Drugs and Alcohol and ABI

For people with ABI, treating medical staff recommend abstinence from the use of alcohol for up to two years from time of injury.

The reasons commonly cited for this include:
• alcohol use increases the likelihood of developing post traumatic epilepsy
• alcohol will reduce the effectiveness of medication used to prevent seizures and may interfere with other medication
• balance, co-ordination, reaction time, and judgement are already adversely affected by the brain injury and are further compromised by alcohol use, increasing risk of a further injury
• the toxic effect of alcohol on neural tissue adversely affects the brain’s ability to recover from injury

Each drug a person uses affects them in some way. The interactions of different drugs can also have further adverse affects on health and a person’s ability to function and can reduce or interfere with the function of prescribed medications. For people with an ABI who may also have changes in their physical, cognitive, social and emotional abilities as a result of an ABI, drug use often exacerbates or further compromises their abilities and also increases their risk of further injury and the development of other complications such as epilepsy or psychosis.

Alcohol and drug use and misuse is a significant problem in rehabilitation services for people with ABI. Studies evaluating post-injury alcohol and drug use following a traumatic brain injury have indicated that people who continue to drink exhibit higher rates of psychiatric disorders and more aggressive behaviour, as well as higher arrest rates, lower return to work rates, and higher referral rates to supported employment services (Kolakowsky-Hayner, Gourley III, Kreutzer, Marwitz , Meade and Cifu 2002).