Alcohol
 

So I know when I am recovering.. like I have been for the last 4 months.. that alcohol is not a good idea.. however, is alcohol always going to be a bad idea? will I ever be able to have a glass of wine with friends again?

Research suggests that a single serving of alcohol is OK. Getting buzzed is not.

What Mark said. I had a beer a week ago for the first time since my incident in Jan. I thought ok I feel good. Had a second and got about halfway through it and realized I wasnt ready for it. Heck, I can still only do decaf coffee or a small can on soda.

Don't forget to consider, also, any problems that might follow combining even small amounts of alcohol with any of the drugs you're taking.

If in doubt, why not chat with your pharmacist?

Yeah I'd say avoid the drinking if you can, and if you can't just keep it to a minimum and don't get drunk.

I got drunk once while I was still in the thick of my ordeal and while I was surprised it didn't kill me, I know it definitely is not conducive to recovery, although I did recover eventually.

Once you have been a hundred percent symptom free for a while you can start to experiment and see where your limit is.

I can drink now if I feel like it but I usually prefer to keep it to a minimum because I remember how sensitive I was to alcohol for a long time after my own accident.

You will be able to have a glass of wine with your friends again.

I agree with Cian.

I avoided alcohol completely after my injury. After nearly three years, I'm close to fully recovered. My recovery may or may not be related to my alcohol abstention, but I feel I made the right choice.

This is a good question, and I tend to agree with Mark/Kevbo/Cian. I avoided any and all alcohol for ~3.5 months post injury, but started working in the occasional glass of wine since (about 1.5 glasses per 2 weeks). The few times that I've "indulged" in a second, I've almost immediately regretted it - my face gets flushed, I start to feel the pressure in my head, and basically just want to bow out of whatever situation I'm in instead of continuing to enjoy the time with my friends. That said, nearly 8 months later the one glass at a time doesn't have an immediately obvious negative impact - I recognize that it may prolong my recovery, but sometimes I can't help but feel like if recovery is going to take forever anyway, I may as well say yes to the occasional glass of wine with friends because I like it!

The only time I've gotten "drunk" was when I had 3 glasses of wine on New Year's Eve this year. That was most definitely a bad decision - my head hurt for the next 2 days, and not in the 'hangover' way.

In other words, I think there's hope! I have a very good friend with a TBI history (she actually lost an entire 6 months where she had to live with her family and leave school because she had no short-term memory, and still couldn't tell you about those 6 months). She is fully recovered now and has a master's degree, and definitely indulges on more than a few alcoholic beverages. She has no admonition not to from her physicians (she's now ~8 years post injury, but was drinking 3 or 4 alcoholic drinks on a weekend by at least 3 years out, when I met her), and has no side effects that aren't something a normal, non-TBI person would experience. Everyone recovers differently, but there seems to be no reason to expect that you won't eventually be able to have a glass of wine with girlfriends :)

Hi All,

With my vestibular nerve damage I don't need any help being dizzy and off balance. If you have bouts of dizzy, skip it!

You want to seriously avoid anything that could cause another brain injury!
For me it's not worth it.

Peace and wellness,

Jace

My neurologist told me a glass of wine with dinner won't hurt me. Anything beyond that isn't really worth it in terms of alcohol's potential to make my symptoms much worse and in terms of putting me at risk for another head bump/setback.

I've found like other posters a glass of wine can be helpful to relax me a little, but seriously just one glass. (However, I wouldn't use it to self-medicate.)

Anything harder, and I pay for it and risk hitting my head. Not worth it!