Is Alcohol Brain Fog Destroying Your Intelligence Potential? by Ken Makimsy Middleton AINYFAlcohol is NOT Your Friend

But managing stress isn’t always simple, which is why you need a guide to get a jump-start. You’ll learn the basics about stress (and its dangers) as well as how to plan and prepare to buffer the ill effects of stress. If brain fog persists past a couple of weeks, talk to your doctor, advises Pudumjee.

These changes in the brain also cause people to change their behaviors around alcohol. “They become much more likely to seek alcohol and to rely on it to cope with negative feelings,” said Ray. “Often when people start drinking, they drink to feel good—but as they drink more chronically, they have to drink to avoid feeling bad.” People who drink regularly may also notice that booze doesn’t have the same effect on them as it used to. “With chronic drinking, the wiring element to your brain’s reward system can get worn out and lose some of its normal functioning,” said Pagano.

Motivation Returns

From a pleasurable point of view, it’s that euphoric feeling of not really caring about things as much and just enjoying the present moment. Many of us are very familiar with the expected 2–3 day effect alcohol has on our thinking, which makes it much more difficult to process and think through various complex ideas. Too much alcohol messes with your brain, so you can’t remember things if you drink too much.

However, if it begins to affect your quality of life, you should seek professional medical guidance, adds Wilhour. “Chemo brain” is a well-known phenomenon that describes thinking problems before, during, and after cancer treatment, according to the National Cancer Institute. This mental fog can be caused by the cancer itself, conditions caused by cancer (such as depression or sleep problems), or a variety of treatments including chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy. If you’re eating a restricted diet, not consuming adequate vitamins and minerals may result in experiencing some brain fog, says Pudumjee.

The Effect of Alcohol on Brain Size and Brain Functioning

As for menopause, one study explains that difficulty with memory can begin early on in menopause and end in postmenopause, likely due to the effects that estrogen has on memory performance. One of the challenges with understanding brain fog is that there are so many potential causes, and having brain fog alone doesn’t tell doctors what exactly is going on. Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Calls to any general helpline (non-facility specific 1-8XX numbers) could be forwarded to SAMHSA or a verified treatment provider. From a negative point of view, however, it’s that feeling of the world spinning and it being difficult to put various thoughts together easily without significant difficulty. You should ask your doctor to refer you to a counselor or therapist to help you quit drinking and deal with any emotional issues.

This can cause sweating, which also brings with it other symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. There are many different factors that can affect the severity of alcohol withdrawal. For example, the frequency, duration, and the amount of alcohol consumed when drinking can all play a role in the severity of withdrawal symptoms. Your age, and whether you have had a history of seizures and/or delirium tremens, as well as your past withdrawal history are all also factors in withdrawal severity.

Mental Health Support:

Although these patients have problems remembering old information (i.e.,
retrograde amnesia), it is their difficulty in “laying down” new information
(i.e., anterograde amnesia) that is the most striking. For example, these patients
can discuss in detail an event in their lives, but an hour later might not remember
ever having the conversation. Up to
80 percent of alcoholics, however, have a deficiency in thiamine (15), and some
of these people will go on to develop serious brain disorders such as Wernicke–Korsakoff
syndrome (WKS) (16). WKS is a disease that consists of two separate syndromes,
a short–lived and severe condition called Wernicke’s encephalopathy
and a long–lasting and debilitating condition known as Korsakoff’s
psychosis.

This continued deficit
in long–term abstinent alcoholics suggests that P3 deficits may be a marker
of risk for alcohol dependence, rather than a result of alcohol use. In fact,
a number of studies have since reported low P3 amplitudes in young people who https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/what-brain-fog-of-alcoholism-is-and-when-it-goes-away/
have not started drinking alcohol but who are at high risk for developing alcoholism,
such as young sons of alcoholic fathers (43,44). Markers such as the P3 can help
identify people who may be at greatest risk for developing problems with alcohol.