[Rooger]

This thread reminded me of some of the patients I've met the last couple of years.
As a med student in Denmark, you can take temporary shifts at hospitals, monitoring patients who need 24-hour care - some of the worst somatic patients, and some psych patients.

This especially reminded me of P. P was diagnosed with Korsakoffs syndrome, a condition following heavy alcohol abuse. The thiamine deficiancy damages your brain, with anterograde amnesia & confabulations as a result.
He was at a medial section, as his condition didn't make him a danger to himself or others, he just couldn't function very well in the society - therefore they had a hard time trying to transfer him to a psych section.

The anterograde amnesia meant he couldn't make new memories, although he remembered everything of his past.
You could tell him he was at a hospital, but 5 minutes later he would've forgotten - at the same time he could tell detailed stories about his life as a bartender, and the shady environment there.
As an ex-alcoholic, one of the things he had a lot of memories about was drinking. We would chat for a couple of minutes, and P would ask in a sneaky way if it wasn't time for us to get a beer and a schnapps. I would tell him drinking wasn't allowed in the hospital. 5 minutes would pass, and he would ask again if I'd like a beer - rinse and repeat for 8 hours [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

When he faced something he didn't remember, he confabulated. Kept making up the most insane stories. He loved playing backgammon, but couldn't quite remember the rules, which lead to the most bizzare games I have ever played.
He was easily correctable though - when he said he needed to get ammo in his room because he was going hunting, you could just say calmly that he was probably mixing it up with an old memory or appointment, he would think for a second, and agree.