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Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently disclosed that she has now been diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease. At 65, she had a 1 in 10 chance of developing dementia. At 85, her odds increased to 1 in 3. Now we acknowledge with great sadness that the 88-year-old's keen mind will fade away and that she, too, will succumb to the disease, just as her husband did.
I am 70 and I sometimes wonder if I am starting down the road because I can not remember things that I should. Little things like the name of a niece or nephew.
I guess at 70 my chances are higher than 1 in 10. 1 in 8 maybe?
Another thing I have noticed lately is I don't handle stress anywhere near like I used to.
One of the problems is that it isn't easy to get a dementia diagnosis. I can tell that my husband has memory issues. His sister started complaining about her memory issues before she was 65 and it wasn't until she was 70 that she was told she has Alz. My husband has the same problems as she did, but he is being told it is because it is (1) natural aging, (2) low testosterone, (3) diabetes side effects, (4) low B2. Nothing we have done has helped, and I don't know why the doctors won't do more than give me a pat on the back and tell me not to worry about him.
You cannot know how difficult it is to watch your spouse slip away mentally. He becomes lost on roads he has traveled for decades. He drives through stop signs without stopping. He can't remember things that happen or conversations that we have had. This is not normal aging.
I am sure if you ask your wife if she is noticing changes, she will be able to tell you.
Next appointment, ask your doctor to administer the MMSE (Mini Mental State Exam). It's a short quiz, about 10 minutes long, that can help detect early dementia issues.
It includes simple questions, being asked to recall 3 words and repeat them back later, physically following a series of three instructions, repeating a sentence with words not commonly used together. Drawing a clock from memory, or copying a drawing of two overlapping pentagons. Seems pretty easy if you don't have memory problems, but determinant of particular areas that are difficult for those who do.
Next appointment, ask your doctor to administer the MMSE (Mini Mental State Exam). It's a short quiz, about 10 minutes long, that can help detect early dementia issues.
It includes simple questions, being asked to recall 3 words and repeat them back later, physically following a series of three instructions, repeating a sentence with words not commonly used together. Drawing a clock from memory, or copying a drawing of two overlapping pentagons. Seems pretty easy if you don't have memory problems, but determinant of particular areas that are difficult for those who do.
I did that about two years ago and was told I didn't have any issues.
Next appointment, ask your doctor to administer the MMSE (Mini Mental State Exam). It's a short quiz, about 10 minutes long, that can help detect early dementia issues.
It includes simple questions, being asked to recall 3 words and repeat them back later, physically following a series of three instructions, repeating a sentence with words not commonly used together. Drawing a clock from memory, or copying a drawing of two overlapping pentagons. Seems pretty easy if you don't have memory problems, but determinant of particular areas that are difficult for those who do.
He has taken that test. The doctors aren't seeing him when the confusion hits. But it is very evident when it does and I have told them this too. His sister was the same way and her husband went through the same thing with the doctors that I am going through now.
I've been doing some reading ever since my cousin was diagnosed this past spring and mostly it says it's 1/3 genetic, 1/3 diet, 1/3 environmental. I THINK it said 1/3 diet.
Anyway, I'm all for prevention, if possible. More fresh vegetables, less junk food that contains, well, junk. The junk in that kind of food isn't even food so who knows what it does to the brain? Air pollution, household chemicals. I know I never used to pay much attention when I was younger to warnings on products like the paint stripper I would use when refinishing a table, for instance. Warning! Make sure the room is well ventilated! Well, I didn't bother, just went ahead and used the products.
Maybe you can get away with that when you are younger, and maybe if you just do it a few times, and maybe you'll get lucky and just get away with it no matter what! Lucky for me that I got sick from a lot of stuff so I couldn't use it anymore.
And people on this forum alerted us to the risks to older people of some prescription drugs. You can google that and it's probably a good idea because I don't think a lot of drs are aware. My cousin was put on a too high dose of neurontin when she was 70. By the time a specialist called her pcp about it, my cousin didn't know one day from the next! Her memory came right back when they took her off the very high dose but she was never the same after that. It was all downhill.
The say some of the cholesterol drugs too. I feel like making my own list in case someone else is in charge of me and the drs don't know enough. If I am in the hospital and the drs put me on some prescription drug, I'd like my spouse or relative to check my list and get me off that drug. Better still, never put me on that drug in the first place because I think once it starts, there's no turning back. It is definitely scary.
I don't have a lot to offer in the way of good information regarding dementia. My late sister had it, but she had so many other problems I think it may have been expected in her.
Neither parent had it, pretty sure of that. But then Dad did have some "problems."
I used to get very stressed out by a lot of things. One day I realized I had to do something about that. It's kind of hard to explain because I don't totally understand it either. But I decided to eliminate stress from my life. How? Mentally. I made a decision if something had the possibility of stressing me out, I decided to not pay attention to it. I blocked it. I know what my "tender spots" of stress are. Example: my kids. Too much to discuss. I have decided at my age 76, both of them in their 50s, their problems were no longer my problems. I've stopped worrying about them.
My finances were another biggie. I swallowed my pride and filed bankruptcy. No long worry about finances. Live on what I have, not on what I wished I had.
My health was a stressor for me. I decided to do what was recommended by the doctor, follow my own beliefs, know that there is not a lot I can do if it is a terminal problem.
I do have faith in God and I do depend on that for all of my well-being.
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