When I was younger there were no elders in my family, extended family, or friend's families who had this awful disease. My elder relatives were very much a vital part of our lives and integrated into everything we did. I know it wasn't called Alzheimers back then, but I knew very few people who had diminished mental capacity as they aged. Fast forward to the present and it seems that so many more seniors are afflicted with this illness.
Is the cause environmental, from having less healthy diets and lifestyles than past generations, social deprivation, or from living longer lives. It seems so odd to me that we would have this tremendous leap in cases in such a short period of time.
I also wonder if it is coming from a shift in our thinking about aging. In the past most people did physical labor until the day they died. We did not warehouse older citizens or make them feel like their usefulness was up. My grandfather worked on his farm until his 80s. My grandmother was dancing 2 weeks before she passed.
If it is a societal issue, that troubles me. The last few decades have ushered in a youth-fixated philosophy, so much so, that the media and advertisers try to suggest that people in their 40s+ are "old." We separate generations and grandparents are just for "visiting" on Sundays. Could lack of inter-generational contact be contributing to the cognitive issues we are seeing now? I don't know.
I know very little about this illness, and am hoping others will share their theories. I hope we find a cure...it is such a dignity-robbing disease.
""In part, some of the results are explained by more effective treatments for cancer and heart disease, with advances in medicine making such physical illnesses easier to treat, whilst there have been less advances in the treatment of neurological conditions""
My husband always thought it unfair that he managed his heart disease so well only to develop dementia. And I agree, if there weren't good treatments available for heart disease he would have died (as his brothers and a sister did) long before dementia was obvious.
That is not the only factor, of course, but it is one to consider.
sciencedaily/releases/2015/08/150806091328.htm
We can't make the mistake of thinking one or two people we know, speak for millions. Everyone knows someone who smoked into old age, but it's a terrible fallacy to conclude that smoking doesn't cause cancer for millions of others.
We're living very differently than 100, even 50 years ago. Agriculture, Livestock, electromagnetic fields have been drastically shifted, modified, and we're all consuming and living in the midst of it.
We have to remain open-minded to the reality that the drastic changes industry is making to the environment we live within, are inescapable.
Yes, I agree!! But sometimes it is hard for people to make the choice of quality over quantity. You most definitely should do you homework before eating what most stores are selling. I'm all for the free range farming and support it when ever I can, seeing I live right in the heart of it. I also go out of my way to buy grass fed dairy products at the grocery along with unproccessed coconut oil. (I also use MCT oil).
Just wish I could get my MIL who has dementia/Alzheimers to consume it. She was raised on junk, prepared junked herself (plus she smoked) and won't touch anything healthy short of a banana.
So back to the coconut oil. Pharmaceutical did not miss that boat either. Though it has not been well publicized they put out a "medical food" for which you need a prescription, called Axona. Guess what is in it???? You guessed it, a component of coconut oil called Caprylic Triglyceride. Now that they have changed it and added a few things (including soy for emulsification - YUCK), they can now charge you a nice price for a watered down version of something that nature can give you at a higher concentration and a lower price.
The final word on trying to eat healthy for your body and your brain is that it is exspensive. If you are trying to feed a family on a budget, it is easier to spend less and get more on "junk". It is just so sad. I am sure that the food is NOT the only factor but I do feel it is a REAL one.
concerning the decline and diminishment of our loved ones with dementia. Thanks for just putting it out there. Because of family history, I have a good chance of developing Alzheimer's and I don't plan to stick around if it develops. I don't have children so it's easier to make that kind of decision. I am watching my mother go through the end stages of Alzheimer's and it is HEARTBREAKING!
"The family curse" sends shivers down my spine.
xoxo to Whirlpool and AlwaysMyDuty
I come here because I can relate to all of you. I'm a caregiver. I cared for my dad for 5 years in my home until I. Couldn't. Do. It. Anymore. It was either him or me and I chose me and here's the secret no one tells us: When you put your loved one in a nursing home the caregiving doesn't stop. It's different but it's not over, not by a long shot.
My dad is dying a little bit everyday. His mind is almost gone. Because of his liver failure he's full of toxic, noxious fluid. We've hired hospice to supplement the care my brother and I give him. The care I still provide him. It takes 3 people and a staff full of nurses and techs to care for my dad now. I told my daughter that I would never put her through this, just like my mom and and told me but I promise her I will never, ever put her through this. I promised her and I promised myself. Eventually, someday, the time will come and I'll know it's the right time and I will save my daughter years of grief, sadness, resentment, heartbreak, financial strife and everything else I've been through and everything else I've read about all of you going through. My daughter will never need a website like this.
As far as causes, I am sure the quantity of medications people are currently taking is one cause.
A second is diet.
A third is lack of exercise.
A fourth possibility is a high level of stress.
I can speak to diet and medication peronally. Once I took over my wife's medications I discovered she had been taking premarin for over 12 years. There was a warning in the package not to use it for more than 6 months. I don't know if the warning was always there but I notice now the druggists are watching more of the medications she is taking.
When she was diagnosed, she was given a cocktail of medications. I kept telling the neurologist she was not eating, she was having these mini reactions at night, etc and she kind of pooh poohed everything I said. Finally I said, lets take her off everything and then we can add medications back as she needs them. It took almost a year to get her off all the medications and every time she went off one, her mental ability took a giant leap. Afterwards we had about 3 years when she was much more functional than she had been on the medications. The neurologist told us she couldn't do anything more for us. She was kind of ticked that I took the treatment out of her hands. Last spring when my wife was in the hospital for the reaction to coconut milk, she had to see a neurologist. One of the first things he mentioned was that I already knew medications did not help her situation at all.
As far as diet, she became incontinent about 6 years ago. One of the ladies at the senior center mentioned the fact that when she drank milk, it went right through here. I experimented with removing milk from the diet and there was a tremendous improvement. I did see a urologist and he gave her a 30 day supply of pills that did not help at all. I kept experimenting with her diet and a little over a year ago our local doctor told me she was starving to death. My comment was "She eats more than I do".
A week or so later I had a brainstorm. I removed anything with soy products from her diet. She lost another 4 pounds in a month's time but then she started to gain back a pound a week. I am guessing that tomorrow when we go to the doctor's office she will be 140 pounds or more, compared to 114 a year ago in January.
In order to find soy free products I buy most of my food in the natural food department at the grocery store. Coconut and almond yogurt, coconut milk, soy free sandwich spreads, etc. I also make fruit sauce for her to use on her sandwiches and to use to take pills. Currently she takes a thyroid pill, calcium and vitamin D3. The urologist gave her a prescription to keep urinary tract infections down, but I think I will be discussing that tomorrow.
If I seem to ramble, it is because my brain gets overtaxed at times.
Any stimulation helps, speech therapy, occupational therapy, just walking.
I recently learned that "organic" corn and strawberries have been genetically altered so the pesticides are in the seed, thus enabling the "organic" label.
I think the answers are clear, there just aren't many of us willing to make the effort and commitment to get away from chemicals. I am trying ......