More Blue Badges

We hear in the news that more people with disabilities are going to get the chance of using a Blue Badge Scheme on their cars, allowing them to park in more convenient places when they are out.

It about time this system was overhauled because, it discriminated against many people who find it hard to walk long distances these days.

Howevever I do feel that local authorities need to control them much better than they do at present, because in many towns, like my own, these badges are abused, by many people who are physically fit and just too lazy to walk anywhere.

It annoys me when we go to a supermarket, and see young people parking in disabled bays, when there is nothing wrong with them. To many of these people, these bays are just normal parking bays, and they have the right to park there. They seem to resent people with disabilities and that is so wrong.

In the 1980s my wife had a serious road accident, which ended up with her having umteem operations over two years in a hospital. She had terrible problems walking, and she was awarded one of the Blue Badges for our car.

After three years she handed it back because she no longer needed it, but many people thought that this was wrong because she could have carried in using it.

Being strong willed she said that she would rather walk for her fitness, and I thought it was good, but many friends complained about it.

I would not want one of these, as I like to walk or use the bus when ever I can, but there are thousands of worthy people within this country who have need of them, so I am pleased that the law is changing, to help those who really need them.

Let us all hope that these badges reach those in need, and restrictions are put in place to stop the abuse of the Blue Badge Scheme within the UK

Restricted

I used to love walking, and looking at the countryside and nature, but these days I am restricted in how far I can walk, and I find this distressing 

I love watching nature and being in the countryside, but these days I can’t walk as far as I am used to doing, without constant stops.  

I always enjoyed the countryside because it was quiet and allowed me to think clearly without disruptions, but these days I need to be constantly watching where I am going rather than enjoying the scenery.

They always say walking in the countryside, is better than any known medication, but I guess that with memory, breathing and spinal problems, I am struggling to keep going. 

I understand that my height has changed so I have a constant stoop, which does not help very much, but I understand this means, I am looking down rather than up at whatever is going on around me 

This is probably causing extra problems with my breathing these days with the constant stoop putting extra pressure on my chest 

I had this problem around 40 years ago, and ended up in trouble at work, because each time I tried to look down, I fell over.

This also meant that I wore a neck collar permanently, and sometimes wore a back brace, and this virtually finished me, because I was totally restricted in everything I did, but nothing was investigated by the doctors, but it’s now come to a head

This has the added problems because of my rubbish memory, and one thing seems to override everything else. Trying to remember one thing is enough, but with these extra problems, I feel as if it’s all coming to a head.

As my wife always kindly points out, she always looked up to me because I was 3 inches higher than her, more than anything else, but now I seem to be looking up to her every time we’re close together, and this is frightening more than anything else. 

As children we always joked that the elderly shrunk as they got older, but I confess that this has come as a complete shock to the system. 

Amazing Consultant

Over the years I have struggled with chest, memory and back problems.

However through my Lewy Body Dementia, I struggle to cope with some medicines, because they can have the wrong effect on my health. Along with that I understand that there are restrictions on operations, because the "anaesthetic", if that's how it is spelt, can have an effect on our brains.

However due to back and hip problems, the Orthopaedic consultant decided to try and injection in my hip, in the hope of isolating the constant pain I struggle with. However he also did this in the hope of stopping the need for operations in the future.

I am restricted on how far I can walk without stopping due to balance, and pain problems, but I try to force myself to walk around 3 miles a day, if not more, depending on how I feel on the day.

Sometimes this includes many stops to relieve the pressure on my back, but I feel that it has to be done. Even if it takes me all day to cover that distance I am proud that I can do it

However as this injection has failed I am being sent for an MRI scan on my spine, along with an appointment to see the pain management team. He was also disappointed that the physiotherapy department did not give me much support

I believe that this is the first hospital consultant outside the memory clinic, where they asked my wife for her views as well as my own, so he must have read his notes properly and understood that she was my carer, and knows more about my problems, than I am able to remember.

He also took his time going over his plans to find out what the problem is, and this was done in easy to understand terms.

I always joke about the fact that my brain and memory, are as much good as a Chocolate Tea Pot, simply because I simply don't remember how I felt on any day, so it's good having someone with me who can remember everything

However when we got home my wife went over what had been said, and reminded me of future appointments.

While it's very important to keep fit, it's not always as easy as it looks when you are living with multiple medical problems, but I am determined to keep going as long as I can.

While I understand that I have had back and neck problems for over 40 years, I have to accept that this may well end up as osteoarthritis of the spine, due to all of the damage from working in industry all of my life, and I may well be stuck with it for the rest of my life.

Dehydrationand thinking clearly

I read this and thought it was something everyone with memory problems should  remember in the UK with these very high temperatures

By Linda Carroll
(Reuters Health) – Dehydration can impair your ability to think clearly, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that athletes who lost fluid equal to 2 percent their weight took a hit to their cognition. Even this mild to moderate level of dehydration- the loss of 2 pounds for someone who weighs 100 pounds and four pounds for someone weighing 200 – led to attention problems and impaired decision making, according to the report in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

In particular, dehydration led to impairment in tasks requiring attention, motor coordination, and so-called executive function, which includes things like map recognition, grammatical reasoning, mental math, and proofreading, for example.

“We’ve known that physical performance suffers at a threshold of 2 percent of body mass, particularly when it’s from exercise in a warm environment,” said study coauthor Mindy Millard-Stafford, a professor in the school of biological sciences and director of the physiology lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“So the question was, what happens in the brain with the same amount of loss, which is pretty common with people who are active or work outside in the heat. Just like a muscle cell needs water, so do the cells in our brain.”

While the effects weren’t huge at 2 percent, they increased with increasing dehydration, Millard-Stafford said.

The new study isn’t the first to look at the impact of dehydration on cognition. But earlier research yielded mixed findings, possibly because studies were based on small numbers of subjects. Millard-Stafford decided to get around that pitfall by performing a meta-analysis, an approach that combines data from many smaller studies.

After scouring the medical literature, the researchers found 33 studies involving a total of 413 adults. Participants lost fluids amounting to 1 to 6 percent of their body mass either through exercise alone, exercise coupled with heat, heat alone or fluid restriction.

The study may be particularly timely as much of the country suffers through a heat wave. And it may remind weekend warriors as well as more dedicated athletes of the importance of staying hydrated.

“I think this reinforces something we thought was true,” said Dr. Ronald Roth, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, medical director of the Dick’s Sporting Goods-Pittsburgh Marathon and one of the team physicians for the Pittsburgh Steelers. “The big picture here is that the more dehydrated you are the less sharp you are. And your decision-making abilities get lost sooner than later.”

Before this new research came along, a person might have happened upon one of the earlier studies that found no cognitive effects from dehydration and thought that dehydration wouldn’t harm their thinking, Roth said.

“As a meta-analysis, this study is bigger and more helpful than the earlier individual studies,” said Roth, who is unaffiliated with the new research. “With a bigger pool of patients, you can get more robust information.”

It can be hard to diagnose dehydration, so it’s important for individual athletes to keep track of how much fluid they’re taking in and how much they’ve lost, Roth said. Still, certain symptoms should be reminders that it’s time to take in more fluid: fatigue, muscle weakness, decreased urine output, confusion.

The Pittsburgh doctor also recommends that on especially hot days, athletes make a plan before working out so potentially clouded judgment won’t steer them wrong.

Roth warns against overdoing things and taking in too much water, which can lead to a dangerous condition known as hyponatremia. That condition occurs when there’s too much water compared to the amount of salt in the body.

“It’s important to know the right water balance,” Millard-Stafford concurred. “You need to know that you can have not just too little but also too much.”

The color of your urine is a simple way of monitoring your fluid levels, Millard-Stafford said. “If it’s very, very clear, then you are probably drinking far more than necessary,” she explained. “But if it’s dark gold that may mean the kidneys need a little more reserve since they’re concentrating your urine to keep the balance where it needs to be.”

Horrors of the night return again

I thought I was beyond the horrors of the night, but they have returned all over again, as I explained in a previous post

These graphic dreams and nightmares, which bare no resemblance to reality, can be very upsetting and distressing, not just to the person going through this, but also anyone near by.

It can also be dangerous to attempt to bring someone out of one, because you can become part of the nightmare, and then suffer damage yourself as my wife once found.

They are also frightening, because it's like a boxing match in your sleep, only you don't understand that it's happening, because your arms and legs may be lashing out in all directions.

These things can also be very destructive, as I have demolished many items on my bedside cabinet, including two bedside lamps when were found in pieces the next morning.

It's distressing when this happens, because it proves the power used to lash out when we are going through one of these night mares.

I confess that I am terrified of being sent into hospital, because of the damage I could cause, not just to the property, but also to staff.

I guess anyone going through one of these in hospital, could be accused of abuse towards one of the staff, without ever knowing what was happening unless you woke up.

However it's not always easy to wake up from them, and sometimes when you do wake up, you are not sure where you are, as I found to my horror on quite a few occasions.

To me, I was in a different room and one which I did not recognise, and did not always understand who was talking to me, even though it was my beloved wife.

After this I feel totally drained the following day, and usually sleep for upwards of a hour after lunch, during which time I am dead to the world and nothing can wake me up.

However even if I can wake up from them, and go downstairs for a while, they can start all over again when I go back to bed.

A friend of mine called Barry, who lived in the Philippines, said he had many of these horrors and like me could not understand why he had them.

The brain is a wonderful thing when it's working properly, but it's not so good when it's causing things to happen like this.

However these days I try soothing music to drift off too, and make sure that I am not facing my wife, so she never gets in the way if I lash out, although this is no guarantee of her being hit.

Graphic Nightmares in Lewy Body Deementia

Because I struggle with very graphic nightmares and dreams at night, I have struggled to find ways of coping.

This I gather is called R.E.M, and is part of my illness

This usually starts within three hours of going to sleep, although there times when it's started much later if I have been up during the night, to go to the toilet etc.

Sometimes when I wake up, it's very difficult to work out what is part of this horror, and what is reality. Even if I get the chance to wake up from these and get out of bed, it's a struggle to work out whether I am free or not. Sometimes I sit in the bathroom and then try to work out whether I am actually in the bathroom or still dreaming.

I have at times hurt myself by thumping on the wall in desperation to work out where I am.

This is all because it's difficult to work out the truth.

What is reality and when is it still part of the nightly horror.

A few years ago we were flooded at home, so we were living in a small flat.

One night I had a horrible night, but remembered getting out of bed in three occasions, and then went into our lounge to recover, and while I was up I went to the toilet, or so I thought

Eventually I woke up and realised that it was all part of the nightly horror, and I had in fact never left the bed during the night. My wife remembers me jumping out of the bed in desperation the next morning, because I had remembered "going to the toilet" on three occasions, and thought I must have relieved myself in bed during the horror.

Thankfully I had not done anything, but this shook me rigid, because it was all so graphic, and the fact that I can describe these horrors in full during the next day is quite frightening.

But the fact that your brain tricks you into thinking you have got up, is not a nice thing to understand.

My wife actually tried to wake me up one night, and then she became part of this horror. The next morning we were both shocked because she had an enormous black eye, and this left me feeling terribly upset.

So this proves our carers, have to be extremely careful when trying to wake someone from a graphic nightmare, because they themselves can become part of the horror

On one occasion I had been given medication, in the hope it would help and stop these horrors, but it actually made matters much worse.

A few days after being given this medication, we had gone on holiday, and I guess I was lucky to get back home again, because I tried to climb out of the hotel bedroom window, to get away from the nightly horror. I was saved by my wife who woke up just in time, and the fact that the window was locked so would not open fully. The fact that this was a third floor bedroom was frightening.

The next morning the medication was reduced, after my wife contacted the consultant.

I have no real idea what causes these nights, because I try to relax before I go to bed. Yes there are nights when I dread closing my eyes, because of the fear of what may happen once I drift off, but usually these things bear no resemblance to reality what so ever.

Through this I have taken to using my iPod touch to play relaxing music, but sometimes, this can have the wrong effect if it has the wrong rhythm

However this can have the wrong effect at times.

Sometimes the wrong type of music can trigger these horrors to start again,

On other times I have been woken up by my wife, who in turn had been woken up by me singing to the songs on my I Pod, while being deep asleep.

One night I had been listening to Glen Campbell singing one of his CDs, and my wife was woken up by me singing "Rhinestone Cowboy".

On another occasion I woke my wife up while singing songs from "Queen"

I gather she was not amused by this, and threatened to stop me using the I Pod.

On another occasion I had rolled over and had caught the earphone cable up on something, this meant it came away from my iPod, and the music was playing loud a clear around the bedroom, so I was in trouble yet again.

So I had to resort to classical music, and not songs.

However anything which helps me through the night is well worth trying