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Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » We see/experience what short-term excessive alcohol use does to the body. What's the long-term effect of many short-term experierences?

We see/experience what short-term excessive alcohol use does to the body. What's the long-term effect of many short-term experierences?

Posted - September 18, 2018

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  • 6477
    We refer to it here as binge drinking.. Liver damage for sure.. memory loss, apparently it destroys brain cells.. I am not really medically inclined but it can cause muscle weakness as people forget to exercise.. can cause appetite depression which is bad... alcohol poisoning.. if you repeatedly do that it can't be good?
      September 18, 2018 1:44 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Teens do that. Mark Judge, the Brett Kavanaugh pal who was in the room when Kav allegedly tried to rape Dr. Ford, wrote a memoir about his teen years as an alcoholic who blacked out from drinking too much. I wonder how much that damaged his brain permanently? Thank you for your reply Addb and Happy Wednesday to thee. If you read the reply by Just Asking you will find very informative. She just happens to sadly be very knowledgeable about it and did some research on it! :)
      September 19, 2018 2:18 AM MDT
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  • 7919
    "long-term effect of many short-term experiences..."

    By this do you mean long-term effects of drinking too much multiple times?

    Oddly enough, this is something I had to study over the past week or two. In short, your body recovers relatively quickly from a bout of drinking. It puts all its energy into removing the toxins, so if you don't keep going back to the booze, you should be more or less ok if you eat well and drink lots of water the next day. 

    The problem comes in where the liver genuinely pauses processing fat while it's dealing with the booze, and it gets a backlog. It can catch up if you're good to yourself and don't drink after, but let's say you do. That fat has to go somewhere because the body isn't metabolizing it further. And so, you get a fatty liver. A fatty liver which can no longer function effectively, meaning your body has trouble breaking down the nutrients it gets and turning them into something useful and it has trouble processing toxins. Obviously, that creates issues too, such as digestive problems, fatigue, confusion, pain, etc.

    But, here's the other oddball thing. Our bodies break alcohol down into acetaldehyde using alcohol dehydrogenase, an enzyme. Acetaldehyde is toxic too. It's a known carcinogen. So, having it in your system regularly, which it would be if you drink frequently, increases the chances you'll get cancer. And, it gets pumped throughout your whole body. But, here's the other oddity. Scientists have discovered it in the brains of people who have been drinking, and it shouldn't really be there because of the blood/ brain barrier. They can only surmise the brain is manufacturing it too, but they don't know how or why yet. 

    And, here's one more fun fact. Men make more alcohol dehydrogenase than women do, which is why women get drunk faster than men. Women who consume roughly the same amount of booze as men have more problems too. 

    My mom was an alcoholic prior to her stroke at age 55. She turned herself into a ticking time bomb. Now she's in a wheelchair and has vascular dementia. That's what repeated short-term experiences does. 
      September 18, 2018 3:10 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Yes. That's what I mean JA. First all though and most importantly I am so sorry that your mom suffered such consequences from the  overuse/misuse of alcohol. The reason I asked is that Mark Judge, the Brett Kavanaugh pal who was allegedly in the room when the alleged attempt to rape Dr. Ford (according to her) occurred wrote a memoir about his days as a teenage drunk and blacking out. So I was amused and well as unfuriated by his saying he didn't recall it (that I can believe) and he never saw Brett act the way Dr. Ford said he did. Of course he didn't. He was blacked out or passed out or so drunk he didn't know what the he** was going on. Some character witness! I just wonder what that did to his brain permanently? Also if Kavanaugh also regularly got wasted how has his brain been affected? Dr. Ford said he was very drunk. Anyway to believe their memories of what happened or didn't when they were falling-down drunk or passed out is ludicrous! I don't know if  Dr Ford was equally drunk but she did remember being sexually abused. Are people the same everywhere? Are some countries' citizens more prone to get drunk than others? I'm gonna ask. Thank you for an extremely informative and very thoughtful and helpful reply. Again I am so very sorry about your experience and your mother's circumstances. Happy Wednesday JA! :)
      September 19, 2018 2:26 AM MDT
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