It often happens that after drinking a lot of alcohol, memory disappears. In this case, it is difficult to remember anything; only some fragments of past events come up. This phenomenon is interesting to science and is being actively studied. There are several reasons why you don’t remember anything after drinking.
Alcohol amnesia is quite common, as it happens to almost everyone. People who have been abusing alcohol for a long time are accustomed to this feature of the body. But those who drink very rarely may be very surprised by the amnesia that arises. It is believed that alcohol and memory are two incompatible concepts, so a person suffering from alcoholism necessarily requires treatment.
Doctors divide alcohol amnesia into 3 types:
- Alcoholic palimpsest. Memory impairment is most common in people suffering from alcoholism. In this case, a person forgets certain fragments of what is happening, but remembers what happened after alcohol intoxication.
- Drug-alcohol amnesia. This type of amnesia can occur in both alcoholics and healthy people. A person, after being heavily intoxicated, falls asleep and remembers absolutely nothing afterward.
- Total alcohol amnesia. It is observed in people suffering from the third stage of alcoholism. Everything that happened while drinking alcohol is forgotten. In this case, immediate treatment is necessary.
Important! A person's memory can become severely impaired due to excessive drinking. If you are worried about memory loss after drinking alcohol, this indicates the development of alcoholism. In the initial stages of the disease, memory loss after alcohol occurs only after drinking too much, but then the alcoholic forgets about everything even after drinking a small amount of alcohol.
Why does memory loss occur after drinking alcohol?
To understand what treatment is necessary for alcohol amnesia, you need to know the causes of its occurrence. Any alcoholic drink contains ethanol. This substance negatively affects human health.
Alcohol, which negatively affects the entire body, affects the brain to a greater extent. Alcohol impairs memory, since the ethanol it contains destroys the cerebral cortex, which causes the following malfunctions:
- the reaction slows down;
- memory deteriorates after alcohol;
- there is a temporary clouding of reason.
There is a special area in the brain - the hippocampus, which is responsible for the formation of memories and short-term storage of information. Alcohol affects memory and the hippocampus negatively, thereby causing problems with memory recording. The effect of alcoholic drinks on memory provokes the same Negative consequences, as well as past trauma and mental illness. And the more serious the injury, the more pronounced the amnesia will be. After a concussion, a person does not remember many things that happened before the accident. The same thing happens with an alcoholic.
Memory loss that occurs when drunkenness, also negatively affects a person’s life itself. He begins to behave inappropriately and does not control his actions. Often injuries of unknown origin may appear.
Memory restoration and prevention of alcoholic amnesia
After a person sobers up, he will want to know what happened to him. Unfortunately, addiction doctors say that there are no ways to completely restore memory.
Before drinking alcohol, you should consider certain factors that help reduce memory loss from alcohol:
- Drink on a full stomach.
- Do not mix several types of alcohol.
- Accompany drinking alcohol with lemon juice.
- After drinking a large dose of alcohol, take activated charcoal.
Scientists have proven that after drinking strong drinks, short-term memory suffers. It helps to remember information received within an hour.
In order for brain function to be restored, medications are prescribed to strengthen blood vessels and normalize blood pressure. It is also recommended to take vitamins and nootropics to restore the normal functioning of metabolism in the brain tissue and provide full treatment.
For the purpose of prevention, a number of such procedures are performed:
- refusal of alcohol, smoking, sleeping pills and antidepressants;
- eating brain-healthy foods (nuts, fish);
- active image life and regular walks;
- moderate physical activity.
Comprehensive treatment of the body after prolonged use of alcohol will help restore memory. It is also important to completely stop drinking alcohol and follow all recommendations prescribed by a narcologist. It will not be possible to restore forgotten events, but it will be possible to significantly improve memory.
Smirnova Olga Leonidovna
Neurologist, education: First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov. Work experience 20 years.
Articles written
Memory lapses after alcohol occur frequently. Scientists all over the world are studying the effect of alcohol on the brain. It is difficult to determine the exact causes of memory impairment, since under the influence of ethyl alcohol the functioning of not only the brain, but also other organs deteriorates.
Why is there a problem?
Not every time a person drinks alcohol, he or she experiences memory problems. For such a problem to arise, a combination of several factors must occur. Whether memories of events that occurred will disappear depends on:
- How much ethyl alcohol entered the body? The dosage of alcohol that causes intoxication is individual for each person. It depends on body weight, age, general condition of the body. For an elderly person to lose memory after drinking alcohol, they need a much smaller amount of a drink containing alcohol than for middle-aged men with normal health. Sometimes it is not even possible to recover lost information.
- Ethanol intolerance.
- Strength of alcoholic drinks. High alcohol levels quickly lead to signs of amnesia.
- Whether the person had eaten food before or not. High-proof drinks that a person takes before meals are absorbed faster into the circulatory system. Therefore, intoxication occurs quickly. Ethanol destroys the body more severely if a person has not eaten anything before taking it.
- What was taken in combination with alcohol. If a person took medications, took drugs and at the same time drank alcohol, then the likelihood of amnesia is much higher.
It is important to remember that everyone reacts differently to certain drinks. Two people can drink the same amount of alcohol, but one will not remember anything the next day, and the other will not experience such a problem. Similar problems can occur regardless of age.
Kinds
Memory loss after alcohol is common. Almost every person has experienced this at least once in their life. If alcohol consumption occurs regularly and in large quantities, then they do not even pay attention to it. But for people who rarely drink, the manifestations of amnesia are very surprising. Doctors say that with a constant intake of alcohol in the body, one should not hope that memory will be normal. Therefore, those who suffer from alcoholism should undergo treatment.
Alcohol amnesia can occur in the form of:
- Palimpsest. It is difficult for a person to compare the events that happened last evening if he constantly drinks alcohol. There is a loss of individual fragments from the memory, but the alcoholic remembers very well what happens after drinking.
- Drug amnesia. You do not need to be dependent on alcohol to develop this problem. It is not alien to healthy people either. Under the influence of a certain portion of alcohol, a person becomes drunk. After sobering up, memories of the previous evening are erased.
- Total. It is detected in the presence of the third stage of addiction. The person does not remember anything that happened while drinking alcohol. In this situation, it is important to provide immediate treatment.
Excessive drinking significantly worsens memory. If a person cannot remember anything after a feast, then this indicates the beginning of the development of addiction. At first, failures occur if a person drinks a lot, but gradually the condition will worsen, and even small doses of alcohol will contribute to the development of amnesia.
Dangerous consequences
Previously, it was widely believed among scientists that brain cells die under the influence of ethanol. It was believed that it is for this reason that alcoholics have a narrowed cognitive field, dementia develops, hands tremble, and signs of aging appear prematurely.
But recently it was experimentally proven that poisoning cells with alcohol does not cause their death. According to animal studies, the area most affected by toxic effects is the hippocampus. It is in this area of the brain, located in the temporal lobes, that current information is stored and memories are formed.
In the hippocampus, information fragments are rewritten, memories cease to be short-term and are stored for a long time.
When ethanol penetrates the nerve cells in this area, their functioning is blocked, but they do not die. Because of this, electrical impulses are incorrectly transmitted along synaptic circuits. This leads to disruption of the process of encoding and redistribution of information.
But not all neurons are blocked. A certain part of them, under the influence of alcohol, begins to intensively produce steroids, which prevent the recording of information objects. When cells begin to produce steroids, memories stop forming.
Therefore, the fact that memory disappears after alcohol is explained by the fact that large doses of alcoholic drinks help turn off the recording of memories for a certain time. This pause can last for several minutes or hours. Usually, it is not possible to restore a failure.
It is important to prevent the development of such phenomena, as they can cause adverse consequences. As a result of drinking alcoholic beverages:
- dangerous pathologies develop;
- brain functioning is impaired;
- the functioning of vital organs deteriorates;
- feeling weak;
- constant headache;
- memory is impaired.
The development of such failures occurs differently for each person. If a person drinks alcohol for a long time, then large portions of alcohol are needed to deteriorate memory. When he sobers up, a certain number of memories are restored before the next feast. But this significantly worsens the condition of the brain, so it is important to stop drinking alcohol forever.
Nothing is known for sure about the causes of such adverse reactions after drinking alcohol. Scientists have not yet succeeded in studying the mechanisms of action of ethanol. Many people think that the substance has a negative effect on many organs and systems.
Treatment and Prevention Options
If memory disappears during alcohol intoxication, then treatment is necessary. After the intoxication has subsided, the person wants to know what happened. But narcologists say that there are no ways to completely return lost memories.
In order not to have to think about how to restore memory after drinking, you should take into account the influence of certain factors that reduce the likelihood of such failures:
- You should drink alcohol only after meals.
- You should give preference to one type of drink per evening, as mixing them will lead to the development of negative reactions.
- After drinking large portions of ethyl alcohol, you need to take activated carbon in a dosage of 1 tablet per 10 kilograms of weight.
Scientists have found that drinking alcohol has a negative impact on short-term memory. It is she who is responsible for remembering events that occur within an hour.
To restore the functioning of the brain, doctors recommend using drugs that strengthen blood vessels and normalize blood pressure. Relief can be achieved with vitamins and. They help normalize metabolic processes in brain tissue and improve brain condition.
For preventive purposes, the following recommendations should be followed:
- you should give up alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, and not take sleeping pills and antidepressants;
- include foods that are good for the brain, such as fish and nuts, in your diet;
- lead an active lifestyle and regularly walk in the fresh air;
- provide yourself with moderate physical activity.
Thanks to complex treatment, even after prolonged drinking, memory can be improved. Also, you should not continue to drink alcohol and follow all doctor’s recommendations. You shouldn’t count on recovering forgotten events, but it is possible to improve the memorization process.
Why memory disappears during alcohol intoxication, no specialist can say for sure. But to avoid making the situation worse, you need to avoid alcohol.
In a state of severe hangover, many cannot remember some episodes of the past day. It is possible to restore the full picture of yesterday's feast only with the help of reminders from accomplices who drank less. But some fragments of what happened are erased from memory forever. Why does memory disappear after drinking a large dose of alcohol?
Neurophysiologists and psychiatrists different countries are engaged in research on the effects of alcohol on brain processes that regulate the memorization of various information. Despite the large volume of clinical data, the mechanism of the influence of alcohol has not yet been sufficiently studied. The toxic effect of ethanol disrupts the activity of a number of neurophysiological processes.
The mechanism of alcohol's influence on human memory
In a state of severe alcoholic intoxication, a person is conscious, although not adequately. But some information ceases to be stored in his memory. Such failures can last from several minutes to several hours.
Recent studies have found that, despite the popular point of view, there is no substantiated evidence of the destruction of brain neurons by alcohol. Laboratory experiments on animals have shown that alcohol breakdown products have a significant effect on the hippocampus region of the brain. This is a paired formation that regulates the preservation of incoming information. The hippocampus performs a kind of “rewriting” of the fragments that make up memory, from the category of short-term to long-term.
Entering this subsystem, alcohol blocks some of its cells, but does not destroy it. In this case, the sequence of impulses performing the process of encoding information is disrupted. A failure occurs when redistributing it across “databases”. A significant dose of alcohol can lead to imbalance of the subsystem.
At the same time, another part of the cells increases their activity and synthesizes steroids that counteract the “recording” of events. These steroids prevent the hippocampus from storing memories. At certain moments, under the influence of alcohol, the recording of ongoing events stops. Dips can last for several hours. More often, episodes lost by memory cannot be recalled in the future.
During experiments conducted on rats, researchers blocked the synthesis of steroids. The brain cells responsible for consolidating the information received continued to function when large doses of alcohol were administered. Like alcohol, it has an effect on hippocampal neurons. severe stress or drug use. The combination of these influences increases the likelihood of amnesia.
Conditions for memory loss
Those who drink a small amount of alcohol, as a rule, do not experience gaps in their memories. But not every person who has consumed a large dose of alcohol is susceptible to alcoholic amnesia. In addition, the dose volume that causes amnesia is individual for everyone. It may depend on various data:
- physical characteristics, health status;
- gender, age, experience of drinking alcohol;
- degree alcohol addiction;
- strength of alcohol consumed;
- emotional state when drinking alcohol.
A young man who is not inclined to regularly drink alcoholic beverages has a greater chance of not remembering episodes of yesterday's heavy drinking than an adult man who drinks periodically. Mixing drinks of different strengths and compositions and drinking them on an empty stomach contributes to the occurrence of amnesia. In the absence of a snack, alcohol quickly and intensively enters the bloodstream. Intoxication has a greater effect on brain activity. Forgetfulness is also affected by smoking and the use of certain medications and drugs at the same time as intoxication.
According to research, people's susceptibility to memory loss due to excessive drinking varies widely. This is detected by scanning the brains of subjects under the influence of large doses of alcohol. In the areas of the hippocampus in the temporal regions of the brain, some of them do not show much activity.
In another category of subjects, intensive processes are found in the areas regulating memory and attention when consuming small doses of alcohol. This suggests that their brains process and store information in a different way. Differences in brain reactions may also occur due to different levels of dopamine, a hormone released in anticipation of pleasure, in the body of the subjects.
Gaps in memory and alcoholism
A person who has not reached the stage of alcoholism forgets past events only after drinking large quantity alcohol. The episodes (starting from a certain period) that preceded going to bed are erased from his memory.
The main feature of memory lapses in alcoholics is their fragmentation.
Researchers note periods when a patient with alcohol dependence while intoxicated experiences temporary partial memory loss and the inability to recreate the episode the next day. But if you remind him of some moments of yesterday’s actions, the picture of what happened is restored. During such a period of time, a person is conscious, but the brain does not control the actions performed, and the information is erased.
Patients who do not have an alcohol addiction often turn to a narcologist. Literally after the first drink, they experience inappropriate behavior followed by amnesia. Often such a reaction to alcohol is observed in people who have suffered complex infectious diseases, head injuries, and other diseases associated with brain activity.
When drinking alcohol, they develop chronic memory problems quite quickly. In other cases, memory loss may indicate the development of alcoholism and a certain stage in the course of this disease.
Development of amnesia with regular alcohol consumption
Disabling the mechanism for remembering information can lead to serious consequences. A person may not remember driving while drunk or having risky sexual relations. Complete blackout under the influence of large doses of alcohol is still poorly understood. But the indisputable fact is that the amount of alcohol consumed and the frequency of alcohol abuse directly affects the degree of blocking of brain activity.
In the initial stages of alcoholism, certain periods, called “palimpsests” by experts, disappear from memory. The patient cannot reconstruct events that occurred within a short period of time, usually immediately before falling asleep. The narcologist’s patients themselves call it “falling asleep.”
Subsequently, palimpsests occur from small doses, and the duration of forgotten episodes increases proportionally. Next, amnesia develops when a person cannot remember a period of time lasting several hours. Moreover, at this time he could behave adequately and even perform complex conscious actions. But the next day all the details disappear from memory, and you can only learn about your activities from other people.
At a certain stage of alcoholic illness, as a result of constant intoxication, similar disruptions begin to occur in the brain more and more often, and its activity becomes defective. The same symptoms of amnesia are observed with traumatic brain injury and mental illness. The duration of periods lost from memory depends on the complexity of the injury and the severity of the disease. From this point of view, every case of alcoholic amnesia can be compared to at least a mild concussion.
Psychological moment of memory loss
The described mechanisms and conditions of memory loss during alcohol intoxication refer to the results of the effects of intoxication on the brain caused by drinking alcohol. But in some cases, the inability to recall past events in memory may arise for other reasons. Arising on subconscious level Feelings of shame, fear, fear of ridicule and condemnation can block the memory of shameful moments of behavior.
The subconscious, protecting the human psyche from trauma, erases from memory episodes, the memory of which will cause him to suffer.
The person himself does not pretend and does not try to forget the actions he has committed; they are removed from the mental field involuntarily. A protective barrier is created for consciousness. But after time has passed or after a hypnotic session, the blocking is removed.
Sometimes memory loss due to alcoholic amnesia for a person who has retained sanity becomes the last point of dependence on an addiction. He begins to seriously think about an immediate solution to the problem. The serious consequences of regular alcohol abuse are fully felt.
A state in which you can commit irreversible actions, get into a hopeless situation and subsequently not remember about it, causes genuine fear. Even if nothing reprehensible happened during the periods erased from memory, the feeling of missing time, a kind of non-existence, causes feelings of anxiety.
Whatever the reasons for amnesia - alcohol intoxication and intoxication or defensive reactions of the subconscious, its first manifestations should change a person’s attitude towards drinking alcohol. Memory lapses that appear after another binge can become a pattern even when taking smaller doses of alcohol. Their regularity should be a mandatory reason to see a doctor.
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Some people are familiar with the feeling of memory loss the morning after a noisy feast. Sometimes a small fragment of the evening, a few minutes long, is forgotten, and you may not even remember such important moments as the way home. This phenomenon is called alcoholic amnesia, or palimpsest. Some people joke about this topic, believing that nothing bad happened, but in fact it may be alarming symptom serious illness.
Why does memory loss occur after alcohol?
The main culprit of brain disorders after drinking alcohol is ethanol, which is present in every alcoholic drink.
It destroys brain cells, impairing mental clarity, reaction speed and memory. The severity of the negative impact of ethanol on memory capabilities can be compared with the consequences after suffering mental illness or traumatic brain injury.
If a person is addicted to alcohol, then each time he gets drunk faster, and stays in this state longer. In the end, such a hobby will lead to irreversible consequences, ranging from slight absent-mindedness with short-term memory loss, and ending with serious illnesses.
Alarming signs of the development of alcoholic amnesia:
- Increased incidence of memory loss after alcohol.
- Inability to reconstruct a picture of what happened the day before: place of stay, interlocutors, events.
It turns out that an isolated case does not indicate alcohol dependence and does not require medical intervention. If a person does not remember the events before falling asleep, then memory loss after alcohol is caused by banal poisoning. After waking up remains headache, malaise, feeling of shame and weakness.
A person dependent on alcohol treats this phenomenon normally, since this is not the first time it has happened. This may pose a danger not only for himself, but also for those around him, since at the moment of unconsciousness he may commit a crime, and the next morning he will not remember what happened.
Important! In addition to the direct negative effect of alcohol on the brain, there is also psychological aspect the occurrence of amnesia. A defense mechanism is triggered that relieves a person of negative memories that cause shame and embarrassment. The patient will not be able to independently recall a specific episode in his memory, but thanks to a session of hypnosis or psychotherapy, the memories will return.
Additional factors for the occurrence of alcoholic amnesia
Not every alcohol intake causes disturbances in consciousness; there are additional factors, the combination of which leads to changes in brain activity:
Important! Each person has their own permissible norm drank depending on gender, weight, health status and frequency of alcohol consumption. For a person with alcohol addiction, sometimes just a little is enough to partially lose memory. This already indicates serious violations on the part of nervous system body.
Types of alcoholic amnesia
There are two types of alcoholic amnesia: lacunar and total. With lacunar amnesia, the order of events is preserved in memory, but small fragments are lost.
In turn, lacunar amnesia is of two types:
Total amnesia is the most severe disorder in memory, in which all information is erased, including basic information: name, surname, family composition and address.
This form of amnesia appears in alcohol addicts with the third form of alcoholism, and they are in dire need of treatment at a drug dispensary, since they are potentially dangerous to society.
The concepts of “lacunar amnesia” and “alcoholism” are often interrelated. Alcoholism develops in three stages, and each is characterized by different memory impairments.
To cure a person from alcoholic amnesia, he himself must admit that he has such a disease as alcoholism. In addition, he must want to be cured. An experienced narcologist will prescribe a complex of treatment, depending on the severity of the problem.
Treatment and memory restoration after alcoholic amnesia
Before starting treatment, the patient is diagnosed in a clinical setting. The doctor interviews the patient, records the main complaints, analyzes the causes and duration of unconscious states. Next, the test is carried out using electroencephalography and MRI. A comprehensive diagnosis will help identify both the mental aspects of the disease and current diseases or changes in brain tissue.
Unfortunately, after alcohol intoxication, it is no longer possible to restore memories by fasting, even when a person gets sober. But there are ways to restore full brain function and prevent unpleasant consequences in future:
The main cause of amnesia after drinking alcohol is toxic poisoning body.
For a person who drinks rarely, forgetting events occurs in rare cases; For an alcoholic, every drink can result in major memory lapses. Thanks to an integrated approach, it will be possible to significantly improve memory, but in the future you should not repeat experiments with alcohol.
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Many people notice that after drinking alcohol they cannot remember what happened the day before. This is one of the many types negative influence ethanol on the human body and its central nervous system. Alcohol amnesia can come in several forms. Contrary to popular belief, anxiety is not limited to people with alcoholism. To develop it, it is not necessary to drink alcohol in large quantities. Isolated memory lapses are not considered a serious cause for concern, but even if they appear, it is worth reconsidering your attitude towards drinking alcohol.
Drinking alcohol can cause memory loss.
How does alcohol affect memory?
Any alcoholic drink contains ethyl alcohol. In its action it is chemical compound is a powerful drug that has a negative effect on the entire body. First of all, the brain suffers, which takes the form of behavioral disorders after drinking alcohol.
Alcohol consumption changes the structure of the hippocampus, disrupts communication between neurons, and this leads to a failure in the transmission of impulses. Additionally, the production of hormones that selectively inhibit brain processes is noted.
The result of the combined action of all these moments is the partial removal of old memories, an obstacle to the formation of new ones, and a decrease in learning ability.
The risk of memory loss during alcohol intoxication is increased by a number of factors:
- drinking strong drinks or drinking large amounts of alcohol. Although small portions of alcohol have a negative effect on brain tissue, this does not lead to amnesia. The exception is when we are talking about a person with stage 2-3 alcoholism or ethanol intolerance;
- low body weight;
- female;
- simultaneous or sequential consumption of several types of alcohol at once;
- lack of snacks or incorrect selection;
- the drinker has mental disorders.
Low weight can provoke pathology when drinking alcohol.
The likelihood of developing amnesia after drinking alcohol increases when alcohol is combined with medicines. Of particular danger are medications that have a depressing effect on the central nervous system. The components enhance each other's properties, thereby disabling brain functions. It is strictly forbidden to combine alcohol with tranquilizers, sedatives, and hypnotics.
Main types of amnesia
The classification of memory loss after alcohol contains three types of pathological conditions. The victim may develop total, narcotic or lacunar (from the word “lacuna”, which is translated from Latin as “pit”) amnesia.
Separately, doctors identify such a concept as “mnemo-failures”. This is a protective psycho-emotional reaction of the body to actions committed by a person while intoxicated.
His consciousness blocks memories of shameful actions, protecting the psyche from traumatic effects. In such a situation, a few sessions of psychotherapy or relaxation are enough for the patient to remember everything.
What is a palimpsest
Lacunar amnesia, or alcoholic palimpsest, is also called “patchwork memory.” This is a specific disorder of the higher function of the central nervous system, in which memories of yesterday are partially lost. In this case, the patient, having come to his senses, realizes the presence of a problem. He can only remember isolated fragments, but is unable to describe the events in which he was directly involved. Typically, such failures appear with the development of physical dependence on alcohol, initial stage alcoholism. In rare cases, the problem occurs in people who are not inclined to drink strong drinks, but who have greatly exceeded the permissible dose.
Palimpsest is a disorder of the central nervous system.
Features of alcohol-drug amnesia
With this disorder, events after intoxication are almost completely or completely erased from the drinker’s memory. The cause of the phenomenon is the consumption of a very large dose of alcohol. Victims usually learn information about the lost period from witnesses to their actions. Even if memories return to them, it is after a significant period of time. Such amnesia is characteristic of all alcohol abusers, but can also develop in a beginner who has exceeded the permissible dose many times over.
Features of total amnesia
The phenomenon implies complete loss of memory, which develops as a result of drinking alcohol in any amount, even small amounts. The patient's memories are erased, which were heated during the entire time of drinking alcohol and until the moment of blackout.
This type of amnesia becomes one of the consequences of alcohol dependence of the 3rd degree.
Memory loss before and after drinking alcohol
In the absence of alcohol dependence, memory loss associated with a feast and events after it occurs only if the permissible doses of alcohol are exceeded. In such a situation, amnesia extends only to those episodes that preceded the victim's going to sleep. Regular use Strong drinks over time threaten to disrupt the process of memorizing information. This is fraught with a decrease in learning ability and a general deterioration in the brain’s ability to store and reproduce information.
Drinking alcohol regularly deteriorates brain performance.
Memory loss from drinking alcohol due to addiction is fragmented. Partial loss of memories in such people makes it impossible to completely recreate the desired episode the next day. Often the picture is gradually restored if you remind the victim of some points.
According to doctors, those moments in which the brain did not control their actions are erased from the memory of alcoholics. They attribute this to the fact that information was not stored as short-term memory and did not turn into long-term memory.
Narcologists and neurologists know cases of the development of alcohol amnesia in people who are not addicted and do not drink alcohol in large quantities. Such a pathological reaction may accompany weakening of the body infectious diseases and systemic damage to the central nervous system. An aggravated brain response to alcohol is typical for individuals with a history of traumatic brain injury.
The situation can be aggravated by a previous TBI.
What is the danger?
Not every person experiences memory loss as a result of drinking alcohol. Their appearance means either intolerance to alcohol, or exceeding the permissible volumes of drinks, or the development of alcohol dependence. The last option is especially unfavorable; it indicates structural changes in the brain, destruction and degradation of the organ. Memory lapses indicate that the victim did not control himself while intoxicated. Such a person poses a danger not only to himself, but also to others. The situation is complicated by the fact that at any moment the clinical picture can be supplemented by depression and other mental disorders, somatic diseases.
How can you restore your memory?
Memories of a party, lost after heavy drinking, usually return, but gradually and not always in full. In people with alcoholism, such failures often cannot be restored.
According to doctors, if you still remember moments that have fallen out of memory, you can stimulate brain function and reduce the likelihood of re-developing amnesia.
For these purposes, it is recommended to use photographs, videos, and stories of participants in forgotten events. You can inspect the place where the party took place, which also often turns out to be a good stimulant. If such actions do not help, you should contact a neurologist or narcologist for help in treating alcohol amnesia.
If no methods help to restore information, then you need to contact a neurologist.
How to drink and not lose your memory?
Getting your memory back is much more difficult than not losing it. The best method of preventing alcohol amnesia is to completely stop drinking alcohol. If you don’t want to take such steps, you need to at least learn to drink properly. There are several recommendations that, if followed, reduce the risk of memory loss after a party and reduce the degree of negative effects of alcohol on the brain.
What should the snack be like?
Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach increases the degree of negative effects of ethanol on all organs and systems of the body. By combining drinking alcohol with eating meat, fish, vegetables and herbs, you can reduce potential risks. Lemons, oranges and other fruits rich in ascorbic acid have a good effect on the drinker’s body. It is recommended to interrupt the feast from time to time to dance or get some fresh air.
Soft drinks
Drinking carbonated liquids in a state of alcohol intoxication or while drinking alcohol worsens the drinker's well-being. This is due to carbon dioxide, which accelerates and enhances the absorption of ethanol into the blood. It is best to drink alcohol with water with lemon, cold green or weak black tea. For every dose of alcohol, drink twice the volume of a soft drink.
Be careful with cocktails
According to statistics, memory lapses most often occur in people who mix different types alcoholic drinks. Experts do not recommend combining even different types of wine for those who want to minimize the negative consequences of the feast.
Cocktails are often a combination of several alcoholic compounds of the same or different strengths, which is why they are poorly tolerated by most people. Another important point in the case of cocktails, they are tasty, so people try to keep them in their mouths. Ethanol is actively absorbed by the oral mucosa, and then this process continues in the digestive tract. As a result, the person gets drunker than he could if he quickly swallowed the drink.
Cocktails make a person drunk much more.
Treatment of alcohol amnesia
The fight against memory loss due to alcohol consumption should include giving up alcohol, taking medications, adjusting your diet and living a healthy lifestyle. Drug therapy is selected individually, based on the complexity of the case. In particular, to stop the synthesis of dangerous hormones, the patient may be prescribed antitumor drugs. The patient is also prescribed a course of B vitamins and nootropics. In combination, such drugs improve the respiration of nervous tissue and stimulate metabolic processes in the brain. Completing a treatment course lasting 2-3 months in a drug treatment clinic can normalize the victim’s condition or significantly improve it.
With alcoholic amnesia, it is important not only to restore lost memories, but also to prevent further memory degradation. Otherwise, the clinical picture will soon be complemented by inhibition of other higher functions of the central nervous system, which can lead to disability.