Alcohol May Protect Your Brain During An Accident.

deafskeptic

deafskeptic

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Source is CNN.


Alcohol, a drug that is a major cause of accidents, may actually protect the brain from a life-threatening injury when an accident does occur, according to a study published this week in Archives of Surgery.
Half of the patients hospitalized for trauma are intoxicated at the time of injury.

Half of the patients hospitalized for trauma are intoxicated at the time of injury.

In the study of 38,000 patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries who were admitted to U.S. hospitals between 2000 and 2005, 38 percent had alcohol in their blood. Such patients had a lower risk of dying of their injuries than those who hadn't been drinking.

"This study really brings up more questions than it answers," says coauthor Ali Salim, M.D., the program director of the General Surgery Residency Educational Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in Los Angeles. "It's a bad thing to say alcohol is good, especially since it's responsible for so many of these injuries. But our study suggests there may be some survival advantage for people with elevated [blood alcohol] levels." Health.com: 15 ways to boost your memory in your 30s, 40s, and 50s

Each year, about 2 million people in the U.S. experience traumatic brain injuries, and 56,000 die and 80,000 are permanently impaired as a result. Alcohol plays a role in 40 percent of car fatal crashes, and half of the patients hospitalized for trauma are intoxicated at the time of injury.

The study may help experts develop therapies for traumatic brain injuries, but it has important limitations as well, Salim says.

Patients in the study who had been drinking were younger, had less severe injuries, and spent less time on a ventilator or in an intensive care unit than other patients. (Alcohol, however, still seemed to protect the brain after taking these factors into account.) Overall, 9.7 percent of people who hadn't been drinking died after a brain injury, compared with 7.7 percent of those with alcohol in their blood. Health.com: Do I have a drinking problem? 4 key questions to ask yourself

It's not clear why alcohol might be helpful, although it could dampen the impact of catecholamines, hormones like adrenaline and dopamine that are released by the body after a traumatic injury, according to Salim. "We think [the blood alcohol] may attenuate that response," he says.

Alcohol may also help lower the body's core temperature, says David Hovda, Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the director of UCLA's Brain Injury Research Center. Lower body temperatures are known to slow cell death and swelling caused by severe brain injuries. Health.com: People with mental illness may self-medicate with drugs, alcohol

But alcohol's beneficial effect may be severely limited, says Hovda, who was not involved with the study. He notes that the results of animal studies have been mixed. Some animal research suggests that low levels of alcohol protect the brain, but the effect is lost at higher levels; others have found that alcohol lowers survival.

In the new study, researchers did not look at the amount of alcohol in the patients' blood, but they did find that alcohol was associated with a greater risk of complications, even as it seemed to lower mortality rates.

It's not clear if alcohol could be helpful if given after an accident. "Giving patients [alcohol] after a traumatic brain injury is much different than having it on board during the traumatic brain injury," Hovda says. The protective effect may only work when the injury occurs or may work later. "One would have to know the therapeutic time window and the dose." Health.com: How young is your brain?

Using alcohol as a therapy is unlikely, but understanding how it protects some people could help scientists develop new treatments for traumatic brain injuries, Salim says.
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That's still no excuse to go driving drunk. :nono:
 
Still no excuse to driving drunk...it may save the drunk driver in a way, but the drunk driver is still at high risk to seriously injure or kill someone else on the road.

Most serious car crashes are caused by drunk driving.
 
could they say the same for those who are hit by drunk drivers? I doubt it. Being sober is a win-win cause it reduces the risk of an accident. Being drunk doesn't justify the benefits to the brain in accidents cause the risk is too much to save lives.
 
i know my three people who were importants to our school, and they were all killed by the driving drunk who is very much alive today. :(
 
I support Don't Drink and Drive campaign..

Don't let your friends (and your family members) drink and drive!

Drinking and driving don't mix!!!
 
Nothing worse than a drunk driver on the road, speeding and putting other law-abiding drivers in danger!...And some people are against the "spikes" being thrown when the drunk/speeding driver won't stop....Maybe we should give them a choice: the spikes or a shot in the head?....

Many drunk drivers get into accidents, and "feel nothing" at the time becuz they are drunk. It's when they sober up that they can feel their injuries and the remorse sets in, if they have killed someone else on the road.

Lock 'em up! Throw away the key.
 
it would be ironic if...... the designated driver die from the accident while the drunk passengers live :dunno:
 
deafskeptic said:
Source is CNN.




That's still no excuse to go driving drunk. :nono:
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I can see there being truth to this, but I found this article sickening. My best friend was killed by a drunk driver two years ago and her killer sustained minor injuries and is serving time for involuntary manslaughter.

It's still heartbreaking for me.
 
No wonder in many drunk-driving related crashes (I refuse to call them accidents because they arent), the drunk drivers usually end up the ones surviving. However, I know of one time where the drunk driver died and she was my childhood friend whom I grew up with along with my best friend.
 
I think it's primarily because the drunk driver's own body is loose and not rigid at the time of the crash. Those without alchohol in their body are able to react to an oncoming accident much more readily so and their body stiffens in preparation for an accident. Bracing your arms against the steering wheel, the dashboard, or stiffening your legs against the floorboard only increases the the chance of energy since energy of the impact gets readily absorbed through the body than a limp or loose body. Best way is to try and relax your body if you seen an oncoming crash coming towards you but that's harder said than done at the last minute.

There is a study I saw about cats falling from various heights. Cats are able to right themselves while falling so they can land on all four paws. If I remember correctly is that those cats that fell at a lower elevation, say 20 to 40 feet sustained greater injury or even death since their body become rigid at the moment of falling versus those that fell 4 or 5 stories and lived rather than died because their body was a bit more relaxed near the end.
 
kokonut said:
I think it's primarily because the drunk driver's own body is loose and not rigid at the time of the crash. Those without alchohol in their body are able to react to an oncoming accident much more readily so and their body stiffens in preparation for an accident. Bracing your arms against the steering wheel, the dashboard, or stiffening your legs against the floorboard only increases the the chance of energy since energy of the impact gets readily absorbed through the body than a limp or loose body. Best way is to try and relax your body if you seen an oncoming crash coming towards you but that's harder said than done at the last minute.

There is a study I saw about cats falling from various heights. Cats are able to right themselves while falling so they can land on all four paws. If I remember correctly is that those cats that fell at a lower elevation, say 20 to 40 feet sustained greater injury or even death since their body become rigid at the moment of falling versus those that fell 4 or 5 stories and lived rather than died because their body was a bit more relaxed near the end.
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yes but that has nothing to do with brain damage. What you speak of is an injury to body, not to brain. Brain is simply protected by skull with a very thin layer of fluid. Rigid or relaxed body upon impact has no bearing in brain damage.

when in automobile accident, a brain injury is to be expected especially hemorrhage and concussion. This interesting article says that the alcohol in blood contributed to lessening the brain damage... which is pretty much the same as icy water contributing to preserving the body to lessen the brain damage. According to article -
"It's not clear why alcohol might be helpful, although it could dampen the impact of catecholamines, hormones like adrenaline and dopamine that are released by the body after a traumatic injury , according to Salim. "We think [the blood alcohol] may attenuate that response," he says."
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and
"Alcohol may also help lower the body's core temperature, says David Hovda, Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the director of UCLA's Brain Injury Research Center. Lower body temperatures are known to slow cell death and swelling caused by severe brain injuries. Health.com: People with mental illness may self-medicate with drugs, alcohol."
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From what I know (correct me if I'm wrong) - brain tissue is just... incredibly incredibly sensitive to lack of oxygen for even a few seconds. A proper choke hold can get you knocked out within 3 seconds flat. That's how sensitive your brain is. Any longer than that, your brain will suffer permanent damage. The scale of damage is dependent on the duration of oxygen deprivation (meaning no blood/oxygen to brain). Proof? Look at stroke victims and drown victims. Also - I have read an article that upon traumatic injury, the body released chemicals that are harmful to brain because it triggers the signal that atrophies the brain tissue in cascade manner.
 
deafskeptic said:
Source is CNN.




That's still no excuse to go driving drunk. :nono:
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It is no excuse to drink and drive...I Understand that.

What this article is speaking of if alcohol can lower the chances of any type of brain injury. They are doing a study to find out. This article is not encouraging people to go out and drink and drive to find out.
But... their are always idiots that do so.

Another way of studying brain injury. Since it is one of the most complicated and mysterious injury.
 
Babyblue said:
It is no excuse to drink and drive...I Understand that.

What this article is speaking of if alcohol can lower the chances of any type of brain injury. They are doing a study to find out. This article is not encouraging people to go out and drink and drive to find out.
But... their are always idiots that do so.

Another way of studying brain injury. Since it is one of the most complicated and mysterious injury.
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yep. they are not condoning DRINK n' DRIVE but they're studying it to understand it better. They'll probably DUPLICATE the effect of alcohol on brain so that the EMT/doctor can administer synthetic drug for accident victims - just like administering a shot of steroid for victim who broke his/her spinal cord (but it has to be immediately after the accident)
 
Jiro said:
yep. they are not condoning DRINK n' DRIVE but they're studying it to understand it better. They'll probably DUPLICATE the effect of alcohol on brain so that the EMT/doctor can administer synthetic drug for accident victims.
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Perhaps alcohol Make the person less aware of how seriously injured they are. It pretty much puts them into some what, in an Induced coma state. That being alert and combative to further the injury. :dunno: Just a thought. I could be very wrong.
 
Babyblue said:
Perhaps alcohol Make the person less aware of how seriously injured they are. It pretty much puts them into some what, in an Induced coma state. That being alert and combative to further the injury. :dunno: Just a thought. I could be very wrong.
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that is quite possible. It reduces the body's inflammatory response to the injury (which also damages the brain tissue). kinda ironic that the body's natural response to damage is what kills you, not the impact.
 
Jiro said:
that is quite possible. It reduces the body's inflammatory response to the injury (which also damages the brain tissue). kinda ironic that the body's natural response to damage is what kills you, not the impact.
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I learned that in a Biology class at Arizona State. The professor did a lecture about that and I was so fascinated by it.
 
shel90 said:
I learned that in a Biology class at Arizona State. The professor did a lecture about that and I was so fascinated by it.
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It is strange. But drunk people are more than likely to bleed out more than sober people. So confusing!!!:hmm:
 
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