My mom who is 80 yrs old has always been a ball of fire. she did vol. work for several different places and was always telling jokes and picking. Very independent until about a yr ago. She begin to walk slow( shuffling) , forgetting alot of things and her hearing was horrible. Her dr said it was because she is 80 and pretty much left it at that. She crocheted boggins for the homeless shelter and made tons of afghans to give to whoever she saw she thought needed something to make them smile. she even stopped doing this in the past yr. she also began to worry about EVERYTHING! SHe has lost 47 lbs in the past yr too.after the dr told us its due to her age, I began searching on the net to see if I could find out something else that may be causing it. I found a condition called normal-pressure hydrocephalus .At my sisters and I demand, the dr agreed to a MRI and it showed she had to much fluid around her brain, hence normal-pressure hydrocephalus.
She has surgery this past fri and a shunt was placed in her brain and a drain tube was run under her skin,down her neck and down to her stomach where the fluid is now draining.
YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hours after the surgery, mom was walking at a normal pace, WITHOUT a walker, telling jokes, eating everything that didnt run away from her and she can hear again! No more depressed effects, basically back to my normal momma!!!She allowed my sister and I to take turns staying with her after coming home( the next day after surgery) and has now thrown us out cause we were "in her way" all the time. She is back to her old normal self now, missing her hair, but the old funny, happy little lady she was before all this started.
The final sign of this condition is shuffling her feet instead of walking. All the sympoms are of the normal aging process but we just felt there was something else going on and am glad we did. WE HAVE OUR HAPPY MOMMA BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its just really amazing how much this has helped.
If anyone has a parent that has recently began shuffling instead of walking, becoming more forgetful, hard of hearing, any worrying more than usual PLEASE have them cked for this. It really makes me wonder just how many elderly people have this problem and are being told its because they are old and pretty much pushed aside instead of trying to find a treatment.
Moms hair should come back but it really dont matter, we have our old "happy go lucky" momma back and I dont really care she is bald. lol

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I'm so glad you have your mom back to normal.
Judy

Wow! Good for you for realizing it was not normal and figuring it out. Your mom is lucky to have you!

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Good for you. You know your Mom better than any doctor.

It makes me so mad when my Mom tells her doctor of a problem and he says its just because she's getting old. Unfortunately, she loves this doctor and won't consider getting a second opinion.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

Happy all is okay with your mom continued healthy wishes.....Peace.Catherine

Good detective work! I heard something about this not too long ago. It's often missed by doctors, particularly the elderly. I think their thoughts might be, well she's eighty, it's just old age.

think, if you can find one, it's nice to have a doctor that specializes in geriatrics. I'm not saying a doctor that is a geriatric specialist would have definitely picked up on this, but I think the chances are better. At any rate, you did your homework and your mom is the better for having such a smart daughter.

This is like an episode of 'House". You did something amazing! Must be so nice to have your mom back to normal, and know that it is because of your caring actions.