Treatment
Treatment begins with intravenous or intramuscular injection of thiamine, followed by assessment of central nervous system and metabolic conditions. In the presence of sub-clinical thiamine deficiency, a large dose of sugar (especially glucose) can precipitate the onset of overt encephalopathy; therefore, correcting hypoglycemia should not be attempted before thiamine replenishment. Rehydration to restore blood volume should follow, as needed.
Prognosis depends on severity. When treated early, recovery is normally rapid and complete. Established Wernicke's encephalopathy, by contrast, can have serious long-term consequences, with patients requiring permanent in-patient care.
Read more about this topic: Wernicke's Encephalopathy
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, “Go to sleep by yourselves.” And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose successful treatment depends on the patient learning to love the analyst more and himself less.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“Judge Ginsburg’s selection should be a model—chosen on merit and not ideology, despite some naysaying, with little advance publicity. Her treatment could begin to overturn a terrible precedent: that is, that the most terrifying sentence among the accomplished in America has become, “Honey—the White House is on the phone.””
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)