Guest guest Posted August 15, 2002 Report Share Posted August 15, 2002 My father has an appointment in October and I am trying to be intelligent and ask questions that will benefit him. His doctor thinks that he has Shy-Dragers because of his low blood pressure. Is this common? I seem to think that he has Lewy Body Dementia, because he has the hallucianations during the day and not much of the tremors or body freezing. Please help if the group can. Please give any good questions that I should ask, so I don't look stupid. Thank you all for all your help (in advance). Much love, Kat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 16, 2002 Report Share Posted August 16, 2002 Kat, There are no " dumb " questions with any brain disorder. The more you learn, the better off you are in caring for the patient. Questions for you: Why do you believe it is LBD, if his only problem is BP (orthostatic hypotension or OH) it could be any of several things including PAF. What medicines is he on? Have you upped his salt intake? Are there any other symptoms? What are they? ---------->> Questions for the doctor Why do they feel it is SDS over something like pure autonomic failure? What treatment will they try and what tests are indicated. How can diet help? What help can he get for home care. Remember that there are no cures for SDS, PAF, LBD or most of the other " alphabet soup " brain disorders and you only treat the symptoms. Treating the symptoms takes a combined effect of the patient, caregiver(s) and doctors. The caregiver needs to keep notes and tell the doctor what they need to know about the problems in order to help manage the symptoms. Give us more info on his symptoms and meds and we may be able to direct you better. Take care, Bill Werre > > > Date: 2002/08/15 Thu PM 11:08:40 CDT > To: shydrager > Subject: LBS or Shy-Drager? > > My father has an appointment in October and I am trying to be > intelligent and ask questions that will benefit him. His doctor > thinks that he has Shy-Dragers because of his low blood pressure. Is > this common? I seem to think that he has Lewy Body Dementia, because > he has the hallucianations during the day and not much of the tremors > or body freezing. > > Please help if the group can. Please give any good questions that I > should ask, so I don't look stupid. > > Thank you all for all your help (in advance). > > Much love, Kat > > > If you do not wish to belong to shydrager, you may > unsubscribe by sending a blank email to > > shydrager-unsubscribe > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 16, 2002 Report Share Posted August 16, 2002 Kat, I found this article on emedicine that may answer some of your questions. http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic596.htm It is a description of the " Parkinson's Plus " Syndromes, and gives a pretty good description of the differences. Unfortunately, there's not a great deal of difference in the treatments, except that some of the Alzheimer's meds, aricept in particular, have helped some folks (Barb 's husband Ken, for instance) who were thought to have MSA but upon autopsy had Lewy Body Disease. I have heard from doctors that the two are virtually impossible to differentiate clinically. After reading and digesting all this information perhaps the best question to ask is if the doctor thinks a trial of aricept might be helpful. Hope this helps, Carol & Rob Lexington, MA LBS or Shy-Drager? > My father has an appointment in October and I am trying to be > intelligent and ask questions that will benefit him. His doctor > thinks that he has Shy-Dragers because of his low blood pressure. Is > this common? I seem to think that he has Lewy Body Dementia, because > he has the hallucianations during the day and not much of the tremors > or body freezing. > > Please help if the group can. Please give any good questions that I > should ask, so I don't look stupid. > > Thank you all for all your help (in advance). > > Much love, Kat > > > If you do not wish to belong to shydrager, you may > unsubscribe by sending a blank email to > > shydrager-unsubscribe > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 18, 2002 Report Share Posted August 18, 2002 Carol and Rob: This site appears to ve one of the better ones on MSA. Many thanks. Message: 1 Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2002 10:25:24 -0400 Subject: Re: LBS or Shy-Drager? Kat, I found this article on emedicine that may answer some of your questions. http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic596.htm It is a description of the " Parkinson's Plus " Syndromes, and gives a pretty good description of the differences. Unfortunately, there's not a great deal of difference in the treatments, except that some of the Alzheimer's meds, aricept in particular, have helped some folks (Barb 's husband Ken, for instance) who were thought to have MSA but upon autopsy had Lewy Body Disease. I have heard from doctors that the two are virtually impossible to differentiate clinically. After reading and digesting all this information perhaps the best question to ask is if the doctor thinks a trial of aricept might be helpful. Hope this helps, Carol & Rob Lexington, MA Sennewald Charlottesville, Virginia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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