<p>
Yes. </p>
<p>It is true that sometimes nothing helps. But I want to put it out there that very very often, depression is treatable. </p>
<p>Some wonder if side effects from drugs he was taking could have contributed. Some people do get more depressed or have suicidal thoughts with certain medications. If you are depressed already, you really have to be carefully watched.
I don’t normally watch award shows, just look at highlights, but I do want to see the tribute Billy Crystal and others did for Robin on Monday.</p>
<p>Debruns - while yes, some people have side effects from medications, as I mentioned upthread, 50% of people with Parkinson’s disease first present with depression. So if you’re already prone to depression (as RW was since he had spent part of his adult life self-medicating), then he was already facing terrible odds whether he was on medication or not.</p>
<p>So what is the message? Go get help because it might help? Then again, it might not. We don’t know what happened or why and never will but it’s probably pretty complicated. Addiction. Money. Career issues. Personal issues. And, devastating health problems. That’s a lot for anyone to handle happily. </p>
<p>An update on RW’s autopsy report -
<a href=“MSN”>MSN;
<p>Parkinson’s is bad enough. Lewy Body is horrible.</p>
<p>It’s awful. I can’t imagine the horror of knowing that ones mind and body are not functioning as they used to. </p>
<p>Oh wow. That explains some of the things he apparently experienced, like delusions and hearing voices. </p>
<p>He looked so tired the last year or so.lost his spark. His friend Billy Connolly, a comedian in Edinburgh, also has early Parkinson’s and he and Robin would talk about medications and the fears of what was to come. He didn’t seem to have the clinical depression Robin always had though. Some fans noticed tremors in films, (one mentioned Father of the Year) but didn’t think it was that serious.
I know his daughter was upset about the whole report being out, very graphic descriptions on some sites, but now maybe he can RIP. Not much left to know.
I just watched Dead Poets Society again, one of my favorites, and that is how I will remember him.</p>
<p>For people who aren’t familiar with Lewy Body, here’s a nice explanation:
<a href=“MSN”>MSN;
<p>It’s interesting that at the end of the interview, the reporter asks Sanjay Gupta, whether or not he’d want to know if he had Lewy Body because there are no treatments available. Dr. Gupta says no, he would not want to know. </p>
<p>It’s pretty clear Robin Williams did not know he had this (it’s not 100% accurately diagnosable until an autopsy is done), but the symptoms are very discouraging and frightening… whether you know you have it or not.</p>
<p>Lewy body doesnt cause auditory hallucinations. They are visual, and often are not unpleasant. The patients sometimes see kids sitting on their beds or families visiting who arent really there.</p>
<p>My mom’s GP thought she had LBD and we went through some agonizing months before her neurologist decided Parkinson’s was the correct diagnosis. I never thought I’d be grateful to to hear that she had Psrkinson’s.</p>
Almost a year since the last post in this thread… his wife, Susan, has provided her first interview since his death. I still get shivers when I think about him being gone. Sounds like his last months were quite tortuous for him.
I was glad to see the interview because it changes the story from “he was a depressed/off the wagon mess” to “he made a rational decision to end it before he lost his mind and control of his voice and body.” It becomes a story more about choice than about being a personal failure.
Yes, at some point Susan is asked whether this was his way of trying to take back control, and she says, in a way, yes. I can’t even imagine him having been locked up. When I worked in hospice, I visited a lot of patients in skilled nursing facilities who were on the dementia floors - in many, many cases, we’d hope for someone who is just pleasantly confused, and that’s the way it was in many cases… but LBD is just so cruel, and unpredictable.
YES LBD is a horrible disease! My husband was diagnosed with early onset Parkinsons with LBD and suffered for over 7 years. I just cringe when I hear of it.
A friend of my sister’s died in an institution after suffering from LBD. He was a lovely man…before. Absolutely horrible for his wife.
@sistersunnie - I remember that your H had LBD. It forever haunts the loved ones of people who have been diagnosed with it - I just can’t even imagine having a loved one diagnosed with after everything I learned about it while working in hospice.
They said he was looking up things on the Internet before he died, medications, etc. Maybe it was the last straw in his mind, no real solution to his problems. Sad, but he left a nice legacy. It was hard seeing him the last couple of years, he lost the sparkle in his eyes, seemed to have less feeling. I thought it was medication, but probably was a combination of many things.
I guess I’m a coward. I could totally see wanting to end things if the future seemed unbearable (for me, ALS or Huntington’s disease). But I just couldn’t kill myself by hanging myself with a belt on a door or whatever it was. That seems like it would be so violent and horrible.Choking, gasping, pain, panic. Gosh. Pills, alcohol, something “easy” and peaceful would be more my style.
But RIP, Robin Williams. He brought so much joy to so many people. I think he was a tortured soul long before his illness, however, and that makes me sad.