A supposition regarding W's medication

I believe his meds have been changed/enhanced for the treatment of TIA.
It appears to me he is now taking a steroidal drug that is begining to cause him to swell up around the face and waist.

I see the subtle changes already which are not in keeping with normal weight gain from overeating.

He will be feeling stronger in the coming weeks but he will also put on an extra 20 lbs minimum.


2 months ago



Now

apparently he took up biking, but I've never seen a pic of him doing so... and he tends to fall flat on his face.

That could explain the newfound doughiness... but certainly not the crazed performances lately. Personally I think he's swallowing weird pills by the handful and washing it down with booze.

is logical but drug use is still a strong possibility.

His recent performances could also be a result of his increased travel schedule as opposed to his month long vacations.

And he really deserves a nice long vacation. Say, starting January 20th and lasting... forever.

Especially being short-tempered, generally irritable, and angry responses WAY out of proportion with whatever happened.

After 1 month on cortisone, I thought I should just wear a sandwich board that said "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it."

Of course, * has always been irritable.

I don't think there is any doubt he has some sort of neurological problem. The head first dives into the dirt indicate loss of conciousness before impact, no reflexive defensives. My guess is that he has a seizure disorder. The rumored episodes odd behavior and zoning out is indicative of minor seizures. The dives are major episodes.

like mini strokes, caused by temporary diminished blood supply to part of the brain....symptoms tend to clear in an hour or two during which the patient is obviously "out of it," with language and cognitive difficulties and can lose consciousness. Same risk factors as for stroke and indicate the patient is at later risk for stroke.

On edit, steroids would not be generally indicated for TIA-- aspirin to reduce platelet aggregation or even anticoagulent therapy and specific antihypertensive medications when indicated, but unlikely steroids unless he had some other condition for which there was a specific indication....

I was only on the emotional roller coaster for the first week or so. Unless he's on a massive dose of it, it wouldn't account for the puffiness. The usual medication for TIAs is coumadin, a blood thinner, which, although it does have some side effects, would not explain either his appearance or his behavior.

He really does seem to be deteriorating. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd guess he was slipping and binge drinking during his many vacations. All his neurological symptoms seem to be worsening.

Although there are plenty of sedatives around that could cause his balance and gait problems, along with the slurred speech, the irritability, the memory problems, and the confabulation, I think it's unlikely he'd be on them. I doubt his liver could handle much medication. The tidiest explanation would be a return to his drug of choice. It's only a wild guess, though.

At least it's my impression of what a coked-up person is: highly energized and animated and full of confidence. It was either Coke or tons of caffeine or some other uppers.

That look on his face in the golfcart is priceless. "You can't make me, I'm going home!"

Now it's all donuts, little chocolate donuts...

:9