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mrsD · 11-23-2014, 11:47 AM

I think you are lucky to have survived those binges.

Binge drinking has been found to be more dangerous in some ways compared to just frequent heavy drinking.

Alcohol is classified as an anesthetic. Its chemical makeup is 2 carbons, and and OH group-- which makes it very easy to cross the blood brain barrier and enter the brain. It also permeates nerve tissue in the spinal cord and rest of the body easily.

In large quantities taken in during a binge, the liver cannot metabolize it away fast enough. If enough is taken in fast enough it becomes a poison, and kills cells. Alcohol applied to the skin illustrates this poisonous quality by disinfecting wounds and skin, removing bacteria. You can also lose consciousness and vomit, and inhale the vomit and die of aspirated stomach contents. This can damage the lungs severely, if you survive it.
Some people can suffocate if lying on their stomachs during unconsciousness.

Cat scans and conventional MRIs (not the new high Tesla ones still in experimental use), do not show chemical damage unless it is in a massive scale as in trauma, or stroke, hemorrhages etc.
So a clean MRI or CAT scan doesn't mean much if symptoms are present.

There is a new study on this thread, from PsychCentral discussing one heavy drinking session a week in healthy college students, who showed DNA cell damage:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/01...dna/64002.html

This article discusses potential healing from brain damage from chronic alcohol use:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/12...brain/491.html

And this, brain damage from binge drinking:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/06...age/27301.html

When alcohol is metabolized, the byproducts are called aldehydes, and these can also be damaging and cause nerves to complain as well. Using Thiamine B1, can help this, because thiamine is a part of the enzyme that metabolizes alcohol.
Also some alcoholic drinks contain other chemicals, called congeners, which maybe toxic themselves, and not typically considered by doctors at all. Google "congeners" to learn more about this.

I really hope you read this whole thread. And I really recommend you avoid alcohol completely in order to heal the damage already done. A severe binge can damage the lining of your stomach, and lead to ulcers. Severe binge drinking can cause pancreatitis also, which is a nasty thing to have to live with, if you survive it.

So take care now, and please use the tips on this thread to help yourself heal from this current situation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnnir

Hi All,

I have been a social drinker for 25 years, occasionally drinking more at parties, weddings and Christmas.

I have been suffering from depression for over a year, and in September this year I began to self-medicate. My drinking peaked in October when I estimate I drank around 500 units of alcohol, including 2 36-hour binges where I drank 2 bottles of spirits and 2 bottles of red wine on both occasions.

Since then, I have been troubled with pins and needles, numbness and burning in all 4 limbs, poor balance, blurred vision, and difficulty starting to urinate.

My own doctor did some basic tests, which were normal. I was then hospitalsed for 4 days, during which time different doctors performed various rwflex tests which they said were normal, and also a CT scan and an MRI scan, both of my head, both of which were normal.

All of the doctors I have seen have said that one month of heavy drinking would not cause these symptoms and the symptoms do not represent alcoholic neuropathy.

However, I am extremely worried.

What do you think?