What Is Wet Brain? Identifying Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment

These three factors can lead to a wet brain, which can be helped with thiamine supplementation. Moreover, individuals with WKS experience other factors that contribute to seizure activity, such as electrolyte imbalances, alcohol withdrawal, and coexisting conditions like liver disease. The cumulative effects of these factors create a mush brain vulnerable neurological state, making seizures a potential complication of a wet brain. How life with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome continues depends on how severely someone is affected by the disease and wet brain symptoms.

Cognitive Decline and Daily Challenges

Clinically, these conditions are known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS)—a combination of Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s psychosis. Extensive abuse of alcohol, or alcoholism, carries a multitude of harmful health implications and side effects, such as developing a wet brain. Reports from the NIAAA show that up to 80 per cent of alcoholics may have thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiencies. Thiamine is a crucial vitamin responsible for helping the body metabolize and use sugars to create energy successfully.

Your addiction does not have to define who you are.

• Although alcohol misuse is a leading cause, any prolonged thiamine deficiency, regardless of its origin, can potentially lead to Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome.
• Thiamine supplements and a good diet can help individuals who face challenges with alcohol use.
• Long-term (chronic) alcohol use irritates your stomach and digestive tract.

Again, a wet brain occurs following a severe deficiency of vitamin B1 in your system. These symptoms develop over a few days or weeks, and they get progressively worse. Additionally, people suffering from alcoholism are less likely to consume well-rounded, healthy diets, which is how you get enough vitamin B1 into your system. It is an essential vitamin that is not produced naturally by your body, so it must be consumed from https://ujaladarpan.com/11-commonly-abused-otc-and-prescription-drugs/ outside sources. Our writers and reviewers are experienced professionals in medicine, addiction treatment, and healthcare.

Symptoms of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

The condition is also referred to as alcoholic dementia because of its ability to cause severe memory loss and induce hallucinations and behavioral changes, which are all hallmarks of dementia. People with Korsakoff’s psychosis experience memory loss and have difficulty forming new memories. You might find that they can narrate an ordeal to you in detail an hour after it happens but cannot remember it a few days later. Your physician may initially assess you to check for indicators of alcoholism alcoholism and wet brain.

This failure in diagnosis and treatment results in death for 20% of the patients, leading to permanent brain damage in 75% of them. 25% of the individuals require inpatient treatment and rehabilitation to receive effective care and support since they are usually the ones who have comorbidity in more than one domain. NCBI study said that only 1-20% of the cases are clinically diagnosed, whereas up to 80% are found on post mortem examination of the brains. People who regularly abuse alcohol for long periods of time are more likely than others to get wet brain, although it can also be caused by intense periods of vomiting or poor nutrition. Alcohol interferes with the body’s ability to absorb Vitamin B1, so people who binge drink on a regular basis or who consume large amounts of alcohol frequently may develop wet brain. In many cases, stopping or limiting alcohol use is essential to reduce the risk of developing Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.