Alcoholic dementia
From Drug Rehab Wiki
Alcoholic Dementia is a mental disorder characterized by confusion, inability to remember things that happened a short time ago, inability to make connections and decisions, difficulties finding words and following conversations, getting lost, being unable to recognize familiar people, and undergoing certain personality changes. Alcoholic dementia can resemble Alzheimer's disease, Wernicke's Syndrome, and Korsakoff's Syndrome, and this leads to misdiagnoses. (See Wernicke Korsakoff Syndrome)
One key difference in diagnosing elderly patients is that those with Alzheimer's disease get progressively worse every year on tests of cognition and memory. However, patients with alcoholic dementia can achieve small improvements if they stop drinking. Alcoholic dementia is the third most common cause of intellectual loss in elderly people.
Heavy use of alcohol for many years causes damage to the nerves in their arms and legs, as well as brain damage, especially in the cerebrum which controls muscular coordination. Once this occurs, people become prone to falls and lose the ability to perform complex motor tasks. Caring for those with alcoholic dementia costs Medicare more than paying for those with heart problems.
Sometimes mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, anxiety, and personality changes are the symptoms first noticed by family members and doctors. This means that Alcoholic Dementia is frequently misdiagnosed as a psychiatric condition, especially if the patient is not forthcoming about his current level and history of drinking.
Wernicke's and Korsakoff's Syndromes are also the result of drinking and often confused with alcoholic dementia. Wernicke's Syndrome is related to alcohol-induced nerve damage, but it is usually caused by malnutrition and can be cured by the administration of vitamins. Wernicke's Syndrome can progress to Korsakoff's Syndrome, in which the patient develops amnesia. Patients with Korsakoff's syndrome usually make up stories to fill up the void left by memory loss, but this is not true of patients with Alcoholic Dementia.
Alcoholic Dementia can result in negative personality traits such as irritability, hostility, and apathy that can be difficult for family members to manage. Because these patients cannot learn new things, they can become hostile and set in their ways. Damage to the frontal lobes can produce symptoms similar to apathy and depression.
While many patients with alcoholic dementia stabilize or even improve with good treatment and abstinence from alcohol, others do not and continue to lose intellectual capacity for reasons not completely understood. Some patients respond to medication such as antidepressants and benzodiazepines.
