What is alcohol related dementia? Alcohol related dementia, as the name suggests, is a form of dementia related to the excessive drinking of alcohol.SkiptomaincontentMainnavigationBreadcrumbInformationAboutdementiaTypesofdementiaAlcoholrelateddementiaShare Twitter Facebook EmailListenListenAlcoholrelateddementiaShare Twitter Facebook EmailListenListenMainnavigationWhatisalcoholrelateddementia?Alcoholrelateddementia,asthenamesuggests,isaformofdementiarelatedtotheexcessivedrinkingofalcohol.Thisaffectsmemory,learningandothermentalfunctions.Korsakoff’ssyndromeandWernicke-Korsakoffsyndromeareparticularformsofalcoholrelatedbraininjurywhichmayberelatedtoalcoholrelateddementia.Whatisthecause?Itiscurrentlyunclearastowhetheralcoholhasadirecttoxiceffectonthebraincells,orwhetherthedamageisduetolackofthiamine,vitaminB1.Nutritionalproblems,whichoftenaccompanyconsistentorepisodicheavyuseofalcohol,arethoughttobecontributingfactors.Keypartsofthebrainmaysufferdamagethroughvitamindeficiencies,particularlymarkedlevelsofthiaminedeficiencyandthedirecteffectthatalcoholhasontheabsorptionanduseofthiamine.Whatarethesymptoms?Thiscanvaryfrompersontoperson,butgenerallysymptomswillinclude:ImpairedabilitytolearnthingsPersonalitychangesProblemswithmemoryDifficultywithclearandlogicalthinkingontaskswhichrequireplanning,organising,commonsensejudgementandsocialskillsProblemswithbalanceDecreasedinitiativeandspontaneity.Generallyskillslearnedearlierinlifeandoldhabitssuchaslanguageandgesturestendtoberelativelyunaffected.Whogetsalcoholrelateddementia?Anyonewhodrinksexcessiveamountsofalcoholoveraperiodofyearsmaydeveloptheseconditions,butmostdonot.ItisnotknownwhysomeveryheavydrinkersdevelopdementiaorWernicke-Korsakoffsyndromewhileothersdonot.Dietandotherlifestylefactorsmayplayarole.Theseconditionsmostcommonlyaffectmenovertheageof45withalonghistoryofalcoholabuse,thoughmenandwomenofanyagecanbeaffected.Theriskclearlyincreasesforanyonewhodrinkshighlevelsofalcoholonaregularbasisforalongtime.TheNationalHealth&Med