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TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH: Treating crashes in blood pressure

DEAR DR. ROACH: My mother lives with me. She’s 88 and on hospice. She’s totally bedridden. Her brain is fine, but her body has failed her. The problem is that if I try and get her out of the bed for anything (a change of scenery, to change the sheets, etc.), within minutes of getting her into a wheelchair, her blood pressure crashes, and she loses consciousness. Obviously, this is a huge issue. She’s always complained of a lifelong “vasovagal” issue. This also happened occasionally before she was on hospice, and her cardiologist gave her a new medication — midodrine. But ...

Dear Annie: She’s hoping to heal a hurting blended family

DEAR ANNIE: I’ve been married for 35 years and have four children and seven grandchildren. We are a blended family. All the children lived with, and were raised by, my husband and me. One of my daughters was always kind of a black sheep, always doing things outside the box. As a young child, teen and adult, she always did it differently. So much so that, as she got older, it actually started to hurt our family and the other children. She moved out in her early 20s, and I thought things would get better, but they just got worse. Then she came and told us she was pregnant and ...

Hints from Heloise: Language change is a constant

DEAR HELOISE: King Alfred the Great would never have said “you” to one person, since this was the plural form, and “thou” was the singular form. (This can be compared to the German “du” and the Spanish “tu.”) After the French-speaking Normans in 1066 forced a two-tier society on England, they demanded that they should be addressed with the plural pronoun, while they addressed the conquered natives with the singular (which explains why the plural “are” is still used with “you”). Examples of changes could be multiplied. While the invaders and natives eventually ...

To Your Good Health: Looking at plasma exchange for MS

DEAR DR. ROACH: I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) at the age of 46. The course of the disease was mild for me with only three identifiable MS attacks (in both my spine and brain). I took Copaxone shots for seven years before my neurologist believed that it was safe to discontinue treatment. Since this time, I haven’t had any new attacks, only some occasional balance issues and lingering weakness in my left leg. My concern is secondary progressive MS (SPMS) and the possible consequences of an occurrence. I’ve recently read about therapeutic plasma ...