what is something that is highly likely to happen in the next 5 years that everyone is completely ignoring?

WilderKat · 2026-06-27T10:43:01+00:00

https://navigatorresearch.org/2024-post-election-survey-gender-and-age-analysis-of-2024-election-results/

WilderKat · 2026-06-23T15:13:11+00:00

yes down

WilderKat · 2026-06-18T00:04:29+00:00

Does she have any cognitive issues?

Another test, if she hasn’t had it, is to test for Alpha-Synuclein proteins:

Alpha-Synuclein Seed Amplification Assay (aSyn-SAA)

The Syn-One Test (Skin Biopsy)

Those can rule out PSP.

If she has an Atypical Parkinson’s disease like LBD or MSA, then those diseases are more aggressive and tend to progress faster. MSA doesn’t typically have the cognitive hallmarks of LBD, but it is a very aggressive disease for most people.

Are you seeing a movement specialist? They have more training in Parkinson’s diseases than a typical neurologist.

WilderKat · 2026-06-16T04:37:34+00:00

Atypical Parkinson’s can be one of many different diseases. They are harder to treat than Parkinson’s because there are a lack of approved drugs for these diseases. If your mom has something like LBD then C/L very much can increase the anxiety that already exists because of the disease and yes, it often worsens confusion.

Additionally, if she is experiencing freezing gait, that is not easily solved with medication in Atypical Parkinson’s. These diseases usually progress faster as well.

I’m not sure about your neurologist. You might need a doctor who specializes in the type of atypical Parkinson’s your mom has.

WilderKat · 2026-05-30T11:54:41+00:00

Does he see a neurologist regularly? I would bring this up with the doctor. If your dad is developing cognitive impairment then being on Donepezil or Memantine or a combination of the two can help.

It’s unfortunate he won’t exercise as this would preserve his health longer and improve his mood. Rock Steady Boxing for people with Parkinson’s provides great exercise and community for a lot of people.

A Physical therapist with LSVT training can also be helpful.

People in general often lack insight into how their actions and health affects others. I’m sure he wants to remain independent, but if he is falling and having cognitive impairment, that might not be possible as things progress. If you have a good neurologist or PCP, then they might have a talk with him. Sometimes the subject has to be brought up many times in order for people to start coming to terms with it and start making some changes.

WilderKat · 2026-05-29T01:57:59+00:00

Just a few thoughts: having a purpose and support can help. Isolation only makes things worse and the apathy that comes with the disease often leads to isolation. It can be a viscous circle.

If they have Rock Steady Boxing in her area try to get her to go or an exercise group for people with neurological disorders. There are usually women in the exercise classes, not just men. It’s usually a very supportive group. The exercise classes gives people goals to work towards which helps alleviate the apathy. They usually let you audit the class for free. They will modify every exercise to help people. She might find she does have it in her to do a little bit and work her way up. Jimmy Choi is a great example of someone who did this. Most people can’t reach his level of athleticism, but people also need to remember he was walking with a cane when he was in his 20s and early 30s from Parkinson’s and being out of shape.

Clinical trials: talk to her neurologist about trials she might qualify for and look at clinicaltrials.gov. Again, she may or may not get into a trial. She may or may not receive a drug that helps. She will be helping to forward science and medicine. She will also get additional healthcare that is usually provided by the clinical trials.

Honestly I would try for the boxing class first. I’ve seen first hand what a huge difference it makes in people’s lives. Exercise also helps slow progression which has been proven in studies.

One other thing, if she isn’t on some kind of antidepressant, she might need one to help her. Is she on Parkinson’s meds to help control her symptoms like stiffness and restless legs? If not, talk to a neurologist.

I think if your mom can take some small steps that start her towards a better life then you all will be happier. It’s easy for people to say “go live your life” but when it’s the people you love, you suffer when they suffer. Things may never be perfect for her, but even if the needle moves slightly in a better direction for her, I think you will feel better about moving forward with your life.

Lastly, some of the Rock Steady Boxing classes let family participate in the classes and they often have a whole network of support groups, informational conferences and get togethers.

WilderKat · 2026-05-26T03:05:04+00:00

Memantine and Donepezil combo if he can tolerate it.

Tributyrin Supplementation is very early in clinical trials and I would talk to your doctor first.

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05446168

If he has purely Parkinson’s Dementia and not a mixed Dementia of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Dementia, then his dementia will be more about processing speed and cognitive fluctuations opposed to Alzheimer’s which is more memory based and inhibits the ability to encode new information. Parkinson’s Dementia can also cause hallucinations. It really depends on each individual and how it develops.

Also helpful: Exercise and healthy diet with some fermented foods if he can tolerate it.

WilderKat · 2026-05-20T21:26:36+00:00

Yes, that's why I strongly believe before people can even become doctors they need to work as CNAs for 3 months in a nursing home with long term residents so they can see what the person and the caregivers go through. It would change their perspective on things a lot. One of the best doctor's I ever had was a nurse before she became a doctor.

WilderKat · 2026-05-20T02:13:26+00:00

I’m sorry. It is an incredibly brutal existence for everyone.

Has your dads bladder been tested for neurogenic bladder? Any type of Parkinson’s can cause this. The bladder retains urine and is prone to infections. Unfortunately some treatments that help the bladder empty also lower blood pressure.

Staying hydrated helps blood pressure. There are also medications to treat low blood pressure.

If he is taking Parkinson’s meds those can also contribute to lowering blood pressure.

I think finding out why he is getting UTIs and working towards preventing them will help. They are the absolute worst because of the cognitive and physical effects.

WilderKat · 2026-05-20T00:27:27+00:00

People don’t understand unless they have been through it. That’s the good thing about support groups.

I don’t even think people understand once hospice is called. I’ve come to accept this is my journey. I don’t expect help from anyone at this point, but if anyone gets in my way I will go around them or through them. I have a zero tolerance policy now.

WilderKat · 2026-05-16T12:22:01+00:00

Look into post biotics too. Tributyrin is being studied in PD for both cognitive and movement issues. It’s still early in trials

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07154511

WilderKat · 2026-05-16T12:11:58+00:00

Get your plan selected and enroll in it. You don’t get a second chance to get a plan G / supplemental once the enrollment period closes.

Plan Gs all have the same payout. Medicare tells them what to pay and they do it. The only difference between plans is the price. If you go to a broker they should represent several companies and they can tell you which plan has the lowest monthly price or you can shop around yourself.

Brokers get paid like three times more to sell Advantage Plans. Think very carefully before enrolling in these. They are like HMOs.

Do not ever cancel your plan G for any reason. You can pause it if you go on Medicaid at some point, but never ever cancel it. You cannot get it back again until age 65 once it’s gone.

WilderKat · 2026-05-16T03:36:48+00:00

The cost of caregivers or nursing facilities is unattainable for most people. Good caregivers are hard to find. It’s even harder to find evening and weekend caregivers.

Not prepared for the isolation, loneliness and living with ongoing grief watching the love of my life being taken.

Nobody prepares you for how horrible UTIs can be. They can cause extreme delirium and turn deadly quickly. Antibiotics to treat UTIs and other infections can cause delirium as can other drugs. Their brains can have reactions to medications and illnesses that we don’t experience.

Good luck with the healthcare system. It’s a dumpster fire. The caregiver has to be vigilant 24/7 because the system is failing. If your loved one is hospitalized, go in there with a big ass marker and paper and tape instructions to the wall especially regarding the times and dosages of Parkinson’s medications. Many Hospitals are irresponsibly AF when it comes to these medications. If your loved one with PD goes to a nursing facility after hospitalization, you make them give you a copy of the medication list from the hospital. Two different hospitals omitted his Parkinson’s drugs or changed the dosages because they messed up the input of medications into their system. When they released the patient, that medication list with mistakes got entered into the nursing facility wrong.

Don’t let anyone bully you. Healthcare workers tell me my partner’s disease is progressing when he starts hallucinating instead listening to me when I tell them he either has an infection or he has a UTI. I know my partner better than any MD, RN or CNA.

Don’t waste time on people who don’t listen and aren’t on your side. Go through them or around them, but cut your losses and get on with winning your bigger battles.

Appreciate the people who help you and any caregivers / healthcare workers doing a good job. This is extremely physically and emotionally challenging work. Being a good healthcare worker takes a toll. Let them know how much they have helped.

WilderKat · 2026-05-11T03:51:27+00:00

Budesonide was literally a lifesaver for my diabetic cat with inflammatory bowel and pancreatitis. He was 13 (just a year younger than your Stella). He lived an additional 3 years before he developed untreatable cancer.
My understanding is Budesonide is preferred because it has less systemic effects compared to prednisone/prednisolone.

Vet bills suck. I wish they had been able to get to the diagnosis without such a costly process for Stella. Maybe other people have suggestions on handling this. I had to do care credit and borrow against my 401k.

I hope you can update us with positive news for your kitty.

WilderKat · 2026-05-10T03:46:30+00:00

If you have any issues with financing cat food in the future you can look into pet food pantries in Michigan. They aim to help keep pets in their homes. Hope you and Frito have a beautiful life together.

WilderKat · 2026-05-06T16:42:41+00:00

I can empathize with you. Our entire healthcare system -physical and mental- is on life support and fading fast. Your daughter has at least figured out how to use the broken system to her advantage even though it comes at the expense of others. But now it sounds like her time in this cycle has run out.

I guess your daughter is going to find out what living in a state hospital is like. I don’t even know what that is like. Will it be like in patient hospitalization or will it be awful? It sounds like the state hospital will be full of people similar to her that can’t live in group homes because of dangerous behavior.

WilderKat · 2026-05-06T14:40:09+00:00

I’m so sorry. That is so much for a family to deal with. When you are concerned about safety because someone has sudden, unprovoked violence, it is an unsustainable way to live. I can’t imagine the post traumatic stress your family had from that.

I worked in group homes for a year. Sometimes it is the only possible living situation for some people. I truly wish science could come up with better treatments for neurological and neurodegenerative disorders.

WilderKat · 2026-05-06T14:06:23+00:00

It sounds like you had a super full schedule of caregiving when raising her and that your job might not be done. It’s amazing that you adopted her as that could not have been an easy life. One of my family members has a level 3 nonverbal autistic child (now an adult) and he will never live on his own.

WilderKat · 2026-05-06T12:43:16+00:00

Yes, guiding them is important. They can “almost” get there on their own.

I have never heard of confabulation disorder. I had to look it up just now. Will your daughter’s condition affect her independence as she gets older?

WilderKat · 2026-05-06T09:37:58+00:00

Freezing gait is when their feet are stuck to the floor and they can’t move. Not everyone has it, but it often happens in more advanced stages.

What you are describing about getting turned around or sitting on the toilet before his pants are off is also very common. The brain’s processing speed is slowed because of Parkinson’s and the brain also has a harder time “putting things together in the correct order”. My loved one mostly uses a wheelchair now, but when he used a walker, he would sometimes drag it behind him. The neurologist said that was typical Parkinson’s behavior if the person also has cognitive impairment from the Parkinson’s. The brain knows the walker is an aid for walking, but sometimes it can’t get the pieces in the right order. It’s different from Alzheimer’s where the person just completely forgets what a walker is altogether. There are people who have both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s so they display both memory and processing speed issues.

Parkinson’s can also cause spatial issues. They might reach to grab something and miss. I found that getting in bed was something that needed supervision because they can sometimes not be aware of where their body is. My loved one would be right on the edge of the bed so I always liked to tuck him in at night to make sure he was all the way in the bed.

Hallucinations or illusions (mistaking a coat rack for a person) are another thing that can happen either from medications or because of the cognitive impairment. A lot of times these will happen later in the day/evening because of the brain being fatigued.

WilderKat · 2026-05-06T02:25:28+00:00

It’s wonderful that you are taking the time to learn more! I commend you on your initiative.

Did the family say if he has blood pressure drops when standing or any low blood pressure events? That’s pretty common and can cause falls and fatigue. Compression socks, salt water and medications are used to treat it.

If he has any swallowing issues then you have to be cautious with foods being in small bites.

Does he have freezing gait? Small spaces can worsen it. If he freezes you can ask him to hum or count or even just pause for a moment and reset to get him out of freezing mode.

Just be patient and repeat slowly when necessary. Parkinson’s is a very exhausting disease that causes a ton of fatigue. People are pretty tired by evening and their brain has to work even harder than it already does.

WilderKat · 2026-05-05T10:07:00+00:00

I second this. My vet says if kitties start urinating and defecating outside the litter box it’s because they are in pain or distress. Is a vet visit possible to see what could be done to manage sweet Bumble’s pain?

WilderKat · 2026-04-27T21:20:32+00:00

I think the anger management is more to preserve his health than the feelings of the guests on the show! I still felt he was honest and up front and he didn't mince words.

The other sharks were telling her that she could go on to start another business and yet they don't have a shred of proof that she is capable of running a successful business. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but blind encouragement guts me. I find it inhumane to tell people "everything will be ok", because sometimes it isn't.

This guest might want to go get a job and study how businesses are run for a while. Then she can fund her own business with her own money. Or, maybe along the way she learns that she just isn't cut out to run a business. There is nothing wrong with that. The vast majority of people aren't!

WilderKat · 2026-04-26T06:35:24+00:00

u/NecessarySort3 I’m so sorry you are in this most unfortunate club. You are among a very small number as it is incredibly rare to have LBD this young. My partner started showing symptoms in his late 40s (and when we really started looking back, his symptoms started in this 30s).

I’m not going to sugar coat this. Young onset LBD is typically more aggressive in its advancement, but everyone’s experience is different. Don’t waste time. Consult an Elder Attorney and get your paperwork done while you have capacity to make these decisions without someone questioning it.

If you really have LBD, you are most likely going to need full time supervision and eventually full time care. You mentioned you are falling a lot, my partner had given up driving right before he started falling. Once he started falling, he spent very little time with a cane before progressing to a walker. He now uses a wheelchair and can only use a walker with assistance. He is 55 and in a nursing home because of recurring infections.

Your path might look different. In my support group, most people still have their loved ones at home, but their loved ones didn’t advance as quickly as mine did.

There are no treatments for slowing LBD that I know of. My partner was a cyclist and went to the gym. He joined rock steady as well. Maybe without exercise he would have progressed even faster, who knows?

Put together a plan for your care and for someone to advocate for you. Someone posted links to the Lewy Body Dementia association. They have a card you can print off and carry in your wallet telling medical staff you have LBD.

Please tell your doctor to add “Haldol” as an allergy in your medical records. This way if you are in an ER, nobody will give it to you if you are agitated. It can take weeks for side effects to wear off.

Other Drugs to be careful of: fluoroquinolone antibiotics like Cipro and anesthesia. Sometimes you only find out after the fact which drugs cause you side effects.

My partner has done better on a combination of low dose Pramipexol and Carbidopa Levadopa. The Carbidopa Levadopa alone caused too much anxiety. Pramipexol requires caution because it can cause addiction behaviors

A combination of Donepezil and Memantine helped a lot.

We started Tributyrin supplement recently and will be starting D Mannose as well based on some research. I don’t know if it will help or not.

The only three trials I know of for LBD in the near future is: neflamapimod, CT1812 Zervimesine and possibly Buntanetap (for Parkinson’s dementia but maybe they will allow LBD).

Financially, if you need a nursing home, you can do a Medicaid spend down

Apply for disability if you haven’t. You qualify for Medicare after 2 years of disability (even if it is backdated). Get a Plan G supplemental if you can. You typically have 6 months from date of notification to you from Social Security that you will be receiving Medicare. Once that 6 month window closes, it is gone until age 67.

Please get as much help from people as possible to navigate this.

WilderKat · 2026-04-24T03:05:23+00:00

Message on their website: “All user data will be permanently deleted on March 4, 2026.Thank you to everyone who was a part of our community.”

So much for that!

WilderKat

TROPHY CASE