Q. My 90-year-old mother has been suffering from dementia. She also has neck pain that was so severe that her doctor prescribed oxycodone for relief. Within just 20 minutes of taking half a pill, she becomes almost her normal self before dementia.

It happens every time. We can actually see the change happening. Why don’t they do a study on this?

A. Your account is not the first time we have heard that opioids may affect patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

More than 25 years ago, a health care professional reported to us that his elderly mother had fallen and broken two ribs. He expected she would be in bad shape when he got to the emergency department.

Surprisingly, she was more lucid than she had been in years.

The improvement lasted only a few weeks, but he wondered if the pain reliever (hydrocodone) might have been responsible.

A new study in Frontiers in Neuroscience (May 27, 2026) reported that an elderly demented woman responded remarkably well to a high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin. She began conversing and remembering important details from her life.

None of these anecdotes establishes a viable treatment for dementia. But they do suggest that people with severe dementia may retain memories and personality, even if they can’t readily access them. We hope that this new case report will inspire researchers to investigate these phenomena.

Q. In your newspaper column a few weeks ago, you stated, in reply to a question about oral Wegovy, that the tablets “need to be taken with a big glass of water.” That is not what my Wegovy pill bottle instructions say. In fact, it says to take “with no more than 4 ounces of water.”

The advice you gave, if incorrect, might lead users to use it ineffectively. Please print a correction.

A. You are absolutely correct. The instructions from the maker of the Wegovy (semaglutide) pill state: “Wake up and take 1 Wegovy pill on an empty stomach with a sip of water (up to 4 ounces).” Thank you for catching our error.

Q. Our son had a diagnosis of restless legs syndrome (RLS) for several years as a young adult. He found it very difficult to describe the discomfort that plagued him with any specificity, and eventually, the RLS diagnosis was thrown out.

A physician who practices complementary medicine tested his Vitamin D level. He was certifiably low in Vitamin D. After supplementation, the pain and discomfort gradually subsided. Other people might want to know about this.

A. Scientists have found an association between restless legs syndrome and insufficient levels of vitamin D (PLOS One, March 10, 2025). Perhaps that shouldn’t surprise us too much, as vitamin D is critical for many crucial functions in the human body. In effect, it acts like a hormone and interacts with numerous other compounds.

You can learn more about what vitamin D does and how much you need in our “eGuide to Vitamin D and Optimal Health.” In it, we also describe the consequences of inadequate levels. People with low vitamin D are more vulnerable to arthritis, asthma, depression, diabetes, respiratory infections, falls, high blood pressure and heart disease, among other problems. This online resource is located under the Health eGuides tab at www.PeoplesPharmacy.com.

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 300 W. 57th Street, 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.”