What is Wet Brain?

April is national alcohol awareness month, and I’d like to discuss alcohol’s impact on the brain. Alcohol awareness is important for your brain, body, and relationships. In a 2018 survey by Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, nearly 16% of the U.S. adult population reported binge drinking, and 7% reported heavy drinking. Excessive drinking and alcoholism can lead to brain diseases such as dementia and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (AKA wet brain). Additionally, it can impair neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to heal and learn while still creating new neurons and connections.  

National alcohol awareness month was started in 1987 by The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD). At that time, approximately 20 million Americans were in recovery from alcoholism. NCADD knew that the best way to reduce the number of Americans dealing with alcoholism was through awareness. Their strategy was to help decrease the stigma around alcohol. This encouraged community organizations to reach out to the public every April with information on causes, effects, and alcoholism. recovery.

According to a study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 2019, there were nearly 15 million people in the U. S. with Alcohol Use Disorder.  In 2017, one in eight adults met the criteria for alcohol use disorder, which includes not being able to stop drinking and being in more than one situation where drinking alcohol increased their risk of getting hurt.

Alcohol and Shrinking Brains 

It’s not just that alcohol increases the risk of injury, but it also causes diseases in the long term. Alcoholism is associated with more than 200 diseases, many of which impact your nervous system. Drinking alcohol causes dysfunction in neurons, glial, and other brain cells which leads to becoming drunk. Additionally, after a few drinks, your brain becomes dehydrated, causing it to shrink. Fortunately, if you don’t drink often, after a few days of abstaining from alcohol, your brain will return to its normal size. However, if you’re a moderate alcohol drinker or someone who suffers from alcoholism, your brain doesn’t recover, causing cerebral atrophy.

Often times, when I do a CT scan or MRI and look at the brains of someone with alcoholism, there’s a decrease in brain mass—cerebral atrophy 

Cerebral Atrophy  

Long-term cerebral atrophy leads to dementia. Similar to Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia in alcoholics results in brain fog, speech problems, and the dysfunction of other cognitive domains. There’s no cure for dementia. And eventually, it robs you of your identity, your family, and life. At some point with excessive drinking, there’ll be a point where the negative impacts of alcoholism become irreversible. Unfortunately, there’s no way neurologists can know how many drinks will cause irreversible brain damage or when that moment will happen. And regardless of when it happens, its impacts are devastating to the person and their family. 

Wet Brain Syndrome

Dementia isn’t the only brain disease that alcoholism causes. Wet brain syndrome also known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a common life-threatening complication of chronic heavy alcohol consumption. The Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is comprised of two conditions: Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff Psychosis.

Wernicke’s Encephalopathy

In Wernicke’s encephalopathy, you develop confusion, an inability to coordinate muscle movements, and abnormal eye movements which cause vision changes.

Korsakoff Psychosis

Korsakoff psychosis causes problems with memory and difficulty with learning.  If I’m treating you for wet brain, I know that I can’t believe a word you say.  The memory problems associated with it will cause you to confabulate and fabricate experiences to compensate for the memory loss.  

Wet brain occurs because alcohol causes thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is vitamin B1 and is essential for making substances that are important for brain health. Treated early, wet brain can be reversed or managed. But left untreated for some time, it becomes irreversible.  

Neuroplasticity 

Your brain has the remarkable ability to make neurons and connections through a process called neuroplasticity. Alcohol is a neurotoxin. It damages and destroys neurons, especially in the hippocampus where short-term memory is formed, organized, and stored to become long-term memory.

Alcohol also interferes with nerve cells throughout the entire brain, wiping away long-term memory. It’s also been shown that alcohol impairs the brain’s ability to make new neurons and connections. Regular alcohol consumption gradually destroys the brain, preventing it from repairing itself.  

With all the dysfunction and health issues that alcohol causes, are you surprised that we have National Alcohol Awareness month? With alcoholism causing things like Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (Wet brain), dementia; and impairing neuroplasticity it’s vital we’re all committed to preventing alcoholism and helping others recover from it.