Hi Everybody
AN INTERESTING EXPERIENCE- Recently, Dr. Robin’s mother underwent hip replacement surgery. She had a birth defect in her hip that caused the joint to wear out to the point there was no other option. She is coming along nicely, but there are several lessons we have learned on this adventure.
1. Donna has Alzheimer’s and gets lost and agitated sometimes. In order to calm her down we joke with her. The staff at the hospital turned us in to Health Services for this. It was absolutely ridiculous. Everyone in the room, including Donna was laughing and having a good time.
2. Donna was taking Niacinamide. The hospital gave her Niacin. The two are related, but do very different things. And Niacin, unlike Niacinamide, causes you to flush bright red. It is harmless but uncomfortable. The fact that a hospital and all their doctors didn’t know the difference between those two variations of a B vitamin is bordering on negligence.
3. Donna did not do well on Alzheimer’s medications. Not only did they not make a difference for her, but they caused some pretty hefty side effects that made her already lower quality of life much worse. She discontinued the meds, but her husband read about the use of Lithium in small doses helping with her type of trouble. So we tried it and it worked better than the Alzheimer meds. It was nothing to brag about, but it did reduce her panic attacks.
The nursing home was very upset about this. They wanted her on the Alzheimer’s medications, and wanted to know who prescribed the Lithium. Nobody prescribed it. It is a nutritional supplement, not the high dose medication prescribed by psychiatrists. Then they wanted to know where we got it, and how. The questions went on and on. They were very upset. And the situation got very uncomfortable.
MORAL OF THE STORY- We were unpleasantly surprised by how unpleasant these aspects of Donna’s operation and recovery have been. We realize certain aspects of what has happened are rules that are in place to protect patients, especially those that cannot help themselves, but this has been ridiculous. Trying to get Donna healthy has been ordeal enough without having to deal with the stress that was created by these Medical Police. It truly felt, at times, like we were having to face a Medical Gestapo that was “Hell Bent” on absolute and total control.
Hope this helps, Dr Matt and Dr Robin
This weeks tidbit of useless information: Years ago, people drank out of lead goblets. Often they would poison themselves in this way, and seem to die. Their friends and family would bury them. Then plagues came along and they had to reuse caskets. Some caskets had scratch marks on the bottom of their lids, where the person they buried woke up and tried to claw their way out. So families started laying the body of any loved one they thought to be dead on the kitchen table. They would invite others over to help them watch over the body to see if the person would “wake”. This is where we get the term “Wake” from.
This week’s bit of Useless Information: This email is courtesy of Matthew Barnes, D.C. and Robin Barnes, D.C. Neither this nor any of our emails are intended to be medical advice and should not be taken as such. They are opinion and are for informational purposes only. None of the nutrients discussed here are meant to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.