BobbyJ links to) so often I've bookmarked it on my computer:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...onder-why.html
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...onder-why.html
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 138
We are now learning that my AH (whom I'm divorcing) has a Cluster B Personality Disorder...Narcissistic Personality Disorder with some overlap with Borderline PD.
While his PD has always been a problem within our marriage, once he began drinking the everything became a LOT worse...the frequency of his outbursts, mood swings, irrational behavior, etc.
Also, the level of his confusion increased. He sometimes didn't know where he was, has had lots of difficulty with directions, time confusion (thinking something happened yesterday, when it happened a week or more ago, etc.
While his PD has always been a problem within our marriage, once he began drinking the everything became a LOT worse...the frequency of his outbursts, mood swings, irrational behavior, etc.
Also, the level of his confusion increased. He sometimes didn't know where he was, has had lots of difficulty with directions, time confusion (thinking something happened yesterday, when it happened a week or more ago, etc.
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