Dr Sarah White[/caption]
Rory Johnston MPS[/caption]
There is often a perception that people are simply overweight due to overeating, said Mr Johnston, but there are myriad conditions and medicine classes that can cause patients to gain weight, including:
Aetiology and pathophysiology 
Initial symptoms are usually mild and may include1,2,8:
Delays in diagnosis may result from various factors.11 This may include patients not seeking immediate diagnosis, initial misdiagnosis, referral to non-neurological specialists and delayed referral to a neurologist.11 General practitioners will probably only encounter one patient with MND in their careers.1,11 Differential diagnoses may include a variety of other neurological conditions, including Kennedy’s disease, an inherited disorder which progresses very slowly, involves only lower motor neurones and exhibits similar symptoms to those of MND.1,2 
Why did you decide to become one of the very first pharmacist prescribers? 
References
- Favero M, Belluzzi E, Ortolan A, et al. Erosive hand osteoarthritis: latest findings and outlook. Nat Rev Rheumatol 2022;18(3):171–83.
- Kloppenburg M, Kroon F. Management of hand osteoarthritis. 2024. In: UpToDate [Internet]. Waltham, MA: UpToDate.
- Wittoek R, Verbruggen G, Vanhaverbeke T, et al. RANKL blockade for erosive hand osteoarthritis: a randomized placebo-controlled phase 2a trial. Nat Med 2024;30(3):829–36.
- Australian Medicines Handbook online [Internet]. Denosumab. 2024. Adelaide (AU): Australian Medicines Handbook Pty Ltd. At: https://amhonline.amh.net.au
