Thiamine Deficiency aka Wernicke-Korsakoff - Can Anyone Else Relate?

This past Sunday I began exhibiting strange behaviors, loss of immediate memory of events, behaving like a lost 3 year old child, spaced out look in my eyes, etc. and my husband said to my best friend, who had spent the night with us - and I had no recollection she was even there - that he was taking me immediately to our closest hospital ER. They immediately admitted me and began various tests. They did and MRI on my head as I was apparently complaining of a violent migraine when I got there. I don't recall anything that happened that day. I was admitted to the hospital that night and they discovered in doing a blood workup that I was severely deficient on thiamine (B1). They immediately began in IV infusion of B1 along with magnesium in a separate infusion bag. They used morphine to get the migraine pain relieved. So from Monday through Wednesday I was given these infusions around the clock. No idea how many bags of B1 were infused. But I was discharged last night and came home. I'm looking for any ideas, anyone that has experienced this or has any input on my situation. thanks!

Wow, sorry to hear you had to go through that. Are you taking vitamin supplements. I take all my supplements in chewable forms, if possible. We don't absorb regular pills enough. Thank goodness so many vitamins come in gummy forms now.

I was taking all of my vitamins via capsules until about 4 months ago when I switched to the PatchMD. Apparently I do not absorb much of anything via my skin so no more PatchMD for me. I've not had any other serious issues until this stage. And I'm 7 years out from having my RYN. So I have contacted my surgeon's office and my PCP for further help. Just wanted to see if anyone else had ever experienced this effect. Thanks to all that replied and those in the future.

I also had a problem with the PatchMD patches in that I went anemic from iron deficiency while using their product. My bariatric nutritionist does not recommend them.

About half of people who have had gastric bypass will develop a thiamine deficiency according to Bariatric Times magazine. It is also common in alcoholics. I recently began taking high doses because in addition to the gastric bypass I have another medical condition that increases my risk for thiamine deficiency. Although my thiamine levels are within the normal range this is not always a good indicator as people can have subclinical deficiencies.

I think surgeons and RDNs do us a disservice by not suggesting we take a thiamine supplement. Deficiencies usually take a long time to manifest.

If you have not already, schedule an appointment with your primary or your bariatric surgeon - you need good medical advice for how to deal with this.

How much alcohol do you drink each week?

I don't drink or smoke anything at all. Finally got my B1 lab results today and it was a 9 based upon a scale that showed 8 - 30;

So glad your B1 is in the normal range. I wonder what foods have B1. I'll have to Google it. Definitely try the chewable vitamins. It has worked well for me. I get my iron infusions starting this Friday. I'll be the only happy patient at the cancer center infusion therapy clinic. I am happy I will start feeling better. It's been a while and being tired and the leg cramps, etc. gets old. Let me know what your doctor suggests you do to keep the B1 up. I may start adding a B complex or B1 vitamin to my regimen. I added vitamin E and biotin last year to try to slow down my cataracts. I can't do the fish oil. Yucky taste, Yucky side effects, and giant pills. Hopefully I won't need the fish oil some day. So far so good, except my iron.

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Actually my B1 was dangerously low, hence the reason I ended up in the ER and a subsequent 3 day hospital visit while they infused me with bags of B1 around the clock. I have to add the B1 vitamin supplement as you can't get enough via food only. My hubby is getting an iron infusion tomorrow as he has become anemic now. Up until the past few months I was getting iron infusions but now I'm on my 3rd phlebotomy (draining the iron out via blood letting). So all of a sudden all my symptoms went belly up from what they used to be and it must be due to my trying out the vitamin patches. It's now apparent that my skin does not absorb those vitamins via the patches.

Hi. I had a thiamine deficiency three /four months post op. I am three years post op and I still continue to take thiamine 100mg daily. So far no issues and my thiamine levels have been stable.