Thiamine deficiency
Background
- Most common cause: chronic alcohol abuse
- Other causes: malabsorption, hemodialysis, chronic protein-calorie undernutrition
- IV dextrose can precipitate in patients with marginal thiamine stores
Thiamine deficiency types
Clinical Features
- Early/mild features:
- Anorexia
- Muscle cramps
- Paresthesias
- Irritability
- Advanced/severe deficiency
- See beriberi
- See Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
Differential Diagnosis
- Ethanol toxicity
- Alcohol use disorder
- Alcohol withdrawal
- Electrolyte/acid-base disorder
Vitamin deficiencies
- Vitamin A deficiency
- Vitamin B deficiencies
- Vitamin B1 deficiency (Thiamine)
- Vitamin B3 deficiency (Pellagra)
- Vitamin B9 deficiency (Folate)
- Vitamin B7 deficiency (Biotin)
- Vitamin B12 deficiency
- Vitamin C deficiency (Scurvy)
- Vitamin D deficiency (Rickets)
- Vitamin E deficiency
- Vitamin K deficiency
- Zinc deficiency
Evaluation
- Clinical diagnosis
Management
- Thiamine 50–100 mg IV for first few days, followed by 5-10mg PO daily
- Replete other vitamins/electrolytes that may also be depleted (i.e. banana bag)
- Replete thiamine before giving IV dextrose!
Disposition
Prevention
Vitamin Prophylaxis for Chronic alcoholics
- At risk for thiamine deficiency, but no symptoms: thiamine 100mg PO q day
- Give multivitamin PO; patient at risk for other vitamin deficiencies
Banana bag
The majority of chronic alcoholics do NOT require a banana bag[1][2]
- Thiamine 100mg IV
- Folate 1mg IV (cheaper PO)
- Multivitamin 1 tab IV (cheaper PO)
- Magnesium sulfate 2mg IV
- Normal saline as needed for hydration