Barbara>Re: Conference: Vision and Dementia

[Guest guest]

Very well put Barbara.

Quite the researcher - eh?

Perhaps if more than half my brain weren't tied behind my back... I

could give you a run for your money.

I for one - sure am glad that there are those of you who

are " caregivers " out there researching this stuff for us " patients " .

I can't hardly (well - no - " I can't " :-) keep up with life - let

alone do much of any research on this stuff.

Thanks for your input.

Pablito :-)

> My sons and I were fortunate to attend the Chicago conference, and

> enjoyed meeting the folks. I wish we could have met everyone.

>

> With great respect to Bill, I disagree that " dementia " only occurs

with

> infection in MSA. First of all, when we talk about " dementia " , it

can

> mean a lot of things. I notice that many people suffer

from " confusion " ,

> including my husband. Would it be hard to envision that frequent

bouts of

> low blood pressure and cerebral anoxia might promote confusion and

> short-term memory loss? Would it be hard to surmise that this might

> progress as time goes on?

> If by " dementia " , one means Alzheimer's disease, that's a different

> entity, and if the doctors mean that, they should say so.

>

> I think a person can still have reasoning capability and retain

> experience of a lifetime and still occasionally have memory loss

and be

> confused.

>

> The medical profession's profession that there is no " dementia " in

MSA

> has patients and caregivers scratching their heads. (I saw some

> scratching of heads at the Conference.) This point needs to be

cleared

> up, doctors.

>

> The other profession that there are no or minor visual disturbances

also

> produces head-scratching.

> " Among structures affected " , as our brochure says, " are the

oculomotor

> and Edinger-Westphal nucleus " . The oculomotor nucleus controls the

three

> pairs of eye muscles for each eye, and the Edinger-Westphal nucleus

> controls the size of the pupil and the shape of the lens. If the

muscles

> of the eyes don't work correctly, certainly vision can be a

problem, even

> if your retina is perfectly fine.

> Please, let's not continue this myth about vision.

>

> Chuck goes to an ophthalmologist, who does treat his vision

problems

> well. Hurrah!

>

> I have many other thoughts related to the conference, but I have to

go

> clean three bathrooms, and probably-------wash my hair.

>

> Barbara Woodford

>

> P.S. Doctors of conference, thank you for your care and time.