From Peter McCann
Belfast’s “Sunday Life” writes about teenage binge drinkers in Ulster being caught up in a deadly game of Russian Roulette – oblivious that they are risking a terrifying brain disease. They are referring to Korsakoffs psychosis and it is described as “a ticking time bomb” as young people are flooding clubs and pubs for bargain basement booze and happy hours. This is not just in Northern Ireland but across the whole UK and the Netherlands. Experts say that Korsakoffs is now beginning to emerge in people in their 30s and also appearing for the first time in women.
Korsakoffs can prove fatal for some for others it could mean a lifetime of care usually in inappropriate nursing homes, a lucky few can catch it in time and with total abstinence from alcohol and drugs can return to a somewhat normal life. What happens with Korsakoffs, well you lose your short term memory and you can suffer from disorientation and you develop an awkward gait. It must be ghastly remembering your youth but losing all knowledge of your life of recent years and even days.
Total abstinence is a must but the difficulty for some of these cases is that they cannot remember the danger that alcohol has for them and so if they are offered a drink they accept it.
Castle Craig is looking very seriously at helping patients with alcohol related brain damage and we hope before too long to have a specially designed package of treatment for these patients.
Monday, 21st August 2006
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Re: Belfast’s “Sunday Life”
by
Davidf
on Sat 02 Sep 2006 05:21 PM BST | Permanent Link
I thank god places like Castle Craig Exist. I thanks God I got the gift of being treated there. Re: Belfast’s “Sunday Life”
by
Jelly M
on Wed 13 Jun 2007 12:13 PM BST | Permanent Link
That's so true, many heavy drinkers have poor eating habits. Their nutrition is inadequate and will not contain essential vitamins.
Alcohol can inflame the stomach lining and impede the body's ability to absorb the key vitamins it receives. Korsakoff's syndrome may also occur in other conditions where there is severe malnutrition, but this is extremely rare. --- Narconon Vista Bay drug addiction treatment center providing drug education and rehab for over 40 years. Re: Belfast’s “Sunday Life”
by
minime
on Thu 14 Feb 2008 01:37 AM GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
After having addiction treatment for almost two years I'd accept to be treated here any day. If I loose some memories it's not a problem. Most of them are related to drinking and drug abuse. I hope I can still keep my life clean and I'll visit the hospital one day to congratulate the staff for their effort to help. I know how hard it was for my sponsor to keep me on the right track and he was only a volunteer.
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