By Amy M. Collins, associate editor

Last October, I wrote a blog post about my grandmother, who is 85 and suffering from the first stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and about the failure of many providers to assess and treat the underlying cause of a sudden and extreme acceleration of her dementia symptoms (mania, agitation, and violence, along with nonstop, nonsensical talking).

The post generated a slew of comments on both the blog and Facebook, with over 20 nurses suggesting the probable cause for her symptoms to be fecal impaction or urinary tract infection. They were right. But several physicians and specialists had been shockingly wrong, diagnosing her with everything from closet alcoholism to VERY-late-onset bipolar disorder.

My grandmother did, in fact, have a severe fecal impaction, finally diagnosed—after several weeks of family turmoil—by a nurse in an ED. She was treated, and within a few weeks her symptoms slowly dissipated. I’m happy to say that she’s now back to her sweet and gentle self, with no memory of the episodes she herself would have deemed crazy.

Although her Alzheimer’s symptoms are still heartbreaking (she recently introduced me to a fellow assisted-living resident as her ‘special friend’ instead of her granddaughter), she isn’t agitated, hallucinating, accusing people of […]