Alcohol Flashcards
screening tools
CAGE
AUDIT-C
GMAWS - withdrawal
CIWA - withdrawal
CAGE questionnaire
- have you ever felt you need to Cut down your drinking?
- have people Annoyed you by criticising your drinking?
- have you ever felt bad or Guilty about your drinking?
- have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning? Eye opener?
syptoms: alcohol withdrawal
most likely to occur in morning
1. agitation
2. tremor
3. retching
4. sweating
5. nausea
last 3-7 days
symptoms: hangover
- thirst
- lethargy
- dizziness
- vertigo
- increased sensitivity to light/sound
- anxiety
- dysphoria
- red eyes
- muscle ache
symtpoms: DTs
48-72 hours after last drink
agitation, confusion, paranoia, and visual and auditory hallucinations
- tachycardia
- hypotension
- tremor
- fits
- visual/tactile hallucinations
- paranoid delusions
- disorientation in time and space
- amnesia
tx: DTs
1st line oral lorazepam
tx: alcohol withdrawal
chlordiazepoxide
def: dual diagnosis
severe mental illhealth and drug+/- alcohol use
longer term tx: alcohol misuse
naltrexone - opioid receptor antagonist that blocks conditioned reinforcement (prevent relapse)
acamprosat - reduces cravings (maintenance of absitenence)
disulfram - with alcohol causes unpleasant side effects like nausea, flushing, sweating and tachycardia and used as a deterrant
presentation: Wernicke’s encephalopathy
triad - wide based gait ataxia, opthalmogplegia (nystagmus, conjugate gaze, bilateraly lateral rectus palsies) and confusion
impaired consciousness
memory disturbance
cause: Wernicke’s encephalopathy
thiamine (vit B1) deficienct due to decreased intake, decreased absorptionand decreased cell utilisation
tx: Wernicke’s encephalopathy
IV/IM pabrinex (thiamine) 2 sets of 2 vials for 5 days
def: Korsakoff’s syndrome
hypothalamic damage and cerebral atrophy due to thiamine deficiency
presentation: Korsakoff’s syndrome
- inability to acquire new memories
- confabulation
- lack of insight
- apathy
indications: alcohol detox
male >15 units/day
demale >10 units/day
