Hi there to all! I am Nora's (dulcineasmom) oldest daughter,
Beccah. Mom has Wernicke's Encephalapathy, rather than the
Korsacoff, so my experience is a bit different. As you can read from
her responses here, for the most part, she is still "with it". From
my perspective, there seems to be no, or very little, of the
confabulation, and she can function on her own with a bit if help
from us. So, many things here, I cannot quite fully understand, as
I haven't dealt with in the capacity that all of you have. But, I
can tell you this, with the alcoholism. . I can't tell sometimes if
the urge to drink is gone from my mother or not. And, honestly,
because I am not with her every day, I don't know how much she does
drink, if any. But, whether or not she drinks, or even wants to, I
don't think the fear (or the memories) ever really go away. I've
taken her out to dinner a few times, or to listen to a band. If she
orders a drink, the hair on the back of my neck raises up. I don't
see the alcoholic behavior in her like I used to, but the fear of
that returning is rather daunting at times. Mom already mentioned
Alanon. I was involved in that growing up, and can attest to the
great wealth of knowledge and support that resides there.

Austin, between the alcoholic tendencies, and the memory loss,
leaving your wife unsupervised is probably not a good idea. Home
supervision, I would think, would be good, so long as the caregiver
understands the disease. From my research, neither Korsacoff's or
Enchephalapathy can be cured, but some of the symptoms can be
controlled. From my experience and knowledge of alcoholism, the
desire to drink cannot be cured. It appears to me that the effects
of the Korsacoff's are so large that the desire to drink is simply
lost in the whole mess. . With those who are not in the advanced
stages of the disease, thought, you almost have to fight both
battles; alcoholism and korsacoff's. . .

Ok, thats enough. . I really don't mean to get on a box, and I'm by
no means any kind of expert. . I just wanted to share my
experience. . Hang in there. .

Beccah

--- In wernicke_korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com, "austin14_ra"
<austin14_ra@y...> wrote:
> My wife is 45 years old and has been drinking more than she should
> for many years now. Any efforts to convince her to stop were
> fruitless and she always insisted that she was drinking less than
I
> thought.Also because she was self consceous of maintaining her
> weight she was always a light eater so consequently was not
getting
> proper nutrition. About two weeks ago she started saying strange
> things and things that were out of context. I took her to our
family
> doctor and later that night to emergency at the hospital. I
couldn't
> convince either doctor to admit her to hospital so the next day I
> went again and told our family doctor that I wasn't going to take
no
> for an answer and she was admitted. They now have determined that
> she has Wernicke Korsacoff Syndrome and have her taking B1, B12
and
> Folic acid as well as good nutrition. Her body is getting stronger
> every day but she has profound short term memory loss and is
> exhibiting the confabulation and other symptoms that are
> characteristic of Korsacoff's Syndrome. We are remaining hopefull
> that some of the syptoms will subside and that some of her memory
> will come back but either way soon she will need to be moved out
of
> the hospital.I am wondering if it is feasible for me have her come
> home if I hire a live in care giver to watch her while I am at
work?
> So far I don't mind the confabulation and short term memory loss
and
> I know I could live with that but what I am really concerned about
> is that she will continue to be on the hunt for a drink. We have
> removed all the alcohol from the house and have taken away her car
> but I am afraid that she may go to any lengths to find a "little
> something" and that would mean she would walk out of the house
and,
> based on how she is now, wouldn't be able to find her way back.
Does
> anyone know if a person with Korsacoff's can be cured, or
> controlled, of the urge for alcohol? I just can't see putting her
in
> a care facility right now unless it is a short term situation
until
> she can get as healthy as she can and break the addiction before
> coming home. Is this a realistic expectation?