Thanks David, I appreciate your posts, stories, insight but most of all the truthfulness on your journey. Things are often perfectly imperfect, that's certainly a life stage realization.

Thanks for your openness.

I value your input and am so very appreciative of ALL your effort to share your inner experiences. As I read your comments such as - "so that's what you'll get." or "so be it." ... I want to reach out to you, shake your hand and give you a big - GO DAVID! As I read your reality of the symptoms, I understand better what my mother is living through and you must be told just how much you are helping me and others with your sharing. The "awareness moments" that my mother experiences, touch me the deepest. Some symptoms may be normal for some people - but like you said, "The are decidedly not normal for me". Nor are they for her. I've told her how much I love her, I will have her back and she can trust me to keep her safe. I just had a this conversation with her ....... again, just yesterday. She was frustrated because she was very much "aware" of an episode where she just knew that she should know what to do.....yet she didn't.
I put myself in her place and I think that the most important thing for me would be to know that there was that one person that I could feel secure in knowing that they "had my back". I can't imagine going through such a loss of myself without that trustworthy faithful other. I am grateful to you for sharing this season of your life with us and I do hope that you will continue. This is my first time responding and I know that my reading your blog tonight was meant to be. Thank you David for your honesty and courage. My very best wishes to you. MJD

Your issues do not sound psychosomatic in the least. It makes me worried to read it! I could not possibly feel comfortable with this in myself if it was continuing to happen to me with no answers as to the cause, and it is way too much to write off to normal aging. I wish that your doctors including Mayo had not given up trying to figure this out. Obviously your "IQ" is still up there above well above most of ours, and that's great, but your abilities to function normally are taking a hit from something...Would you mind terribly sharing with us what medications or supplements you are already on?

You don't need to feel defensive--what's happening to you is obviously real. Your blog is both informative and insightful. My mother has Alzheimers's and of course I worry that I will develop it too. My brother, who had a stroke a few years ago, has experienced cognitive impairment that is very noticeable to his wife and to me also, even though I see him infrequently. He had a whole battery of tests, and like you, they showed no sign of cognitive impairment. I'm amazed at the results and I'm sure his wife is too, as he is clearly impaired sometimes. So I am really interested in hearing your story unfold--keep blogging!

Please keep writing!

Brilliant. Thanks for your honesty and insight. A thought: Have you explored the possibility the symptoms you describe could be side effects of medications?

You may want to ask your Dr about a new memory drug called Namenda XR. My husband began taking it about 4 months ago and his memory has improved unbelievably as well as most of his systems of dementia. His psychiatrist who had never even heard of the drug said he's never seen anyone reverse the way he's done. His doctors have changed meds over the last year but this one seemed to make the biggest difference in the shortest time period. Incidentally he was stationed at a fuel depot in Vietnam that refueled planes carrying Agent Orange but has never looked into this as a reason for his neurological problems of possible Parkinsons or Lewey Bodies.

Your impairment sounds a lot like what Vietnam vets experienced with Agent Orange. They were demyelinating, something virtually undetectable. It's real allright, they just can't detect it. Like ALS, it is a diagnosis of exclusion. Victims of Lyme disease seem to recover. Years later they demyelinate because the spirochetes never really leave the body. Coccidia, another spirochete, affect pigeons neurologically, they tilt their heads and "stargaze". They can be treated and resume normal flight. I hope you find answers as well.