ptsd Ptsd Or Alzheimer's

[jessie0054]

OK, I have written several times in the last year about different member's of my family i am trying to help. Now it is my husband, He's doing some really out of charater things for him. Usually he is more in control, But lately i am seeing things in him that are starting to worry me.

First i'll tell you he is 30% service connected for PTSD. He ususally fuctions pretty well and these things have been coming on over the last 10-12 months and the lid blew off the pot so to speak today.

I collect coins as a hobby and in the last 4 months he has brought home a roll of the Washington quarters 4 times. I didn't have the heart to tell him i already have them so i just took them and put them away.

I keep his PM medications in the bathroom so he will not forget to take them as he go's through his bedtime routine. I have caught him twice in the last week taking them in the morning!!

A few times even though i have watched him take them he gets up 30 mins later " Oh i forgot to take my pills" So i have to remind him he's already taken them.

Twice in the last month or two he wakes me up out of a very peacefull sleep and ask me if i can't go take a sleeping pill so i can go to sleep. Duh!! I'm already sleeping!!

Somedays he will call me or our son half a dozen times a day and gets upset because we don't answer our cell phone saying ' I'm going to throw that SOB cell phone out the door because you won't answer it" Well i check it to see if i have missed any calls because sometime if i'm in another room and the TV is on i can't hear it ring and ususally no i haven't any missed calls from him.

Last Saturday he got up at 5:30 Am and got dressed and ready to head off to work. I woke up and ask him what he was doing, You don't work on Saturadys.!!

This morning he called me from work very upset, Said he had hid some money in the gargage and some of it was missing and accused me of taking it. [And no, I didn't know he was hidding money and no i didn't take his money!!]

He got even more upset when i ask why he was hidding money and could he maybe have put some of it in a different area and forgot where he hid it?? Boy that was the wrong thing to say!! I'm sure i haven't heard the end of it yet!!

Like i said he usually is in pretty good control and i'm hoping that in the next few hours before he gets off work that he may take sometime and think about the things he said. So maybe he will have cooled off before he gets home. I have never had a reason to fear him, But!!! He loves his money and if he really believes i took any from him i don't know what he might do.

So could be his PTSD getting worse or is he getting Alzhemer's disease??

Jessie

[Jay Johnson]

WTH is with your attitude? She asked for a link and I provided one with a rationale for said link......my post did not even have a negative connotation to it; if anything, her's did. Learn to moderate and stop playing favorites!

People tend to do "googles" and read, what appears to be, very well written articles, but they are a FAR cry from scientific research and peer reviewed studies. I can google PTSD and memory loss and get hundreds of hits, but most are not peer reviewed studies, which make them opinion at best.

If someone wants to debate what I said than feel free to link a "peer reviewed" study that shows a longitudinal link between functional memory loss and PTSD that shows a "causal" relationship......I searched 3 data bases of peer reviewed literature and couldn't find one.......

[Wings]

WTH is with your attitude? She asked for a link and I provided one with a rationale for said link......my post did not even have a negative connotation to it; if anything, her's did. Learn to moderate and stop playing favorites!

People tend to do "googles" and read, what appears to be, very well written articles, but they are a FAR cry from scientific research and peer reviewed studies. I can google PTSD and memory loss and get hundreds of hits, but most are not peer reviewed studies, which make them opinion at best.

If someone wants to debate what I said than feel free to link a "peer reviewed" study that shows a longitudinal link between functional memory loss and PTSD that shows a "causal" relationship......I searched 3 data bases of peer reviewed literature and couldn't find one.......

Jay,

Just for the record, I never said PTSD causes long-term memory problems.

However, I did suggest PTSD causes memory problems.

You also said PTSD causes memory problems

If you want to debate, I'm all over it -- just for fun ;-)

I think

[Jay Johnson]

Jay,

Just for the record, I never said PTSD causes long-term memory problems.

However, I did suggest PTSD causes memory problems.

You also said PTSD causes memory problems

If you want to debate, I'm all over it -- just for fun ;-)

I think

I agree; there really wasn't anything to debate. My only point was that this veteran is rated at 30% for PTSD and seemed to have a sudden onset of memory problems apparently without any acute PTSD symptoms, which would make it unlikely, but not impossible, that there is a cause/effect relationship between the PTSD and the memory issues.

You'll also note that I said to pursue the PTSD regardless and to take a battery of tests along with it to determine the proper cause. To me, the phrase, "are you an MD", in that context, was a touch condescending, but I'm a big boy and I can take it:-) However, you did ask for a link to back up the quote you highlighted, so I did....I can't see how that could be offensive, but if it was, I'm sorry......

I answered a question to the best of my ability; nothing more.....

[Wings]

I agree; there really wasn't anything to debate.

My only point was that -- this veteran is rated at 30% for PTSD and seemed to have a sudden onset of memory problems apparently without any acute PTSD symptoms, which would make it unlikely, but not impossible, that there is a cause/effect relationship between the PTSD and the memory issues.

You'll also note that I said to pursue the PTSD regardless and to take a battery of tests along with it to determine the proper cause. To me, the phrase, "are you an MD", in that context, was a touch condescending, but I'm a big boy and I can take it:-) However, you did ask for a link to back up the quote you highlighted, so I did....I can't see how that could be offensive, but if it was, I'm sorry......

I answered a question to the best of my ability; nothing more.....

Jay, It's been awhile since I jumped into vets law, but from what I recall - deciding the "as likely as not" standard is in the realm of medical examiners. Your conclusion herein was "unlikely, but not impossible". ~Wings

See

"More likely than not" (meaning likelihood greater than 50%); "at least as likely as not" (meaning likelihood of at least 50%); or "less likely than not" or "unlikely" (meaning that there is a less than 50% likelihood).

The term "at least as likely as not" does not mean "within the realm of medical possibility." Rather, it means that the weight of medical evidence both for and against a conclusion is so evenly divided that it is as medically sound to find in favor of that conclusion as it is to find against it. http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:ln373x...;cd=5&gl=us

See also

Improving the Presumptive Disability Decision-Making Process for Veterans,

Status: Uncorrected Copy - Prepublication Available

Size: 985 pages, 6 x 9

Publication Year: 2007

http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11908

For the presumptive disability decision-making process, this Committee recommends categorizing the level of overall evidence for a causal relationship between exposure and health outcome in one of the following categories:

1. Sufficient: the evidence is sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship exists.

2. Equipoise and Above: the evidence is sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not, but not sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship exists.

3. Below Equipoise: the evidence is not sufficient to conclude that a causal relationship is at least as likely as not, or is not sufficient to make a scientifically informed judgment.

4. Against: the evidence suggests the lack of a causal relationship.

[timetowinarace]

At his there are many things to consider. PTSD could be a factor and so could alzheimers. I don't think it's to early to test for alzheimers.

Another possibility is multi-infarct dementia. More likely in my opinion. It is close to alzheimers but not the same. It is multiple small infarcts (tiny strokes-bleeds-damaged areas) throughout the brain. Somewhat common as we age. Most often these cannot be seen on CT or MRI. Neuro-psych testing is often used to diagnose this and differentiate it from alzheimers.

Also, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury or Post Cuncusive Syndrom. Even a relatively minor cuncusion can cause this. More often a series of them. They are very often misdiagnosed because the symptoms do not become apparent for several months. Misdiagnoses for MTBI are PTSD, Depression, Anxiaty, Chronic fatigue dissorder and others. The most common being depression and/or PTSD.

Your story of your husband sounds just like me. I have MTBI. I get very angry when things are not as I remember (or don't remember) them. While I know at the time that this is my faulty brain connections, and am upset with myself, I still think those around me should know what I have difficulty with and end up projecting my frustration on to them. My poor wife gets some pretty good butt chewings out of the blue, with little warning.

Only a good Doc can seperate these possibilities. (there are more I'm unaware of I'm quite sure) Many times it's a neurologist and/or a neuropsychologist. But a good GP can usually get it right also.

Hope this helps.

Time

[Wings]

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§3.102 Reasonable doubt.

It is the defined and consistently applied policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs to administer the law under a broad interpretation, consistent, however, with the facts shown in every case. When, after careful consideration of all procurable and assembled data, a reasonable doubt arises regarding service origin, the degree of disability, or any other point, such doubt will be resolved in favor of the claimant. By reasonable doubt is meant one which exists because of an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence which does not satisfactorily prove or disprove the claim. It is a substantial doubt and one within the range of probability as distinguished from pure speculation or remote possibility. It is not a means of reconciling actual conflict or a contradiction in the evidence. Mere suspicion or doubt as to the truth of any statements submitted, as distinguished from impeachment or contradiction by evidence or known facts, is not justifiable basis for denying the application of the reasonable doubt doctrine if the entire complete record otherwise warrants invoking this doctrine. The reasonable doubt doctrine is also applicable even in the absence of official records, particularly if the basic incident allegedly arose under combat, or similarly strenuous conditions, and is consistent with the probable results of such known hardships. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a))

[50 FR 34458, Aug. 26, 1985, as amended at 66 FR 45630, Aug. 29, 2001]