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Dementia isn’t the only possible diagnosis: Our collective rush to judgement [1]

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Date: 2024-07-01  

We are so soaked in the “Biden has dementia” narrative that even really smart people jumped to the conclusion that the symptoms Pres. Biden presented on Thursday were an unequivocal sign of mental decline. However, there are several neurological disorders that emerge as we age that present like dementia but do not, in fact, signal cognitive decline.

I have personal experience with one such malady. About five years ago, I started having brief periods in which I was having trouble forming sentences and reading words. The third time it happened, I sent a note to my PCP just to let her know. She thought I might be having a stroke and immediately sent me to the ER.

Shortly after I arrived, I was interviewed by the neurology resident about my experience. He was able to determine, pretty quickly, that a stroke was unlikely. But, they still kept me for about 17 hours and ran a lot of tests, $10,000 worth.

The next morning, I met with the neurology attending physician. He told me that my brain was healthy for my age. I was not having a stroke. His diagnosis was migraine. It turns out that migraines can present in many ways and do not always involve a headache.

After a bit of experimentation, I managed to determine that the trigger was always dehydration and/or low blood sugar. As we age, managing water and food becomes harder and I found that I need to be vigilant. Occasionally, I mess up and it looks a lot like what we saw from Pres. Biden.

I am also shocked at how the CNN moderators behaved on Thursday. It was clear that Pres. Biden was having a medical event. They assumed what we were seeing was dementia. So, they decided to proceed with the debate and allow voters to see the evidence for themselves.

They never seemed to consider the possibility that Pres. Biden might be having a medical emergency such as a stroke. Given the evidence, they should have stopped the debate and called an ambulance.

Medicine is complicated. Most of us are not neurologists, or even doctors. Jumping to a diagnosis after watching an episode on television, is really something we should not be doing.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/1/2250221/-Dementia-isn-t-the-only-diagnosis-Our-collective-rush-to-judgement?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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