Many health insurance plans cover aspects like detox programs, therapy, medications, and rehabilitation services. It’s important to check with your insurance provider to understand your specific coverage and any out-of-pocket costs. Consistent practice, combined with proper medical care and a healthy lifestyle, can significantly aid the recovery of cognitive skills. Symptoms of alcohol related primary alcoholic dementia may significantly exacerbate cognitive deficits over time. A diagnosis is made by ruling out other causes of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia. Alcohol-related ‘dementia’ can also cause problems with a person’s mood, such as apathy, depression or irritability.

• Some people with ARBD will only have small changes to their thinking and memory, known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
• While the direct line between alcohol abuse and dementia is complex, certain forms of dementia are closely linked to alcoholism.
• However, alcohol-induced dementia is directly linked to excessive alcohol use and can sometimes improve with sustained sobriety and medical care.
• But Justo and his team suggest this may be because heavy drinkers died 13 years earlier on average than those who never drank.

What are the Risk Factors?

Early diagnosis and treatment, including stopping alcohol use and addressing nutritional needs, can slow or sometimes reverse its progression. Alcohol-related “dementia” is an umbrella term sometimes used to describe can alcoholism cause dementia a decline in cognitive function caused by chronic alcohol misuse. Although not strictly classified as dementia in the same way as Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia, alcohol-related dementia involves similar symptoms, including issues with memory, planning, and decision-making.

How can a person prevent the progression of alcoholic dementia?

What’s most important is making sure you’re safe and that you have ways to manage the symptoms. Your provider will suggest treatments to help you manage the symptoms you’re experiencing. But there’s no way heroin addiction to reverse the brain damage from alcohol-related dementia. You may also have a higher risk of traumatic brain injuries if you have alcohol-related dementia. Unsafe drinking increases your risk of falls, car accidents and other head injuries.

Treatment Programs by Location

The treatment for Wernicke-Korsakoff is that it may need immediate treatment with supportive care, thiamine supplements, and alcohol, which are a combination of medication, therapy, and lifestyle changes. Alcohol-related dementia is different from other types of dementia, such as vascular dementia. This is because it has unique symptoms that are linked to chronic alcohol abuse. While the direct line between alcohol abuse and dementia is complex, certain forms of dementia are closely linked to alcoholism. This neurocognitive disorder, attributed to thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency, is often found in chronic alcoholics.