Alcohol after TBI
 

Hello
I was in a horse riding accident late September of this year so 8 months ago. I was told by my primary care provider that alcohol after a TBI could cause a seizure and since I haven't had one that "I can cross my fingers and have a drink". Him saying this has made me stay away from any drinks and as a almost 21 year old college student that is very hard while maintaining a social life. Im sure some will say it is easy to not drink but damn being the sober one while all my friends are enjoying themselves . . . no thanks. I started to do some research because I thought there was no way everyone could just go sober forever and I saw a post that said wait about a year. I assume a beer would be the way to go versus straight tequila shots. The other part I was thinking about is that the doctors have to tell you the worst case scenario but maybe someone who has experienced a similar situation could shed some light on this because it is becoming harder and harder to just say no to a beer. Thanks ~Molly

Some say that a single serving is OK. That would be one beer or one tequila shot.

Another factor to consider when deciding whether or not to resume drinking is that TBI patients are more prone to impulsiveness, poor judgement and substance abuse.

"In addition to the large number of individuals who had a substance use disorder before their injury and return to those levels after, some studies have indicated that between 10% and 20% of persons with traumatic brain injury develop a substance use problem for the first time after their injury (Corrigan et al., 1995; Kreutzer et al., 1996). Thus, taken together, it is a very high proportion of individuals who have been hospitalized for traumatic brain injury who will be at risk for developing a problem after their injury — either because they had one before or because of the vulnerabilities created by the injury itself."

I can only speak for myself. I occasionally drink a few glasses of whiskey or wine to relax. About half of the time, it causes some symptoms to come back. Last Summer, when I was feeling my worst, there were stretches when I had something almost every day. At that point, it was most likely self-medication, as it helped with my headaches.

From my experience, I conclude that if you drink at all, it should be relatively rarely, and if you think you "need" to drink, you shouldn't do it at all.

Also, we all need to wary of getting another TBI. Alcohol is a major factor in the stumbles, MVAs and other risky behaviours that can lead to concussion.

Weird thing is I don't feel like drinking any more, before my injury I enjoyed a few drinks a week, now I'm not bothered about alcohol. I wonder if that will change further down the line.

This is my experience as well. I seem to have lost all interest in it. I ordered a beer recently when out for dinner and after a sip or two I was done. My wife and I had dinner at home and after a couple sips of red wine, no thanks - went back to ice water. I haven't been a big drinker in a great many years but it seems odd to have completely switched off like this.

I found out an acquaintance of mine suffered a concussion under somewhat similar circumstances to mine. His most notable after effect was a new taste for wheat beers and fruit beers where he'd previously loathed them. He also completely lost his previously acute sweet tooth.

The brain is a funny thing. I guess we could do worse than losing our taste for alcohol. Like you said, it may come back, but if it doesn't I'm not too fussed.