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
- Sansom LN, ed. Australian pharmaceutical formulary and handbook. 26th edn. Canberra: Pharmaceutical Society of Australia; 2024.
- Sleep Health Foundation. Melatonin and children. 2023. At: www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/sleep-disorders/melatonin-and-children#:~:text=A%20young%20child%20needs%20less,a%20doctor%27s%20prescription%20in%20Australia.
- Therapeutic Guidelines. Sleep problems in children and adolescents. [updated 2021 Mar]. At: https://tgldcdp.tg.org.au/viewTopic?etgAccess=true&guidelinePage=Psychotropic&topicfile=sleep-problems-children-adolescents&guidelinename=Psychotropic§ionId=toc_d1e47#toc_d1e47
- Johns M. Epworth Sleepiness Scale. At: https://epworthsleepinessscale.com/about-the-ess/
- Australasian Sleep Association. Obstructive sleep apnoea. 2024. At: www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/sleep-disorders/obstructive-sleep-apnoea
- National Library of Medicine (US). Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. StatPearls. 2023. At: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559328/
