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Mental Health Anyone know anyone who's had Korsakoff's?
- Thread starter MrsGamp
- Start date
Sirena Oscura
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2020
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- 1,510
What Diz said, but also... give him a bottle of thiamine and let tell him to take it? It’s enough of a concern that when someone is admitted to hospital with chronic alcohol dependence we always start them on Thiamine regardless. It can’t hurt to take it either way. Hopefully to prevent it.
I am keen for him to start on Vitamin B1 ...that's thiamine, right? But according to my GP it would have to be given by injection to be much good ... And he won't go near a GP ...
Up until about 6 months ago, Dad would be drinking from about 9 or 10 am every day, more often than not getting smashed enough to pass out every evening (after screaming about how everyone except him was a cunt or a "fuckarse") and this had been his routine for at least 20 years.
Since my Mum died 7 years ago he has been living in squalor and eating very poorly (mainly subsisting on 2 Minute Noodles, that kind of thing).
Lately he's not knocking back anywhere near as much as he used to, but at the same time seems way more confused and odd than he has ever been. He has always been very eccentric ....he's a retired maths teacher, and was pretty gifted in his field - has written lots of textbooks: calculus was his main interest but he was also expert in statistics and probability ...
...which makes it rather dismal that he is now having deluded ideas in connection with lotteries. He is convinced he has perfected a "system" for Powerball and wastes hundreds of dollars every week trying to win Lotto.
Spookier still, he insists that he's already won $250,000, which is absolute nonsense (to be certain my brother went into the bank with him and asked about his balance - there"s no $250,000!)
He has no topics of conversation now except Powerball. If you can call that conversation. He says the same things again and again - seems to have short term memory loss.
He also thinks it is 2019 and is usually not only unaware of day of the week it is, but also what month.
He is capable of getting lost in his own house at night if there's no lights on (and he hates having lights on - he'd live without electricity if he could. He's already living without plumbing, more or less).
He loses his wallet and other essential things literally every five seconds, it seems.
This has all happened very suddenly, too. Only a few months ago he seemed normal.
The only upside is that since (for some reason) he is drinking very little now, he is much less aggressive.
He's only 74 btw, and aside from the issues described above is in good physical health,,except perhaps a little undernourished...
He did have a bad fall two days ago - broke his nose and needed stitches too. He couldn't remember how he fell and seemed to be concussed. I don't know why the GP didn't send him to hospital. I would've welcomed a more in-depth assessment of his mental health and this would've been a perfect opportunity. Because hell would freeze over before he"d consent to have any sort of assessment or check up in the ordinary way.
Up until about 6 months ago, Dad would be drinking from about 9 or 10 am every day, more often than not getting smashed enough to pass out every evening (after screaming about how everyone except him was a cunt or a "fuckarse") and this had been his routine for at least 20 years.
Since my Mum died 7 years ago he has been living in squalor and eating very poorly (mainly subsisting on 2 Minute Noodles, that kind of thing).
Lately he's not knocking back anywhere near as much as he used to, but at the same time seems way more confused and odd than he has ever been. He has always been very eccentric ....he's a retired maths teacher, and was pretty gifted in his field - has written lots of textbooks: calculus was his main interest but he was also expert in statistics and probability ...
...which makes it rather dismal that he is now having deluded ideas in connection with lotteries. He is convinced he has perfected a "system" for Powerball and wastes hundreds of dollars every week trying to win Lotto.
Spookier still, he insists that he's already won $250,000, which is absolute nonsense (to be certain my brother went into the bank with him and asked about his balance - there"s no $250,000!)
He has no topics of conversation now except Powerball. If you can call that conversation. He says the same things again and again - seems to have short term memory loss.
He also thinks it is 2019 and is usually not only unaware of day of the week it is, but also what month.
He is capable of getting lost in his own house at night if there's no lights on (and he hates having lights on - he'd live without electricity if he could. He's already living without plumbing, more or less).
He loses his wallet and other essential things literally every five seconds, it seems.
This has all happened very suddenly, too. Only a few months ago he seemed normal.
The only upside is that since (for some reason) he is drinking very little now, he is much less aggressive.
He's only 74 btw, and aside from the issues described above is in good physical health,,except perhaps a little undernourished...
He did have a bad fall two days ago - broke his nose and needed stitches too. He couldn't remember how he fell and seemed to be concussed. I don't know why the GP didn't send him to hospital. I would've welcomed a more in-depth assessment of his mental health and this would've been a perfect opportunity. Because hell would freeze over before he"d consent to have any sort of assessment or check up in the ordinary way.
Sirena Oscura
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2020
- Messages
- 1,510
So, in hospital we start IV thiamine say 300mg three time’s a day but no one has an IV all the time and they’re always weaned down to oral Thiamine in the same high dose (yes B1 is Thiamine). In the community you could give IM but oral makes sense- people don’t fuss. He’d have to remember to take it though which would be the problem. It is worth getting a differential diagnosis too in terms of other mental and cognitive illnesses but I’m sure he’s not exactly cooperative with that idea... It’s sad to see people like this especially when they’re our family (hugs).