I have Alzheimer's disease.
I’ve probably had it for about two years, but it’s still pretty early in the illness. Most other people don’t notice my illness yet, although my memory is starting to move from a normal “bad memory” that lots of older people have to an abnormal “there’s-something-wrong-with-his-memory.” I don’t feel abnormal, at least not yet. But, in addition to the memory problem, I’m certainly slowing down. As a retired physician who hass seen his share of mentally declining patients, I know what’s most likely in store as the disease gets worse: A long, progressive mental decline (to the point, for instance, where I don’t recognize my family), nursing home care, and early death from complications of the disease.
I’m writing because it may be helpful for people to know what one person’s process is like from inside the diseased mind....
[more inside]
posted by Joe in Australia
on Apr 2, 2013 -
29 comments
Alive Inside is an upcoming documentary exploring how listening to music can briefly return memories to patients who previously seemed completely lost to Alzheimer's. An excerpt can be
seen here.
posted by gilrain
on Apr 10, 2012 -
22 comments
Before anybody gets a heart attack, he aten't dead. The Guardian has a
new interview with Terry Pratchett, talking about his writing and state of health.
[more inside]
posted by kmz
on Sep 3, 2010 -
46 comments
Down syndrome and Alzheimer's. People with Down syndrome are much more likely to develop Alzheimer's, and at a much earlier age: three-quarters of them will get it by the age of 65, compared with one-tenth of the general population. This
Globe and Mail article looks at a relatively new phenomenon due, in no small part, to longer life expentancies among those with Down syndrome.
posted by mcwetboy
on May 5, 2007 -
12 comments
Nootropics ("smart" drugs) - all wish to be smarter, correct ? And - while exercise, nutrition, learning, travel, and social interaction (the last 3 via release of
neurotrophins) effectively do this, Nootropic drugs have been researched since the 1950's and have been shown to cause at least short term cognitive function enhancement. Piracetam, the first of this drugs,
shows promise in the treatment of Alzheimer's and Attention deficit Disorder. Alas, as with poor little
Algernon, the effect seems
temporary. Nootropics can be a little
difficult to acquire in the US.
Beer is not a nootropic, but sex on the other hand.....
posted by troutfishing
on Mar 5, 2004 -
20 comments
No Brainer - I've eaten a lot of Tofu in my day and was concerned about "brain-shrink". Then I found about this, and stopped worrying -
Is your brain really necessary? Apparently
not:
"...The student in question was academically bright, had a reported IQ of 126 and was expected to graduate. When he was examined by CAT-scan, however, Lorber discovered that he had virtually no brain at all." I'm hungry...where's that tofu?...
posted by troutfishing
on Jun 28, 2003 -
48 comments
Is soy safe? As an ardent herbivore, I was pretty shocked to learn that tofu can
shrink your brain.
In a major ongoing study involving 3,734 elderly Japanese-American men, those who ate the most tofu during midlife had up to 2.4 times the risk of later developing Alzheimer's disease. [...] higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight.
(
a dissenting opinion)
Could it be that little ole bean, found in over half of the food on supermarket shelves, is bad for you? [more inside]
posted by mcsweetie
on Jun 27, 2003 -
37 comments
Losing the memories of a life. A staff writer for the Washington Post Magazine tells what it's like to watch his mother slip away to the unknown world of Alzheimer's disease. There's a little bit about possible causes and the science of the disease, but mostly it's a very personal story, and it's stayed with me since I read it. Excerpt:
"He changed the subject before the fury came. When she became angry or terribly disoriented, she sometimes told him he needed to go home; that her husband would be arriving soon, and that he better be gone. I am your husband, he would say, smiling. She would yell: Go. Go home."
posted by GaelFC
on Jan 15, 2003 -
19 comments
Collective Memory. A collection of sites which are creating collective memory on the web. A personal favourite is
TimeSlips, a storytelling project with people with Alzheimer's.
posted by plep
on Nov 15, 2002 -
5 comments
"Maybe
all this is why I'm so tired of other white folks trying to sell me bullshit like: 'I don't have a racist bone in my body,' or 'I never notice color.' See, MawMaw would have said that too. And she would have meant well. And she would have been wrong."
posted by sudama
on Mar 8, 2001 -
65 comments
Use MetaFilter to prevent Alzheimer's disease. It seems that a love of reading may help reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease.
People with more education, in contrast, seem at lower risk of Alzheimer's. A study presented Sunday of Swedish twins where one twin had Alzheimer's and the other was healthy suggests a love of reading [metafilter.com], as a child and adult, might be protective.
posted by DragonBoy
on Jul 9, 2000 -
0 comments
