Hi everyone, my husband has liver cirrosis from alchohol abuse. December he was admitted due to confusion and hallucinations which I assumed was HE as it had happended many times previously. The Dr and Neurologist come to the conclusion that he has Korsakoff disease and was treated with Thiamine. He was given a extra tablet Olanzapine for psychotic order. His been on it for a week . one at night .
During the night and early morning he is very confused. Has someone had the same experience. Regards to all
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Ninie
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Did his liver doc OK the increased Olanzapine? Or was this his neurologist's idea?
All medications and changes in dosage should be OK'd by the liver doc before any adjustments are made.
Korsakoff's symptoms are: loss of immediate (short term) memory; a person being unable to remember events of the past few minutes.
and "confabulation", invented memories which are then taken by the patient as true due to gaps in memory. They "remember things" that simply didn't happen and live only in the moment, losing all conception of "past & future".
Korsakoff's is usually diagnosed early in alcohol recovery & typically doesn't show up months later. It also doesn't change much with time, & from day to day.
HE is more of a brain fog, where the patient drifts in and out of la-la land. It typically is episodic in nature, and gets better some days and worse on others; often worse when blood ammonia levels are high and better when ammonia is low.
A med like Olanzapine may affect both Korsakoff's and HE. The wisdom of increasing this med should be considered carefully, and ALL of his doctors should be in agreement this is a smart thing to do.
Thank you, I tried talking to the Dr but have made another appointment to see him. Regards
in reply to
hi sorry to hear about your husband my nephew has had this for 7yrs he was frinking heavily and not eating and due to this ligestyle he was not getting the nutrients and vits required he was 43 when his was discoverd but his had gone to far before help he has been in a nursing home for 5of the seven yrs he has little to none short term memory and on conversations not any long term either he has not drunk alch for 6yr x
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Invisible illness and benefits
Raised ALT and GGT after surgery but worried about Hepatitis/other illnesses
ESA BENEFINT DOES NOT STAND DOR LONG TERM ILLNESS 
Feeling fed up of feeling ill 
Severe HE on top of everything else!
