Concerns about family friend
 

We have a lovely neighbor friend, about 70 years old, having some health issues.
He did fall a few years ago and hit his head.
He is stubborn about taking vitamins, which is problem number one and problem number two is that his doctors have been a little slow, in my view anyway, with optimal care.
He has agreed to take a multi vitamin. After all this time and my husband insisting he push his doctors for more testing, he is getting a complete neuro work up in the coming weeks.
I'm unsure if I can convince him to ask his doctors to check for vitamin levels.
I'm getting the distinct impression his doctors don't care about vitamins and he is very unsure about their importance.
He is having mostly memory issues, but a few other things that are likely associated with just getting a little older.
What vitamin supplements might be safe and likely to be of help especially with reference to memory and energy?
I was thinking a low to moderate dosage of d3 and a B multi (on top of his multi). I can't see where these things would hurt and they likely would help.
I wish doctors were more open to testing. Hard to believe that this wouldn't cross their minds, especially when they encounter an older patient.
His diet is fair, definitely not good...relying a lot on coco cola and TV dinners with some more wholesome foods in between.

There are so many people we can't get to. Sad but true. Many are very close minded to alternative treatments, I know this as I have enough older friends that I TRY. My mother was very open to all my suggestions over the years after I got into alternatives.

Your friend is probably very deficient in Vit D....and the doctors, don't get me started.

Does he have children you can talk to...otherwise not much you can do. I guess.

Hi Vowel Lady

Your neighbor friend is lucky to have you and your husband caring for him so much - especially if he's on his own. Sounds like your art of gentle persuasion is gradually having an effect. You're right to start slowly with educating him about the need for supplementation- also if he introduces only one new thing at a time it is easier to monitor any effect - good or bad.

It's important that he have any testing done before he starts the multi-vitamin as this will give a baseline for his status. Also the multi-vitamin can affect the test results. If he has already started taking them then he should stop them for about 5 days so they don't affect the test results.

If your neighbor is open to watching just one video I would recommend this one. It's about Vit B12 - but that is one of the more essential vitamins for seniors - particularly if they are prone to falls. You're probably familiar with MrsD's threads on B12 so I won't go into details here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvEizypoyO0

Maybe watch it yourself first and pick out a few essential parts to show him to start with (you can use the 'time lapse' bar at the bottom of the video to stop/start where you want). It may help to convince him enough to watch the whole thing.

If you do manage to convince him to ask his doctor for testing and the doctor does do it then also suggest he get a copy of the results for himself.

Another useful site if your neighbor is skeptical about vitamins and thinks it's a waste of his money or he doesn't know what to buy is Labdoor which has done independent testing of some supplements. Here's the link:

https://labdoor.com/rankings/multivitamins

Hope this has been some use to you for your ongoing efforts to help your neighbor stay well.

Added: Vowel Lady - just reread your post and noted he is going for a full neuro exam in a few weeks. If he's planning on going alone it may be useful to gently suggest he have a support person with him - if for nothing else to help remember what was tested and anything the neuro's may say.