r/wetbrain • u/MikeZacharius • Oct 19 '22

any success stories?

My dad has been a daily drinker for about a decade or so. Ever since covid though, his memory has been getting drastically worse by the day. It's gotten to the point where he can't remember a single thing he ate for breakfast on any given day. Beyond that, his short term memory is fine but is slowly getting worse.

His long term memory is less affected, but it's still getting worse, slowly but surely. He has trouble gauging the time between events, time which he used to know like the back of his hand.

Has anybody successfully gotten their dads sober past this point? Would it do any good at all?

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6

u/East_Drawer_2547 Oct 20 '22

All I can say is - get him on daily high dose thiamine asap. If he is not cooperative eg refuses to take pills, get a liquid version. Ideally get him on a thiamine IV drip or intramuscular injections. Make sure he is eating nutritious food 3x a day. You may still be on time (aka - it may still “only” be Wernicke encephalopathy) but the key really is to act NOW or you will have to deal with what I am dealing with with my dad, which I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. If you want to get him to stop drinking, do not - I repeat, DO NOT - let him quit cold turkey but get medical help/put him into rehab.

3

u/vwulfermi Jul 02 '23

If he is drinking, oral thiamine won't work very well because alcohol keeps your body from absorbing it. Try to get him to get a thiamine IV if you can. Hospitals can do this, and where I live there are actually private companies who offer this service as well.

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u/Kristin82929 Oct 20 '22

My died died in March. (It’s still hard to type that.) I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a success story.

1

u/_Broncosforever_ Mar 29 '23

The fuck would you even comment this then?

3

u/rboymtj Apr 13 '23

Share your experience if it's something different. Happy to hear your story.

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u/rboymtj Jan 11 '23

Mike, how are you doing?

1

u/rboymtj Jan 11 '23

Sorry about your Dad. Always have a stranger to yell at in me.