Question:
I want to know something about dementia. Is alcohol related to dementia???

My mother has alcohol related dementia. The symptoms areAlzheimers-like but with alcoholism added. My father and I are at aloss on where to get information/guidance. I haven't found any websites relating directly to this problem although this one has provedvery useful. Do any of you have anyinformation sources you could pass along?

Answer: My dad was "diagnosed" with alcoholic dementia ca 1992. I put that inquotes because you really can't do a definitive diagnosis before deathand autopsy. His diagnosis was based on a history of alcohol abuseand therefore made sense to us. Now, two years after hisdementia-related death (due to aspiration pneumonia), in part becausemy sister vetoed an autopsy, I find myself wondering.... I recentlyput a query on the ALZ group out of wustl (which I highly recommend,by the way), and came away thinking dad may very well not havesuffered from alcoholic dementia, since his dementia progressed whenhe stopped drinking and he did not have any nutritional deficiencythat is associated with alcoholic dementia. In retrospect, which doesnot help my dad, I can only wonder whether he might have benefitedfrom Aricept (etc.), and I wish we had not been so willing to acceptthe seemingly reasonable diagnosis.

Anyway, in answer to your question, even though the aforementioned ALZgroup bears that name, you will find all sorts of dementiasrepresented. I did not find any good source for alcoholic dementia asa separate entity; the best you can do is use general dementia-relatedresources, and realize that there may be differences (but then thereare differences among people with AD too, so that says nothing).