You may be concerned that your beloved has Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia type if they are having cognitive and behavioral difficulties, such as memory loss, confusion, poor judgment, impulsiveness or inappropriate behavior, and difficulty in planning and other daily activities.
What is Dementia?
Dementia is a term used for memory loss, confusion, and other symptoms that are severe enough to interfere with daily life. A small percentage of people with dementia have Alzheimer’s disease. Some types of dementia occur more often in older adults, who are age 65 or older.
Types of Dementia
There are many different types of dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common. Other types include vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body dementia, and alcohol-related brain damage.
How Can I Prevent or Reduce My Risk of Getting Dementia?
- Do not smoke.
- Limit yourself to moderate amounts of alcohol – one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.
- Eat a healthy diet.
- Be physically active and exercise.
- Maintain your intellectual stimulation by socializing and staying involved in life (playing games, reading, writing, etc).
What you should know about alcohol and dementia:
Alcohol abuse is the most common cause of irreversible brain damage in older adults. There are really injurious effects of alcohol on the brain.
Alcohol-related dementia may be reversible, especially if the person stops drinking or reduces their alcohol consumption.
Alcoholics are two to three times more likely to have dementia of the Alzheimer’s type compared with nonalcoholics.
Alcohol-related brain damage is often associated with nutritional deficiencies of thiamine, B12, and folic acid.
Alcohol-related brain damage is more likely to occur when other brain diseases are present, such as stroke, heart disease, or malnutrition.
How to Recognize Signs of Dementia (for Example in Yourself) – Look for In Your Partner:
- Remembering things in reverse order (what happened first and what came second).
- Forgetting how to do routine tasks such as making coffee.
- Repeating the same questions or comments over and over again.
- Confusion about day and night, time, or where they are.
- Problems performing familiar tasks around the house (for example using a key to unlock a door) but being able to do them when away from home.
- Changes in mood, behavior, personality, judgment and/or thinking abilities.
- Difficulty performing familiar tasks around the house such as using a key to unlock a door but being able to do them when away from home.
- Having trouble accurately judging distances and speed
While most types of dementia are irreversible and their causes are still unknown, there are a few exceptions. If you suspect or know your beloved over consumes alcohol, they could be exhibiting symptoms of alcohol-induced or alcohol-related dementia.
Causes of Alcoholism and Dementia: What’s the Link?
People who do excessive alcohol intake for lengthy periods of time can develop alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD), sometimes known as alcoholic dementia. Heavy drinking is defined as more than four drinks a day for men and more than three drinks a day for women, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. According to the World Health Organization, those amounts translate to binge drinking for men and women, while heavy alcohol consumption is defined as 15 drinks or more per week for males or eight drinks or more per week for females.
Because all of these conditions affect the cholinergic system, which is fundamental to memory, they may have similar symptoms. According to American Addiction Centers, Alzheimer’s disease and other types of neurological and communicative disorders can produce similar symptoms due to the fact that they all impact the cholinergic system, which is involved in memory. Despite the fact that there is no clear connection between alcohol use and Alzheimer’s disease, heavy drinking has been linked to ARBD.
Heavy Drinking and Alcohol Abuse May Induce Arbd in A Variety of Ways:
● Alcohol’s toxins damage brain tissue by causing chemical changes, which induce shrinkage.
● Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency can result from alcohol’s disruption of thiamine storage and usage, as well as poor absorption due to alcohol’s erosive action on the gastrointestinal system.
● Alcoholism and head injuries caused by drinking Alcohol-related cerebral vascular disease
● Head injuries as a result of alcohol intoxication
The upshot? Unlike other types of dementia, which tend to progress more rapidly, Wernicke encephalopathy may be reversed and even halted whenever someone stops drinking alcohol and replaces the thiamine that was lost as a consequence of their drinking.
Symptoms of Alcohol-Induced Dementia and the Risk of Dementia in Different Forms
The Alzheimer’s Society distinguishes between alcohol-related, or alcohol-induced, dementia into two major types:
Alcohol Related Dementia
This is a type of dementia that can result in poor decision-making and judgment, impulsiveness, difficulties with decision-making and judgment, emotional outbursts, lack of empathy for others’ feelings, and socially unacceptable behavior. Korsakoff syndrome is a severe type of dementia characterized by total memory loss.
Symptoms of this condition might include:
● Inability to form new memories
● Confabulation, or making up stories -Reduction in the understanding of what is going on around them
● Visual disturbances
● Muscle coordination problems
● Cognitive difficulties
Korsakoff Syndrome
Korsakoff syndrome is the most well-known type of ARBD, but it is less common than other forms of ARBD such as alcoholic dementia. The Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is another cause, characterized by the symptoms of both Wernicke encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome. It’s induced by a thiamine deficiency.
Symptoms of this condition might include:
● Inability to form new memories
● Mental confusion
● Visual disturbances- Reductions in the understanding of what is going on around them
● Muscle coordination problems
● Disorientation
● Alcoholic hallucinosis – Alcohol consumption and risk can result in hallucinations that typically present themselves as auditory or tactile hallucinations. The condition arises from a combination of alcohol dependence and schizophrenia, resulting in hallucinations.
Wernicke Encephalopathy
This can affect any region of the body and has a variety of symptoms. While it may cause partial or complete loss of memory, this is not always the case. Symptoms might include dizziness; fainting; altered awareness; poor coordination; double vision, drooping eyelids, or rapid eye movements; fast heart rate, among others.
Wernicke’s encephalopathy can lead to Korsakoff syndrome if not treated quickly. Wernicke encephalopathy may or may not be preceded by a distinct episode of symptoms.
Symptoms of this condition might include:
● Impaired memory
● Difficulties with thinking
● Disorientation
● Shaky movements
● Loss of balance while standing or walking, clumsiness at arms
● Rapid heartbeat
● Vision problems- Double vision or involuntary rapid eye movement
● Confusion- Problems focusing on thoughts, understanding the immediate situation, and remembering recent events.
● Cognitive difficulties- Inability to retain information.
Korsakoff syndrome
Korsakoff syndrome is an acquired, chronic amnesic condition that affects the ability to learn new information. It can lead to cognitive decline and an increased risk of dementia. It’s also known as Korsakoff-like syndrome because it includes symptoms similar to those seen in people with alcoholism. Although this illness typically takes longer to develop, it has a shorter than average duration and is characterized by short-term memory loss.
Korsakoff syndrome is associated with thiamine deficiency because it’s usually the result of a poor diet that leads to a lack of thiamine. This condition also results from chronic alcohol misuse and malnutrition, though it can be seen in people who don’t drink or drink only occasionally.
Symptoms of this condition might include:
● Confabulation (when the person fabricates details to fill in memory gaps)
● Loss of memory affecting recent events
● Anterograde amnesia (loss of ability to form new long-term memories)
● Retrograde amnesia (loss of precious memories before the onset of the illness)
● Depression, emotional instability, irritability, trouble concentrating or focusing attention, and difficulties thinking straight.
Is Moderate Alcohol Consumption a Risk Factor for Dementia?
Excess alcohol consumption over a long period of time may cause brain damage and raise your chance of developing dementia. However, moderate drinking has not been linked to increased dementia risk or shown to provide any significant protection against developing dementia.
As a result, people who do not currently drink alcohol should not be encouraged to start in order to reduce dementia risk.
Those who drink alcohol in moderation, as recommended by the American Heart Association, are not advised to stop, despite the fact that reducing alcohol consumption may have other health advantages.
Moderate alcohol consumption
● Can reduce heart disease risk in some people by increasing levels of “good” cholesterol and limiting the formation of blood clots.
● May help prevent ischemic stroke, caused by a blockage that prevents blood from reaching the brain.
Regularly drinking more than the recommended amount can increase your risk of:
● Liver disease, which could cause loss of muscle coordination and affect mental function.
● Weight gain and obesity, leading to a greater risk of diabetes and heart disease.
● Alcohol dependence, or alcoholism.
Drinking in excess can also harm vital organs such as the liver and pancreas. Furthermore, excessive alcohol intake can affect the brain in various ways, including memory problems and difficulty with problem-solving.
Treatments and Possible Solutions to Alcohol Use Disorders and Excessive Alcohol Consumption
If a loved one has experienced the symptoms listed above, they may need to have tests done to exclude other diseases such as stroke or a tumor. Your attending will take a thorough medical history, including your current and prior health conditions, medications you’re currently using, and any past or current mental health issues. You may be asked to rate the severity of discomfort on a scale of 1 to 10.
If you believe or suspect that your beloved is an alcoholic, it’s essential to disclose it to their doctor so they can get a faster diagnosis and therapy.
Blood tests are able to detect blood alcohol levels, indicators of liver damage caused by alcoholism, and thiamine levels. It is often necessary to conduct exams that check cognitive and memory abilities as well as screening for depression and other mental health problems.
A person may see a striking reduction in symptoms if he or she stops drinking alcohol and improves their diet.
If Wernicke encephalopathy is diagnosed, a person should seek medical attention as soon as possible. Typically, high amounts of thiamine and other B vitamins are injected slowly into a vein in order to treat Wernicke encephalopathy. Most symptoms of Wernicke encephalopathy can be reversed with prompt therapy in a few days. If Wernicke’s encephalopathy is not treated properly or rapidly, some people can suffer brain damage that is permanent, and severe cases might result in death.
Treatment consists of thiamine infusions – usually for an extended period – until symptoms subside, with subsequent oral thiamine doses, other vitamins, and magnesium in Korsakoff syndrome without Wernicke encephalopathy.
How Do We Protect Elderly Loved Ones from Excessive Alcohol Consumption?
The last thing we want is to see our loved ones suffer from the symptoms of excessive alcohol consumption.
How can we guard against this condition?
● Encourage your elderly loved ones to visit the doctor for regular checkups, screenings, and blood tests.
● Educate yourself about the signs of alcohol abuse in order to identify potential problems early on.
It is never too late to seek help for an alcohol problem. If your elderly loved one needs help for excessive alcohol consumption, contact Alcoholics Anonymous or another 12-step program in order to find support.
● If you’re unsure about the amount of alcohol that’s safe for your elderly loved one to drink, talk with his or her doctor.
The Road to Recovery
Avoiding alcohol consumption is a vital part of treatment and recovery for all types of brain damage and dementia caused by drinking. If you suspect someone you care about is suffering from alcohol withdrawal, get ready for the possibility that they may require hospitalization.
Sweating, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, agitation, delirium, hallucinations, and even convulsions can all be signs of cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment.
Treatment necessitates monitoring loved ones with breathalyzers and blood tests, along with therapy and guidance to keep them off alcohol.
Possible choices include in-patient drug and alcohol rehabilitation, as well as the use of prescription drugs to suppress alcohol cravings. Inside a treatment center, there will be more intensive treatment options, including the use of psychotherapy and medication.
The doctor or treatment center may recommend that you seek support services on your own, such as attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or following Al-Anon programs with your loved one. It’s also important to educate yourself about alcohol abuse so you can identify warning signs earlier on.
While the road to recovery is never easy, you can be there for your loved one every step of the journey.
Consult with your loved one’s doctor about treatment alternatives and resources.
