Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Coffee Hour at Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can discuss what’s happening in our lives, what we’ve been working on, and our opinions on current events. For today’s starting point, I’d thought I’d bring up the topic of dementia. Let me start by saying that I don’t have dementia (that I know of), but I know people whose lives are currently impacted by dementia.
Over 70 different causes of dementia are currently known. Someplace between half and two-thirds of all dementia cases are due to Alzheimer’s disease. The majority of non-Alzheimer’s dementias are caused by blood circulation-related problems and are therefore known as vascular dementias.
Clinically, dementia is related to progressive damage to the brain which may result in deficits in: information-processing, memory, expression of speech, mobility and coordination, and continence.
Memory loss that has become more pronounced than typical age-related forgetfulness is known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI causes problems with short term memory—in other words, you have difficulty recalling what happened yesterday or last week.
With regard to behavior, some of the symptoms of dementia include:
Repetitive questions or actions
Restlessness and wandering
Anxiety and shouting
Lack of inhibition
Suspicion
Sometimes aggression
It is currently estimated that about 4% of Americans between 65 and 74 years of age have Alzheimer ’s Disease. For people who have a family member with Alzheimer’s, the most disturbing part of the disease is the change in behavior and personality. People with Alzheimer’s also have difficulty in following directions and concentrating which may cause problems with family relationships.
While there is a genetic component to Alzheimer’s Disease, genetics alone is not the determining factor. Only 15% of Alzheimer’s patients have a family history of the disease. Current research also suggests that there may be a correlation between air pollution and Alzheimer’s.
For those who may be concerned about Alzheimer’s there are a couple of things to consider. Let’s suppose you are introduced to someone and ten minutes later you can’t remember their name. This is not Alzheimer’s, but normal memory loss. Names are actually difficult to retain in working memory as they tend to be arbitrary and disconnected from meaning. On the other hand, if, ten minutes later, you can’t remember being introduced, then you should have some concerns.
In case you have forgotten, this is an open thread.