Alzheimer's and other dementias that strike the aged are easily misdiagnosed according to findings of a study announced Feb. 23, 2011 by one of the leading medical websites on the Internet.
WebMD reported that researchers autopsied the brains of 426 Japanese-American men who lived in Hawaii and died at an average age of 86. Of those, almost half (211) were diagnosed with dementia when they were alive and the dementia was most commonly attributed to Alzheimer's disease.
But the autopsies found that only half of those diagnosed with Alzheimer's had brain findings consistent with the disease. The study showed that dementia also is often misdiagnosed.
"That may be surprising to many but I'm sure almost all Americans will be shocked to know that many patients suffer from dementia-like symptoms because they were over-medicated while under the care of an anesthesiologist," says Dr. Barry Friedberg, M.D. and author of
Getting Over Going Under: 5 Things You MUST Know Before Anesthesia (ISBN 978-0-9829169-0-2, 2010, Goldilocks Press, 116 pages, $18.95). "There is a real risk of being over-medicated while under the effects of an anesthesia because most anesthesiologists in the U.S. do not use a brain monitor to monitor the drug's effect on the brain, putting the patient at risk of brain damage – including dementia."
The movie "Awake" terrorized Americans about being awake during surgery. However, waking up in the middle of surgery is a very slight risk that's 82 per cent reduced when a brain monitor is used. The most serious risk faced from routine anesthesia over-medication is waking up with dementia and never again being the same person who went under anesthesia for surgery.
"Going under anesthesia without a brain monitor is like playing Russian roulette with your brain," says Dr. Friedberg. "You have to live with the long-term effects of your short term care." The risk is great enough that the request for a brain monitor should be non-negotiable, the doctor adds.
Dr. Friedberg, an expert on propofol, has been interviewed by FOX, CNN, True TV, and People Magazine on Michael Jackson's death.
In his book, Dr. Friedberg spells out what patients should do to insure that a brain monitor is used during surgery that requires sedation. At his website, www.drbarryfriedberg.com the author offers three free letters that can be downloaded for use in requesting use of a brain monitor. The form letters are for the intended surgeon, anesthesiologist, and, if needed, the hospital administrator.
About Dr. Barry Friedberg
A board certified anesthesiologist for more than three decades, Dr. Friedberg is author of Anesthesia in Cosmetic Surgery as well as Getting Over Going Under. He developed The Friedberg Method of administering anesthesia in 1992 and the Goldilocks Anesthesia protocol in 1997. Dr. Friedberg was awarded a US Congressional award for applying his methods on wounded soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. The founder of the Goldilocks Foundation, Dr. Friedberg has been published and cited in several medical journals and textbooks.
http://www.drbarryfriedberg.com -END-
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