Has anyone had any experience with Beriberi?

[Ilsa]

I'm talking about the thiamine, B1 deficiency. Sometimes, it presents with alcoholism. There can be wasting with it.

I know someone who was recently diagnosed with this after several missed diagnoses. But I know very little about outcomes other than what is on the internet. Can anyone share any personal experience on this?

For legal purposes, let me declare that I am not soliciting medical advice from anyone on DU. I'm not looking for how to treat the disease. I'm just looking to understand it better, the course of the physical treatment followed by counseling, etc.

[libodem]

1. I worked at a treatment center

And helped people through medical detox. One of our routine admission orders was to give an I'M injection of B1 and two grams of mag sulfate, one in each hip. Alcohol is detoxed in the liver and it takes Thimine for the process. It can deplete your stores. You need B1 to run your nerves and brain. If you are deficient you can also develop an alcoholic dementia. It's not the alcohol killing brain cells as we might assume. It's the lack of B1 for the brain that leads to Warnikees/Korsakoff's (sp) syndrome.

The cases I personally saw weren't beriberi that I know of. I did see wide stanced gait, like a drunk walk, and all the signs of poor nutrition, mean attitudes, dry skin, and one fella I took care of before I was an RN, had echolaylea (sp) and repeated everything he said once or twice. Poor dude. At least he was nice. I've had some cranky old drunks as patients.

[Ilsa]

2. Thank you for your story.

The person I'm concerned about is a young woman. She was misdiagnosed with Chrohn's, I heard, then she went to a larger city and got more thorough medical care.

Thank you for the facts on detox, the liver, and B1. These are details I had forgotten from med-surg nursing. And I don't have much recent experience in rehab/psych nursing issues.

Ii know some other information about beriberi now, and I'm very concerned for her prognosis.

[libodem]

3. Hope she does okay

I think of beriberi, like rickets, you just don't hear or that many nutrition related diseases these days. Best of luck.