I think all people at one point or another have fears or even just think of encountering amnesia for a short period of time. Considering the more serious possibilities, such as Korsakoff's syndrome or better known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, amnesia can be a devastating issue and difficult to understand. It is defined as brain damage caused by prolonged thiamine deficiency. When this kind of deficiency happens, the body finally feels the effects of the usual alcohol from the weeks of no proper nutrition or vitamins needed.
Of course, this syndrome is preventable and highly unlikely formed within a short period of time.
According to the Family Caregiver Alliance National Center on Caregiving's publication of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, it is proposed that the criteria needed for diagnosing alcohol-related dementia (not strictly WKS) suggest that the diagnosis be made at least 60 days after the last exposure to alcohol and that a “significant” alcohol history would include an average of 35 drinks per week for men (28 for women) for at least five years.
Now I don't know about you, but that seems like a whole lot of alcohol and one would assume that this would lead to some kind of deficiency. Based on this new found knowledge, it is easily guessed that those with Korsakoff's syndrome are typically struggling alcoholics and unable to treat themselves when and if diagnosed properly. This in turn makes the entire syndrome even more devastating in a way because of the known symptoms such as:
- Apathy
- Confusion
- Memory loss
- Major impairment of episodic memory and sparing of implicit memory
- Confabulation: patients fill in memory gaps with guesses.
*Point of interest of this particular symptom: Most patient's answers of confabulation were true at some time of their past and most are made up to be more pleasant than the one present ones would be.
There is help for this crucial syndrome and one point of reference is from the article previously mentioned above.
I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for a person to live with such disease, or how a family can learn to cope with a loved one suffering from this. Since this disease is usually caused by alcohol, I feel it is important for families who know they have an alcoholic in the family to take them into rehab, so their chances of developing this disease decreases. Most people don't realize how bad alcohol is to one's body. A glass of wine for dinner is fine in my opinion, however 35 drinks a week is definitely not. It's quite shocking that someone can drink that much in only one week.
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