Lewy body dementia: The neurological disorder suffered by Ted Turner, Robin Williams CNN founder Ted Turner has revealed that he is suffering from Lewy body dementia, the same form of dementia that Robin Williams battled in the last few years of his life. According to the website for the Lewy Body Dementia Association, LBD affects 1.5 million Americans. It is a progressive neurological disorder that affects a patient's memory, cognition (especially decision making), mood, behavior and balance and is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's, as Williams' case was, or bipolar disorder, as Turner's was. In an interview with Ted Koppel set to air on "CBS Sunday Morning" this weekend (9 a.m. EDT/PDT), Turner, 79, likened his case to a "mild case of Alzheimer's ... but not nearly as bad ... Thank goodness, I don't have that." Displaying some of the memory problems characterized by LBD, he struggled to
remember the name of his disorder, "I also have got, let's – the one that's – I can't remember the name of it ... dementia." Turner said it leaves him "tired" and "exhausted," adding that the other symptom that bothers him most is "forgetfulness." Williams' case was far more severe, according to his widow, Susan Schneider, who called it "the terrorist inside my husband's brain." Worse, they didn't know what the comedian had in the final year before he died by suicide in August 2014 at age 63. As early as the fall of 2013, he began displaying what at the time seemed like unrelated symptoms: "Constipation, urinary difficulty, heartburn, sleeplessness and insomnia, and a poor sense of smell — and lots of stress," according to Schneider. There is no definitive test for LDB, according to Rachel Dolhun, a doctor who wrote an explanatory article about the disease on the website of
the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Rather, doctors arrive at the diagnosis using a patient's imaging scans, physical exam, medical history and blood work. Once diagnosed, cases are usually managed by neurologists. (They may refer patients to cognitive specialists and psychologists to help address the mental symptoms.) Williams' LBD diagnosis was only determined after an extensive autopsy, Schneider revealed in an essay in the medical journal Neurology. "All four of the doctors I met with afterward and who had reviewed his records indicated his was one of the worst pathologies they had seen," she recalled. "He had about 40 percent loss of dopamine neurons and almost no neurons were free of Lewy bodies throughout the entire brain and brainstem." Schneider said that while anxiety was not new for the actor, who had long suffered
from depression, the way he now handled it was "markedly out of character for him," to the point of alarming her. "Not until after Robin left us would I discover that a sudden and prolonged spike in fear and anxiety can be an early indication of LBD," she explained. In the weeks before he was misdiagnosed with Parkinson's in the summer of 2014, Williams arrived home from a movie shoot like "a 747 coming in with no landing gear." In hindsight, she realized that this was the point at which her Julliard-trained, Oscar-winning husband was no longer able to hide his illness. The Parkinson's misdiagnosis made things worse because people with LBD respond badly to drugs prescribed for that disorder, Schneider wrote. "I will never know the true depth of his suffering, nor just how hard he was fighting," she lamented. "But from where I stood, I saw the bravest man in the world playing the hardest role of his life. Robin was losing his mind and he was aware of it."
Suicide rates up among younger veterans, VA says The number of suicides among younger veterans has increased “substantially,” according to a report released Wednesday by the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) The latest statistics show that 45 of every 100,000 veterans ages 18-34 committed suicide in 2016 – up from around 40 a year earlier. “These findings underscore the fact that suicide is a national public health issue that affects communities everywhere,” the VA said in a statement obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “Our goal is to prevent suicide among all veterans — even those who do not and may never seek care within VA’s system.” The VA found that there were
more than 6,000 veteran suicides each year from 2008 to 2016. Veterans accounted for 14 percent of all suicides in the United States in 2016, yet veterans comprise just 8 percent of the population, the report said, according to the newspaper. In the report, the VA described veteran suicide as an “urgent crisis” that it can't address by itself. Still, some advocates say the department has not devoted enough resources to this issue. “If any other population of 20 million people were exposed to these threats, it would be considered a public health priority,” Paul Rieckhoff, chief
executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the newspaper. “There has never been a national call to action.” Last year, the VA’s inspector general found the department’s suicide hotline had routed a high percentage of calls to backup centers, a major flaw the department says it has resolved. On Tuesday, the inspector general also released a report after a veteran killed himself less than 24 hours after his departure from a VA facility in Minnesota. The report accused the facility of not providing followup care for the veteran, who was taken into the hospital over suicidal
ideation. “Because many veterans do not use VA services and benefits, we must build networks of support, communication and care across the communities where veterans live and thrive,” the report states. The data was released a day before a scheduled hearing by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. At the Thursday hearing, lawmakers are to discuss veteran suicide prevention efforts. The VA’s confidential Veterans Crisis Line is open 24/7 for vets and those concerned about them. The telephone number is 1-800-2738255.
Rhode Island Alliance for Retired Americans, Inc. • 94 Cleveland Street • North Providence, RI • 02904-3525 • 401-480-8381 riarajap@hotmail.com • http://www.facebook.com/groups/354516807278/