[ryanmim]

Hey thanks for this man. Yes Korsakoff's is something I've worried about, and the symptoms are terrifying. However, the cause of Korsakoff's syndrome is a vitamin deficiency, and it's easily avoided by an informed alcoholic who maintains a decent diet.

In this case I feel like a hopeless addict trying to rationalize his addiction in any way possible, but people who want to drink REALLY want to drink, and they will find any rationalization available. There needs to be unassailable reasons telling them that they shouldn't, in order for them to be effective.

[LnxPrgr3]

Korsakoff's syndrome isn't the only kind of brain damage caused by drinking. Other failure modes include hepatic encephalopathy caused by cirrhosis and alcohol-related dementia, which includes but isn't limited to the consequences of B1 deficiency.

There's also something called kindling that makes each withdrawal episode worse than the last, and is believed to make frequent binge drinking especially dangerous. Besides making withdrawal worse, it's associated with cognitive deficits and mental health problems.

Then, there's the increased risk of traumatic brain injury that comes from being drunk, especially if you're crazy enough to drive drunk; or the increased risk of deciding to play with a flamethrower after a few shots of Everclear.

Definitely get your vitamins if you're feeding an alcohol addiction, but know it's harm reduction, not harm elimination. As far as I can tell, there is no known way to make heavy drinking safe.