Monday and My Kansas City Trip

Another bad night's sleep last night. I awoke at 3:00AM this morning and that was all of my sleep. I had gone to bed at 9:30 after watching the first episode of the Vietnam War on PBS. 

One thing I learned yesterday though is why my memory is getting so bad. I had remembered reading an article in my Consumers Report Health magazine some time ago about the effects of antihistamines on the brain. I looked it up on the internet and found it.

The article said one of the side effects of Benadryl and other antihistamines is that they are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and antagonize histamine-1 (H1) receptors in the brain and produce impairment of cognitive functions, including attention, memory, sensorimotor coordination, information processing, and psychomotor performance. Histamine has been widely reported to play an important role in maintaining central nervous system (CNS) arousal and alertness.

These are related to the information processing demands of all human day-to-day activities and functions, and therefore, administration of agents that cross the blood-brain barrier and impair central nervous system functions may lead to serious issues  of patient safety as well as affect the quality of life of patients. For example, central nervous system (CNS) impairment will not only impair the ability to drive and operate machinery, but will affect activities such as classroom learning, causing patients to feel tired, sleepy, and unable to concentrate.

Evidence from epidemiologic studies has begun to determine a relationship between an increased incidence of automobile accidents and the administration of antihistaminergic agents. 3% of patients involved in fatal road traffic accidents were found to have previously taken an antihistamine.

Furthermore, 72% of patients who have used an antihistamine and subsequently been involved in a fatal road traffic accident have been determined to be culpable, compared with 86% of those who had consumed alcohol.

It has also been suggested that, cerebral H1 blockade is associated with falls in the elderly.

Assessment of the CNS effects produced by various drugs, such as antidepressants. hypnotics, and anxiolytics, using objective psychometrics has been a common practice since the late 1960s. However, the rigorous testing of antihistamines to ensure the central nervous system (CNS) safety of these agents is a relatively more recent development.

In order to evaluate properly, there is a need for objective assessments and pharmacologic evidence that is not solely reliant on a patient's subjective perception of tiredness and sleepiness. Penetration into the central nervous system (CNS) can be measured objectively using psychometric tests, developed specifically to assess the central effects of drugs, and also by positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging. It is important that objective assessments include placebo and positive (verum) controls. Placebo is used to control the measured effects of the experimental drug treatment and the verum to validate the sensitivity of the psychometric assessments.

This explains the memory impairment I have suffered. I have taken antihistamines off and on since the 1960's. This same article suggests use of antihistamines actually causes allergies to worsen.

I also copied this information for the benefit of the readers of my blog.  The information is not generally known by the public who take antihistamines. Many doctors are not even aware of these studies and side effects and continue to advise use of them to control allergies.

More later...after my trip. It's 4:40 AM now.  

Leslie came by about 8:00 and we left for Kansas City. We ran into a lot of rain on the way up. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and then went on over to the hospital for my appointment.

There I met Dr. Priya Padmanabhan MD, MRM, who is also an assistant professor at Kansas University Medical School and she explained the needs of my body to retain the bladder where it needs to be. (You can see why everyone calls her Dr. P.)

She drew us a diagram of what my body looks like and how the series of muscles are supposed to   work. She also had me do some exercises to see where the failure had happened. I could immediately see where Dr. Peaster went wrong with his surgery.  There are three groups of muscles that hold the bladder in it's place.  The upper group is what held the uterus when I had a uterus. Those muscles have to be utilized to hold the bladder up where it needs to be. He did nothing about those important muscles.... consequently the bladder did not stay up where it belongs.

I have an appointment on November 6th for a series of tests prior to an appointment to have the surgery done over.  It may be January before I can get the surgery scheduled. They are very busy.

I am to go back to Bartlesville on Thursday and sign for copies of my medical records at Dr. Peaster's office and also get copies of the procedure he used with his surgery.

Then Leslie and I came on back home. I really trust this Dr. P.  She explained the entire procedure for me.

Bob was here when we got home. I told him about my experience and after we watched the news, he left and went home.

I took my bath and watched the second edition of the Vietnam War on PBS.  It's 9:00 now and Missy and I will go to bed.