Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Perseveration

Dr. Grumpy: "So what can I do for you?"

Mr. Son: "Mom has been having memory problems, and I've been having to take more and more care of her."

Mrs. Ross: "But son, you're very good at what you're doing."

Mr. Son: "Thanks, mom. And she doesn't remember how to work things at home."

Dr. Grumpy: "Have any tests been done?"

Mr. Son: "Dr. Intern ordered some labs. Here are copies for you." (hands over papers)

Dr. Grumpy: "Thank you, let me look through these..."

Mrs. Ross: "Dr. Intern is very good at what he's doing."

Dr. Grumpy: "Do you have a list of medications?"

Mr. Son: "Yes, I wrote them down." (hands over note card)

Dr. Grumpy: "Thanks."

Mrs. Ross: "Doctor, I think you're very good at what you're doing."

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ehm... Flattery will get you nowhere?

Linell said...

But Dr. Grumpy, you are very good at what you do.

Packer said...

Maybe she is just a nice person. Despite what you have heard and what you have come to believe they do exist. Maybe not in Grumpyville, but in Packerburg they do.

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Packer, that's perseveration. It's commonly seen in dementia and other cognitive disorders.

Anonymous said...

Is there such a thing as perseveration in otherwise healthy 12-year-olds? Because my kid keeps saying "I don't know" whenever I question her about anything, even if that answer is completely unreasonable.

Mr Mobius said...

Perseveration seems like it'd be quite hard to catch. Sort of like knight's move or flight of ideas, it just sort of comes up and you need to be very alert to catch it.

What cognitive disorders show perseveration?

(If this comes up in exams in 1 week's time, thank you for the reminder)

Anonymous said...

Perseveration - just like the guy in this post, right?

JanTink said...

Could I borrow her for my 17-year-old with low self esteem? She needs someone perseverating this message to her 24-hours a day...

Anonymous said...

Hahaha, anonymous. Sounds like my 10 year old son. Here is the conversation we had yesterday, about 15 minutes after he returned from school:

Me: What did you do in school today?

Son: I don't remember.

Me: Did you have music?

Son: Yeah.

Me: What did you do in music?

Son: I forgot.

Me: Well, did you eat the orange I packed in your lunch?

Son: I'm not sure.

And this kid is in the gifted program! Ack! :o

ronstew said...

The fun of your blog comes from the wackiness of the people you deal with. I know he's not the subject of your post, but how typical is Mr. Son? Guy trying hard to cope with a difficult situation and doing about as well as can be expected of somebody without training or experience.

I feel for the Mr. Son. I watched my mother going through it, and in ten or twenty years, she is going to put me through it too.

Oh, and when a know-it-all colleague told me about perseveration, I thought she was making up the word. {slaps forehead}

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Mr. Son is a good guy, doing his best in a shitty situation.

Anonymous said...

Kim - are you an alias for my husband? Swear we had exact conversation with our son who is also a 10-year old GT student just yesterday. I mean, chills down my spine. Just replace 'music' with 'writing benchmark'.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Mr. Son actually IS very good at what he's doing, having all those results ready for you, and all the medications listed. So she may be just exhibiting perseveration, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day...

clairesmum said...

great example of perseveration - and if she does it in front of the doctor, she's really bad at home! (no matter how demented the elder, they can sense an evaluating expert a mile away, and can 'pass inspection' amaazingly well for the 10 minutes or less in most MD visits.)
can we have a hint as to the choice of her pseudonym? or is Mrs. Ross a revered yak herder?

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Claire's Mum: Here's the reference.

Jonah said...

Perseveration is a hallmark of autism. There's a song called Perseveration Station.

Anonymous said...

That's a nicer phrase to keep repeating than "It's Saturday! Fuck off!".

clairesmum said...

thanks, Ibee. not much of a TV fan, but you yak herders seem up to date on so much of this new technology stuff. will your kids be going to yak herding camp for vacation this summer?

Anonymous said...

as in the old adage =
old age is not for sissys..

and.... taking care of demented elder is not for sissys....

and with the largest population growth in elders over 80 crowd, and with boomers blazing toward those years, and with nearly 50% of those over 80 having some degree of dementia....

"learning to love the new person"
was a great theme from the geritrician who worked at the facility with the cat who stayed at the bedside of the dying...

but I'm forgetting the name of the book.... sigh.

Jonah said...

Making Rounds With Oscar, but I didn't like that book. That geriatrician was too convinced that demented people weren't "there" or had no quality of life, and that people who thought they'd want to stay alive if they got more demented were fooling themselves. I would really not want that guy for my doctor if I had dementia.
http://daviddosa.com/pages/

Lars said...

Dr Grumpy, of all your recent posts, this is the least credible one. I mean, a relative of a patient who brings with him relevant lab result and a list of medications? I seldom see such patients :)

 
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