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#2584

From: "Sherry" <sherry@...>
Date: Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:41 pm
Subject: Thiamine

arles1996

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Hi,



I may have posted this before, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew it.



I got sick with WKS a few years ago.  Before that, I had another condition

called gastroparesis.  It is delayed stomach emptying.  It causes nausea and

other problems.



I, and another person I know who had this syndrome, recovered from the

gastroparesis when we were put on high doses of thiamine and folic acid.



I believe that there are just some people who have bodies that need higher doses

of these vitamins.  I don't know what the reason is, but I do know taking more

of them has saved my life.



I did have a problem with alcohol, partly because when you have gastroparesis,

for some reason, alcohol helps.  I have spoken to several people who have

gastroparesis who use it as "medicine".  Doctors, of course, tell you that's

crazy, but when you are nauseous and the only thing that helps is alcohol, it's

hard to say no.



Anyway, when I was treated with large doses of thiamine and folic acid, my WKS

went away, and so did the gastroparesis.  From this, I assume I had had a low

thiamine level for years.  Now that I pump the thiamine in every day, I am fine.



If you have a family member with WKS, please try to make them take high dosages

of these two vitamins.  It may help immensely.



Sherry

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#2586

From: sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@...>
Date: Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:00 pm
Subject: Re: Thiamine

sunniibunnii71

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Hi Sherry,

who diagnosed yuou had WKS? I need to get my dad diagnosed as well. how do we get thiamine? is there aprescription for that? in high doses needed?Thanks

--- On Wed, 6/17/09, Sherry <sherry@...> wrote:

From: Sherry <sherry@...>
Subject: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome] Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 8:41 AM

Hi,

I may have posted this before, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

I got sick with WKS a few years ago. Before that, I had another condition called gastroparesis. It is delayed stomach emptying. It causes nausea and other problems.

I, and another person I know who had this syndrome, recovered from the gastroparesis when we were put on high doses of thiamine and folic acid.

I believe that there are just some people who have bodies that need higher doses of these vitamins. I don't know what the reason is, but I do know taking more of them has saved my life.

I did have a problem with alcohol, partly because when you have gastroparesis, for some reason, alcohol helps. I have spoken to several people who have gastroparesis who use it as "medicine". Doctors, of course, tell you that's crazy, but when you are nauseous and the only thing that helps is alcohol, it's hard to say no.

Anyway, when I was treated with large doses of thiamine and folic acid, my WKS went away, and so did the gastroparesis. From this, I assume I had had a low thiamine level for years. Now that I pump the thiamine in every day, I am fine.

If you have a family member with WKS, please try to make them take high dosages of these two vitamins. It may help immensely.

Sherry

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#2587

From: "Sherry" <sherry@...>
Date: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:26 pm
Subject: Re: Thiamine

arles1996

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--- In wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com, sunni stalbird

<sunniibunnii71@...> wrote:

>

> Hi Sherry,

> who diagnosed yuou had WKS? I need to get my dad diagnosed as well. how do we

get thiamine? is there aprescription for that? in high doses needed?Thanks

I was diagnosed when I got extremely ill, by docs at the hospital.  I, to this

day, wonder if that was really true.  Most people who have had WKS to the extent

I supposedly had it, are vegetables now.  Hey, guess what, I am not.

Anyway, thiamine is available without a prescription at the drug store.  It's

just a vitamin supplement.  The only problem is the patient may need extremely

high doses to get them out of the syndrome.  I was pumped with it intraveneously

when I was in the hospital, and I do not know the level.  (I tried to get my

medical records and they wanted ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS to give me copies.  That is

total bullshit, isn't it?)  Anyway, they pumped me with it and I got better. 

Now I take oen or two normal tablets a day (as normal, I mean the ones you get

at the drug store, with no prescription).

I do still wonder if I had WKS or not.  But if I did, then thiamine fixed it.  I

want people to realize how important some vitamins can be to your health.

If you have any more questions, please contact me.

Sherry

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#2588

From: kelli flynt <kelliflynt@...>
Date: Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:37 pm
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

kelliflynt

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I totally agree with Sherry, the same thing happened with my husband, the doctor's explained it to me along the line of when my husband's body processed alcohol it did not process thiamin as it normally would do, so over the coarse of many years of drinking his level got so low that he got sick. In the hospital they had him on IV thiamin and Vit B in very large doses for 3 months. When he went in he was 118lbs, crazy, could not walk or feed himself, then all of a sudden as his vitamin and thiamin level increased , along with therapy he started to get better. When he came home he was in a wheel chair and we continued with the thiamin and b12 over the counter. I don't know if this happened to you Sherry but since then he has no craving for alcohol. He does suffer from short term memory loss and tests show he has nerve damage in his feet and hands.He takes 2 different drugs for the nerve pain and writes notes as reminders to help not forget things,

but he is home with us, now walks without a cain and even takes our son surfing every day

as therapy. Hang in there, things can get better.

--- On Thu, 6/18/09, Sherry <sherry@...> wrote:

From: Sherry <sherry@...>
Subject: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome] Re: Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2009, 8:26 AM

--- In wernicke-korsakoff_ syndrome@ yahoogroups. com, sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@ ...> wrote:
>
> Hi Sherry,
> who diagnosed yuou had WKS? I need to get my dad diagnosed as well. how do we get thiamine? is there aprescription for that? in high doses needed?Thanks

I was diagnosed when I got extremely ill, by docs at the hospital. I, to this day, wonder if that was really true. Most people who have had WKS to the extent I supposedly had it, are vegetables now. Hey, guess what, I am not.

Anyway, thiamine is available without a prescription at the drug store. It's just a vitamin supplement. The only problem is the patient may need extremely high doses to get them out of the syndrome. I was pumped with it intraveneously when I was in the hospital, and I do not know the level. (I tried to get my medical records and they wanted ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS to give me copies. That is total bullshit, isn't it?) Anyway, they pumped me with it and I got better. Now I take oen or two normal tablets a day (as normal, I mean the ones you get at the drug store, with no prescription) .

I do still wonder if I had WKS or not. But if I did, then thiamine fixed it. I want people to realize how important some vitamins can be to your health.

If you have any more questions, please contact me.

Sherry

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#2595

From: "Sherry" <sherry@...>
Date: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:04 pm
Subject: Re: Thiamine

arles1996

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--- In wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com, kelli flynt <kelliflynt@...>

wrote:

>

> I totally agree with Sherry, the same thing happened with my husband, the

doctor's explained it to me along the line of when my husband's body processed

alcohol it did not process thiamin as it normally would do, so over the coarse

of many years of drinking his level got so low that he got sick.�

I actually think I had a low thiamine level before any alcohol entered the

picture.  I suffered from gastroparesis.  I may have already said this, so

forgive me if I did.  Anyway, gastroparesis is slow stomach emptying.  Now that

I keep the thiamine pumped in, it is gone.  I have a friend who also had

gastroparesis, and when she got pregnant they pumped the thiamine in, and now

she is well.  I think some people just have a natural problem with thiamine, and

need to take higher levels of it.  One of the problems we both had also was

alcohol helped the gastroparesis.  So we both drank too much.

Sherry

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#2589

From: kathym530@...
Date: Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:55 pm
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

dullcineasaunt

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Hi all..I've been reading the thread and thought I'd update you on my mother as well. She was diagnosed with WKS in January of 2003. I found her on New Year's day in an alcholic stupor. Her drinking had progressed rapidly from when my dad died in 1998. She was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and pneuomonia. She was also extremely malnourished. As Kelly said, alcohol inhibits the body's ability to process thiamine and that is coupled with the fact that an alcoholic also tends to substitute alcohol for food. My mother was barely eating and looked like an Aushwitz victim. She hid this from us with clothing and got away with it because we were in a different state but in the hospital it was horrifying. She was confabulating all sorts of situations and was completely unaware of her surroundings. During her hospitalization, she lost the ability to walk and almost died due to the complications of pneumonia on her existing COPD. But she did recover and was released to a locked Alziemers unit in a nursing home. At this point she was not walking but kept getting out of bed and thus was a danger to herself and we were unsure if she did regain mobility what she would do. After 2 weeks there and with physical and occupational therapy she regained her ability to walk, though with a walker, and it was clear that she was much higher functioning than the other patients. Alziemers victims decline and WKS victims if they are receiving the high doses of thiamine and are NOT continuing to imbibe alcohol can arrest the progression of the disease.

Eventually she was released and I moved her to my state...to an assisted living facility. When she first moved in she had a high level of assistance...she did not take care of herself, she was lethargic and apathetic, unaware really of her surroundings, she needed reminders to eat, bathe and generally take care of all of the activities of daily living. We had her tested neuropsychologically and the findings were consistant with WKS...her intellectual functioning was fine..long term memory not bad but she had amnesia with regard to the last 10 yrs or so and about a 3 minute short term memory loss. Her neurologist prescribed Alziemers meds... Exelon and Namenda. That seemed to clear some of the cobwebs. Brightened her up a bit though did not help with the memory loss nor would it. At the advent of playing bridge...something neurologically clicked and all of a sudden she had an interest in what was going on around her, she started taking copious notes and writing herself reminders. She functions fairly well now and is even mobile without assistance.

Now, she is doing rather well. She has issues with hoarding now...mostly food, books, magazines. Some of it is more due to the fact that she forgets she has someting. But she can't throw anything away. She's compulsive. Her quality of life is much better than it was though it saddens me that it is not what it could have been had alcoholism not been a part of it all. She really has no insight into her life or abilities. Basically its like parenting a teenager. All impulse no thought. But she seems to be happy and I suppose that's what counts. I hope this helps anyone....I know this group was a bit more active and immensely helpful to me back in 2003 when all this started.

blessings, Kathy

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#2590

From: sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@...>
Date: Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:59 am
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

sunniibunnii71

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I am always so glad to hear that there are others who are experiencing this . Wish I knew how WKS was diagnosed. I have heard MRI, or a neurologist can detect it, we have been to two neurologist that didn't know what WKS was..I guess its not that well knows and so many get mis diagnosed as well. My dad is sitting in jail for almost 20 days, I know that he is detoxed now. But I know jails don't care to treat him special or give his the meds he needs etc and vitamins. I found a mental health hospital that has a bed available for him on Monday, so I could bond him out and take him, but what if he decides to check himself out? That is what my concern is. Then he will be a danger all over again and this time I know he is mad at me for not getting him out thinking he has all this money. I will be the 1 st house he walks to demanding things. So i do feel safe with him in jail for now. When his court date comes..it could be a while to wait for that. I am hoping they will agree he needs a mental evaluation not by a jail personnel, but by a mental health specialists who are experienced in diagnosing him. the jail nurse said he is lucid, cooperative and nice we don't see any mental issues. He knows the year is 2009. so in there book he is OK. I know my dad and I know he is not himself, he came to my house demanding my car and money, throwing a portable fore place at me, then finally shattering my sliding door to nothing.., a man with RSD suddenly walking all over town with no pain, thinking he has money in the bank to go buy cars, and travel fee, he has messages from the arc angel asking him to do things..he is not in his rite mind..this isn't being done for attention..this is real and he is a mess. and I'm running out of ideas for him. all I can do is wait for that court date, he is writing letters to his parents who are both 87years old, saying get him out he is being treated like an animal, cold floor, no blankets,starving..etc..I know he wants his alcohol and he is trying to get anyone to come bail him out..I have explained to my grandparents that he is safe, until we have a court date to see what they say and offer..hopefully y they will demand he gets the help he needs..Thanks for listening and sharing your thoughts...and Happy fathers day to all the fathers.

--- On Sat, 6/20/09, kathym530@... <kathym530@...> wrote:

From: kathym530@... <kathym530@...>
Subject: Re: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome] Re: Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009, 11:55 AM

Hi all..I've been reading the thread and thought I'd update you on my mother as well. She was diagnosed with WKS in January of 2003. I found her on New Year's day in an alcholic stupor. Her drinking had progressed rapidly from when my dad died in 1998. She was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and pneuomonia. She was also extremely malnourished. As Kelly said, alcohol inhibits the body's ability to process thiamine and that is coupled with the fact that an alcoholic also tends to substitute alcohol for food. My mother was barely eating and looked like an Aushwitz victim. She hid this from us with clothing and got away with it because we were in a different state but in the hospital it was horrifying. She was confabulating all sorts of situations and was completely unaware of her surroundings. During her hospitalization, she lost the ability to walk and almost died due to the complications of pneumonia on her existing COPD. But she did recover and was released to a locked Alziemers unit in a nursing home. At this point she was not walking but kept getting out of bed and thus was a danger to herself and we were unsure if she did regain mobility what she would do. After 2 weeks there and with physical and occupational therapy she regained her ability to walk, though with a walker, and it was clear that she was much higher functioning than the other patients. Alziemers victims decline and WKS victims if they are receiving the high doses of thiamine and are NOT continuing to imbibe alcohol can arrest the progression of the disease.

Eventually she was released and I moved her to my state...to an assisted living facility. When she first moved in she had a high level of assistance.. .she did not take care of herself, she was lethargic and apathetic, unaware really of her surroundings, she needed reminders to eat, bathe and generally take care of all of the activities of daily living. We had her tested neuropsychologicall y and the findings were consistant with WKS...her intellectual functioning was fine..long term memory not bad but she had amnesia with regard to the last 10 yrs or so and about a 3 minute short term memory loss. Her neurologist prescribed Alziemers meds... Exelon and Namenda. That seemed to clear some of the cobwebs. Brightened her up a bit though did not help with the memory loss nor would it. At the advent of playing bridge...something neurologically clicked and all of a sudden she had an interest in what was going on around her, she started taking copious notes and writing herself reminders. She functions fairly well now and is even mobile without assistance.

Now, she is doing rather well. She has issues with hoarding now...mostly food, books, magazines. Some of it is more due to the fact that she forgets she has someting. But she can't throw anything away. She's compulsive. Her quality of life is much better than it was though it saddens me that it is not what it could have been had alcoholism not been a part of it all. She really has no insight into her life or abilities. Basically its like parenting a teenager. All impulse no thought. But she seems to be happy and I suppose that's what counts. I hope this helps anyone....I know this group was a bit more active and immensely helpful to me back in 2003 when all this started.

blessings, Kathy

A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!

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#2591

From: Nora <dulcineasmom@...>
Date: Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:42 am
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

dulcineasmom

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Hi Sunni,

You need to tell them he's an alcoholic, not a mental patient. And I'm just afraid if you bail him out you are asking for trouble.

Hang in there,

Nora

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#2592

From: Ali Hancock <crystaljoy@...>
Date: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:25 am
Subject: RE: Re: Thiamine

lifes2short2...

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Hi Sunni

Nora is right, don't give in and bail him now, even if your dad has mental health issues he is unlikely to be able to be treated for them effectively if he keeps drinking.

Be strong you are doing the best for yourself and your family by not giving in to your dad.

P Please consider the environment before printing my email

To: wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com
From: dulcineasmom@...
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:42:55 -0700
Subject: Re: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome] Re: Thiamine

Hi Sunni,

You need to tell them he's an alcoholic, not a mental patient. And I'm just afraid if you bail him out you are asking for trouble.

Hang in there,

Nora

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#2593

From: kathym530@...
Date: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:27 am
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

dullcineasaunt

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WKS is a rare disease as it is....so not often diagnosed. My mother was very fortuntate that her attending physician was Romanian...and curious as to why she never remembered who he was from one minute to the next..so he did his research and she showed all the symptoms..and then an MRI confirmed atrophy of the brain.

Your father is an alcoholic and that in and of itself is its own disease. He will not be able to control his obsession with alcohol and once he gets it he will crave more. That is the nature of the illness so giving him the freedom to obtain alcohol will not do him any favors. At least in jail, he has no access and without alcohol the WKS may stop progressing. With thiamine he can improve. It doesn't sound like your father is interested in recovering from alcoholism but AA can certainly help him if he is willing. Because my mother was so seriously ill, she went 3 months without alcohol and she really had no access between the nursing home and then the assisted living. Then the apathy that came with Korsakoff's worked in our favor because she never attempted to obtain any though she certainly could have. She also stopped smoking...again not by will power just lack of access.

Once my mother was discharged from the hospital and no longer in the care of our Romanian doctor I had to educate her caregivers. I presented them with articles on WKS like this one...http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Wernicke-Korsakoff-syndrome.html. It is rare and many have not heard of it. Since its usually only given about one sentence as a possible result of alcholism...if that....while some may have heard of it they certainly had no idea how to diagnose or treat. So if they can put their egos aside..and they may not do so in front of you...giving them the literature may at least spark their curiousity.

A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!

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#2594

From: sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@...>
Date: Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:11 pm
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

sunniibunnii71

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Thank you...are you sure he isnt both now an alcoholic and a mental patient, his sudden behavior changes..as well..this is so exhausting

--- On Sun, 6/21/09, Nora <dulcineasmom@...> wrote:

From: Nora <dulcineasmom@...>
Subject: Re: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome] Re: Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 1:42 AM

Hi Sunni,

You need to tell them he's an alcoholic, not a mental patient. And I'm just afraid if you bail him out you are asking for trouble.

Hang in there,

Nora

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#2596

From: Nora <dulcineasmom@...>
Date: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:29 pm
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

dulcineasmom

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Hi Sunni,

I believe from the way you described the "before" and "after" that the alcohol brought on the mental problems. Didn't you say he was a productive member of society and basically "good" guy when he was younger? If so, that would mean he is an alcoholic
first. You have to take the alcohol and the alcoholic behavior completely out of the picture.

Good luck,

Nora

--- On Sun, 6/21/09, sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@...> wrote:

From: sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@...>
Subject: Re: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome] Re: Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 11:11 AM

Thank you...are you sure he isnt both now an alcoholic and a mental patient, his sudden behavior changes..as well..this is so exhausting

--- On Sun, 6/21/09, Nora <dulcineasmom@ yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Nora <dulcineasmom@ yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [wernicke-korsakoff _syndrome] Re: Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_ syndrome@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 1:42 AM

Hi Sunni,

You need to tell them he's an alcoholic, not a mental patient. And I'm just afraid if you bail him out you are asking for trouble.

Hang in there,

Nora

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#2597

From: kelliflynt@...
Date: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:59 pm
Subject: Re: Re: Thiamine

kelliflynt

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Hi Sunni, keep your head up and know you are doing the right thing, your father is safe where he is at, leave him there for now. While he is there you could research for doctors and facilities that know about WKS, not all do. The first time my husband, as i put it, went crazy, he was swinging golf clubs at imaginary people in are closet and talking to a tree. When I took him to the emergency room they just released him with a rx for B12. The second time I actually got him into a mental facility, they kept him for 4 day's detox and again let him go saying he needed to go to AA. Each time he would start drinking all over again. He could alway's start acting normal enough, saying the right things, they just thought he was an alcoholic. These 2 episodes were 2 years befor his last hospitalization when he was finally diagnosed. Sometimes I wonder how life would be if the first 2 times someone with knowledge of WKS had seen him. Listen to Sherry she has been thru it, reading her posts when my husband was so sick really gave me hope, because even the doctors told me he would not get any worse, but probly wouldn't get any better, but I could go on this site and look up her posts and see that some people do make it back. I agree that to do that or get better at all the drinking has to stop totally and the body has to have the nutrition it needs. My husband will tell you that God gave him so many chances to stop, he almost died 3 times in 3 years, it took brain and nerve damage that reminds him every day that some people can not drink and he is one of them. I hope your dad starts to think that way for his sake and yours. He is going to be mad at you at first, say mean things and try to blame you. Just know in your heart that even though he doesn't think so right now, you are trying to help save his life. Kelli

--- On Sat, 6/20/09, sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@...> wrote:

From: sunni stalbird <sunniibunnii71@...>
Subject: Re: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome] Re: Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009, 11:59 PM

I am always so glad to hear that there are others who are experiencing this . Wish I knew how WKS was diagnosed. I have heard MRI, or a neurologist can detect it, we have been to two neurologist that didn't know what WKS was..I guess its not that well knows and so many get mis diagnosed as well. My dad is sitting in jail for almost 20 days, I know that he is detoxed now. But I know jails don't care to treat him special or give his the meds he needs etc and vitamins. I found a mental health hospital that has a bed available for him on Monday, so I could bond him out and take him, but what if he decides to check himself out? That is what my concern is. Then he will be a danger all over again and this time I know he is mad at me for not getting him out thinking he has all this money. I will be the 1 st house he walks to demanding things. So i do feel safe with him in jail for now. When his court date comes..it could be a while to wait for that. I am hoping they will agree he needs a mental evaluation not by a jail personnel, but by a mental health specialists who are experienced in diagnosing him. the jail nurse said he is lucid, cooperative and nice we don't see any mental issues. He knows the year is 2009. so in there book he is OK. I know my dad and I know he is not himself, he came to my house demanding my car and money, throwing a portable fore place at me, then finally shattering my sliding door to nothing.., a man with RSD suddenly walking all over town with no pain, thinking he has money in the bank to go buy cars, and travel fee, he has messages from the arc angel asking him to do things..he is not in his rite mind..this isn't being done for attention..this is real and he is a mess. and I'm running out of ideas for him. all I can do is wait for that court date, he is writing letters to his parents who are both 87years old, saying get him out he is being treated like an animal, cold floor, no blankets,starving. .etc..I know he wants his alcohol and he is trying to get anyone to come bail him out..I have explained to my grandparents that he is safe, until we have a court date to see what they say and offer..hopefully y they will demand he gets the help he needs..Thanks for listening and sharing your thoughts...and Happy fathers day to all the fathers.

--- On Sat, 6/20/09, kathym530@aol. com <kathym530@aol. com> wrote:

From: kathym530@aol. com <kathym530@aol. com>
Subject: Re: [wernicke-korsakoff_syndrome ] Re: Thiamine
To: wernicke-korsakoff_ syndrome@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009, 11:55 AM

Hi all..I've been reading the thread and thought I'd update you on my mother as well. She was diagnosed with WKS in January of 2003. I found her on New Year's day in an alcholic stupor. Her drinking had progressed rapidly from when my dad died in 1998. She was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and pneuomonia. She was also extremely malnourished. As Kelly said, alcohol inhibits the body's ability to process thiamine and that is coupled with the fact that an alcoholic also tends to substitute alcohol for food. My mother was barely eating and looked like an Aushwitz victim. She hid this from us with clothing and got away with it because we were in a different state but in the hospital it was horrifying. She was confabulating all sorts of situations and was completely unaware of her surroundings. During her hospitalization, she lost the ability to walk and almost died due to the complications of pneumonia on her existing COPD. But she did recover and was released to a locked Alziemers unit in a nursing home. At this point she was not walking but kept getting out of bed and thus was a danger to herself and we were unsure if she did regain mobility what she would do. After 2 weeks there and with physical and occupational therapy she regained her ability to walk, though with a walker, and it was clear that she was much higher functioning than the other patients. Alziemers victims decline and WKS victims if they are receiving the high doses of thiamine and are NOT continuing to imbibe alcohol can arrest the progression of the disease.

Eventually she was released and I moved her to my state...to an assisted living facility. When she first moved in she had a high level of assistance.. .she did not take care of herself, she was lethargic and apathetic, unaware really of her surroundings, she needed reminders to eat, bathe and generally take care of all of the activities of daily living. We had her tested neuropsychologicall y and the findings were consistant with WKS...her intellectual functioning was fine..long term memory not bad but she had amnesia with regard to the last 10 yrs or so and about a 3 minute short term memory loss. Her neurologist prescribed Alziemers meds... Exelon and Namenda. That seemed to clear some of the cobwebs. Brightened her up a bit though did not help with the memory loss nor would it. At the advent of playing bridge...something neurologically clicked and all of a sudden she had an interest in what was going on around her, she started taking copious notes and writing herself reminders. She functions fairly well now and is even mobile without assistance.

Now, she is doing rather well. She has issues with hoarding now...mostly food, books, magazines. Some of it is more due to the fact that she forgets she has someting. But she can't throw anything away. She's compulsive. Her quality of life is much better than it was though it saddens me that it is not what it could have been had alcoholism not been a part of it all. She really has no insight into her life or abilities. Basically its like parenting a teenager. All impulse no thought. But she seems to be happy and I suppose that's what counts. I hope this helps anyone....I know this group was a bit more active and immensely helpful to me back in 2003 when all this started.

blessings, Kathy

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