My brother has this from alcohol abuse. He’s in a full time care facility. Whet ever he is reading, becomes his life. What ever he dreams becomes his life. When he awakens, he has no idea where he is, why he’s there and why everyone knows him with familiarity. He is terrified every single day. He calls me several times a week for the past 10 years and I lie. I explain what’s happened, he listens, he asks questions and inevitably asks “am I getting better? If I’m getting better I can do this”. And I tell him, you’re better today than yesterday. He’s got the personality, humor and intelligence of my brother, if you didn’t know it, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong. I wouldn’t wish this on my enemy. One interesting aspect is, he remembers people in his past, even those he disliked but now, he doesn’t dislike them. He speaks of those people fondly. It’s really odd.
That is an intense situation. I just lost my brother to alcoholism. His last few months alive I had his number blocked because him and his wife were completely out of control. At one point she called my job trying to get me fired. I wish I could've been there for him and shared his pain but the situation he was in and the drug addicts he had surrounded himself with were just too out of control.
@@TheHudsonValleyWanderer When it gets to the point of endangering your own life, even your own way of life you’ve probably worked hard to achieve, I am on the side of self preservation. I definitely understand the guilt. Gotta take care of yourself though. Thanks for responding. Be safe and I hope you’re doing well.
WOW, you described my sister, a decades long alcoholic. Violent outbursts, repeats conversation (10x), memory issues, delusional thoughts, and voices in her head. We had an Uncle who died from alcoholism w/similar personality. I doubt she would ever seek treatment, but your video explains a lot!!
I am a nursing student and our nursing books have failed to really explain this syndrome well. I needed to know what I was really reading about and this video is excellent! Thank you, Dr. Colby.
I had an argument with my cousin who is a fairly new physician about Wernicke encephalopathy. He told me it ONLY happens due to liver cirrhosis LMAO!! I told him about thiamine...he didn't even know what thiamine was and got mad at me like I was a regular science denier or an illiterate insignificant layperson. This is just crazy, absolutely crazy. To be honest I am SO MAD that thiamine isn't in letters in supermarkets or public health campaigns. At the very least in hospital waiting rooms. This is just CRAZY. That we don't know about this. So many mothers are concerned about their kids eating fruit nowadays...they should be giving them a chicken leg instead of a piece of fruit low in thiamine. Oh and there are other causes too like sulfites. Sulfites used as preservatives destroy thiamine in food and it has been linked to thiamine deficiency in dogs eating food with sulfites. Im so disappointed with WHO and other public health orgs. in my mind, this is worse than covid.
Thank you for your post, Rodrigo. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) state that sulfites are generally safe to use in food, except for in foods that are a substantial source of thiamine.
@mermaid dream in the case of thiamine its just ignorance and indifference. I wish it was like a conspiracy of the alcohol industry and big pharma but not. Just ignorance
it really seems that the powers that be clearly WANT people to be ignorant of how to protect themselves from alcohol induced vitamin b1 deficiency ; it's good for the medical industrial complex in terms of $$$ ; it's a sick society we live in . Wake up and get educated.
Before I quit drinking a few years ago I had symptoms of this. What happens, I think, is that the alcoholic stops consuming food and real nutrition and substitutes alcohol to supple himself with the calories. Therefore a B complex vitamin deficiency ensues and there you have it. The neurons (nerve cells, including those of the brain) are starved of nutrition and a nutritional deficiency occurs.The hallucinations seen during bouts of even borderline delirium tremens (the "dry DT''s") can be frightening, compounding the misery.
Actually, yes the alcoholic often doesn't eat right and doesn't get the B1, but more importantly an alcoholic can't absorb the B1 because of the alcohol. That's why they need it intravenously.
I kept telling everyone my husband has had a change in personality. He's gone from dr. to dr. and nobody caught this! What the frack? He became mean, lazy, and basically checked out. Finally, I found information on this and even he agrees that this described him. I have him on high doses of benfotiamine. He's slowly improving. Why don't doctors check this as a routine? B1 deficiency is serious.
My husband is in the hospital currently and his doc is suspecting this😢the past year my husband has changed into someone I have never imagined, mean, accusing of crazy stuff, sleeps all the time, ect. It’s now sadly making sense, needing prayers for him🙏😢
Thank you for making this video. My dad passed away last year and he had all the symptoms of korsakoff syndrome but wasnt treated for it nor did the doctors ever test for it.
@@ohdwightI’m going through this with a relative right now and it honestly seems like by the time the doctors will acknowledge this for what it really is it’s almost too late
Hi Dr Colby, I was diagnosed with Wernicke's Encepalopathy about 3 years ago and I'm thrillled to say that I'm 100 % recovered from it. (I requsted an MRI) The ccan was normal. My Gamma GT was something like 806 (my most deranged enzymn result) and it is now 22, so is totally within normal range. I was an inpatient at Kings College Hospital, and I was immediately treated with IV Thiamine, by an amazing team. I am not totally recovered from my Nystagmus (My eyes are 100% normal in the prime position) but I still have very mild downbeat Nystagmus, which I think has plateaued, and may never completely reverse. I was discharged by my Opthalmologist about 6 months ago, which is great. When I was in hospital and my Nystagmus was visible to the naked eye, the consultant subsequently informed me that on presentation, I was in the top 10 of most worrying and severe cases he had EVER seen in a 28 year career, so I have done well. I have been a professional actor for 26 years and counting. I mainly shoot movies these days, but over the years I have done a cacophany of medical role play work: RCGP, and Royal College Of Psychiatrists (to name 2 of many)...... including working on The CASC Exams in Sheffield, so I am FAR better medically aware/informed than your ''average punter!' I had even role played 'Wernicke's Encepalopathy' many times; so needless to say, it was a kick in the bollocks to actually be diagnosed with it in real life! I was also a voluntary inpatient at SLAM'S The Maudsley Hospital, and over the years I have also shot several training films for that hospital, that were even filmed there, so again, that for me was a mahoosive head fuck, lemme tell ya. The most astonishing/terrifying aspect of your video, that I've just watched was the fact that 80 to 90% of Encepalopathy diagnosed patients then develop the Cronic and irreversible KORSAFOFF, so it is NEVER lost on me that through a titanic mental breakdown and a years HUGE alcahol intake I VERY nearly became irreversibly brain damed and basically even DEAD. It's obvious that you are a superlative doctor, because you are very down to earth, and you communicate very clearly and warmly. My name is Shaun. Cheers, & my very best wishes.
HI Shaun, Thank you very much for sharing this, and I am so pleased that you have recovered form Wernicke's Encephalopathy and did not progress to Korsakoff's Syndrome. Best wishes, Beth
I'm an anorexic recovering alcoholic who's always bumping into stuff, although I am beginning to mount actual concern for my health, but I'm getting a kick out of how I exhibit about 90 percent of symptoms of this and brain tumor. Once I get that seizure and level up though I'ma be walking to the doctor
Very well done my friend. My sister Gloria died from this in Texas recently this year. I try to tell my family and friends that we are dying to early due to malnutrition. Whenever I bring up the subject people get irritated. Healing is a message of the bible. God does not self destruct. That's why he sent Jesus and the holy spirit. My son attended to my word's...
Yeap. This is what my mother in law of 78 year old has.She must have drank a ton of red wine during the lockdown being by herself with cats. She was evicted from her apartment of almost 30 years from forgetting to pay rent in 2023. She blames the landlord. She is with me and her 54 yo son which she doesn’t recognize. We are working on putting her on memory care
Thank you for your description. I imagine this can be extremely difficult to diagnose for clinicians. Do family members usually realize something is wrong and speak with clinicians? My mother has late onset alcoholism and is now 61, she’s been drinking heavily for 10 years. Lately, there’s been a few “memories” she’s brought up that haven’t happened but she looks at me like I am crazy. 🤷🏽♀️
I had never heard of this although it sounds like it’s identification has been around for decades. Can this syndrome be developed in utero? We adopted our children from Russia 15 years ago. Both parents were alcoholics and we have been trying to get them diagnosed for years with FASD issues but now it is no longer recognized in the US. However their systems sound very similar to this syndrome but the doctors here in the states keep wanting to test them for Autism. TIA
Thank you for this post, Carol. Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome does not occur in utero. In 2013, this was put into DSM-5; 'Neurobehavioral Disorder Associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE) is a new psychiatric diagnosis in the DSM-5. It requires evidence of both prenatal alcohol exposure and CNS involvement, as indicated by impairments in the following three areas: cognition, self-regulation, and adaptive functioning'. FASDs are on the CDC website and on the Mayo clinic website. Best wishes, Beth
Thank you so much for this video. You explained everything so well. What is the best way to restore thiamine if someone is found to be extremely deficient?
Hi Stephanie. If somebody has been sober for a year, their digestive system should be able to absorb thiamine, so I don't think that intravenous thiamine would be necessary. If somebody has Korsakoff's Syndrome, the symptoms are not reversible, I am afraid. Best wishes, Beth
Wernicke Korsakoff Syndrome is caused by a lack of thiamine (vitamin B1), not by head injury. Although people with alcohol addiction may get WKS and may be more likely to fall, causing a head injury, so would have both problems at the same time, but one does not cause the other.
Hi Dan, thank you for your post. Some people with beri beri have had a diet high in carbohydrates and low in protein, in addition to lacking thiamine (B1). It is the lack of thiamine that is the cause of beriberi. It is more common in people who eat polished rice and lack other sources of thiamine, as it is the covering of the rice that contains thiamine.
Sorry about that. I am not able to recite everything, and sometimes have a small gap between word within sentences, so I do cuts to make the speech flow more freely.
Before I quit drinking a few years ago I had symptoms of this. What happens, I think, is that the alcoholic stops consuming food and real nutrition and substitutes alcohol to supple himself with the calories. Therefore a B complex vitamin deficiency ensues and there you have it. The neurons (nerve cells, including those of the brain) are starved of nutrition and a nutritional deficiency occurs.The hallucinations seen during bouts of even borderline delirium tremens (the "dry DT''s") can be frightening, compounding the misery.
My brother has this from alcohol abuse. He’s in a full time care facility. Whet ever he is reading, becomes his life. What ever he dreams becomes his life. When he awakens, he has no idea where he is, why he’s there and why everyone knows him with familiarity. He is terrified every single day. He calls me several times a week for the past 10 years and I lie. I explain what’s happened, he listens, he asks questions and inevitably asks “am I getting better? If I’m getting better I can do this”. And I tell him, you’re better today than yesterday. He’s got the personality, humor and intelligence of my brother, if you didn’t know it, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong. I wouldn’t wish this on my enemy. One interesting aspect is, he remembers people in his past, even those he disliked but now, he doesn’t dislike them. He speaks of those people fondly. It’s really odd.
That is an intense situation. I just lost my brother to alcoholism. His last few months alive I had his number blocked because him and his wife were completely out of control. At one point she called my job trying to get me fired. I wish I could've been there for him and shared his pain but the situation he was in and the drug addicts he had surrounded himself with were just too out of control.
@@TheHudsonValleyWanderer When it gets to the point of endangering your own life, even your own way of life you’ve probably worked hard to achieve, I am on the side of self preservation. I definitely understand the guilt. Gotta take care of yourself though. Thanks for responding. Be safe and I hope you’re doing well.
WOW, you described my sister, a decades long alcoholic. Violent outbursts, repeats conversation (10x), memory issues, delusional thoughts, and voices in her head. We had an Uncle who died from alcoholism w/similar personality. I doubt she would ever seek treatment, but your video explains a lot!!
I am a nursing student and our nursing books have failed to really explain this syndrome well. I needed to know what I was really reading about and this video is excellent! Thank you, Dr. Colby.
Thanks, Rebekah! Glad you found this helpful. Best wishes, Beth
I had an argument with my cousin who is a fairly new physician about Wernicke encephalopathy. He told me it ONLY happens due to liver cirrhosis LMAO!! I told him about thiamine...he didn't even know what thiamine was and got mad at me like I was a regular science denier or an illiterate insignificant layperson. This is just crazy, absolutely crazy.
To be honest I am SO MAD that thiamine isn't in letters in supermarkets or public health campaigns. At the very least in hospital waiting rooms. This is just CRAZY. That we don't know about this. So many mothers are concerned about their kids eating fruit nowadays...they should be giving them a chicken leg instead of a piece of fruit low in thiamine.
Oh and there are other causes too like sulfites. Sulfites used as preservatives destroy thiamine in food and it has been linked to thiamine deficiency in dogs eating food with sulfites. Im so disappointed with WHO and other public health orgs. in my mind, this is worse than covid.
Thank you for your post, Rodrigo. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) state that sulfites are generally safe to use in food, except for in foods that are a substantial source of thiamine.
@mermaid dream in the case of thiamine its just ignorance and indifference. I wish it was like a conspiracy of the alcohol industry and big pharma but not. Just ignorance
Thank you for reminding me how dumb many physicians really are.
it really seems that the powers that be clearly WANT people to be ignorant of how to protect themselves from alcohol induced vitamin b1 deficiency ; it's good for the medical industrial complex in terms of $$$ ; it's a sick society we live in . Wake up and get educated.
@@DrBethColby, who still trusts what the FDA says??? Not me!
Before I quit drinking a few years ago I had symptoms of this. What happens, I think, is that the alcoholic stops consuming food and real nutrition and substitutes alcohol to supple himself with the calories. Therefore a B complex vitamin deficiency ensues and there you have it. The neurons (nerve cells, including those of the brain) are starved of nutrition and a nutritional deficiency occurs.The hallucinations seen during bouts of even borderline delirium tremens (the "dry DT''s") can be frightening, compounding the misery.
Actually, yes the alcoholic often doesn't eat right and doesn't get the B1, but more importantly an alcoholic can't absorb the B1 because of the alcohol. That's why they need it intravenously.
I kept telling everyone my husband has had a change in personality. He's gone from dr. to dr. and nobody caught this! What the frack? He became mean, lazy, and basically checked out. Finally, I found information on this and even he agrees that this described him. I have him on high doses of benfotiamine. He's slowly improving. Why don't doctors check this as a routine? B1 deficiency is serious.
Thanks for posting this, Rebekka. Best wishes, Beth
My husband is in the hospital currently and his doc is suspecting this😢the past year my husband has changed into someone I have never imagined, mean, accusing of crazy stuff, sleeps all the time, ect. It’s now sadly making sense, needing prayers for him🙏😢
Thank you for making this video. My dad passed away last year and he had all the symptoms of korsakoff syndrome but wasnt treated for it nor did the doctors ever test for it.
You are very welcome. Sorry to hear of your loss. Best wishes, Beth
i read it's usually at autopsy when people find out about it ; ridiculous society we live in.
@@ohdwightI’m going through this with a relative right now and it honestly seems like by the time the doctors will acknowledge this for what it really is it’s almost too late
Most doctors I've talked to don't know anything about korsakoff's. They definitely do not think of B1
My ex and my
Daughter. Both died from alcohol😢
Really sorry to hear this. Best wishes, Beth
So very sad!
Thank you so much for your talk.
It's my pleasure
Hi Dr Colby, I was diagnosed with Wernicke's Encepalopathy about 3 years ago and I'm thrillled to say that I'm 100 % recovered from it. (I requsted an MRI) The ccan was normal. My Gamma GT was something like 806 (my most deranged enzymn result) and it is now 22, so is totally within normal range. I was an inpatient at Kings College Hospital, and I was immediately treated with IV Thiamine, by an amazing team. I am not totally recovered from my Nystagmus (My eyes are 100% normal in the prime position) but I still have very mild downbeat Nystagmus, which I think has plateaued, and may never completely reverse. I was discharged by my Opthalmologist about 6 months ago, which is great. When I was in hospital and my Nystagmus was visible to the naked eye, the consultant subsequently informed me that on presentation, I was in the top 10 of most worrying and severe cases he had EVER seen in a 28 year career, so I have done well.
I have been a professional actor for 26 years and counting. I mainly shoot movies these days, but over the years I have done a cacophany of medical role play work: RCGP, and Royal College Of Psychiatrists (to name 2 of many)...... including working on The CASC Exams in Sheffield, so I am FAR better medically aware/informed than your ''average punter!' I had even role played 'Wernicke's Encepalopathy' many times; so needless to say, it was a kick in the bollocks to actually be diagnosed with it in real life! I was also a voluntary inpatient at SLAM'S The Maudsley Hospital, and over the years I have also shot several training films for that hospital, that were even filmed there, so again, that for me was a mahoosive head fuck, lemme tell ya. The most astonishing/terrifying aspect of your video, that I've just watched was the fact that 80 to 90% of Encepalopathy diagnosed patients then develop the Cronic and irreversible KORSAFOFF, so it is NEVER lost on me that through a titanic mental breakdown and a years HUGE alcahol intake I VERY nearly became irreversibly brain damed and basically even DEAD. It's obvious that you are a superlative doctor, because you are very down to earth, and you communicate very clearly and warmly. My name is Shaun. Cheers, & my very best wishes.
HI Shaun,
Thank you very much for sharing this, and I am so pleased that you have recovered form Wernicke's Encephalopathy and did not progress to Korsakoff's Syndrome.
Best wishes, Beth
I'm an anorexic recovering alcoholic who's always bumping into stuff, although I am beginning to mount actual concern for my health, but I'm getting a kick out of how I exhibit about 90 percent of symptoms of this and brain tumor. Once I get that seizure and level up though I'ma be walking to the doctor
Very well done my friend. My sister Gloria died from this in Texas recently this year. I try to tell my family and friends that we are dying to early due to malnutrition. Whenever I bring up the subject people get irritated. Healing is a message of the bible.
God does not self destruct. That's why he sent Jesus and the holy spirit. My son attended to my word's...
Thank you for sharing this, Gerardo.
Best wishes,
Beth
Yeap. This is what my mother in law of 78 year old has.She must have drank a ton of red wine during the lockdown being by herself with cats. She was evicted from her apartment of almost 30 years from forgetting to pay rent in 2023. She blames the landlord. She is with me and her 54 yo son which she doesn’t recognize. We are working on putting her on memory care
Thank you for your description. I imagine this can be extremely difficult to diagnose for clinicians. Do family members usually realize something is wrong and speak with clinicians? My mother has late onset alcoholism and is now 61, she’s been drinking heavily for 10 years. Lately, there’s been a few “memories” she’s brought up that haven’t happened but she looks at me like I am crazy. 🤷🏽♀️
I had never heard of this although it sounds like it’s identification has been around for decades. Can this syndrome be developed in utero? We adopted our children from Russia 15 years ago. Both parents were alcoholics and we have been trying to get them diagnosed for years with FASD issues but now it is no longer recognized in the US. However their systems sound very similar to this syndrome but the doctors here in the states keep wanting to test them for Autism. TIA
Thank you for this post, Carol.
Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome does not occur in utero.
In 2013, this was put into DSM-5;
'Neurobehavioral Disorder Associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE) is a new psychiatric diagnosis in the DSM-5. It requires evidence of both prenatal alcohol exposure and CNS involvement, as indicated by impairments in the following three areas: cognition, self-regulation, and adaptive functioning'.
FASDs are on the CDC website and on the Mayo clinic website.
Best wishes,
Beth
Thank you so much for this video. You explained everything so well. What is the best way to restore thiamine if someone is found to be extremely deficient?
The person needs to be given thismine intravenously.
@@DrBethColby thank you very much for replying!
Usually in a medical setting they use a "Pabrinex" a strong injectable iv mixture of B and C vitamins
Will thiamine work intravenously if you’ve been sober for a year?
Hi Stephanie. If somebody has been sober for a year, their digestive system should be able to absorb thiamine, so I don't think that intravenous thiamine would be necessary. If somebody has Korsakoff's Syndrome, the symptoms are not reversible, I am afraid. Best wishes, Beth
Can severe frontal lobe injury lead to WKS?
Wernicke Korsakoff Syndrome is caused by a lack of thiamine (vitamin B1), not by head injury. Although people with alcohol addiction may get WKS and may be more likely to fall, causing a head injury, so would have both problems at the same time, but one does not cause the other.
Excess carbs cause beri beri
Hi Dan, thank you for your post. Some people with beri beri have had a diet high in carbohydrates and low in protein, in addition to lacking thiamine (B1). It is the lack of thiamine that is the cause of beriberi. It is more common in people who eat polished rice and lack other sources of thiamine, as it is the covering of the rice that contains thiamine.
❤ 😂 🍸
🧠 = 💩
Please use less cuts in your video in the future. It's really unnerving and unnatural to watch.
Sorry about that. I am not able to recite everything, and sometimes have a small gap between word within sentences, so I do cuts to make the speech flow more freely.
or you could just look away and listen... problem solved.
Before I quit drinking a few years ago I had symptoms of this. What happens, I think, is that the alcoholic stops consuming food and real nutrition and substitutes alcohol to supple himself with the calories. Therefore a B complex vitamin deficiency ensues and there you have it. The neurons (nerve cells, including those of the brain) are starved of nutrition and a nutritional deficiency occurs.The hallucinations seen during bouts of even borderline delirium tremens (the "dry DT''s") can be frightening, compounding the misery.
It's a b1 deficiency