Military Service, War, and Dementia Risks for Veterans

May29

Samuel Anderson Foster (1898 - 1936) Oakland Presbyterian Cemetery, Telford, TennesseeWe pause on Memorial Day 2016 (in the United States) to remember our deceased military veterans.

I also pause to remember all those who have died – especially the civilians who weren’t drafted or who didn’t volunteer, but who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and became collateral damage – because of war because they should not be forgotten either.

However, in light of Memorial Day, it seems fitting that we should also consider how military service and war increase the risks of developing dementia for veterans. Continue reading →

Book Review of “Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients” – Ben Goldacre

May18

Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben GoldacreBad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre (a physician in the United Kingdom) should be on everyone’s reading list.

While I have been more acutely aware for quite some time of the areas of misleading and harm that Goldacre spotlights in this book because of my own experience as the medical advocate and primary caregiver for one of my parents and my subsequent extensive research into Big Pharma, Goldacre digs into the details and presents scary and compelling evidence of the total corruption in the industry. Continue reading →

Life Lessons From Mama – A Tribute to My Mom on Mother’s Day 2016

May8

Mama - Going Gentle Into That Good Night - Mother's Day 2016This is my fourth Mother’s Day without my mom. Although the immediate excruciating pain of losing her has subsided into a dull constant ache and longing punctuated by sudden and unexpected moments of intense grief, often triggered by a memory or something externally that I associate with Mama, I still miss her terribly.

But time and space has allowed me to grow into a deeper understanding, a greater respect, and a more complete love of this incredible woman that I was blessed to have as my mama. Continue reading →

Polypharmacy: A Dangerous and Potentially-Fatal Threat to Seniors

Apr24

Polypharmacy poses dangerous and potentially-fatal risks to seniorsSenior citizens, including our loved ones with dementias and Alzheimer’s Disease, are an especially vulnerable part of the human population to the dangerous – and potentially deadly – risks of drug interactions associated with polypharmacy (coexisting multiple prescription medications/supplements/over-the-counter medications use). Continue reading →

Comfortably Numb or All Jacked Up: Prescription Addiction May Lead to Developing Lifestyle Dementia

Apr17

Uppers and Downers and Lifestyle DementiaPrescription addiction is a national problem in the United States. Although there has been some public acknowledgement of its existence in general terms recently, the real scope of how deep and pervasive prescription addiction is in this country is still mostly hidden from public view.

Because of this, Big Pharma and the medical profession still pushes the two classes of drugs – central nervous system (CNS) depressants (“downers”) and central nervous system (CNS) stimulants (“uppers”) – at the core of prescription addiction insistently and without restraint. Continue reading →

Book Review: “How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America” – Dr. Otis Webb Brawley

Apr10

How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America by Otis Webb BrawleyHow We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America, in my opinion, should be on everyone’s to-read list.

Dr. Brawley does an excellent job of showing how American medicine, with profit as the bottom line (propped up by insurance companies, Big Pharma, and often-faulty research that is manipulated to making fear the driving factor for patients), does more harm than good in most cases under the pretense of providing “health” care. Continue reading →

A Mixture of Degenerative Neurological Changes Drives the Development of Dementia

Mar25

digital-imaging-brain-going-gentle-into-that-good-nightThis blog stresses over and over that not all dementias are Alzheimer’s Disease (Alzheimer’s Disease is but a single type of dementia), but the Alzheimer’s Association has been quite effective at leading most people to believe that all cognitive impairment and subsequent neurological degeneration is Alzheimer’s Disease.

Not only is this general belief false, but it is also potentially very dangerous to our loved ones with dementia. Continue reading →

Daylight Savings Time and Its Effects on Health, Sleep, and Our Loved Ones with Dementias and Alzheimer’s Disease

Mar13

Daylight Savings Time Increases Health Risks Physically and NeurologicallyHere in the United States, most of the country started Daylight Savings Time (DST) at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 13, 2016, which moved our clocks forward an hour.

Both the beginning and end of DST are tough changes on even the healthiest among us. For someone like me who has had hardwired sleep challenges all my life, the beginning of DST is particularly hard for me for about a week until my body and brain adjust to the change. Continue reading →

Harper Lee: A Different Angle on the Long-Term Effects of Dementia

Mar6

Suspicious ruling to keep Harper Lee's will sealed by Alabama Probate Judge Greg NorrisOn February 29, 2016 Tonja Carter, the estate lawyer and trustee for Harper Lee who replaced Alice Lee after her death in 2014, asked, through the legal firm representing her, an Alabama court to seal Harper Lee’s will from the public, claiming that Harper Lee wanted the same privacy in death that she made sure, for as long as she was able, in life.

On March 4, 2016 Monroe County, Alabama Probate Judge Greg Norris granted the request.

Given the suspicious circumstances around the publication of Go Set A Watchman, this latest legal action raises, at least for me, a whole new set of red flags. Continue reading →

The Memories Never Die

Feb28

Mama November 2011Mama has been everywhere on my mind the last few days and I realized that her birthday is coming up this Wednesday – March 2 – or Thursday – March 3 – depending on whether the date on her handwritten birth certificate is correct or the date that Social Security had listed for her is correct.

Growing up, Mama’s birthday was always March 2. A part of me still sees that date as her legitimate birthday. It wasn’t until I started in the role of her medical power of attorney (several years before dementias came to stay) that I became aware that the government had her birthday as March 3 and I memorized that date as part of the litany of information I had to give to medical providers, insurance companies, and pharmacies each time we interacted with them. Continue reading →