Beriberi

Beriberi General Information

Beriberi Symptoms

Beriberi Treatment

Beriberi is a rare disease, but you must call your health care provider if you consider that your diet is inadequate or is not well balanced, but also if you or your children present any of the symptoms that have been listed here. Beriberi is a disorder that can be easily prevented by having a proper diet that contains enough vitamin B1 and all other elements that keep the illness away. People who drink too much alcohol should try to quit or at least to cut down their daily portion in order to enable their organism to properly store and absorb the vitamins, especially thiamine. Mothers who are nursing must be very careful to have a diet rich in all vitamins so that the infant will have the right quantity of thiamine. When seeing a specialist, he or she will do a physical examination to see if there are signs of congestive failure of the heart. This exam may reveal fluids in the lungs, a fast beat of the heart, swellings in both lower legs, and difficulties while breathing.

A neurological exam is needed in the last stage of the disorder because it may show drooping of the eyelids, decreased reflexes, and coordination difficulties, problems in a person’s walk or other more couple of changes. The level of thiamine in the blood is measured with the help of some blood tests. Urine tests are also very helpful to identify if vitamin B1 can pass through urine. The goal of any treatment for Beriberi is to replace the thiamine that a person’s organism is lacking with the help of supplements based on thiamine that can be administrated by mouth or through an injection given into the muscle (an intramuscular shot) or with a solution that goes intravenously (into the veins) given for a couple of days. If the health state of the patient is severe, the doses are high, but smaller dosage can be administrated after several days if the patient starts to recover. Some doctors give additional treatments with some other kinds of vitamins. After some days of therapy, the patient must be tested; usually blood is taken to see if the supplements determined a response from the patient’s organism. The recovery is dramatic and can occur within hours. The health of a patients suffering from Beriberi can transform within just an hour. The diet is very important during the treatment. Thiamine is contained in fresh foods, for example fresh green vegetables, milk, fresh meat, fruits, legumes and in unrefined cereals. If a patient suffers from heart failure, he or she may receive as additional treatment diuretics to help the fluid in excess to be eliminated. Physical therapies are extraordinary effects if a person develops peripheral neuropathy or some other more symptoms of dry Beriberi. When an infant has the disease, vitamin B1 is given both to the breast feeding mother and to the infant until normal and healthy levels are reached. Left untreated, this illness can cause the patient’s death. However, with the proper treatment, full recovery is assured. Although, when the acute heart failure appears, the prognosis is worrying.