Mom’s Symptoms

A list of mom’s symptoms (not every symptom of LBD, just mom’s):

• Tenderness and extreme stiffness of muscles – the first symptom

• Oxybutynin patch reaction – stroke-like symptoms and near coma – hospitalized

• Shuffling gait – inability to “unglue” feet from the floor

• Lack of balance – lack of sense of where she is spatially

• Falls – falls without attempting to catch herself

• Sensitivity to painkillers – cause confusion and interrupted sleep

• Cognitive issues – time of day, how to read clocks, etc.

• Benadryl reaction – causes confusion and lethargy

• Anesthetic reaction – weakness, confusion, extreme lethargy, sleepiness

• Very slow movements (bradykinesia) – slow putting on glasses, feeding herself, moving her feet

• Hallucinations – she sees people and things that aren’t there, asks if they have left yet – mostly visitors or relatives around the house

• Delusions (reduplicative paramnesia + others) – thinks there are two of things – two of me, two houses, two bedrooms – thinks we live in her old home town – confuses things on TV with real life

• Visual acuity – has trouble reading, complains of not being able to see, despite eye tests and glasses being perfect

• Excessive salivation – she’s complained about this a long time

• Constant headache – mostly caused by motion – in head and neck and shoulders – for the last six months

• Trouble swallowing – holds liquids in her mouth, chokes easily

• Spinal lean – she can’t sit up without leaning to the right

• Temperature fluctuation – nighttime sweats when she used to be cold all the time

• Low voice volume – on very bad days, she whispers

• And ALL of these fluctuate – she has good days, bad days, good hours and bad hours