A bit of context

Ok, I've been holding back this week. When the doc said that every stroke patient is their own control group, we were talking in a particular context. Every patient may be their own group, BUT among all the pontine strokes he has worked with, Linda requires less medication and is more functional than pretty much everyone else.

He suggested something that I never thought he would. He suggested that she try to reduce some of her medication by 1/3. It was surprising because he's been very specific that patients who had tried to reduce their medication had lost their skills (until they went back on their meds).

So starting Monday, Linda started taking 1/3 of two of her neurotransmitter drugs. He said she would know in about 48 hours if it was the wrong move (harder to get out of bed, hard to balance, etc.). It's Friday, so I think probably we can be pretty sure... once again, Linda is unlike everyone.

She initial described the change as feeling a bit more relaxed. Less tone (involuntary muscle contraction). At the 48 hr period, she said she had a bit of dizziness, but nothing drammatic, and nothing that unusual. Since then she's been pretty much normal.

So I guess we can mark that down as 1/3 less medication for the rest of her life. Probably a good thing.