Alcohol Dementia Symptoms

Every few months, people come up with a new study that shows how young men and women are increasingly consuming alcohol. Our friends and relatives, who we thought would never think of drinking are found guzzling beer and other hard drinks. Many of them are as young as in their late teens. What we have all begun to dismiss as signs of innocent experimentation by the young and the restless, could prove to be dangerous if it goes unchecked. With increasing cases of alcohol related problems, people have begun to sit up and take notice. Though the more prominent example is liver cirrhosis, alcohol related dementia is also becoming increasingly prevalent. Known as the Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, dementia caused by alcohol is the second most common reason for dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. Though it can be detected just as any other dementia could be detected, there are some symptoms that set it apart from others. Here are a few symptoms of alcohol related dementia.

 

 

Though all types of dementias point to a decrease in short term memory, alcohol related dementia can seriously affect a person’s intellectual capabilities. It can make one lose all his inhibitions, lead to inability to plan and schedule work and other important engagements, complete disregard for consequences of one’s behaviour and reduction of quality decision making.

 

Like all alcoholics, the patients of alcohol related abuse will be unable to take care of themselves, show signs of lack of motivation in professional and other activities, being unconcerned with social rules of conduct and behaviour and may also be subject to inappropriate and overtly aggressive sexual advances. They may try to hurt their partners in bed. Such people often find it very difficult to hold on to a job and are often shown the door by their bosses the moment they begin to show signs of physical or professional neglect.

 

People who suffer from alcohol dementia will keep asking the same questions over and over again. They may also keep telling the same stories over and over again. Such people might forget that their question has only just been answered. When in conversation they may repeat a sentence or an incident as many as twenty times, and get agitated and angry when someone points out that they have just repeated a few moments ago.

 

Confusion is one of the surest telltale signs that helps one judge alcohol related problems and abuse related issues. The same maybe accompanied by memory related issues. Like all patients of dementia, those who suffer from alcohol related dementia will remember in great detail, events that happened years ago, like the first soccer match they played as a five-year old, but may not be able to recall what happened a few minutes ago.

 

As is known and acknowledged, many who suffer from alcohol abuse suffer from nutrition related issues. Alcohol disrupts the absorption of thiamine in a person’s body, causing a deficiency of thiamine in the brain, which leads to damage, or cirrhosis of the liver and damage and shrinking of the brain. Its symptoms include dizziness, tooth decay, fatigue, weight loss, hair loss, disorientation, yellowing skin, muscular wasting, listlessness, irregular cravings, and stomach distention.