4 Mayıs 2014 Pazar

Doctor"s Diary: When is dementia not dementia?


Their signs and symptoms, rather, are a mixture of depression, anxiety, side results of medicine and preceding brain injury – some of which are treatable but can be ignored if the patient has been (incorrectly) diagnosed as getting dementia. It also appears the numbers progressing to far more significant varieties of cognitive impairment are significantly reduced than previously supposed, raising doubts about the utility of diagnosis in the 1st place. Christopher Maycock, a retired family members medical professional “at danger of an unsolicited GP dementia assessment” intends, when asked to identify the present Prime Minister, to reply “Disraeli” – a tactic that other individuals might want to adopt.




As for the red tonic, one more reader vividly remembers getting taken by his mom to the loved ones doctor who, at the finish of the consultation, emerged from his dispensary with a bottle, instructing him to consider two teaspoons each morning: “It was wonderful.” Just lately his brother-in-law introduced him to the energising drink sarsaparilla that has, reputedly, a variety of medicinal utilizes. “My very first mouthful distinctly reminded me of that red tonic dispensed 50 many years previously,” he reports.


The most potent of individuals hidden elements, even so, was that stand-by of murder novels, the poison strychnine. At a minuscule dose (a single twenty-fifth of a grain) it was claimed to “increase the speed of impulses in the nervous system”.


The nearest modern equivalent to these tonics, it is advised, may well be a glass of Mackeson’s ale.


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The reader’s account of “excruciating and agonising pains” in the decrease jaw, spreading down to the neck, arm and chest, has prompted more plausible explanations.


A couple of readers recommend this might be oesophageal spasm, that can usually be relieved by a slug of alcohol (which relaxes the muscle tissues) or the burp-inducing effects of fizzy lemonade. The spasm itself is generally brought on by acid reflux and so these regularly impacted would advantage from the preventive results of an acid suppressant drug this kind of as omeprazole.


The additional possibility is that the soreness could be induced by clenching of the jaw muscles at evening (bruxism), which can be prevented by sporting a mouth guard.


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This week’s medical curiosity comes courtesy of Mrs FD of Leeds, who has been troubled by mild vertigo on and off for numerous years, specially when lying down or turning more than in bed. The dizziness is more marked at the time of the equinoxes in late March and September, when day time and night are of roughly equal duration – soon after which she improves once again. Could there be, she wonders, some cosmic explanation?


Electronic mail healthcare inquiries confidentially to Dr James LeFanu at drjames@telegraph.co.uk. Answers will be published each and every Friday, at telegraph.co.united kingdom/well being




Doctor"s Diary: When is dementia not dementia?

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