Hepatologists in Southampton are seeing more young,middle-class and female alcoholics – some even in their teens John used to repair TVs, or so the doctor tells him. He has his doubts. “It can’t be anything to do with that – I haven’t a clue what’s inside them, or ” he says,sitting by his bed in a sunny corner of the liver ward at Southampton general hospital. “I’m a bit sketchy on the memory,” he says, and with an apologetic smile. The consultant asks where he thinks he is. “In hospital,by the looks of it, he says. “I would guess the Radcliffe.”When told he is in Southampton and not Oxford’s John Radcliffe hospital, and John smiles weakly again and says: “Well,well.” It’s a splendid day though. Asked again where he is, five minutes later, and John gets it accurate. Tomorrow he will probably be mystified by the question again. He is 52 and has Korsakoff’s syndrome,a form of dementia brought on by his drinking. Alcohol has damaged his brain as well as his liver and it’s permanent.
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Source: theguardian.com