What Alcoholism is Doing to Your Memory

It's a well-known fact that alcohol consumption and abuse can have a long term physical effect on the body. Alcohol causes the brain to have difficulty in thinking and functioning correctly not only in the short term, but in the long term too. Memory related conditions are one of the most inhibiting side effects of consuming a lot of alcohol over a long period of time. Heavy drinkers can experience symptoms that resemble brain damage, and memory loss is one of the first signs.

Alcohol related brain impairment (ARBI) describes all of the possible brain conditions that can be caused by consuming alcohol over a long period of time. Memory impairment is a very common problem that's associated with ARBI. Both short and long term memory loss can be affected and the severity can range from mild to extreme, whereby the sufferer is unable to remember events of the same day.

It can be considered that there are three main stages of alcohol-related memory loss.

• Stage 1: Brownout
  This type of fragmentary memory loss makes the drinker temporarily forget what happened whilst they were affected by alcohol. During this stage, the person can generally recall the events if reminded, but not clearly or completely.
• Stage 2: Blackouts
  Blackouts will happen during periods of heavy consumption of alcohol. The period of time during the "blackout" can never be recalled by the person. This can range from a few seconds to several hours or in the case of extremely heavy drinking - periods of days at a time.
• Stage 3: Alcohol Dementia
  This is known as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome which is a combination of two conditions - Wernicke's Disorder (a result of low thiamine levels) and Korsakoff's Syndrome which has more serious effects on memory and learning behaviors. These are disorders that long term heavy drinking can cause. One of the major symptoms is permanent short-term memory loss.

Wernicke's Disorder

The cause of Wernicke's is a severe deficiency in Vitamin B1 (thiamine). This results in brain and nervous system impairment and thus, impacts on the memory. Heavy drinkers are often deficient in thiamine due to frequent vomiting and often, a poor diet. The syndrome can come about in a matter of hours and emergency hospital treatment is required. Irreversible brain damage can result if treatment is not provided.

Korsakoff's Syndrome

The chronic form of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome is Korsakoff's Syndrome, also known as "alcohol dementia". The parts of the brain that control short-term memory are affected and this results in extreme short term memory loss. Often this memory loss is the only noticeable problem associated with the condition. Memory related issues can also occur - this includes having difficulty in learning new information and skills, lack of awareness of the memory loss and repetitive behavior.

Memory loss is a serious sign that someone is drinking excessively and regularly. This alcohol abuse can have a lasting effect on memory and the brain in general, and entire lives can be altered as a result of this alcohol-induced brain damage.