Does Alcohol or Aspirin Consumption Increase Hemorrhaging in TBI Patients?
While there are many ways in which someone can suffer a traumatic brain injury, one of the greatest side effects, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), or bleeding inside the head is the cause of death in 70-80% of patients suffering from a brain injury. Each year, 80,000 – 90,000 people experience long-term or lifelong disabilities associated with a traumatic brain injury. Currently, in the United States there are as many as 5.3 million TBI survivors living with these disabilities.
More than 1/2 of patients who are taken to the hospital as a result of a brain injury are intoxicated or on blood-thinners, such as aspirin, to treat other diseases. Brain injured patients who are aspirin users, or brain injured patients who consume excess amounts of alcohol, could be prime candidates at risk for increased hemorrhaging associated with aspirin consumption, and could suffer damage to the brain’s structure and functions.
You can read more on how aspirin and alcohol affects brain injured patients here.