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Danger of Excessive Drinking
Daira, 36, sought treatment at Life Bridge struggling with issues of pervasive alcohol consumption and significant sadness. The once gregarious teen with limitless potential became the very reclusive and depressed middle-aged loner. Daria has been battling her addiction with alcohol for nearly 12-years now. She began drinking heavily after a long-term boyfriend began an affair with her best friend’s niece back in late 1995. The girl with “so much potential” went down hill fast as the only solace Daria seemed to find was in a bottle of alcohol. Daria called it “drinking her pain away.” After a family based intervention made some headway and Daria accepted the help of her mother and agreed to a comprehensive assessment and SPECT scan series.
Case description
Daria’s assessment process was extensive due to the fact that she had been drinking alcohol heavily for over a decade. On top of depriving her brain of nutrients from her excessive alcohol consumption Daria was also not ingesting proper nutrition. Daria told us that in some cases, she would not eat for days at a time. Daria was sent to an affiliate neurosciences lab and we discovered that she had some significant B-vitamin deficiencies, a specific food allergy and some metabolic complications. There was also a neurotransmitter deficiency noted. In addition, our clinical staff identified some recent symptoms meeting the criterion for a depressive episode. These episodes were not present prior to Daria’s alcohol dependence as we had an involved family of historians.
ETOH Dependence/Mood Symptoms
1. Daria’s surface scans indicated that she had increased hypoperfusion over most of her cortical surfaces. The cortex did have some improvement during her “concentration” scan, but there was still pronounced hypoperfusion in both studies.
2.Daria’s cortical scans had indications of significant toxic exposure pronounced in the parasagittal regions of the frontal, motor & parietal corticaces.
3. In addition, decreased tracer activity was found in the cerebellum with only minimal gain during the concentration protocol. There was no presence of executive dysfunction.
4. There was increased tracer activity in the thalamic area with little change between rest and concentration.
5. Inferior Orbits showed decreased activity mainly on the left side, with minimal improvements during concentration.
6. The medial temporal lobes on both the left and right sides had some moderate decreases, more pronounced on the right side.
LifeBridge Treatment Plan
Daria’s treatment plan included specific dietary interventions to begin working on some of her metabolic complications. Her food allergy was identified and future dietary restrictions were applied. Daria was given some supplements from our compounding pharmacist affiliate to help her deal with issues related to neurotransmitter levels and B-vitamin deficiencies. Daria also completed 40 sessions of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in a period of 1 month. Daria was prescribed a serotonergic anti-depressant as well and attended 26 sessions of cognitive therapy for her depressed thoughts.
Treatment Update
Daria stated that she still has cravings to drink alcohol however she has more “tools in her tool box” to keep from doing so. Daria has been attending AA and church related meetings regularly and has been doing well on her anti-depressant. Daria feels that her depression is more manageable and she strives to live her life to the fullest. Daria has been dating a fellow member of the recovery community and they both spend a great deal of time in the AA community both giving and receiving support to those that struggle with addictions.
