Dementia: Can you handle the truth?
Dementia has been recognised in 60% of individuals over the age of 60 now. It is a neurodegenerative disease caused by gradual brain cell death. 25% are a result of a stroke, either ischaemic of haemorragic, although most of the time it is due to ischaemic. 75% of the time it is due to Alzheimer`s disease. Plaques of protein (amyloid and tau) known as lewy bodies are formed in the brain which tend to disrupt the path of blood flow, meaning cells do not have enough oxygeb and other nutrients to respire and begin slowly dying off. This begins in the Hippocampus within the brain, the area responsible for recollection and formation of memories. This helps to explain why the early symptoms of memory loss of confusion come about. This process then spreads to other areas of the brain such as the pre-frontal cortex, the area responsible for advanced cognitive processes and which is believed to affect someones personality. This would then explain erratic or aggressive changes in personality which can sometimes be seen. For example, in the care home I work in, one of the patients, Mary (not her actual name obviously), will sometimes greet me smiling, ask me to have a seat next to her so we can talk, and is a very pleasant woman. Other times when I enter the room Mary will not even look at me, proceed to hit me and grab my arm and attempt to bite it. This can be charateristic of someone who has a relatively far progressed case of Dementia; aggression, confusion, but also hints of her very nice personality before she had been affected.
Dementia is common in the west, mostly due to an ageing population which a disease that becomes more pronounced with time and age, would of course cause. Recently however, scientists have produced a blood test which identifies 10 chemicals closely related to Alzheimers 2-3 years in advance of the disease occuring. These 10 metabolites were found to be depleted in patients undergoing cognitive impairment as a result of Alzheimer`s with what was shown to be 96% accuracy.
This research leads us to the interesting question? Would you want to know if you were likely to contract Alzheimer`s in the next 2-10 years or is ignorace bliss? Mark Mapstone, the leader of this research insists that many people did actually want to find out whether Alzheimer`s and dementia were in their future. Would you want to find out if an unstoppable force was coming in your direction or would you rather turn a blind eye? Can you handle the truth?