to be terrified of dementia

[calmseeker]

I am in my mid fifties and my short term memory has deteriorated. Sometimes, possibly like people of my age I go to get something in another room and think 'what was it I wanted?' or I open the fridge instead or a cupboard then realise what I've done. I look it up and the internet (reliable sites) say its a normal part of aging. But every other day there seems to be 'new' things that predispose one to dementia - antihistamines (older versions), concussion, lack of sleep, solitariness and so the list goes on, Is anybody else terrified........ The worse thing is there is no cure and the disease is very scary.....

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The combination of increased prevalence and an aging population (due to increased life expectancy and reduced birth rate) would give rise to a sharp increase in dementia cases.

But predictions about how these sorts of things pan out are almost always wrong, aren't they?
It is an horrific disease, I have worked with dementia patients, I can think of a couple of people in whom I have seen what I suspect are very early heralds of dementia. ?

If it does become an overwhelming problem perhaps we will offer assisted suicide to people who reach a certain stage?

I suspect that things will unfold in ways that we can't currently forsee ?

I've worked with people with dementia. It's so hard for the families. They want to care for them but they underestimate how difficult their relatives become to manage. There are taboo issues rarely mentioned such as violent outbursts and sexually inhibitive behaviour.

That's on top of the incontinance and wandering that are usually the tipping points in needing to move from care at home to residential care.

No one in my family has had it so hopefully we are low risk but it's still awful to be living in fear of what might happen.

It wasn't memory loss that made me wonder about the two people I mentioned, rather it was remarks made by them which indicated a lack of inhibition
tiny little flags

I don't believe it's down to diet at all. Anecdotally, my dad is 76 and his cousin is 83. Both have had very similar diets throughout their life. We always had lentils, fish, vegetables in our diet and our dad never ate junk food. Both very active, but my dad's cousin is mentally fit. Why would one person be ok and the other not if diet played a big part?

We know that certain drugs react differently in certain people. We are all different and our genetics are different. Yes, diet may help some people, but in my dad's case it hasn't.

Saying that, I do believe the big food companies play a big part in suppressing information. There
Was a documentary a few years ago (the men who made us fat?) and that was a real eye opener re: sugar and fat in food and how it causes addiction.

The cause will be a complex interaction of several factors, one of which is probably diet
in other words a mixture of genes and environment.
This is entirely consistent with your anecdote ?Fakebook

You seem to be under the impression that good diet can prevent dementia, it can only reduce the chances

Like any disease the causes are likely to be many, and the links between the causes will also be complex, including the genetics. There's just so much we don't know.
Re the memory loss, I've had a couple of times where I've come out of the supermarket and momentarily forgotten where the car is. My friend who is a GP said she would only be concerned if I had come out of the supermarket and didn't know why I was there.

I think one problem is that we think of causes as on\off switches, they are more like a series of dimmer switches

there is also alcohol related dementia to consider, along with possible deleterious effects of general anesthesia, head injuries, I believe migraine can also be related to brain deterioration

I think loads of things are to blame, from them chemicals in household products to central heating keeping is constantly very warm.

Modern lifestyles are to blame for the increase.

"Modern lifestyles are to blame for the increase."

There is no evidence for that.

Of course there isn't any evidence for that.
I'd suggest living longer might have something to do with it though.

It depends how you define "modern lifestyles".

I certainly don't think more people suffer from dementia because of the prevalence of central heating.

People like to use lifestyle elements as causal factors for disease whenever possible because it's a way of controlling the uncontrollable.

modern lifestyles lead to increased life expectancy
this means there are more old people
which then means we have more cases of dementia

central heating helps people to live longer, and therefore be more likely to suffer from dementia

That's part of what I mean suzanne. Some say dementia is to do with lost connections sin the brain. There is some ground breaking research being done at the moment where serious brain damage is being sucsefully treated by giving the patients hypothermia to restore lost brain connections. There is a connection with the brain and heat. Probably only one of 100s of risk factors.

More worrying is the changing nitrogen levels in the soil and the falling vitamins in food.

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I was being facetious sPJPP and hadn't heard about the connection between heat and brain injury, although it makes sense.
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Modern lifestyle is a vague term which encompasses everything we do so inevitably some aspects of it contribute to the development of dementia ?

suzanne said that central heating contributes to longevity which impacts on dementia statistics. It's quite simple.

Sorry x post.

yes thats what I meant ilovesooty, and longevity has surely got to be the main cause of dementia?

live fast die young
thats the cure

Ah. I did get it right then.

Oh I know Suzanne, I'm just talking about knock on affects.

People are getting dementia younger and younger so that debunks the common its just to do with living longer.

The food we head now has changed dramatically in the last few decades, its not unfeasable that this could be a big cause. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140310090617.htm