Alcohol Dementia - Symptoms

Symptoms

Alcohol dementia presents as a global deterioration in intellectual function with memory not being specifically affected, but it may occur with other forms of dementia, resulting in a wide range of symptoms. Alcohol damages neurons, i.e., brain cells, throughout the brain. The lack of specific brain pathology has caused alcohol-related dementia to be under-recognized as a cause of intellectual loss.

Some alcohol dementia patients present with damage to the frontal lobes of their brain causing disinhibition, loss of planning and executive functions, and a disregard for the consequences of their behavior. Other types of alcohol-related dementia such as Korsakoff's Syndrome (see "Wet Brain" below) cause the destruction of certain areas of the brain, where changes in memory, primarily a loss of short term memory, are the main symptom. Most presentations of alcohol dementia are somewhere along the spectrum between a global dementia and Korsakoff's Psychosis, and may include symptoms of both.

Patients with alcoholic dementia may develop memory problems, language impairment, and an inability to perform complex motor tasks, like dressing. Patients may also develop apathy, irritability, and resistiveness. However, people who have alcohol-related dementia can have good verbal intelligence and their language skills may be preserved.

Heavy alcohol abuse damages the nerves in arms and legs, i.e. peripheral neuropathy, as well as the cerebellum that controls coordination, i.e. cerebellar ataxia. These patients frequently have problems with sensation in their extremities and may demonstrate unsteadiness on their feet.

Alcohol related dementia can produce a variety of psychiatric problems including psychosis (disconnection from reality), depression, anxiety, and personality changes. Patients with alcoholic dementia often develop apathy, related to frontal lobe damage, that may mimic depression. Alcoholics are more likely to become depressed than people who are not alcoholics, and it may be difficult to differentiate between depression and alcohol dementia.

The symptoms of alcohol dementia are essentially the same as the symptoms present in other types of dementia, making alcohol dementia difficult to diagnose. There are very few qualitative differences between alcohol dementia and Alzheimer's disease and it is therefore difficult to distinguish between the two. Some of these warning signs may include memory loss, difficulty performing familiar tasks, poor or impaired judgment and problems with language. However the biggest indicator is friends or family members reporting changes in personality.

Anyone who drinks excessive amounts of alcohol over a long period of time is at risk of succumbing to alcohol-related dementia. A male who drinks six or more alcoholic drinks a day is placing himself at a greater risk; the same goes for females who have four or more alcoholic drinks daily. However, this type of drinking would have to be sustained for a substantial amount of time.

The onset of alcohol dementia can occur as early as age thirty, although it is far more common that the dementia will reveal itself anywhere from age fifty to age seventy. The onset and the severity of this type of dementia is directly correlated to the amount of alcohol that a person consumes over his or her lifetime.

Alcohol has a direct effect on brain cells in the front part of the brain, resulting in poor judgment, difficulty making decisions, and lack of insight. Long-time alcohol abuse can often lead to poor nutrition problems causing parts of the brain to be damaged by vitamin deficiencies. These problems could also cause personality changes in some people.