Thanks for sharing kitten. I know the pain of watching a parent
waste away to nothing and die before you as I watched my mom die of
breast cancer. I am now taking care of my dad who has WKS, and I am
so glad that he has absolutely no desire to drink alcohol. He has
been that way since 1986 when he went through 16 hours of alcoholic
seizures. He must have been given the glucose drip, because he went
from zero symptoms of WKS pre-seizure to full blown memory loss when
he stopped seizing. Some of his memory returned, but not enough for
him to function by himself. Over the years he has also developed
alcoholic dementia, which several people on here are very familiar
with. I am sorry that you had to endure watching your dad go through
what he did. Every person here has a different story, so if you
stick around, I am sure that you can help in one way or another :)
Thanks again.

Dave

--- In wernicke_korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com, "kitten7819"
<kitten7819@y...> wrote:
>
>
> I have just found this site today and feel compelled to tell my
> story and how it affected me in the hope that it may help other
> people. My father died in September 2002 after becoming a
vegetable
> through this syndrome. My father started drinking many years ago
> way before I can remember and I am now 25. It was not only this
he
> suffered from he also had insulin dependant diabetes which made
this
> even harder to deal with. After an episode which is too long and
> complicated to explain on here my father was admitted to hospital
> virutally dead. The doctor said he could not believe my father
was
> still alive as his diabetic count was so wildy out of control. My
> father spent three months in a secure unit after escaping (I can
> laugh now) from hospital one afternoon wearing pink pj's and no
> shoes. This was where he was diagnosed with this problem. So
many
> people are unaware of the problems that alchol can cause not only
to
> the person who is drinking but always to their loved ones and
> friends around them. My father got detox while there and it was
the
> best I have ever seen him in a long time but still he did not give
> up the drink and his health began to deteriorate. I watched and
> tried to help as he became worse forgeting small things to
forgeting
> things that could lead to his death such as not taking his insulin
> or taking too mcuh as he couldnt remeber taking it the first
time.
> All the way through I did everything I could I was nice, nasty,
> sympathtic, anything if I thought it would help and many times he
> would break down and tell me he wanted to live and stop drinking.
> Through this I gave birth to his first 2 grandchildren only one of
> which he really got to see as by the time I had the 2nd he was in
a
> vegetative state so I can only hope that he did. I went to hell
and
> back throughout this time and have discovered more and more about
> this syndrome to the point I had a doctor ask me if I was some
kind
> of nurse but when you have someone you love who is ill you need to
> know. My father was taken by other family members to his birth
town
> and put into a nursing home he was 54 his birthday when they took
> him. The place was not specialised and really could not help
him.
> I fought against this and went as far as to speak to the minister
of
> health about this. I didnt get anywhere. There is no support out
> there although I had found a place where they do specialise in
this
> sydrome but they had no places. My father got worse and worse.
He
> went into the nursing home on the 21st November 2001 and by the
Xmas
> he was a vegetable and it was so quick and fast I never had time
to
> say all the things I wanted to say. I went to hell and back and
the
> advice that I would give someone in my position is that you cannot
> no matter how hard you try stop someone from drinking it has to be
> there choice. The only thing I will say is I really dont think my
> father knew what was in store for him at the end. He was roughly
3
> 1/2 stones when he died and there was nothing but skin a bone like
> you would see in a concentration camp. I still feel the pain and
> the anger to this day. I have always wanted to speak to someone
who
> is or has been in my position to hopefully help support them in a
> time where it feels like your alone.