blind drunk

the term blind drunk, seems to come from the reference when people did’nt know certain types of alcohol would literally turn you blind.
when drinking too much of a type of alcohol like methanol found in mouthwash can do serious damage.
methanol is converted to formaldehyde by an enzyme the liver; and formaldehyde in the bloodstream attacks the optic nerves.
the enzyme that converts methanol to formaldehyde also converts ethanol to acetalaldehyde.

to prevent a dangerous building up formaldehyde in the body, er teams treating methanol poisoning will introduce an ethanol iv drip, to outcompete the methanol –> formaldehyde pathway.

instead, it refers to a state you can get to using plain old ethanol where, shortly before your bac crosses over into unconsciousness territory, you lose some or all of your senses, vision usually being the first to go. iow, you’re upright, conscious, talking / haranguing, but unable to see, and not really very worried about it.

blind drunk recovery comes as your bac drops down, or you get an adrenaline jolt. these are sometimes called “blackouts.” the term blackout can also refer to amnesia-style experiences: the apocryphal “how did i wake up here & whose pants am i wearing?”. good bet some blindness occurred somewhere in the part you don’t remember.