Alarm as alcohol-induced memory loss cases increases

“I do not know how I got home; my car does,”

“We did not have this conversation at all...”

These are common lines among Ambrose Mwatsanga friends and family after an array of alcoholic drinks the previous night. The 45-year-old businessman loves to catch up with friends over several alcoholic drinks every evening in town before snaking home driving under the influence of alcohol way past 10pm.

But how he gets home is puzzle, he says, given that he drives to his gate and parks. “Once I am on the wheel, I can hardly tell you what happens as I drive home; I just find myself at home,” Mwatsanga told The Standard on Saturday.

Even the risk of being involved in a fatal road accident does not shudder Mwatsanga who considers himself a social drinker.

Research now shows that a high daily alcohol intake can damage your mental health by impairing memory skills in years to come. Mwatsanga has been experiencing frequent memory slips and blackouts, which he says have affected his personal development and social skills, making it an embarrassing ordeal.

“It is not the first time we have agreed with friends over a drink that we will have an early appointment yet when they call in the morning I am quick to dispute it until I look at my phone records,” Mwatsanga says.

These bouts of memory loss have happened to other people who wake up unable to recall what happened last night. While people simply brush it off as a “normal” effect of alcohol, health experts have warned of an increase in memory loss triggered by lifestyle factors like alcoholism, diabetes, hypertension among other health conditions.

The World Health Organisation defines dementia as a syndrome in which there is deterioration in memory, thinking, behaviour and ability to perform everyday activities.

Recently, Mwatsanga says he has been having difficulty recognising familiar persons like workmates, friends and relatives adding that becoming forgetful and keeping appointments has become a hard task.

“I constantly get black-outs; but I never thought one day my brain would fail me when I need it most,” says Mwatsanga.

Comical as it seems that Kenyans cannot find their way home, but get there eventually, mental health specialists like Dr Pius Kigamwa warn that such declarations caused by memory slips could lead to permanent memory loss, a condition known as dementia. Also triggered by other conditions like Alzheimer’s, the particular type of memory loss associated with frequent imbibers is known as Alcohol Related Dementia

“Though some of these effects of alcohol intake are clearly evident after one or two drinks, some like memory loss are longer acting if you love your drink a bit too much and is later accompanied by cognitive decline,” said Dr Kigamwa, a consultant psychiatrist at Nairobi Hospital.

“Memory loss presents as a decline in your cognitive function where an individual finds it more difficult to learn new material and reproduce it, Dr Kigamwa adds.

He points out that though our brain cells die every day through the natural process of aging, this is accelerated by increased alcohol intake and other lifestyle factors. “Brain cells are irreplaceable and damage to these vital cells will impair how we make judgement in days to come,” Dr Kigamwa says.

KNH Consultant Pyschiatrist David Bukusi corroborates the concern by Dr Kigamwa on the increase of alcohol related dementia among people who partake alcohol, adding this is one of the problems in a world where people are living longer.

Dr Bukusi presented an anthology of the accelerated death of the brain cells due to lifestyle factors, especially alcoholism likening it to plucking branches from an aging tree and expecting it to have the same value of life.

“The branches will probably not grow back and the vivacity of this tree isn’t as alluring and attractive than if the branches had remained intact,” he said.

Dr Bukusi, who runs the youth and adolescent clinic at KNH, called for positive role models who from an early age would encourage the youth to engage in productive hobbies. “When your memory pathways are slowly dying and are irreplaceable, social capital is important to make it bearable,” he noted.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the number of persons with dementia globally is expected to double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050 if prevention measures are not aggressively addressed. That alcoholism is one of the trigger factors of memory loss comes as sad news for Kenya, a country rated as one of the alcoholic-vibrant nations regionally.

A 2010 WHO report on how nations drink shows that trouble is brewing given that Kenyan men drink nearly four times as much as the women and 15 per cent of men are rated as heavy drinkers.

According to the global health body, heavy drinking was categorised as consuming at least 60 grammes or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days.

This places Kenyans at a higher risk of developing alcoholic dementia which is a deterioration of mental functioning as a result of the intoxication.

According to Dr Kigamwa, alcoholic related dementia presents with impaired ability to learn things, memory and personality changes and difficulty with clear and logical thinking.

Alcoholic-related memory loss is one of the issues to be discussed at an upcoming Non-Communicable Diseases conference hosted by Nairobi Hospital next week where experts will analyse the effect of this and other lifestyle-related conditions on the Kenyan population.

 

Titled, ‘Prevention of dementia on the basis of modification of lifestyle and management of lifestyle-related diseases: a review,’ a paper published in April this year by Japanese researcher Nihon Rinsho showed that globally there was cognitive decline associated with lifestyle diseases like diabetes, alcohol intake, hypertension, amongst others.

Large quantities of alcohol, especially on an empty stomach, have been associated with blackouts where an intoxicated individual cannot recall key details of a social interaction or entire events.

Upon diagnosis that they are experiencing memory loss, most individuals react in what experts have categorised as the three D’s ; Denial, Disbelief and Dismay that their lifestyle could take such a dramatic turn on factors they could have controlled.

Dr Kigamwa adds that poor nutrition and other lifestyle factors have also been found to contribute to cognitive decline.

“The Kenyan demography is changing and we have more people living longer thus the importance of healthy lifestyles in order to delay the onset of obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle conditions that come with memory loss,” he adds.

Dr Kigamwa advises adoption of healthy eating habits, regular exercise and mental stimulation to prevent early onset of dementia.

In a Harvard Medical School journal published in August last year, researchers cited a type of memory loss associated with alcohol use known as Korsakoff’s syndrome caused by lack of vitamin B1, frequently associated with malnutrition in heavy drinkers.

“In this condition, long-term vitamin B1 deficiency combined with the toxic effects of alcohol on the brain can trigger sudden and dramatic amnesia. In some cases this memory loss is permanent, but if caught early, can be reversed to some degree,” read part of the research findings.

One of the most quoted and recognised study on the association of alcohol intake and memory loss is known as the Rotterdam Study in the Netherlands.

In this study carried out in 1990, 7,983 subjects aged 55 years and older were included in a prospective study where they were studied for six years on their alcohol intake against brain functioning. After six years of follow up, 197 incident cases of dementia were identified.

The respondents were divided into individuals who drank less than 1 drink of alcohol per week, more than 1 drink per week but less than 1 drink per day, 1 to 3 drinks per day, and more than 4 drinks per day.

The type of alcoholic beverage (wine, beer and spirits) was also recorded and the analysis showed that the risk of developing dementia was significantly lower in people who drank one to three drinks per week compared to those who consumed more than four drinks per day.

This particular study did not observe any difference between wine, beer or spirits. So should you stop drinking entirely?

The Rotterdam study found out that the possible beneficial effects of alcohol consumption on health were only apparent after age 40 in men and age 50 in women.

“Before that age, the consequences of alcohol consumption are more negative in terms of accidents, diseases directly linked to alcohol (cirrhosis, liver, mouth, larynx cancers, etc.) and the risk of alcohol addiction,” read excerpts of the globally acclaimed study.

“Simple daily habits aimed at challenging your mind include nutritious food, minimal stress, regular sleep pattern are some of the ways to keep your mind sharp and active,” Dr Kigamwa says.

So, as you have your drink this evening, spare a thought for your brain cells.