"When the well is dry, they know the worth of water."

"When the well is dry, they know the worth of water." -- Benjamin Franklin

So. The whole water thing.

Motor difficulties can also accompany neurological disease, such as dementia. I noted in my April 24 post about dementia that the only motor symptom I had noted in Cheeto McFrogFace was his fear in going down stairs. This is a long time behavior of his. I told you then that I'd be on the lookout for new motor symptoms. That time is now.

We do now have a new impaired functional motor act that has raised eyebrows around the globe, including mine. It's the water thing.

Several times in recent weeks, SCROTUS has been observed to drink water in a very infantile way. He uses both hands, and sometimes he tips his head forward and back in an awkward way instead of tipping the cup or bottle like most folks. 

Here he is in action.

In February, 2017:





On November 15, 2017:

And just a couple weeks ago, December 18, 2017:

Why would someone hold a cup with two (tiny) hands? Tremor, incoordination, or spasms, perhaps. 

Does 45 have a neurological disorder that is contributing to all of his symptoms, from his speech and language problems, to his cognitive problems, to his behavior problems, to his motor difficulties? 

There are several possibilities besides the dementias, which have motor difficulties as a prominent feature. Consider Parkinson's Disease. He may have a tremor, and thus uses both hands to steady his sippy cup. Parkinson's disease often has a concomitant dementia. One common type of dementia that often accompanies Parkinson's disease is Lewy Body dementia. It is particularly nasty. But neither his motor patterns nor his speech patterns scream PD to me. 

Perhaps multiple sclerosis? There can be cognitive difficulties with this disease as well. But motor difficulties are the primary feature, and I suspect it would be more obvious before now.

Myasthenia Gravis? There are studies that suggest that this muscle-weakening disease can also have a cognitive component. I don't see the tell-tale ptosis of the eyes,  do you? No, his beady little rat-eyes look the same as ever.

Drug Use?  Now, this one is worth considering. Have you noticed how he sniff - sniff - sniffs through his speeches? He could be snuffing something. Drug use could account for all of his assorted bizarre behaviors. 

I'll consider ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) only briefly.  A horrible progressive motor neuron disease, ALS typically does not have a cognitive component. An in fact, over the years I have found, as have many in the medical community I have recently learned, that patients with ALS are the nicest people you ever hope to meet. "Niceness" in these patients is so prevalent that some physicians can practically use the characteristic as part of their differential diagnosis process! No, SCROTUS decidedly does NOT have ALS. 

After doing some reading and thinking, I am liking the diagnosis Frontotemporal Dementia. It accounts for his lack of empathy (hell, being a Republican accounts for that! -- to be explored in a future post); his forgetfulness; his inappropriate actions; his lack of judgment; his speech and language difficulties; his getting lost; his lack of insight into his difficulties; as well as his motor difficulties.

Read up on FTD here at UC San Francisco's site or here at the Mayo Clinic's page. Go read, and tell me that these descriptions don't fit 45 to a T.

I'd love to know if his golf cronies have noticed any anomalies on the links, besides his cheating, that is. 

Sarah Sanders has said that Boss Tweet is going to get a physical exam and results will be released publicly. I'll believe that when I see it. And I'd like to see a full neurological work-up as well. Stay tuned. And keep resisting.