Avoiding A 'Wet Brain'

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome or ’Wet Brain’ 

Background: In 1881, Carl Wernicke first described an illness that consisted of paralysis of eye movements, inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements, and mental confusion in 3 patients. The patients, 2 males with alcoholism with progression to coma and death. Wernicke detected holes and bleeding affecting the grey matter in some parts of the brain. 

S.S. Korsakoff, a Russian psychiatrist, described the disturbance of memory in the course of long-term alcoholism in a series of articles from 1887-1891. 

In 1897, Murawieff first postulated that a single cause of a disease was responsible for both syndromes – Wernicke syndrome and Korsakoff syndrome. Or, in common terms – ‘wet brain’. 

The term Wernicke encephalopathy is used to describe the symptom complex of paralysis of some nerves of the eye, inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements, and an acute confusional state. If persistent learning and memory deficits are present, the symptom complex is termed Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. 

Cause; A lack of thiamine (vitamin B-1) is responsible for the symptom manifested in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, and any condition resulting in a poor nutritional state places drinkers at risk. 

Heavy, long-term alcohol use is the most common association with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Alcohol interferes with active stomach juice transport, and chronic liver disease leads to decreased activation of thiamine, as well as a decreased capacity of the liver to store thiamine. 

Statistics 

* Prevalence data have come primarily from post-mortem studies, with rates of 1 to 3%. 

* The rate has been found to be significantly higher in specific populations, ie, homeless people, older people (especially those living alone or in isolation), and psychiatric inpatients, where alcohol use and poor nutritional states predominate. 

* The death rate is 10-20%. That is if you get it you have a 10 to 20% chance of an early death. 

* In general, full recovery of eye function occurs. Fine horizontal eye movement can persist in as many as 60% of cases. 

* Approximately 40% of patients have complete recovery from inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements. 

* Only 20% of patients recover completely from partial loss of memory deficit. 

* The rates of the disease are similar across races. 

* The condition affects males slightly more frequently than it affects females. 

* Age of onset is evenly distributed from 30-70 years. 

Eye/visual disturbances 

* Painless vision abnormalities 

* Double vision 

* squint 

Gait abnormalities 

* Wide-based, short-stepped gait 

* Inability to stand or walk without assistance 

Mental status changes 

* Apathy, indifference, insufficient speech 

* Hallucination, agitation 

* Confabulation: Patient fills in gaps of memory with data that can be recalled at that moment. 

Medical Care: Wernicke encephalopathy is a medical emergency. Prompt recognition of the symptoms and a high index of suspicion are crucial to ensure early treatment. Intravenous thiamine (50-100 mg) is the treatment of choice. 

alcohol drugs Wernicke Korsakoff Syndrome 

Functional Alcoholic? 

Early treatment can rapidly reverse the eye problems and improve inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements and early mental confusion, as well as prevent development of the partial loss of memory state. In advanced cases, where severe prolonged deficiency has led to permanent structural brain damage, permanent thinking deficits remain. 

 

Long-term alcohol use is the most common aetiology for Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, and abstinence provides the best chance for recovery. Referral to an alcohol recovery program should be part of the treatment regimen. 

A balanced diet should be resumed as early as possible. Vitamin and should be adhered to in addition to a well-balanced diet initially, and supplementation can be tapered as the patient resumes normal intake and demonstrates improvement. 

Due to gait abnormalities, unassisted ambulation is discouraged during the initial phase of treatment. Patients may require physical therapy evaluation for gait assistance. Gait abnormalities may be permanent, depending on the severity at initial presentation and the timeliness of therapy. 

Recovering patients will require outpatient follow-up care to evaluate for continued progress or relapse. 

Patients should continue taking thiamine supplementation, as well as other vitamins and electrolytes, until a well-balanced diet can be maintained. Long-term supplementation may be required in patients who cannot maintain adequate nutritional intake, whether from noncompliance or the underlying disorder. 

If you or someone you love or care about is in the grips of alcoholism, call us today for help with choosing addiction treatment options that is right for you at 07 56 066 315.

Web: www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

 

Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

About Coaching With Substance

 

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency. 

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association in Australia that focuses on wellness instead of illness, using coaching principles for peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. 

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance. 

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome. 

We also welcome enquiries from English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America. 

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance. 

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome. 

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America. 

Dealing with Trauma

The cost of SILENCE  dealing with trauma:

We have a human need to confess and to share our feelings.  

By Maria Pau of Coaching With Substance.

There are examples throughout cultures of the various types of confession - ranging from dream sharing in African tribes to confession rituals in North and South American tribal cultures, as well as confession in the church and a preponderance of support groups in our culture.

According to James Pennebaker, author of 'Opening Up' and researcher on the physical effects of withholding versus expression of emotion, inhibition has three serious effects on us physically. 

Inhibition is physical work: 

when people actively inhibit their thoughts, feelings and behaviour, they have to exert significant effort to restrain and hold back feeling. In the case of emotional inhibition, the work is constant. Inhibition affects short-term biological changes and long-term health. 

Inhibition is a cumulative stressor:

In the short term, inhibiting feelings results in immediate physical changes such as increased

perspiration, which can be measured through methods such as lie detector tests. "Over time, the work of inhibition serves as a cumulative stressed on the body, increasing the probability of illness and other stress related physical and psychological problems. Active inhibition can be viewed as one of many general stressors that affect the mind and body. Obviously, the harder one must work at inhibiting, the greater the stress on the body"

(Pennebaker).

Inhibition Influences Thinking Abilities

When we inhibit parts of our thinking and feeling, we are not able to think through significant events in our lives. Hence, we are prevented from understanding and then integrating that understanding into the larger context of our life pattern. "By not talking about an inhibited event,

for example, we usually do not translate the event into language. This prevents us from understanding and assimilating the event.  Consequently, significant experiences that are inhibited are likely to surface in the forms of

ruminations, dreams and associated thought disturbances" 

(Pennebaker).

The Role of Confrontation

Pennebaker has also found that, "Confrontation reduces the effects of

inhibition," reversing the detrimental physiological problems that result

from inhibition. When we make a lifestyle of openly confronting painful

feelings and we "resolve the trauma, there will be a lowering of the

overall stress on the body." 

Confrontation "forces a rethinking of events.  Confronting a trauma helps 

people understand and, ultimately, assimilate the

event. By talking or writing about previously inhibited experiences, people

translate the event into language. Once it is language-based, they can better

understand the experience and ultimately put it behind them" (Pennebaker).

This is a crucial part of developing the emotional literacy necessary for

recovery.

The Long-Term Effect of Childhood Trauma

Pennebaker's research was done with a research team which examined the progress of people who lost spouses by suicide or suddenly through accidental death—that is, recent traumas—as well as childhood trauma such as sexual abuse that occurred early in life. 

He found that childhood traumas affect overall health more than traumas that occurred within the last three

years, due to the cumulative stress on the body through long-term inhibition of feelings. When traumas are not resolved, they are not converted into

language, thought about and integrated into our overall pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving.

The obvious result of this, as I have observed over years of clinical experience, is that clients arrive at therapy, say in their mid-thirties, feeling as if their lives are puzzles with significant pieces missing. They may have trouble settling on a life's direction. They may be experiencing problems in

intimate relationships, or the thought of a long-term committed relationship overwhelms them.

Intimate relationships trigger unresolved pain from the past. Early childhood traumas such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, divorce - or seemingly lesser traumas such as being ignored or misunderstood by those whom we most wish to understand us and are dependent upon for our sense of healthy

connectedness - lie dormant within us if our coping style has been inhibition rather than confrontation and disclosure. Then the pain gets triggered without the understanding and self-awareness that we would have, had we gradually and over time resolved our feelings related to the trauma. 

The result of this is often a projection of early pain into the current relationship. That is, we see the trigger event or our current intimacy as the problem in and of itself. All too often it follows that our idea of the solution or way out of the pain is to dump or exit the relationship.

The deep excavating work of therapy is to make conscious these early wounds and convert them into words so that they can be felt and understood - to use the skills of emotional literacy. Only then can we place them in their proper perspective, giving them a context (where, when and how), so we can integrate them back into ourselves with understanding as to what happened and what meaning we made out of them, that we currently live by.

In Australia childhood trauma such as sexual and physical abuse and especially emotional abandonment in early development is rampant and for most part untreated. Hence our extremely high rates of Addiction, Codependency, Depression, Suicide, ADHD and ADD, as well as high rates of

relationship and family breakdown. Our true stats are a disgrace. Its time for some serious action. 

If you or someone you love relates to this information call us at  COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (CWS) INTERVENTIONS  PHONE 07 5606 6315 FOR IMMEDIATE HELP (7days). 

Email: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Meth Addiction Treatment Australia: The new face of ADDICTION in Australia.

The New FACE of Addiction in AUSTRALIA

Methamphetamine may have at one time been considered “the poor man'scocaine,' but it is no longer solely the domain of the financially challenged. Meth abuse is rampant in Australia, and an increasing number of people across a wide demographic are falling to the serious effects of these horrible drugs. Known as psychostimulants, the drugs include amphetamines, including methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy. Many are sniffed or snorted, although some can be swallowed or injected. The more potent, crystalline forms of methamphetamine - ice and crystal - are active only when smoked. As a stimulant, it inhibits the user's need for sleep. It also speeds up metabolism and contributes to extreme weight loss.It also causes a euphoric feeling in the user that leads to lowered inhibitions and increased sexual arousal.

A "meth" user can be described as a perpetually revving engine that

eventually burns out and can't be started again until fixed. Addicts have to

relearn so many things - things that you and I might take for granted. They

have to relearn how to enjoy food. They have to learn how to think again,

because on the drug the focus is narrowed. Sex is no longer the same off

the drug because when you're on “meth”, everything is so heightened - so

intense. That's why the relapse rate is so high. Many people can't break the

drug's hold. The pleasure experienced by a "meth addict" during the drug's

initial rush is equivalent to 10 orgasms. However, the damage it leaves

behind is just as extreme - and, in many cases, permanent.

The abuser will have a variety of cardiovascular problems, including:

Rapid heart rate

Irregular heartbeat

Increased blood pressure

Irreversible, stroke-producing damage to small blood vessels in the brain

Elevated body temperature

Convulsions

Continued use only worsens the damage:

Inflammation of the heart lining

Damaged blood vessels and skin abscesses

Violent behaviour

Paranoia

Anxiety

Confusion

Insomnia

Extreme weight loss

Social and occupational deterioration

Psychotic symptoms, such as visual and audio hallucinations that can persist

for months or years after use has ended.

Death.

Meth addiction can also cause something known as meth-mouth.

It affects those who smoke the drug and is caused when the user inhales the

heated vapours, which irritate and burn the sensitive skin inside the mouth,

creating sores that become infected.

Chronic users suffer from rotten teeth because their tooth enamel erodes.

Snorting the drug also causes "meth-mouth" because the drug drains into the

throat from the nasal passages.

Signs of meth-mouth include:

Dry mouth.      Meth dries out the salivary glands, which are meant to protect

tooth enamel, which protects against cavities.

Tooth decay.   Meth abusers are know for trying to fend off dry mouth by

drinking sugary substances. Tooth decay caused by meth abuse typically

starts at the gum line and eventually spreads to the entire tooth.

Cracked teeth. The drug can make users feel anxious or nervous, which

causes them to grind their teeth, developing cracks in the teeth.

Gum disease. Meth causes the blood vessels in the gums and teeth to shrink,

reducing blood flow. This, in turn, causes the tissue to break down and die.

The increase in Meth Addicts in the last 12 months alone has been 300% from 2 years ago. Not a good sign, however at least some people are starting to get help. If you or someone you love is in the grips of “Meth addiction” call us today for help or how to intervene.

If you or some you love is in the grips of Meth Addiction pick up the phone today for immediate help.

 Coaching With Substance (CWS) is Australia's No. 1 provider of Recovery Coaching Services and WINNER of 2014 Best Not-For-Profit in ALL Addictions.

Call us 07 56 066 315 (7days) Confidentiality assured.

Website www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au      

Email info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand.

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all.

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.