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Gabapentin’s benefit to sleep outweighs risks in woman’s case

Dear Dr. Roach: I’m a 70 year old woman in good health, other than osteopenia and digestive problems that plague many seniors. I went through a sleep study and was found to have somewhat severe periodic limb movement. I do wake up frequently, always use the bathroom, and can be awake for a while before going back to sleep. I was prescribed 100 mg of gabapentin, which does help. But I worry about dementia since the frequency and length of time of taking gabapentin determines the risk. My watch does indicate a longer, deeper sleep when I take it, but there’s a trade-off. Do I get the ...

New friends seem to outshine old one

Dear Annie: My dearest friend and I go back over 50 years. We’ve seen each other through everything, high and lows. Recently I became disabled and can no longer drive. I’m also a widow. I’m not asking anyone to chauffeur me around (I have that handled), but a phone call here and there would be lovely. She lives just a short distance away, yet she visits only about once a month and texts or calls infrequently. She has never once offered to run an errand. I always tell her how much her visits mean to me. What makes it sting a little more is that friends I’ve known only a ...

Horoscope: Thursday, June 4

Thursday, June 4 You will fulfill the wishes of your ancestors by living with joy. Aries (March 21-April 19) Hope is a lever. There is always a way to make it work, to adjust or flip it. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” — Archimedes Taurus (April 20-May 20) You are the product of generations who hoped to survive savage conditions, to thrive through cruelty and turmoil and to beat impossible odds. Though you endure and advance, in a sense you have already arrived. You are hope embodied. Gemini (May 21-June 21) Hope ...

Politics, sports need not mix

Nearly everyone who is a college sports fan, myself included, knows the state of affairs in the NCAA is one fine mess. Especially regarding football and men’s basketball, the two major money-making sports, things have changed massively in the last few years. Elite and even above-average athletes have effectively become free agents selling their services each year to the highest bidders. Every year the school rosters are different, so there’s almost no team or university loyalty. It’s rent-a-player, and the big college teams are now effectively professionals playing in ...

Trump is stuck between two realities

Normally, I worry that events may overtake a column. But not so with the Iran war. I don’t worry about running afoul of a headline or Truth Social post from the president because what is said about the situation is no longer very relevant to the reality. On April 8, Nick Catoggio, my Dispatch colleague, dubbed an earlier stoppage with Iran “Schrodinger’s ceasefire.” This was a reference to the famous thought experiment by the physicist Erwin Schrodinger, who was trying to explain the weirdness of “superpositionality” in quantum physics. A cat in a box is both dead and ...

Trying to help fiancee healing from trauma

Dear Annie: My soon-to-be fiancee has had an incredibly hard year. She had ankle surgery and a difficult recovery. She worked hard to get her mental health back on track. She gave up drinking for me. She also went through serious family drama after being kicked out of her aunt’s house, and she had to sue to get out of the situation. She won. For most of her life, her family had a lot of control over her. After more than 50 years, she finally stood up for herself and told them how she felt. I am so proud of her. Right now, I feel like her biggest cheerleader. We have known each ...