This excellent article really got my blood flowing. It reminded me
about a similar situation that occurred with my mother's personal
physician. The doctor wanted to put my mother on an anti-depression
drug. I was far enough in and had read enough information about
dementia and Alzheimer's to understand this was a bad idea. At that
point we did change physicians (three times in fact).
It turned
out that my mother was likely suffering from Alzheimer's and she needed
Aricept. It also turned out she was suffering from unrecognized
hypothyroidism, although this diagnosis came later.
I learned
two very important lessons. First, once dementia is diagnosed you need
to find a personal physician that understands the disease and is well
educated about the appropriate actions that need to be taken. Second, I
learned that every person suffering from dementia should have their
thyroid checked. After almost two years of never smiling and laughing,
my mother began to smile and laugh after she received the proper
medication for her thyroid.
My mother actually sang the other
day for the first time in several years. I believe the introduction of
the thyroid medication is partly responsible for this very positive
change.
The clip below is a snippet of the article that appeared
in the New York Times. Click the link in the clip to read the entire
article. It is important. Please share this information with others.
