Concussion made worse by alcohol?

[Eric_85]

My previous post shows my symptoms: http://forums.wrongdiagnosis.com/showthread.php?t=4097

Well, I was just informed I hit my head last Sunday night (November 5th) and may be suffering from a concussion. Do any of the board members know how much drinking about 16 beers in two hours (for a BAC of .41), less than a day after I hit my head, would affect my recovery from a concussion? I didn't even feel that abnormal (just like I had a prolonged hangover) until after I drank that much - then the effects came up on me out of nowhere the next day.

Apparently, even knowing these symptoms, people who saw me hit my head (I don't remember it) didn't feel it necessary to inform me that it had happened until today, more than a week later. And if I had known after it had happened, I wouldn't have gone and drank the hardest I ever had. Now it seems likely that my recovery is affected and that some of these problems may be here to stay.

[kenn]

Eric 85, I suppose you didn't get much response on the original thread because most people can't believe that any one who had blacked out after heavy drinking could then pick themselves off the floor and drink themselves even harder into a blackout again.

If your BAC really was 0.41 (which is unlikely), you are lucky to be alive. That would be enough to kill about 50 % of people. You said that you had seen doctors, so it is important to know what they said. If you still have problems, you need to seek medical advice quite urgently and be honest about how much you drank. It may be concussion, but who knows.

[Eric_85]

Eric 85, I suppose you didn't get much response on the original thread because most people can't believe that any one who had blacked out after heavy drinking could then pick themselves off the floor and drink themselves even harder into a blackout again.

If your BAC really was 0.41 (which is unlikely), you are lucky to be alive. That would be enough to kill about 50 % of people. You said that you had seen doctors, so it is important to know what they said. If you still have problems, you need to seek medical advice quite urgently and be honest about how much you drank. It may be concussion, but who knows.

In retrospect, I think the first blackout (on Sunday night) was due to me hitting my head. I did have about ten drinks, but this was over six or seven hours and usually wouldn't cause me to blackout. I was only later told that I had hit my head, and I believe this is why I had a memory lapse/blackout - not the alcohol. The next night, not knowing that I had hit my head, I was drinking again (birthday celebrations). And believe me, that was my BAC. I wish it wasn't.

I do plan to get the doctor (again) but it's hard for me to drive in this state, and it's also hard for me to get anyone to drive me there (there are only a few people I could call). When I previously saw them, I felt it was something more to do with the alcohol in and of itself, and they agreed (remember that, when I last saw them, neither they nor I knew I had hit my head). Since I'm still feeling just as bad more than a week after I hit my head/drank so heavily, I don't think that is the case. I think the concussion was worsened by the alcohol.

[searchingsam]

Eric,
If you have hit your head over a week ago and your simptoms are just as serious, you had better still go for a MRI on you brain. You don't know how hard you hit it but there could be bleeding depending where and how hard you went down. Also, have your ears checked, if there is any damage to your ear cannel due to a fall this can make for the incredible feelings you are going through, ear problems can make for real horrible sickness. You should be feeling a lot better by now.
And as for your drinking, at your age to be drinking like you are is a real worry, to be drinking like that at any age is horrendous, and if you have something wrong with you that is not connected with drinking or a fall, doctors may not be too keen in taking a closer look at you as they will see your drinking as the problem, not anything else.
agape,
searchingsam

[kenn]

As searchingsam says, it is now a week so you must go to the doctor ASAP. It is speculative what caused what, but you are clearly not feeling well so something must be wrong.

[Eric_85]

I went to the ER. They did some blood work, did a CAT scan, took x-rays... apparently they're leaning towards a concussion. I'm going to see a neurologist next. I think it speaks to how scared I am that a concussion would be the best possible problem (versus something permanent).

What I don't understand, however, is why the symptoms didn't show up for well over a day after I hit my head (except for memory loss of the incident and a few hours before and after it). And, further, why would the symptoms be relatively mild at first and then become extremely worsened after the alcohol? In and off itself, the amount of drinking I did, while pretty ridiculous, shouldn't cause these problems - and yet I would imagine a concussion's symptoms would have shown up earlier and I can't understand why, if this is a concussion, the alcohol made it so much worse. According to what I've read, I could have post-concussion syndrome, where symptoms can peak weeks after the injury, but it still seems odd that my symptoms didn't start immediately after hitting my head.

[kenn]

Eric, I understand that being concussed can seriously affect your ability to handle alcohol. By drinking so much when concussed, I suppose you could have affected the brain's recovery process and exacerbated the concussion. Is it possible also you hit your head a second time when you blacked out again?

In the end though, what is done is done no matter how it was caused. The important thing is that you get the best medical advice to help you recover. Worrying about it isn't going to help at all.

[Unregistered]

i also have a similar situation, i only had about a shot of 40% alchohol, and have a mild concussion, can someone help me out?

[The Wood]

I am also in a similar situation. I had a very mild concussion and felt fine afterwards. I took a few sips of a mixed drink days after and my brain felt like it would explode. Since then I have exhibited all the signs of post concussive syndrome. How would that little amount of alcohol affect me like this? Should I go back to the E.R?

[montreal_woman]

hi, I am now doing a search about concussions and alcohol..it has been 2 years since a very severe concussion, then 5 months ago I suffered another one..I now seem to have a low tolerance to alcohol..to the point of blacking out,,,,does this sound at all familiar to anyone..I am really concerned..thanks