Charlie Meyer said a lot of good things, but what I want to pick up on is
this---
SNIPPED
> My wife saw me as depressed but I didn't think so. I was started on
>Zoloft by my MD and 1 week later I was feeling much better. What makes my
>denial even more remarkable is I practiced psychiatry for almost 20 years
>and knew all the symptoms and still missed it in myself.
Yes! A CG may often pick up on things that are missed by the busy neuro on
an infrequent visit, or even by the PWP her/himself. A recent example
---I had noticed for weeks that Peter was "spacey" and hallucinating at
dinner time every evening. This was shortly after his dose of Seroquel at
6:30 PM and it hadn't kicked in yet. Finally I wrote his neuro and asked
if he might be getting an overdose of dopa, in view of the fact that at
4:30 PM he took 1 -10/100 Sinemet, a 25/100 Sinemet CR, AND a Comtan.
I got an immediate email back, saying to try dropping the Comtan (which of
course is designed to increase the effectiveness of the Sinemet). This is
the 2nd night, and so far, so good---
Now this is a very good Movement Disorder Specialist, who of course has a
complete list of Peter's meds in his record, BUT he doesn't live with us.
<G> SO, I say again, PWPs listen to your CGs when they notice something,
and check it with your neuro---the CG may be, excuse the expression, the
"canary in the mine", giving an early warning of a problem.
Camilla Flintermann, CG for Peter 82/70/55
Oxford, Ohio
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on the web at http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/genugten/flinterm.htm
and also at http://www.geocities.com/camillahf/index.html
"Ask me about the CARE list for Caregivers of Parkinsonians ! "
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