Wet Brain Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome: Definition, Causes, Treatment And Management

However, this is most effective in the early stages of the condition, where thiamine can still help to improve brain function. Thiamine is essential for converting sugar to energy in our bodies and creating chemical messengers in our brains. Not everyone with Wernicke’s encephalopathy will also develop Korsakoff’s psychosis; it typically develops due to misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment of the former condition. Anyone concerned about symptoms indicative of wet brain needs immediate medical attention. Our team is comprised of doctors, clinicians, therapists, mentors, and recovery coaches with decades of experience in the field.

• The cost of treatment will vary depending on what health insurance plan you have, but paying for rehab with health insurance can help mitigate the toll that addiction treatment can take on your wallet.
• It is important to have family and friends insist that the alcoholic stay and comply with the alcohol treatment program.
• If you or a loved one struggles with alcohol use and cannot cut back on drinking, there may be a danger of alcoholism.
• If you know someone who drinks regularly and has these symptoms, have them reach out to a treatment provider to discuss their treatment options.
• It can affect the brain, heart, liver, and pancreas, and put a person at a higher risk of certain cancers, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

How is Alcohol Misuse Connected to Wet Brain Syndrome?

Detox, medication-assisted treatment, therapy, and a supportive community are all needed to recover from AUD successfully. In particular, your brain cells need thiamine to synthesize several other enzymes. If thiamine is absent, these enzymes will not be created, and your brain cell’s metabolism will slow down. Individuals may experience confusion, difficulty with coordination and memory, and an overall sense of disorientation. Confusion, memory loss, confabulation, lack of insight, and changes in vision or eye movement. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, manifests through a spectrum of neurological and psychological symptoms that can evolve as the condition progresses.

What Is the Medical Term for Wet Brain?

Though treatable, if the condition goes too long without treatment or is misdiagnosed and incorrectly treated, it can permanently affect memory loss. Valley Spring Recovery Center offers comprehensive addiction and mental health treatment services. Contact our admissions team, available 24/7, to start your journey towards recovery. Thiamine is vital for the metabolism of glucose, the brain’s primary energy source.

Wet Brain: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment

We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs. A heavy drinker may drink more frequently or drink excessive amounts when drinking socially. If you have a history of AUD, or currently struggle with AUD, it helps to have your vitamin levels checked. Enter your phone number below to receive a free and confidential call from a treatment provider. According to the CDC, more than one million people die yearly of cirrhosis, including over 40,000 people in the United States.

• Chronic, long-term drinking can contribute to malnutrition by replacing foods needed for essential nutrients and by interfering with absorption, storage, or metabolism of the essential nutrients.
• Other vitamins and supplements which will help your body more effectively produce and utilize thiamine might also be recommended by your doctor.
• If untreated, wet brain can also lead to permanent brain damage that cannot be reversed, even if alcohol use is stopped and thiamine levels are fully replaced.
• The feeling of powerlessness is stifling as you watch someone you care about slowly deteriorate physically and mentally while they may even continue to refuse to admit their drinking is problematic.
• It’s also known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS), named after German neurologist Carl Wernicke and neuropsychiatrist Sergei Korsakoff.

The syndrome’s progression involves both Wernicke Encephalopathy and Korsakoff Psychosis, where damage to the brain results in long-term cognitive decline. Chronic thiamine deficiency due to prolonged alcohol abuse leads to neurodegeneration, particularly in areas of the brain responsible for memory and learning, such as the thalamus and mammillary bodies. Treating the alcohol use disorder, along with the health problems caused mush brain by chronic, heavy drinking, may be possible.