bigaquagirl

Hi, anyone had those? What causes it? Who is more prone? Why do memories come back but in destorted and broken pieces? Do you ever recover memories from it?

Dee74

I think most of us here have experienced it.

This thread has some of the science behind it.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html

Some memories came back for me - others never did.

D

AnotherPaul

At the end, I blacked out every single night. I would look at my cell phone the next morning and see that I'd had a 90 minute phone call with an old friend from college and I didn't remember a thing we'd said to each other. Pretty scary.

gall1972

Why do you ask?

Odelle

The following link pretty well answers the questions you have posted - Alcohol Blackout – Facts & Behavior | Alcohol Addiction. An excerpt summarizing what an alcohol blackout is follows:

When a person has suffered an alcohol blackout and is unable when next awakening to remember what they were doing when they were intoxicated, it is not that they have lost their ability to access their memory and remember what they did.

During an alcohol blackout – no memories are created. Alcohol blackouts can be complete – in that a person has no recorded memory for a complete period of time, or they can recall parts of a sequence of events, but do not realise that there are “gaps” in their memory of the complete sequence unless their memory of the events is specifically raised as an issue.
Alcohol blackouts are a form of amnesia brought on by alcohol drinking. Chronic alcohol abusers who frequently suffer from blackouts might be bemused and express concern about their plight in being unable to recall the events of the night before, but as with alcohol hangovers, there can be a tendency to shrug off both hangovers and blackouts as being a serious problem for the drinker.

Alcohol appears to affect the transfer of short term memories into permanent long term memory. Even with small to moderate amounts of alcohol drinking, it can produce what Ryback (1971) called cocktail party memory deficits - an inability to remember another persons name, or what has just been said in conversation. Formal studies show that with modest alcohol drinking people will have difficulties learning items on a word list, or learning to recognize new faces.

As the dose of alcohol increases, so does impairment of memory.

Notmyrealname

I don't think you recover memories from blackout periods. You might have "fuzzy" recollection about something and get dribs and drabs back. For me at least, a blackout means the write function is disabled on the hard drive in my head.. it's "Read Only" until the next morning.

I will spare you the anecdotes.

robgt350

so many times i started out just having a drink or two did i end up blacked out.

Anna

If you have a blackout, you never do recover the memories, not even in bits and pieces. In a blackout, the memory is simply not stored so there is no recalling it. I had blackouts and they are the scariest thing to experience. I don't think there is any prediction for when one will happen or not.

Duffster

"When in an alcohol blackout, we are merely responding to our environment in a reactive manner – a walking, talking zombie." (taken from the link above). Yikes! I've had blackouts since I started drinking as a teen. That's a horrifying way to look at it - as a zombie. No wonder I've been suffering from anxiety all these years.

Dib42

Usually its the amount and the speed in which I drink will determin whether or not I'll black out.

I've went from feeling just a little buzzed to blackout drunk, in very little time. Usually i've i'm not pouring shots, but just filling up a cup full of straight whiskey and pounding it.

They're scary and embarassing, and generally destructive.

DG0409

Only once am I aware of completely blacking out for a period of time when really drunk and this was after a hard hit to the head. I said many things I didn't mean to and had no recollection of doing so the next morning.

It was much more common for things to be kind of vague. I'd remember bits and pieces though, rarely were there real gaps of time that I had no recollection of (at least to my knowledge). I did find my memory in general to be bad, even the next day when I was just hungover and not drunk yet, it would be hard to remember what was just said in a conversation. It wasn't just listening either, sometimes, I would be talking and forget what I'd just said, too. Learning names or things was very difficult.

bigaquagirl

Thank you all.

As to why? I have one from about five years ago with another person. I started having flashbacks few months ago. The bits that I get dont make sence. This person kinda droped me after that but if I believe what my memory is recalling. This person is not nice.

Does anyone know if psychiatrists can hipnotize and recall the memories?

Mattcake

Few psychiatrists use hypnosis these days, but you can always ask around to see if you can find one. A psychologist would be a better bet, though. The effectiveness of hypnosis is very debatable, however, it's been around for centuries, yet no firm consensus has ever been made.

My body is (was) frighteningly capable of handling alcohol, I could drink a fifth or two and seem "fine"... My hangovers were brutal, though. I never experienced a blackout, they must be scary. Same for flashbacks. Saying that they're "only in your mind" is of no help, we dwell in our psychic reality, so they are real.

Maybe you could see a shrink or therapist and tell him or her about your current situation, including the flashbacks, and see what they say.

Keep us posted! Good luck

bigsombrero

Hypnosis is not an exact science, it's kind of like trusting acupuncture to solve a herniated disc in your back. I mean, sure you can try it, it probably won't harm you to be hypnotized, but don't expect real results. You might as well try reading tea leaves while you're at it, and then check to see when Spring will arrive according to the groundhog's latest prediction.

I would stay focused on moving forward. Dredging up memories of what happened during a blackout is likely impossible, and even if it did work, I don't see it helping anything.

Turn your head around and look to the future. Find a good recovery method, work TOWARDS something. Best of luck!

Nonsensical

I don't remember.




Sorry, I couldn't resist.

ginger4029

I had them almost every night this past year. Even when I only drank like 8 or so . Definately when i had alot.

bigaquagirl

Thank you all again.

You are right, looking forward is better than obsessing about the past.

Nonsensical, thanks

Wastinglife

I had many blackouts with no memory. I actually am a little glad that I can't remember things because I did some pretty stupid and embarrassing stuff when drinking that much. Hopefully, those memories stay suppressed...

shockozulu

I get sweaty feet even remembering the mornings after a blackout. Not remembering a thing is the most frightening thing to me, and I've been through a lot. At least I remember the other things today. Those past nights will never come back to me.