Mercury

BB was here yesterday. I have seen her for a few years. She has dementia. Dementia probably means (it's nearly impossible to translate from medicine language to enlish) "progressive trouble with thinking ability." The most "popular" dementia, by far, is Alzheimer's which is a specific disease. I'm not sure if she has Alzheimer's. If she does, it's an unusual one. However, since 85% of the cases of dementia are due to Alzheimer's disease, an unusual case of Alzheimer's is more likely than an unusual dementia. Someone I respect who is a neuropsychologist thought she has Progressive Primary Aphasia. That's a very rare form of dementia. Maybe she has that.
She has a caregiver who is a joint custodian for her with a charity group. Yesterday I spoke with her at length. BB has been going for chelation therapy. She is being treated for high fecal mercury levels. This has been going on for fourteen months. There hasn't been significant benefit from this so far. Yesterday was the first time that I was asked the questions that made me discuss the potential benefits of this type of therapy. So I did.
It is sufficient to say that I don't really have faith in the theraputic value of this treatment, although the financial benefit (to the provider) is significant.
I don't believe in taking away people's hope. It's not right. It doesn't really help anything. If people want to try things that I'm pretty sure don't work, that's alright. If people want to try things are just dangerous, I object. So sometimes when people are doing certain things for certain diseases, I keep quiet about it.
There is a lot of "alternative" therapy that sounds very good to me. Some of it has very good research behind it and I really believe in it. I take Barcopa because it's pretty clear that it makes thinking better. I recommend it, and I even sell it in the office. I do the same with Salacia. It's crazy to think that herbs don't do things. How some people come to this conclusion is mind-boggling. The "herb" marijuana has very clear and potent effects. It's even illegal. The "herb" (it's a bean really) coffee clearly has a significant physiologic effect. So there's no doubt that some plants produce chemical effects in our bodies. It has to be that way. It's just a matter of understanding what they are and the risks and benefits. There is also the issue of our degree of certainty about the purported benefits.
Then, there are things that are most unlikely to help. I'm pretty sure that "fecal mercury" for which BB was treated never had much of a chance. It was an expensive therapy. Now, it turns out that BB is "running out of money". The charity that helps be her "custodial guardian" required $53,000 last year to manage her finances (pay her bills). Maybe that's part of why she's running out of money. It is a church-related charity. I don't know how charitable it is to charge that much money, though. Maybe the chelation is part of it too. Maybe I should have opposed the chelation more vigorously at the start - to help save her money. I don't know, though - it would have reduced the hope and decreased the faith in me. People want to believe what they want to believe; they need to learn from experience more than from lectures.
So that's the story on Mercury.