Alcohol Blackouts Amnesia & Memory Loss: Causes & Symptoms
If you’re experiencing a blackout or brownout, you’re at higher risk for falling, injury and unwanted or unsafe sexual experiences. A person who is blacked out may also throw up while sleeping, which could lead to an increased risk of choking or suffocating. Excessive alcohol use isn’t the only thing that can cause blackouts or brownouts. Substance misuse on its own or with alcohol can increase your likelihood of experiencing a blackout. Hypnotics or sedatives and benzodiazepines like flunitrazepam (also known as Rohypnol or roofies) can also lead to blackouts or brownouts.
Strategies for managing blackouts
Short-term memory is sometimes called scratchpad memory—it records events for only about three minutes before they fade. There are two types of blackouts; they are defined by the severity of the memory impairment. The most common type is called a “fragmentary blackout” and is characterized by spotty memories for events, with “islands” of memories separated by missing periods of time in between. The Recovery Village Atlanta offers comprehensive addiction treatment for drug and alcohol addictions and co-occurring mental health conditions. Because your short-term memory works during a blackout, you can still remember things that happened a few minutes ago while actively having the blackout. It is difficult to tell if someone is blacking out unless you ask them to recall something that happened several minutes prior during the blackout period.
The more genetically susceptible an individual is, the less alcohol is required to black out. The hippocampus, a region vital for memory formation, is particularly impacted by excessive alcohol consumption. When overwhelmed by alcohol, the hippocampus struggles to create new memories, leading to the phenomenon of blacking out.
Why drinking too much water could be life-threatening
In an effort to fill in gaps in theirmemory because of alcohol-induced blackouts, people use a variety of strategiesto reconstruct their experiences (Nash andTakarangi, 2011). Binging, pre-partying, and alcohol games, especially on an empty stomach, all produce a rapid rise in blood alcohol levels that make blackouts more likely. Because blackouts tend to occur at high BACs, they commonly stem from binge drinking, defined as a pattern of drinking that increases a person’s BAC to 0.08 percent or higher. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2 hours. In fact, many people who have blackouts do so after engaging in a behavior known as high-intensity drinking, which is defined as drinking at levels that are at least twice as high as the binge-drinking thresholds for women and men.
They must largely rely largely on questionnaires of past events instead. This sort of memory loss happened time and again to Hepola – and from a very early age. It often felt like “a trap door had opened underneath me… I would wake up the next day and I would be in a different place,” she says.
• A blackout occurs when the brain is temporarily unable to record memories. It can be induced by drinking, because alcohol disrupts the activity of the hippocampus, inhibiting its ability to create long-term memories. “It’s like a temporary gap in the tape,” Aaron White of the US’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism told BBC Future in an earlier story on blackouts and drinking.
A half an hour later, however, they’d forgotten the events completely. Blackouts can happen to anyone who drinks too much, regardless of age or experience drinking. Blackout drinking may occur from binge drinking, but it can happen if you overindulge in alcohol or combine alcohol with benzodiazepines, opioids, or other depressants. Heavy alcohol use contributes to a shrinkage of the brain similar to Alzheimer’s disease, which is characterized by memory loss. However, studies do not support alcohol as a cause of Alzheimer’s disease. We do know that women are more likely to experience other effects of alcohol, such as liver cirrhosis, heart damage, nerve damage and other diseases caused by alcohol.
What are blackouts and brownouts?
- Excessive alcohol use can, however, lead to problems like alcohol blackouts.
- It’s important to remember that a blackout isn’t the same as passing out.
- The test is free and confidential, and no personal information is needed to receive the results.
- These effects range in severity from momentary “slips” in memory to permanent, debilitating conditions.
If you made an unsafe sexual decision, talk to your doctor about being tested for a sexually transmitted disease. You can recover from an alcohol blackout by drinking water and beverages containing electrolytes, such as sports drinks. Eating fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods can also help your body recover from a long night of drinking. People who experience a fragmentary blackout may think they can’t remember what happened the night before, but their memory comes back when someone or something reminds them.
Researchers believe a person may be unable to access the memory unless a reminder triggers it. For those whose blackouts have led to dangerous or risky behavior, it may also be necessary to address legal or social consequences through additional counseling or community services. Ultimately, a combination of these treatments, tailored to the individual’s specific needs, can improve the chances of a successful recovery from alcohol-induced blackouts. Educational interventions that focus on the risks and consequences of can drug dogs smell nicotine alcohol-induced blackouts, such as psychoeducation, have been found effective in preventing further episodes.
This is extremely dangerous, as they may attempt to drive, have unprotected sex, or perform other risky behaviors that can lead to permanent harm or even death. If you or a loved one is concerned about long-term memory problems, it may be time to reach out for professional help. Our admissions navigators are available to speak with you about treatment options 24/7.