# Quick Dementia Update **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438 "2012-05-19T16:31:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/1 "2012-05-19T16:31:32Z")
Looks like it’s back to my neurologist next week. I’m noticing changes in my gait and have come close to falling a couple of times. (No. I can’t even blame that on drinking. Other than a German beer every now and then, that’s it for me.) There’s one other thing: See that word “gait” up there? I originally spelled it as “gate” even though I knew what this post was going to be about. I know. You guys do it too, right? But I spend a LOT of time on the computer and have done it numerous times in a day. Guess I’ll mention it to the neuro guy and see what he says. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/2 "2012-05-19T16:37:50Z")
News Update: Doctors examine Quasi’s brain. Find nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/3 "2012-05-19T16:42:00Z")
**Quasi** : You should eat more salmon and mackerel. Every once in a while you need to oil your gait. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/4 "2012-05-19T16:56:11Z")
**TriP** , you’re a “trip” 🙂 Thanks for the laff. **John** , I take 2 fish oil capsules a day. Would that suffice? One of my FB friends suggested I should be placed in a sack made of hemp to be cremated. So why don’t y’all come on down, we’ll put some chairs around the crematory and you can inhale and be high for the wake, as my going away present to YOU!🙂 He also suggested being transported in a bicycle hearse! That’s something I’d do for sure! 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/5 "2012-05-19T16:58:44Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > He also suggested being transported in a bicycle hearse! That’s something I’d do for sure! 🙂 That would be _awesome!_ ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/6 "2012-05-19T21:02:29Z")
Best of luck… I’d hate to be aware of Alzheimers or dementia. That, locked-in-syndrome or permanent aphasia would scare the shit of me. On the other hand, I’d also like to be totally out of it and hooked up to morphine when I finally die. Maybe that can be arranged for you? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/7 "2012-05-19T21:24:56Z")
Worked for both of my parents (who were also my patients, btw) and they both had what was then called senile dementia, but they also had cancer, both of them. Alzheimer’s is a _type_ of dementia, **gamer**. There are ten kinds. 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/8 "2012-05-20T01:33:49Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > **TriP** , you’re a “trip” 🙂 Thanks for the laff. > > **John** , I take 2 fish oil capsules a day. Would that suffice? > > One of my FB friends suggested I should be placed in a sack made of hemp to be cremated. So why don’t y’all come on down, we’ll put some chairs around the crematory and you can inhale and be high for the wake, as my going away present to YOU!:)… > > Q Sounds like fun, but unless your FB friend suggested we wait until you’re _dead_, first, I don’t think he’s a real friend ;). ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/9 "2012-05-20T01:41:10Z")
Well that’s in my “last wishes” instructions to **D** , **Mama Zappa** : “Please tickle my feet, get that mirror out, get nekkid, and if I don’t react then, then and ONLY then let them pronounce me dead”. 🙂 I like to make her laugh. I think that’s why she keeps me around! 😉 Thanks Q I think I put too many “thens” in up there. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/10 "2012-05-20T04:07:08Z")
Didn’t find it ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/11 "2012-05-20T11:55:09Z")
Oh, make that “Alzheimers or another form of dementia” then. A neighbour died of brain cancer (started somewhere else and metastasised) and they were pretty peaceful by the time they went. They were in pain, but they were making plans for the summer due to pretty comprehensive amnesia. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/12 "2012-05-20T18:07:07Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Oh, make that “Alzheimers or another form of dementia” then. A neighbour died of brain cancer (started somewhere else and metastasised) and they were pretty peaceful by the time they went. They were in pain, but they were making plans for the summer due to pretty comprehensive amnesia. That’s a very sad story, **gamer**.:(. If the neighbor was in such a lot of pain, was he on a morphine drip at least? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/13 "2012-05-21T21:30:29Z")
… and it’s time of a colonoscopy as well. Which, I guess, is how they’ll find out if I have my head up my ass if they don’t find a brain! Speaking of “no brain”, the term "anatomical deadspace " is defined as that blank area between the ears. And then of course, there’s “fecal cephalic”, otherwise known as… ? 😉 Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/14 "2012-05-21T22:31:56Z")
**Quasi** , you have dementia? I don’t recall you ever telling us that before! ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/15 "2012-05-21T23:28:15Z")
_Rilllly_? 🙂 Better come and join the club then, **Chim**! :)🙂 Goddam, I truly love y’all so much! The humor keeps me going, and when I recognize it for what it is (such as this one), it really makes my day/night! I truly do apologize for sometimes not recognizing it, when y’all kid with me, but I hope y’all won’t let it detract from how much I appreciate all of you. Thanks so much! Bill ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/16 "2012-05-22T05:47:08Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > … and it’s time of a colonoscopy as well. Which, I guess, is how they’ll find out if I have my head up my ass if they don’t find a brain! > > Speaking of “no brain”, the term "anatomical deadspace " is defined as that blank area between the ears. > > And then of course, there’s “fecal cephalic”, otherwise known as… ? 😉 > > Thanks > > Q I misread that last, and was wondering what on earth “FETAL cephalic” meant ;). Good luck with the MRI etc. Have had fairly recent personal experience with all 3 and I must say, the MRI is the best of 'em. Just today I had the fun of telling the doctor about the little old lady who visits the proctologist, is examined, speaks with the doctor, and the doc asks “do you have any more questions?”. She replies “Just one. Does your MOTHER know what you’re doing?”. I once had a CT scan for some sinus problems. I read the doctor’s report afterward and told my husband “They X-rayed my head - and said ‘Unremarkable’. How humiliating is that!!”. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/17 "2012-05-22T23:44:02Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I once had a CT scan for some sinus problems. I read the doctor’s report afterward and told my husband “They X-rayed my head - and said ‘Unremarkable’. How humiliating is that!!”. “I would call that a remark” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/18 "2012-05-22T23:56:16Z")
No changes in the MRI. I hadn’t had had a stroke, but they took me off the Neurontin, and lowered my BP meds strength because I was also having some dizziness with the Tribenzor and when we took my BP, it was 60/48. Sleep study ordered for 2 weeks from now. I think they’re thinking, “Sleep Apnea”, but I have HAD a sleep study before and they told me it was inconclusive. So **D** , (herself a _Polysomnographer_) has been allowed to “sit in” at this next one and read/interpret the results in addition to the technician to see if their results match. Wouldn’t it be great if my batshittedness were due to the apnea??? Have I mentioned that my wife is my hero and my own personal genius? Whenever she takes me to my doc, she pulls out that diary, and he and she have a conversation I have to “tune” out, because they both sound like “House” characters! 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/19 "2012-05-23T00:30:21Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > …I was also having some dizziness with the Tribenzor and when we took my BP, it was 60/48. If I checked a patient, and he had that blood pressure, I’d’ve called the Rapid Response Team. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438/20 "2012-05-23T00:39:54Z")
It was at a drugstore. (One of those machine things where you sit down and stick your arm in?). The longer I sat and repeated the mechanism, the better I got. I was able to walk a little bit better after that with **D** supporting me to the car, called the doc, and he re-ordered something better. Losartin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-dementia-update/622438.md?page=2)