Gabriel

Hi all,

I hope you are doing well. In doing my 'research' on alcoholism, I came across this website that has some great information: cleanandsoberlive.com

I thought that this was interesting since I have been curious as to how long it will take my brain to heal after drinking for about 16 years. Here is the list:

Here is a list of cognitive functions and how long it takes for them to return (on average) after an alcoholic stops drinking (provided there is wet brain or heptic encephalopathy).

Return of Cognitive Functions
Acute Detox (Less than 2 weeks)

None

Early Abstinence (2 weeks – 2 months)

No longer experiencing mild confusion
Mild confusion
Reduced irritability
Reduced distractibility

Mid-Range Abstinence (2 months – 5 years)

Improved reaction times
Restored attention and concentration
Restored verbal learning ability, abstract reasoning, and short-term memory.

Long-Term Abstinence (7 years)

Restored non-verbal abstract reasoning ability
Restored mental flexibility
Restored nonverbal short-term memory
Potential improvement in Visuospatial abilities
===================
Any thoughts on this? What all have you heard? In trying to be sober, I want to know/learn how long it's going to take my body to heal back to being 'normal'.

FreeOwl

interesting.

I definitely feel myself still seeing the effects of alcohol even after almost 9 months. A long life of drinking from an early age, I sometimes feel like I'm only beginning to notice the ways it really did impact me.

Whole segments of my life are missing
I frequently forget things
I'm distracted a lot of the time
It's hard to focus or complete things
My memory of even things I've experienced first hand isn't as sharp as I note others' is
Learning new things seems harder than I recall
I started trying to follow what is relatively "basic" math recently that my kids were doing.... and was horrified at how difficult I found it.

I wonder not only how much I've lost, but how much I can reasonably ever get back!

Makes me think that I really oughta start looking at 'brain gym' training... I put a lot into trying to keep my body healthy and recover from the physical effects, but not a lot as yet into rehabbing my mental strengths.

JaylaaKent

I only drank alcoholically for 3 years and took me about a year to get sober once I realized I had a problem. Thanks for this thread it really helps me realize the extent of what I did to my brain. I knew there were some long-term withdrawals and I am even aware when I can't remember things, struggle with complex things at work, etc. I'm coming up on 6 months and I can attest there were things I struggled with a few months ago that seem to be easier for me to understand (I work as an accountant). I'm grateful that I have a body that is able to heal. For me getting to this point of sobriety was a lot of work (and money) so I stay sober not to lose all the progress I made. Thanks again for the informative post.

Andg1

I had a list like this posted on my fridge when I was trying to stop smoking and I found it was very motivating! Thank you for posting it.

SoberComposer

This is great to read. I am day 45 and plagued with tiredness (even though im exercising frequently), bad short term memory, ups and downs, ect...

It's good to have a timeline.

I happily take these deficiencies until the repair is complete, so glad I quit

Thanks!

courage2

I had a lot of cognitive functioning problems last year that were periodically extremely difficult to work through -- very poor short term memory which had been true for me for a long time while drinking, lack of concentration, trouble with focus, a general feeling of mental fog. Some of that may have been symptomatic of depression, and some of long-term alcohol abuse.

After 7 months sober now, my short term verbal memory and ability to learn is better than it's been in years, maybe decades, and my ability to concentrate is getting better. My main problem now is reading and also I get kind of confused about recent past events and need to write everything down or it's a jumble.

I've read that most people recover their full mental ability within 5-7 years, and most of it much sooner than that.

Soberwolf

Nice post

Gabriel

I see that some of you mentioned short term memory loss and trouble concentrating. I am experiencing that now. One reason why I want to quit is not just the physical and mental damage alcohol causes, but I'm tired of the black outs. I cannot tell you how many times people have said, "don't you remember telling me that?" During my last binge, I lost several bottles of prescription meds that I had just bought from Walgreens and to this day, I still do not know where I put them.

I also find that I am easily distracted, as mentioned in the second week of the chart and it really stinks that what should take me a few minutes to complete takes me about an hour or more. When I drank, I was a machine...completing tasks without any problem.

I'm glad you all found this chart useful and I am inspired by your posts that things do get better in time...all in time. I do think that doing mental exercises help and maybe I will just take up sudoku or 'brain gym' training as FreeOwl mentioned. I have studied alot of Asian medicine and philosophy and do believe truly that our bodies and minds are connected.

trachemys

Gosh, if all that improves for me, in 7 years you'll all be my minions.