What follows is from the medical journal Brain. (Full reference at the bottom of the page, if you wish to read the whole article- this is just the abstract.) Here I am at Day #25. If you interpolate the timeline in this article, this means that chances are that I have now gained about 1% in total brain volume over the past weeks. I'm not sure what that means functionally, but I nevertheless find it very encouraging!! I mean, how cool is this??
Chronic alcohol abuse results in morphological, metabolic, and functional brain damage which may, to some extent, be reversible with early effects upon abstinence. Although morphometric, spectroscopic, and neuropsychological indicators of cerebral regeneration have been described previously, the overall amount and spatial preference of early brain recovery attained by abstinence and its associations with other indicators of regeneration are not well established. We investigated global and local brain volume changes in a longitudinal two-timepoint study with T1-weighted MRI at admission and after short-term (6–7 weeks) sobriety follow-up in 15 uncomplicated, recently detoxified alcoholics. Volumetric brain gain was related to metabolic and neuropsychological recovery. On admission and after short-term abstinence, structural image evaluation using normalization of atrophy (SIENA), its voxelwise statistical extension to multiple subjects, proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS), and neuropsychological tests were applied. Upon short-term sobriety, 1H-MRS levels of cerebellar choline and frontomesial N-acetylaspartate (NAA) were significantly augmented. Automatically detected global brain volume gain amounted to nearly two per cent on average and was spatially significant around the superior vermis, perimesencephalic, periventricular and frontal brain edges. It correlated positively with the percentages of cerebellar and frontomesial choline increase, as detected by 1H-MRS. Moreover, frontomesial NAA gains were associated with improved performance on the d2-test of attention. In 10 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects, no significant brain volume or metabolite changes were observed. Although cerebral osmotic regulations may occur initially upon sobriety, significant increases of cerebellar choline and frontomesial NAA levels detected at stable brain water integrals and creatine concentrations, serum electrolytes and red blood cell indices in our patient sample suggest that early brain recovery through abstinence does not simply reflect rehydration. Instead, even the adult human brain and particularly its white matter seems to possess genuine capabilities for regrowth. Our findings emphasize metabolic as well as regionally distinct morphological capacities for partial brain recovery from toxic insults of chronic alcoholism and substantiate early measurable benefits of therapeutic sobriety. Further understanding of the precise mechanisms of this recovery may become a valuable model of brain regeneration with relevance for other disorders.
Chronic alcohol abuse results in morphological, metabolic, and functional brain damage which may, to some extent, be reversible with early effects upon abstinence. Although morphometric, spectroscopic, and neuropsychological indicators of cerebral regeneration have been described previously, the overall amount and spatial preference of early brain recovery attained by abstinence and its associations with other indicators of regeneration are not well established. We investigated global and local brain volume changes in a longitudinal two-timepoint study with T1-weighted MRI at admission and after short-term (6–7 weeks) sobriety follow-up in 15 uncomplicated, recently detoxified alcoholics. Volumetric brain gain was related to metabolic and neuropsychological recovery. On admission and after short-term abstinence, structural image evaluation using normalization of atrophy (SIENA), its voxelwise statistical extension to multiple subjects, proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS), and neuropsychological tests were applied. Upon short-term sobriety, 1H-MRS levels of cerebellar choline and frontomesial N-acetylaspartate (NAA) were significantly augmented. Automatically detected global brain volume gain amounted to nearly two per cent on average and was spatially significant around the superior vermis, perimesencephalic, periventricular and frontal brain edges. It correlated positively with the percentages of cerebellar and frontomesial choline increase, as detected by 1H-MRS. Moreover, frontomesial NAA gains were associated with improved performance on the d2-test of attention. In 10 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects, no significant brain volume or metabolite changes were observed. Although cerebral osmotic regulations may occur initially upon sobriety, significant increases of cerebellar choline and frontomesial NAA levels detected at stable brain water integrals and creatine concentrations, serum electrolytes and red blood cell indices in our patient sample suggest that early brain recovery through abstinence does not simply reflect rehydration. Instead, even the adult human brain and particularly its white matter seems to possess genuine capabilities for regrowth. Our findings emphasize metabolic as well as regionally distinct morphological capacities for partial brain recovery from toxic insults of chronic alcoholism and substantiate early measurable benefits of therapeutic sobriety. Further understanding of the precise mechanisms of this recovery may become a valuable model of brain regeneration with relevance for other disorders.
- Andreas J. Bartsch1,
- György Homola1,
- Armin Biller1,
- Stephen M. Smith3,
- Heinz-Gerd Weijers2,
- Gerhard A. Wiesbeck5,
- Mark Jenkinson3,
- Nicola De Stefano4,
- László Solymosi1 and
- Martin Bendszus1. Manifestations of early brain recovery associated with abstinence from alcoholism. Brain Vol 130, Issue 1, Pages 36-47
Awesome post. Apparently I have about 3/4 % new brain!!! I can tell a big difference in my "working memory", which is the ability to retain small bits of info in order to process them with other small bits. Mine was shot by the time I stopped drinking.
ReplyDeleteIt's encouraging to see info like this. Makes it seem so real.
Congrats on your 1%! And on your 25 days!
I know what you mean, Ginger- Studies like this reinforce my decision to stop drinking, for now- because when I think of how splendid a cold glass of white wine would taste, I balance this with my brain or other organ or function improving with sobriety, and the latter is always winning, so far!
DeleteThat's how I feel too. I know my brain is losing cells all the time and my heart and liver and kidneys, oh my, all of me is affected. scary
DeleteHooray! More brain! More choline! Reading stuff like this about the brain and liver and so on was part of why I realized I had to make some serious changes. Thanks for a healthy reminder, and congrats on Day 25!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know, Thirsty, I tend to focus on what is missing from my life without wine, and things like this turn me around to focusing on what I am gaining!
DeleteHi Carrie. Thank you for your comment on my blog. I look forward to reading about your journey here. I am the parent of an addict....thus my need to blog. I had to get it all out somewhere. I am so glad you stopped by and let me know you were there. Do you read anything over at Oh For the Love of Me? Sherry is really funny and on her own journey to sobriety...I think you would really like her.
ReplyDeletehttp://ohfortheloveofme.blogspot.com/2013/11/are-we-having-fun-yet.html
Thanks, Annette! It is a pleasure to 'know' you! I will go and look at Sherry's blog - I am collecting all the encouraging, benign and sober influences I can find!
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