Brain damage from a night of binge drinking?

[atlien22]

Hi, so I'm 32. I never drank until my early 20s, and usually I just have a couple of drinks on weekends with friends. Unfortunately, a couple of times a year for the past few years, I've had an extreme episode. Not quite alcohol poisoning, but so drunk that I browned out memory-wise, and twice blacked out the end of an evening. These incidences were very far apart, like, 6 months or more, over the course of five or 6 years. Last week, I had such an incident and browned out parts of an evening that ended in vomiting up what I'd had to drink. It was on an empty stomach, so I was especially drunk. My question is, could I have caused permanent brain damage from these isolated incidents? I have always felt fine, but after this last incident, I have felt a bit slow and then experienced some vertigo, four days after the incident, with no drinking since. I"m concerned that the vertigo is a result of damage to my motor skills/balance area in my brain. Thanks in advance.

[belle815]

Ok I know this is an old post but just came across it since my husband was a heavy drinker and quit a month ago after being diagnoses with Cirrhosis of the liver stage 2. He has been slurring his speech and can not stand on his own or walk without help right now. The doctors had said he may have some brain damage from him stop drinking and his brain is going through shock. So yes it is possible to get brain damage after you quit drinking.

[17mthssober275]

I know from my drinking, my brain was dimmed. I forgot how to do things that I had known how to do for years. I think your brain can get damaged but after not drinking, quitting, you get better and things come back. I have been told it takes 2 years to get totally better, and I have been sober just over 19 months and remember pretty good now. I will never go back to drinking, not even one. I have been told alcoholism is progressive and I would be just like I had never quit, and I feel so much better being sober. Enjoying other things in life without being drunk.or drinking.

[OpenMind24hours]

I think it's possible to do some damage. I've blacked out quite a few times. But when I turned 18 in submarIne school and we went to NYC to celebrate I almost died of alcohol poisoning. I almost died. My head was messed up for awhile. If oxygen gets cut off in a blackout it indeed hurts your entire system. As my story goes, my drinking got worse and by age 36 I decided to stop drinking, and went to AA. I never touched alcohol again for over 28 years, but then I went on Vicodin for pain and it got out out of hand. I started drinking again. Nothing changed. I drank just as bad as when I left off all those years ago. The disease creeps up on you. And once you become infected with alcoholism, it's with you the rest of your life. Just be safe and do your best to drink responsibly. If you run into trouble you know where you can get help.