Korsakoff's Syndrome Puns

Hi all I get the title seems misleading and nearly impossible but please hear me out I think I have developed this shite. So I'm 19 years old, 6'4, 92kg. And I've been drinking since 2016 so year 10 not heavily but I first used it then more than once. Off the top of my head I got drunk in 2017 about 40 or so times and in 2018 around 45 or more times and 2019 probably about 45-50 times and last year even more. 2020 was probably my worst year as I began using alcohol very heavily often drinking bottle of wine and beers or 2x wine bag per day at my worst so 2-3L. I used alcohol heavily on and off throught the year and drunk for a month straight every day. I made conscious efforts to quit and did for weeks at time then drinking again, I did not face DT's or anything serious like that. Then around November 2020 I lost weight and started having neuropathy in my lower half whilst sitting on the toilet and felt this slight wierd brainfog sensation. Then I got in a car accident on December 15th and refrained from alcohol for a while. Note: throught this year I did eat a healthy balanced diet alot of the time and took vitamin C, magnesium powder daily.

Then on January 18th 2021 I hadn't been eating or sleeping very well and had consumed 2x bottles of 1L bacardi over a 3-day period prior then at around 1AM on January 18th I woke up from a severe nightmare drenched in sweat with derealization, chills, memory loss, vertigo and I threw up and had diahorrea then the next morning all symptoms went away and I felt sort of off but I refrained from alcohol for the next 3 weeks.

Then on February 4th I went on holiday and suffered vertigo on the car ride down. Then on February 6-7th I drunk 2x bottles of wine and some beers and was fine for the next couple days until February 8th when I came down with the flu. The flu lasted for a few days until February 10th when I got home the morning of February 10th I woke up with derealization, severe brainfog, short-term memory loss, sleep disturbances including: hypnogogic hallucination and hypnic jerk, paranoia and couldn't recognise my family or friends and everything seemed frightening, I also had diahorrea, Gut issues like fatty stool and also developed visual snow and slightly blurry vision. I went to the ER Feb 12th and mentioned my past alcohol use but no action was taken. These symptoms continued for 4 months and I started having mini-stroke like attacks during one of these attacks I went to The ER and got a CT scan w/o contr

Hi all I'm a 19 year old male 6'4 90kg. I've had a problem with alcohol abuse since maybe 15 but didn't start drinking heavily until end of 2019 and 2020. So basically what's happened is last year I suffered with severe social anxiety for a long time and I had signed up for a business course at my local polytechnic but had severe social anxiety all the time in class which made it difficult to learn and get on with work because I'd be swearing, shaking and have to go to the toilet all the time. I also had extremely low self-esteem. But around March 2020 covid struck and lock down occurred so I hit the booze for a couple months I was drinking everyday for months, more traumatic events occurred throughout the year then around November 2020 I ended up loosing quite alot of weight but this wasn't enough to stop me from drinking and around this time I started feeling a bit funny and spaced out/weird but didn't see the connection. Then around December 15th I was involved in a car accident and lost my car. Then continued to drink dispite this, then around January 18th 2021 I woke up one morning 1AM after a binge on 2x bottles of bacardi the days prior and from an extremely frightening nightmare, I woke up drenched in sweat with derealization, memory issues, vertigo, dizzyness, vomiting etc. This to me was when my thiamine must have gotten low. I chalked it up to alcohol withdrawal. But the next day these symptoms were gone. I felt slightly "off" everyday and I kept off alcohol for the next 3 weeks until around February 4th - 5th.

Then around February 4th 2021 I had 1 beer. Then on February 6-8th I had 2x bottles of wine and beer aswell. And I also caught a bad cold at this time.

Then around February 12th 2021 I woke up one morning and all thr symptoms of the previous time were back and that's when I believe I developed wet brain I went to the ER but failed to tell them about my alcohol use in the past 4 weeks but did tell them about my past heavy drinking for some odd reason and they never thought of it being wernicke-korsakoff but since then things have gotten worse. So at first I had derealization, hypnogogic hallucinations, vivid nightmares everynight, hypnic jerk, diahorrea, abdominal pain in right side, and a couple other things, I also had constant paranoia and OCD tendencies, family seemed unfamiliar and faces seemd frightening I also got this extreme fear I was developing schizophrenia. These symptoms went on for months until around May-June the dereal

I was reviewing my Anki cards from Boura’s deck and it shows that Korsakoff is irreversible but I also read that it was reversible once detected early and treated. Can someone please help clarify? Thanks!

Just finished "There Are Doors" and I said, "More like 'There Are Bores'!"

...really though, I thought it was pretty good. I'm still digesting it and reading other people's posts on this sub. I'd love to hear if anyone has any random observations or questions they'd like to raise!

That's not why I'm here though. I'm here because I kept wondering (among many, MANY other things while I was reading TAD) whether the protagonist is suffering from Korsakoff Syndrome. This disorder is usually caused by chronic alcohol abuse. Symptoms include memory loss, which can result in peculiar behavior, lying, and sometimes delusional ideation. There was some suggestion that Green abused alcohol. I know it's probably not what Wolfe had in mind, but I think it's at least an interesting lens to look at the plot through.

So I take b1(500mg per day) and only drink once every seven days, but after every drunk I notice cognitive decline and peripheral neuropathy and ive heard acutely this is a sign of Wernicke's. Anyone got any personal experience in this department?

Hello all, I am posting here because I have exhausted most other avenues and am willing to consider taking experimental chemicals or supplements in order to dramatically boost memory and cognition, and ideally restoration or regeneration of nerves.

Long story short my mom developed Wernicke-Korsakoff's Syndrome back in June and was hospitalized for over a month. Without going into too much detail the condition severely affected her short term memory. Initially she was confabulating and had severe amnesia and didn't know what was going on.

She did recover somewhat after hospitalization and rehabilitation. She stopped confabulating memories, and her long term memory is generally great. It's mainly her short term memory that is poor. She'll repeat herself and ask me the same questions dozens of times per day. Other things she will be able to remember from previous days/weeks. It's hard to predict exactly what she'll remember and what she won't.

In addition/as a result of this condition she also has neuropathy in her hands and feet. Here's a quote from an earlier post I made on a dif account about what happened: "Upon getting to the ER the doctors discovered she was anemic, high white cell count, low potassium, low magnesium, and absolutely no folic acid whatsoever. They also noted she was about 15 pounds less than what she normally weighs." I can link if you want.

We kind of settled on WKS but never had a very clear diagnosis. Her condition seems to fit, and we did find about 15 or 20 alcohol bottles when she first went to the hospital. My mom is not someone I thought of as a heavy drinker at all. At most she would probably have one or two mixed drinks per night. However when my dad would travel for work during the week I don't think she ate as much as she should have.

Right now she's fine at holding a conversation, can get up and do some things around the house but is generally weaker than normal and struggles a lot. She's a lot better than she was a few months ago though. She's also on a host of medication for breast cancer right now. Currently on memetine for memory issues and I'm also giving her 1500mg Vitamin B1 per day.

It just feels like I've hit an impasse. She's not getting any better, and seeing her like this truly breaks my heart. It's been 6 months and although she's a little better than she was the first month it's still really bad. She's still my mom but her lack of mental ability almost makes it like she's not there sometimes.

I'm

do we know if he is having treatment or not? Sorry for asking. I'm kinda new to the band

I have a friend who I am very concerned about. Her short term memory is terrible...It used to be that I thought she was prone to telling "little white lies" but I couldn't figure out why she would do this...And then recently, I realized what she is doing is confabulation. It is when people tell a little fib to make up for a memory loss. I did a lot of research and see that she fits all the symptoms for Korsakoff Syndrome. Korsakoff is generally caused by chronic alcohol abuse but she rarely drinks. Then, in my research, I found that there may be a correlation with Anorexia Nervosa. I believe she suffered from AN for many years in early adulthood and I think she continues to battle an eating disorder. Does anyone here have any info about Eating Disorders and Korsakoff syndrome? And does anyone have any advice for me..Should I tell her my theory? I think she needs to go on SSDI. She is a self employed professional and her business has gone down the tubes in recent years and she barely has any income, so I think she needs to hurry up and get a diagnosis and apply for disability (SSDI is based on your last few years of income so the sooner you apply the better)...I discussed this issue with my mother (who also knows this friend) and my mother agrees that I may be on to something bc it is so clear that something is very wrong with her and the only health trouble she has had is her long term eating disorder. She is very shy and reserved and I don't want to confront her but I do want to help her.

I am new to reddit so please forgive me if I seem like a newbie to this. I just thought maybe this was a good place too vent & maybe find someone else who has dealt with this diagnosis before with a close family member of friend.

I am a 30 year old mother of two beautiful girls with an amazing partner who I am finally set to marry in June 2020 after 15 years together, we have our own business we began a few years ago so we are a very busy young family within our own home as is.

I was in grade 6 when I took my mom to rehab for the first time (taken her 3 times over the course of 15 years). Through my years living with her she went through a few long term boyfriends & every time one relationship would end or go through some pretty traumatic stuff my mom would be right back on the bottle. She was a functioning alcoholic for the most part, kept a job, had a mortgage, always had clothes & food. Life wasn't that bad at all. However she did rely on her parents a lot to dig her out of debt or buy her a new car when one would break down. After she lost her mom 4 years ago, My grandma she was the rock of our family & the one person we would go to for advice, comfort & just the warmest loveliest person in all the land. Once we lost her it was just me & my mom basically left on our side of the family. At the time of my grandma passing my fist born was just 9 weeks old & i was a new mom. My mom completely just gave up once her mom passed but as an alcoholic she lied & hid all the problems from me & I was used to that & I was naive to believe her i guess. She had lost our childhood home the year prior & was living with may grandma in her condo when she died, a year & a half later my mom lost her job along with my grandmas condo & ended up moving in with her current boyfriend who was just as bad as her with drinking. Eventually her lack of motivation for a healthy life would bring her to our current situation.

In November I hadn't heard from my mom for two weeks which is normal but I had her cousin message me out of concern for my mom so I tried contacting her, i don't even know her address so i couldn't just drive over to check on her like I would in the past. After three days my moms boyfriend finally called me & said my mom was rushed to the hospital & would have died if he didn't call an ambulance that night. She was admitted to the ICU where she was on life support for two weeks but eventually was move

I am looking at permanent brain damage from WKS. I havent reciieved a diagnosis but I am experiencing most of the signs. I am reading that this does not go away and 10 to 20 % of people die or need life long care. I am not the same person i was once, i cannot remember what i did yesterday very well and have problems with coordination. I'm fucking alone and afraid and I dont know why i posted this other than the fact that i want someone else to know what i am going through. god help me

After years of alcoholism (17-24) Ifeel like my cognitive functions have become very slow. I still have anxiety leftover (adhd doesnt help), trouble with social cues and my overall thought process is lethargic, even after several weeks. I regularly take magnesium, B complex, and when I have the budget, krill oil. I’m wondering if something else can help me go that extra mile in my recovery. Any help is appreciated.

I will answer all questions to the very best of my ability. Have fun everyone :)

I've been a heavy drinker for a few years now. I want to, no, need to quit.

I'm wondering what damage I've done to myself and if anyone has experience with wks can give me advice, It would be greatly appreciated.

Some background, I went from long term opiate abuse to drinking (It's legal right?) Started with a few cans of malt liquor a day.

Lost a job because beer breath, switched to vodka and my dosages have went up and up.

Lately I've noticed I feel drunk even when I'm not. I get physical withdrawals, but my brain feels heavy. I feel kind of numb. It's hard to think.

My stomach is messed up, constant diarrhea. Pains in my side, etc.

I'm taking thiamine and potassium now (I get leg and foot cramps constantly)

I guess my question is, If I quit drinking now, will I feel normal again? Also, besides inpatient rehab (not an option) what is the best way to detox/curb my physical withdrawal symptoms?

I'm tired of being drunky the fuck clown. Should I switch to beer and try to taper down? I'm worried about trying to go cold turkey... When I start withdrawing I feel really strange.

So, is this wks or alcohol induced psychosis or what?

Objective: Pregnancy a normal physiological condition is worsened by morning sickness, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, hyperemesis gravidarum, Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome in vulnerable women with gestation. This report of three cases described hyperemesis gravidarum, Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome in the worsening pregnancies.

Methods: Prospective collection of data concerning three pregnant patients seen in Dubai Health Care City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Results: All three patients were admitted to the hospital with manifestations of HG and WE and one of them showed additional features of Korsakoff syndrome. One patient developed intractable hyponatremia and central pontine myelinolysis. Two patients developed abortion while one patient's pregnancy ended with successful delivery with living infant. All patients were managed with thiamine, antiemetics, parenteral fluids and electrolytes and one patients required steroid therapy.

Conclusion: The findings of these cases are compatible with international literature on HG and its sequential syndromes. This study may enhance awareness of HG, WE and KS and also fill the knowledge gap of professionals providing services to women with worsening health during pregnancy in Arabian Gulf countries.

Please read full article : - www.journaljammr.com

I understand that thiamine is essential for neurons to function, but what specific mechanisms are affected that result in memory damage associated with Korsakoff syndrome? How does this damage then affect the hippocampus, mammillary bodies, and dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus? Thanks in advance!

Age: 55

Sex: Female

Height: 5'3

Weight: 200

Race: Caucasion

Medical issues: diabetes, spinal injury about 20 years ago that makes walking really difficult- uses wheelchair 90% of the time, low blood pressure, gastric bypass surgery 5 years ago

My mom was admitted to the hospital in mid-february after sustaining a nasty fall. While she was in the hospital, she started saying "crazy" stuff- worried the hospital was trying to drug her, refusing to eat/drink/take medication, convinced they were taking her to a crematory to watch cremations. After about a week, she was moved to a rehab facility while they tried to get her moving again so she would be able to go home. She ended up back home 2 weeks later, but then was back in the hospital with numbness in all of her extremities and confusion. She was not making sense at all. We were worried she was having a stroke and requested an MRI, but the doctor insisted it was a psychiatric issue. She got a psych consult, stabilized, and sent back to rehab. fast forward 3 weeks and she's in the ICU with the flu. After a week, she was moved to a different unit and we were really concerned about her mental state at this point. They did another psych eval and sent her back to the rehab center.

At the beginning of this month, the rehab facility sent her to the hospital because she was getting aggressive with staff and a danger to herself. At this point, she no longer knew who any of her family members were. The staff at the hospital said it was a psych issue the first week she was there and tried to find a new rehab placement. Then she like slipped out of consciousness and we weren't able to wake her. They did an MRI and EEG. Two days later, we were told she had a severe thiamine deficiency. They began thiamine infusions immediately and she woke up, but she has no idea who anyone is. She has asked for my grandpa a few times- he passed away 25 years ago. The only person she has recognized so far is my aunt and she is bringing up things that happened 40 years ago. She doesn't know my siblings, my dad. She doesn't know where she is. They have asked her what year it is and she just says nonsense. She will sometimes tell me she doesn't know who I am but she loves me so much.

It has been 9 days since she woke up. Is there anyone who can give me an honest prognosis? The doctors here keep telling us we won't know anything for months.

A 34 year old white male, 6'1", was an alcoholic for about ten years. He quit cold turkey 3.5 months ago without any medical guidance or attention. Since quitting drinking he lost about 20-25 pounds and is currently about 245lbs.

About a month ago he started having some confusion and balance issues. He attributed it to not enough sleep, but would sleep from the afternoon to evening for hours, so he was sleeping. An otherwise very intelligent and kind individual, as the weeks go on he is making less and less sense, no longer understanding simple concepts or questions much of the time, and trying to understand him or get him to understand only results in him lashing out. His memory is fading, to completely forgetting a big event that happened 2 weeks ago that he was very much a part of, to forgetting a conversation had an hour ago, to forgetting the topic of a conversation he's currently participating in. Today I believe he had a slight visual "event" or hallucination, he thought he saw a person doing something but it was an inanimate object that one in the right frame of mind would not mistake for a person. Later in the day, I believe he had an auditory hallucination. He heard someone he knew speaking through a radio, there was nothing on the radio at the time remotely similar to what he thought he was hearing.

Could this be either of the aforementioned issues? Would they affect someone who is nearly 4 months sober? I have read that Wernicke's encephalopathy is a medical emergency, but since this has been a deterioration building up over weeks, is it beyond that point and now to a point of damage that can't be undone? Do I send him to the ER or a primary doctor? This feels urgent in that he is getting worse every day, but I don't know if we've surpassed the point of medical emergency.

I hope this isn't an inappropriate post here, as this is not about me. It is not about someone I have any control over, or I would be en route to the hospital now anyway. It is just a friend I am trying to help, and it's difficult with the glaring cognitive issues. I just need to know where to tell him to go and hope he goes. Thank you so much in advance for any consideration.

I would like to stress before I begin that the individual I am referring to is in a hospital under the care of medical professionals and I will be discussing this with them later today. This post is seeking answers to my own questions as I'm getting frustrated waiting and getting vague answers.

The individual is a 63 year old severely alcohol dependent female who was found semi conscious in her home 10 days ago and is suspected to have lay there for approximately 5 or 6 days before being discovered.

She has been treated for all of the immediate symptoms and issues such as Hypothermia, dehydration etc

I repeteadly hear reference from her carers to infection, though it's unclear what this infection is. She has a very bad pressure sore on her lower back and I intially suspected this may be infected however one nurse indicated that it may have been an infection that caused her initial collapse, yet the sore appears to be from the time spent lying on the floor.

She was conscious when I first saw her but unable to speak properly, barely at all. This deteriorated before improving quite remarkably, yet her speech is still slow, slurred and laboured. I thought she'd had a stroke.

She's refused to have an MRI scan.

She has reported visual disturbances like seeing animals that aren't there. She has been confused but slowly improving. The most striking part is the false memories she's describing. Confabulations. Things I know have never happened. She asked for my aunt who has been dead 20+ years and recalled visiting family with said aunt just weeks ago, she laughs at me when I explain to her that this aunt is long gone and firmly believes her own false memory. She believes she cannot go home because her ex husband was caught with drugs and she got kicked out (he definitely wasn't, they've been separated for many years too). She thinks someone sent her a dog as a gift, nobody did. Just a few examples.

She seems lucid quite often and appears to understand what is said to her but descends into confusion quite easily, she struggles with more complex conversation, especially when recalling things she has done or places she's been and becomes tired quickly when I visit and engage her in conversation. Her personality seems significantly different. She fondly recalls memories, if somewhat distorted, of old friends she's long fallen out with and hasn't mentioned often or even at all to me before, only upon recounting them to my father did I understand they were real.

I've found conflicting results: From 3–6 weeks of abstinence (Horton et al., 2015) to mild acute alcohol withdrawal is not related to NP assessment performance (Mann et al., 1999), and only specific memory tasks associated differences between Korsakoff's Syndrome and controls (El Haj et al., 2016).

Any other suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks!

I'm 20 and in college. He's 65 and has been mentally declining for the past year and a half. Add depression, alcoholism, and malnutrition and you get Korsakoff's Syndrome. He has been basically reduced to the mental capacity of a 5 year old, but not one who listens to his parents. He is rude, nasty, irritable, irrational, and still manages to find alcohol and frequently cannot walk or talk. He cannot really follow a line of thought or hold a conversation. My mother pretty much works 12 hours a day to support the family and I have a mentally disabled 23 year old sister who stays at home. She has Asperger's Syndrome and she and my father interacting together pretty much causes the worst home environment imaginable. I'm living away from home and this all is effecting me greatly, but its effecting them all much more. We really don't know what to do right now. Things have to change, but we don't know what we can change. Things are the worst they've ever been and it doesn't look like his condition is going to change. Is there anybody here who has had a family member with Korsakoff's? Did they rally from it? What did you do? We're all out our wits end. We really just have no idea where to go. Thanks for reading.

Hi all,

I am using my semi-throwaway because well... because. I went to Al-Anon all through college because my Dad relapsed after 10 years and started drinking again. This time, my mom divorced him. He lost his job (a successful law practice), spent a night in jail for drunk driving, and basically lost all his friends and the support of his family (except for me). January 2011, I hadn't heard from him in far too long. I called him, and when he didn't answer for a few days, I got worried. I lived in a different city, but I called the police and convinced my mom, who still loved him but had had enough, to go break in to his house. When the police refused, my mom broke in. She found him unconscious. He had either tried to stop drinking and had a seizure because of it, or the drinking had induced a seizure. The doctors believe he'd been there 2-3 days. Alone. At any rate, he hit his head during the seizure and was in a coma for about a week. During that week, I came home from my first post-college job to sit at his bedside. I don't remember almost anything from that week. I have pretty much blacked it out. He is my dad, he was a wonderful father, and I was his shining star. He woke up, but without any memory. As in, he couldn't create new memories. He was diagnosed with Wernicke-Korsakoff. The doctors told me he'd never make new memories. I called every day to check up on him, but when I talked to the nurses, I found out he was strapped to his bed because he was agitated and violent. He couldn't put words together. He forgot where I graduated college from (he had attended my graduation less than a month earlier). He forgot everything. I have never been so severely depressed. I couldn't become his legal guardian because I didn't have enough money. He is slowly regaining memory. It took him 8 months before he started making short term memories again (which is a miracle). Does anyone else out there have a friend or relative who has fallen this low without dying? I am still so sad. I miss him. He was a carpenter that made my child/teenage bed and bookshelf. He was an artist. He loved music. Now all of that is gone. I feel like I will never be whole. Im sorry for the wall of text.

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/134-142.htm

tl:dr - vitamin b1 will protect your brain.

Hello all, I am posting here because I have exhausted most other avenues and am willing to consider taking experimental chemicals or supplements in order to dramatically boost memory and cognition, and ideally restoration or regeneration of nerves.

Long story short my mom developed Wernicke-Korsakoff's Syndrome back in June and was hospitalized for over a month. Without going into too much detail the condition severely affected her short term memory. Initially she was confabulating and had severe amnesia and didn't know what was going on.

She did recover somewhat after hospitalization and rehabilitation. She stopped confabulating memories, and her long term memory is generally great. It's mainly her short term memory that is poor. She'll repeat herself and ask me the same questions dozens of times per day. Other things she will be able to remember from previous days/weeks. It's hard to predict exactly what she'll remember and what she won't.

In addition/as a result of this condition she also has neuropathy in her hands and feet. Here's a quote from an earlier post I made on a dif account about what happened: "Upon getting to the ER the doctors discovered she was anemic, high white cell count, low potassium, low magnesium, and absolutely no folic acid whatsoever. They also noted she was about 15 pounds less than what she normally weighs." I can link if you want.

We kind of settled on WKS but never had a very clear diagnosis. Her condition seems to fit, and we did find about 15 or 20 alcohol bottles when she first went to the hospital. My mom is not someone I thought of as a heavy drinker at all. At most she would probably have one or two mixed drinks per night. However when my dad would travel for work during the week I don't think she ate as much as she should have.

Right now she's fine at holding a conversation, can get up and do some things around the house but is generally weaker than normal and struggles a lot. She's a lot better than she was a few months ago though. She's also on a host of medication for breast cancer right now. Currently on memetine for memory issues and I'm also giving her 1500mg Vitamin B1 per day.

It just feels like I've hit an impasse. She's not getting any better, and seeing her like this truly breaks my heart. It's been 6 months and although she's a little better than she was the first month it's still really bad. She's still my mom but her lack of mental ability almost makes it like she's not there sometimes.

I'm