Re: Re: my father was recently diagnosed...

[Guest guest]

Dear Kim, after reading your e-mail I was very moved as I went through the

same thing with my father. What makes your situation worse is the fact that

your father is so young. My father was also misdiagnosed. In fact, his Dr.

did not even know he had shydragers for years. He had been slowly going down

hill for about seven years. First it was the in-balance resulting in many

falls. He also had very low blood pressure when standing after sitting. Mild

dementia at first the progressively getting worse. The last two years have

been very hard as he lost his voice and could barely talk. He was in and out

of the hospital with breathing problems and pneumonia. Loss of bladder

control came later. Also blurred vision prevented him from reading, which he

loved to do. We still did not truly know what was wrong except the Dr. kept

telling us he had emphysema and COPD. Respiratory problems, and age. He died

a month ago at the age of 79. I feel so bad that we did not know he had

MSA(no longer called shydrager). When he went to the nursing home 6 weeks ago

he had a new doctor that was much more up on things. I suggest that if you

are not getting the proper answers to find a new Dr. for your father. One who

will take the time and do some research on this disease. I think with better

care my father would have been able to beat the odds. He just didn't know

what he was fighting. One thing I think is so important is to make sure your

father is getting Physical Therapy and breathing treatments too. Sitting too

long can be disastrous. My heart goes out to you and your family and I hope

now that you know there is help you can make the proper decisions and help

your other family members and father to deal with this. He is young enough

that he may have the strength to beat it. Keep him moving and keep his

spirits up. My prayers are with you.