Re: Ida: Introducing myself and my dad

[Guest guest]

Hi Ida,

Look on this site http://www.lbda.org/category/3438/symptoms.htm under

Supportive features. It will give you probable or possible LBD  used in a

clinical diagnosis.

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Hello Ida,

Your description of your dad sounds very  much like LBD to me.  My husband

had a

very bad reaction to the anesthesia from a Hernia operation and became

delusional thinking I was a spy. My husband also seemd to start to show signs of

LBD after back surgery and anesthesia.  He was diagnosed with LBD in Oct. 2003

a

year after his back surgery. and recently passed away in January.  People can

have bad reactions to certain types of anesthesia before LBD and during LBD. I

believe there is some type of neurological problem to begin with and the

anesthesia triggers the LBD, that is only my opinion. Propofal and Versed are

the two that I know that LBD mostly does well with. People here know the ones

to

use if your dad ever needs surgery again. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the

anesthesia during my husband's surgeries.

 My husband Had REMD. Rapid Eye Movement Disorder or REBD Rapid Eye Behavior

Disorder. He would act out his dreams flailing arms and legs, shouting or

laughing and talking in his sleep. I thought they were nightmares, but have come

to learn that it is a neurological problem and can be something they have

had since childhood. It is now known that people displaying this type

of behavior most likely will have LBD. In my opinion, the anesthesia during my

husband's back surgery triggered the neurological disorder REBD and it became

LBD.

You state that your father could not operate the computer and do tasks such as

e-mail, read news. It is very common with LBD not to be able to operate a remote

control to the TV, Dial a phone number or do their balance book anymore.

Anything with numbers they do not recognize anymore. My husband no longer would

read anymore and he was a teacher and loved to read, and all the obove listed

things with numbers he could no longer use or do. 

 

Your comment: Most stories include not recognizing their home, their financial

state, and even my mom. He often personalizes TV story settings, thinking he

works for crime investigation, travels around the world, hosts presidents in

their home…the list goes on and on.

Your dad not recognizing his home or your mom may have Capgras Syndrome,

(Pronounced: CapGrah) which is common with LBD. Does your dad think the house

is

not his, but looks like his or your mom is an imposter of herself. It looks like

her, but is not her. My husband would be delusional and say things like; " I will

know it is you if you know where the ..............is. " When we would drive up

to the house, at times he would not get out of the car, because it was not his

house, so I would drive down the street and back to the house and then he would

recognize it as his house.

My husband too would see TV as Reality and act out what he saw and became the

part of whatever he had been watching. If it was sports, he became the coach. If

he saw a fire in the movie, the house was on fire. If it was a War movie, he was

in the military.

I could only put general type movies, Family Movies/Programs, on TV. He didn't

involve himself in those types of movies.

I could go on and on, but your dad definately sounds like he has LBD with the

symptoms you describe.

Go to http://www.lbda.org and look at the criteria to be diagnosed with LBD.

Your dad fits the symptoms.

You have come to the right place for understanding what you are all going

through. You will get a lot of information here.

There are many medications your dad should not be given as they will either be

fatal or cause much confusion and it sounds as if some of your dad's cancer

medications caused reactions. LBD is very sensitive to medications.

You will find a lot of answers to your questions in the Links and Files on this

site and from the group.

Jan Colello

San Francisco Bay Area, California

Husband, Jim, dx w/LBD Oct. 2003

Deceased, January 22, 2011

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My father beat prostate cancer by 2001, after chemo and radiation –no surgery.

Shortly thereafter, however, he did have surgery for a hernia. Since then,

ever-so-gradually, his short term memory experienced glitches that my mom

noticed, more and more.

Fast forward to 2008, when my parents moved to within 20 miles of my husband and

me. That move definitely caused an acute elevation of confusion and

forgetfulness for Dad. Soon after that, settled into their home, he became

unable to operate his computer tasks (simple email and news reading).

Now, he suffers from extreme sundowners, with irrationally inaccurate tales of

what he sees, knows, believes or fears throughout the evening. Most stories

include not recognizing their home, their financial state, and even my mom. He

often personalizes TV story settings, thinking he works for crime investigation,

travels around the world, hosts presidents in their home…the list goes on and

on. Yet, other than needing much more sleep than ever, his day time hours are

normal (though still forgetful) and sometimes he will sit and stare with no

visible connection to anything around him.

His hands are in constant tremor, more than ever. His walk is a very slow

shuffle that is as slow as my mother's (with a cane for severe arthritis) and

even slower.

Having had their fill of doctors through the cancer, neither is anxious to bring

a physician into their daily lives again. Dad has had a check-up, MRI, vascular

and heart checks. None showed evidence of obvious culprits. Since those tests,

though symptoms have increased dramatically, even my mother is very resistant to

a doctor visit or medication. (Dad had poor reactions and responses to

anti-anxiety meds during the cancer.)

I write all of this to introduce myself here and get your experienced input as

to whether or not this sounds like LBD or some other dementia. –Mostly I'd

just

be curious as to some of your thoughts in viewing these descriptions. His vivid

acting out of dreams and even wakeful hallucinations, plus the tremors, have

made me suspect LBD, though without professional observation and testing, I

doubt I'll ever know till we are way on down the line… Thanks for

listening/reading. -Ida