welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Friday, June 17, 2011

myths, duct tape, hotndry

MYTHS
these are 2 of the myths of alzheimers from www.caring.org

myth 1
mom cant have alzheimers she remembers all kinds of things
alzheimers affects recent learned and recent memories
memories from the long past may not erode until the middle
stages of the disease
commonly recently diagnosed patients will recall things in the past
quite well

there are good days and bad days
sometimes they can appear normal
they also learn to cover up embarrassing signs of the disease
like disorientation or memory loss

myth 2
if you live long enough youll get alzheimers
alzheimers and dementias arent inevitable as you age
we all forget things
but not everyone develops a brain disorder that affects
thinking ability, memory, judgment, and eventually personality
and behavior like alzhiemers does
millions of people reach the 70s 80s 90s with good memories and
relatively little decline in their mental abilities

what do i notice
remember im early in this process
much earlier than people usually know they have it
probably very few people have known they have it this early

my problem is in short term memory loss that shows up on
several mental status exams ive taken in the last few months

when doing this blog today i had to print out these myths and
have them right in front of me as i cant read the myth on the
computer and then go to my blog editing page because i
cant remember what i just read
i compensate by printing it out so i can refer to it as i write
this does affect me in my day to day life but not where anyone
but me notices it
if i was practicing right now this could be a problem in caring for
patients-i could compensate like i do here but there is or was the
risk of making a mistake

the other thing i notice is that im not as detail oriented on my paper
work here at home as i use to be
if i dont stay well organized i could miss things
like appt times and bills that are due
i get my bills on my computer bank page so i cant miss them and
they are sent to my email address also
paper bills are always put in a red file so i dont miss them
if you had worked for me as a nurse you know that i would not
ever have forgot these things

some days i cant remember what i blogged on that day but thats
not every day
you know im the one that thinks these things up and writes them
down on my blog schedule

i know that some time in the future i wont be able to do this blog
anymore but its looking more like that may be a while

but i can remember things in the past very well much better than
my wife she does
i think thats why she and others cant believe i have a problem

its like this fog that is there that gets in the way that wont clear
like those we get here in central texas in the am that
arent severe so you cant drive but is still noticeable in the pasture
and creek streams

more myths next week

DUCT TAPE
this is from one of my nieces facebook postings
thanks bt
duct tape is like the force-it has a dark side and a light side and
holds the universe together
may the force (duct tape) be with you

HOTNDRY
this is all not good
the last eight or so months has been the driest ever on record
for this area
most of the towns and cities around here are going to water
conservation measures and some are headed to severe
conservation measures

a town near here get its water from the river that runs through
the town however
the river is now a trickle and in a few days will stop flowing
completely
now thats dry aint it

we need rain please

the organicgreen doctor

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