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Memory Loss & Alzheimer’s
Diet, Exercise, Mental Stimulation, Medication
Seniors, and their families are always concerned: Is it a “senior moment” or is it the beginnings of Alzheimer’s.
According to the Medical Encyclopedia memory loss (amnesia) is defined as unusual forgetfulness that can be caused by brain damage due to disease or injury, or it can be caused by severe emotional trauma.
The cause determines whether amnesia comes on slowly or suddenly, and whether it is temporary or permanent.
Normal aging may result in trouble learning new material or requiring longer time to recall learned material. However, it does not lead to dramatic memory loss unless diseases are involved.
A recent study shows that about 14 million, or roughly 18%, of the USA's 79 million baby boomers can expect to develop Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia in their lifetime. According to the Alzheimer's Association, Americans are developing Alzheimer's at an accelerating rate. With longer life comes the added risk of Alzheimer's, a progressive brain disease that causes severe memory loss and confusion.
The report, "2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures," states that one out of eight boomers will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the most common type of dementia, at some point.
As we get older we have more and more "senior moments". I know I do. Some of our loss of memory is real and some is imagined. Once you get to thinking about the things you can't remember it seems this happens more often than when you were younger.
Of course there are lots of things you can do to help you remember. I suggest that you start making lists. I find that writing things down helps me to remember them and if I can remember where I put my list, this helps too.
Keeping a calendar or day by day is great for not missing appointments, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I also find that if I put my "stuff" in exactly the same place all the time. This way I can always find it. This is particularly true with respect to glasses, keys, wallet, TV remote, etc. A place for everything and everything in its place should be your motto.
One of the most frustrating senior moments is not being able to remember names. The restaurant you want to go to for dinner, your cousin's little boy, the name of the city your friend Joe lives in. A little "crib" of names and places helps a lot. In almost all cases you will think of what you have been trying to remember in time. When you do, write it down in your "crib" as you will probably need to once again call this name up in a day or two or a week or two.
Memory loss in most cases is not serious. It's just aggravating. Of course many of us worry that having difficulty remembering something might be the beginning of Alzheimer's. A very small percentage of seniors over 65 have Alzheimer's, but this percentage increases to almost 30% once you reach 85 according to the Medical College of Wisconsin. Other research shows this percentage even higher.
People with mild cognitive impairment often have mild memory difficulties but usually no other sign of Alzheimer's.
The 10 warning signs of Alzheimer's:
· Severe memory loss.
· Difficulty doing familiar tasks.
· Problems talking or writing.
· Confusion about the time or place.
· Loss of judgment.
· Problems with abstract thinking.
· Misplacing things. People with Alzheimer's might put items in unusual places.
· Changes in mood or behavior.
· Changes in personality.
· Loss of motivation.
I searched a number of authoritative Web sites and publications for a list of things you should be concerned about if you feel your memory is slipping. They all listed the same kinds of things.
1. Have difficulty learning new things
2. Difficulty making change and handling money in general
3. Forgetting things more often than you did last month or last year
4. Forgetting how to do things you have been doing for years
5. Repeating yourself over and over again
6. Inability to remember what happens each day.
If you are faced with any of these difficulties regularly you should see your physician.
On the other hand some forgetfulness is quite normal. We all forget things occasionally at any age and it is normal to forget more often as you get older. What must be determined by your physician is the difference between normal memory loss and that which occurs when you have a more serious condition like age-associated memory loss impairment, dementia or Alzheimer's.
In our search to find information of value to seniors worried about memory loss we found a great deal of useful information published by the Alzheimer's Association. Many seniors are afraid they have Alzheimer'swhen, in fact, they do not. Many others are interested in finding ways to maintain their memory. Check out 10 Ways to Maintain Your Brain™ as listed on the Alzheimer's Association Web site http://www.alz.org/maintainyourbrain/overview.asp
Additional information on memory loss can be found by visiting the American Geriatrics Society at http://www.americangeriatrics.org/which answers commonly asked questions by concerned seniors.
Current Research on Alzheimer's, Memory Loss, and Aging including a list of symptoms and treatment can be found on the Medical College of Wisconsin's Web sitehttp://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/980547889.html
Alzheimer's disease Education and Referral Center can be contacted at 800-438-4380; or by email at: adear@alzheimers.org
The Alzheimer's Association can be reached at 800-272-3900, or http://www.alz.org/
Check-list of Symptoms
To help family members and health-care professionals recognize the warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s Association has developed a checklist of common symptoms.
1. Memory loss. One of the most common early signs of dementia is forgetting recently learned information. While it’s normal to forget appointments, names, or telephone numbers, those with dementia will forget such things more often and not remember them later.
2. Difficulty performing familiar tasks. People with dementia often find it hard to complete everyday tasks that are so familiar we usually do not think about how to do them. A person with Alzheimer’s may not know the steps for preparing a meal, using a household appliance or participating in a lifelong hobby.
3. Problems with language. Everyone has trouble finding the right word sometimes, but a person with Alzheimer’s often forgets simple words or substitutes unusual words, making his or her speech or writing hard to understand. If a person with Alzheimer’s is unable to find his or her toothbrush, for example, the individual may ask for “that thing for my mouth.”
4. Disorientation to time and place. It’s normal to forget the day of the week or where you’re going. But people with Alzheimer’s disease can become lost on their own street. They may forget where they are and how they got there, and may not know how to get back home.
5. Poor or decreased judgment. No one has perfect judgment all of the time. Those with Alzheimer’s may dress without regard to the weather, wearing several shirts on a warm day or very little clothing in cold weather. Those with dementia often show poor judgment about money, giving away large sums to telemarketers or paying for home repairs or products they don’t need.
6. Problems with abstract thinking. Balancing a checkbook is a task that can be challenging for some. But a person with Alzheimer’s may forget what the numbers represent and what needs to be done with them.
7. Misplacing things. Anyone can temporarily misplace a wallet or key. A person with Alzheimer’s disease may put things in unusual places, like an iron in the freezer or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl.
8. Changes in mood or behavior. Everyone can become sad or moody from time to time. Someone with Alzheimer’s disease can show rapid mood swings—from calm to tears to anger—for no apparent reason.
9. Changes in personality. Personalities ordinarily change somewhat with age. But a person with Alzheimer’s can change dramatically, becoming extremely confused, suspicious, fearful or dependent on a family member.
10. Loss of initiative. It’s normal to tire of housework, business activities or social obligations at times. The person with Alzheimer’s disease may become very passive, sitting in front of the television for hours, sleeping more than usual or not wanting to do usual activities.
If you recognize any warning signs in yourself or a loved one, the Alzheimer’s Association recommends consulting a physician. Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or other disorders causing dementia is an important step to getting appropriate treatment, care and support services.
Facts:
-One in 10 people over the age of 65 develops the disease.
-Over 85 the odds rise to one in two.
-The Alzheimer’s Association estimates there will be 9 million Americans with the disease by 2020 and 15 million by 2050. In 2006 there were 4.5 million.
-Up to 79% of late-onset Alzheimer's is genetic.
-Genes account for 58% to 79% of a person's risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer's, a study reports today.
-Late-onset Alzheimer's, the most common form of the disease, typically strikes after age 60 and causes forgetfulness, confusion and behavioral changes.
Lifestyle factors can still cut risk
Exercising one's body and brain could help stave off dementia in older adults, researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Sally Shumaker, a professor of public health sciences and associate dean for research at Wake Forest University and lead author on the JAMA editorial, envisions a future when programs that include exercise and cognition and things like meditation will be combined with drug programs to treat dementia. The editorial is based on a study called "Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly." Half of the nearly 3,000 participants received 10 sessions of cognitive training, and half received no special training, the university says. Participants who had the training showed immediate improvements in memory, reasoning and speed of processing. When the participants were tested five years later, the improvements had been sustained.
Study author Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, says lifestyle factors, such as maintaining social ties, might in some cases delay or prevent the disease even in people who have a strong family history of the disease.
Gatz and her colleagues studied nearly 12,000 pairs of identical and fraternal twins from Sweden. The team gave all of the twins, who were ages 65 and older, a battery of tests that identify memory loss, cognitive problems and other signs of Alzheimer's.
The team found 392 pairs of twins in which one or both had Alzheimer's. The team found that Alzheimer's disease appears highly heritable in most cases. But that does not automatically mean Alzheimer's — it just means that people with a family history of the disease are at greater risk, Gatz says.
Even identical twins, who share the same genetic material, do not always get the disease in lock step, she says. Some identical twins did not have the disease despite the fact that their twins did.
Gatz says these identical twins, which were healthy at the end of the study, might never get the disease, or they might develop it much later in life. The study's findings were published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Although genes might play a bigger role than lifestyle choices in the development of the disease, experts such as Thomas Perls, a geriatrician at the Boston University School of Medicine, say late-onset Alzheimer's is a complex disease probably caused by an array of factors. That means even people with a strong history of the disease might be able to reduce their risk or delay the onset of the disease so they develop it at age 85 and not at 70, he says.
“You can't do anything about your family history,” says William Thies, vice president of Medical and Scientific Affairs for the Chicago-based Alzheimer's Association.
But Thies and Perls say people can do a lot to cut their risk by exercising, eating fruits and vegetables and staying connected to friends and family.
Other research has suggested that healthful living might help reduce the risk of developing the disease. “These findings should be regarded as a warning: If you have Alzheimer's in the family, you have to take precautions,” Perls says.
Humanizing Elder Care May Extend Patients' Lives
Science Daily—Through an intensive comparative study of two nursing home units using contrasting approaches to dementia care for elders with severely disturbed behaviors, Central Michigan University professor of anthropology Athena McLean has found that "humanizing" approaches to dementia care may not only extend quality of life for patients, but also their length of life.
In McLean's recently published book, "The Person in Dementia: A Study of Nursing Home Care in the U.S.," she discusses the dramatic contrasts in the outcomes of the two approaches to dementia care: a rigid task-oriented maintenance approach emphasizing disease progression and a flexible person-sustaining approach attentive to elders' communication and individual needs.
McLean found dramatic differences between life quality of the patients at the two nursing units. The patients at the unit that focused on "personhood", or looking beyond physical and reasoning abilities to a person's will and relationship with others, were found to be happier, had an overall improved quality of life and even lived longer. Those at the unit emphasizing disability and pathology tended to have their personal needs ignored were heavily medicated and often failed to thrive.
"These findings address issues that medicine can't answer," said McLean. "They are valuable not only for improving the general quality of life for these elders, but also for the long-term outcome based on how they are treated and cared for. These elders require attention, time and a lot of caring interaction."
McLean's findings also demonstrated how relations among professional and administrative staff within a facility can significantly affect the quality of the dementia care elders receive.
"I want people to see that dementia need not evoke the terror that the term Alzheimer's usually raises and that there is still hope in cases that many think are lost," said McLean. "Good caregivers are leaving the profession because they are underpaid and unappreciated. It needs to be understood by policy makers, family members and clinicians alike that money needs to be put into retaining quality caregiving staff, instead of only fancy facilities, which is currently the trend."
McLean is a cultural and medical anthropologist who spent more than ten years conducting full-time research before coming to CMU. Her studies of medicine and aging include examination of issues in international aging and the psychiatric consumer/survivor movement in the United States.
Diets rich in copper and heavy in saturated fats and trans fats could be related to the onset of Alzheimer’s. A study of more than 3,700 people 65 years or older found that subject that consumed at least 1.6 milligrams of copper a day along with foods heavy in saturated and trans fat added the equivalent of 19 years to their ages in terms of mental decline.
Copper is normally consumed in animal organs like liver as well as in shell fish, nuts, legumes, potatoes and chocolate. Drinking water that has traveled through copper pipes
and taking multivitamins that contain copper are other ways to increase intake.
Copper is essentially for brain development—too much copper may block the body’s ability to rid itself of proteins that form plaques found to clog the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
The study was conducted by Martha Clare Morris of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Physicians have found some success in using estrogen to treat memory loss in older women. For more information go to www.nymemory.org or www.Herplace.comor read Estrogen, Memory & Menopause by Gayatri Devi, MD.
Improve or maintain cognition according to the Alzheimer’s Association
- follow a low fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables
- Get out and move most days of the week.
- Play games, do crosswords or take a class
- Reduce high blood pressure or high cholesterol
- Adopt and optimistic approach to life
Studies show that medication that reduces high blood pressure and high cholesterol might help prevent Alzheimer’s in healthy people. These treatments may also slow the progression of established disease.
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