ChaoticMusings

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Would you choose to know if you were likely to develop Alzheimer's?

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Alzheimer's affects 1 in 14 people over the age of 65, and 1 in 6 people over the age of 80.
The population is ageing, and the older you live, no matter how fit the body, you have more chance of developing the disease, so it's a real concern for many.
If it's not you, it could be a partner, a parent, a grandparent etc. Would you like the chance to prepare IF you or a loved one was likely to develop this horrible form of dementia?

Red Okktober · Getting Gobby

I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'

Magica · Go Outside

I would want to know, so I can prepare. I like to know what's coming. Like cancer, years ago they never told you. All changed now. When I had it I'm glad I knew.

I had a brain scan recently, alls well. I know they can tell by that as well for changes in the brain for Alzheimer's.

Maddog · Go Outside

Sure I'd want to know. But this test only will pick up when it's already started. There are medicines and treatments for that, but not a cure.

And while alzheimers can strike healthy people it's not completely random and certain lifestyles can lower your risk.

I think knowing those are more important..

Digger · Admin

No, because you'd never have another moment's peace. There'd be more suicides.

Maddog · Go Outside

Digger wrote:
No, because you'd never have another moment's peace. There'd be more suicides.

And in Canada they might just put you down like an old dog..

To be fair, having the proteins don't guarantee you will get alzheimers.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Red Okktober wrote:
I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'

This /\.

I have enough 'senior moments' as it is...the other day I mixed up the word wedding with funeral, which, if I had been talking to anyone other than my OH, could have been pretty embarrassing.

I have a feeling I would know if I was seriously developing any sort of dementia, but I don't want to be diagnosed, maybe years before it became a problem.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Magica wrote:
I would want to know, so I can prepare. I like to know what's coming. Like cancer, years ago they never told you. All changed now. When I had it I'm glad I knew.

I had a brain scan recently, alls well. I know they can tell by that as well for changes in the brain for Alzheimer's.

I get what you are saying Mags, but cancer can be curable, and if it isn't, people are usually given a measure of how many months/years they may have.

Knowing you have Alzheimer, would be like living with an ever worsening, uncurable condition for many years.

Maddog · Go Outside

Syl wrote:
Red Okktober wrote:
I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'
This /\.

I have enough 'senior moments' as it is...the other day I mixed up the word wedding with funeral, which, if I had been talking to anyone other than my OH, could have been pretty embarrassing.
I have a feeling I would know if I was seriously developing any sort of dementia, but I don't want to be diagnosed, maybe years before it became a problem.

And if a drug could delay it's onset?

Maddog · Go Outside

www.sciencealert.com/anti-amyloid-drug-may-delay-alzheimers-symptoms-in-those-at-risk-clinical-trial-finds

We are very close to stopping or slowing it down..

I see alzheimers as "brain disease".

We test for and treat heart disease. Would someone not want to know about that and try to treat it?

Digger · Admin

Maddog wrote:
Digger wrote:
No, because you'd never have another moment's peace. There'd be more suicides.
And in Canada they might just put you down like an old dog..

To be fair, having the proteins don't guarantee you will get alzheimers.

There's different forms of dementia. My father in law had Lewy Body Dementia, the kind that Robin Williams had. it was awful. Really really awful to watch this man who'd been sharp as a knife, disappear into an abyss where nobody could reach him.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Maddog wrote:
Syl wrote:
Red Okktober wrote:
I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'
This /\.

I have enough 'senior moments' as it is...the other day I mixed up the word wedding with funeral, which, if I had been talking to anyone other than my OH, could have been pretty embarrassing.
I have a feeling I would know if I was seriously developing any sort of dementia, but I don't want to be diagnosed, maybe years before it became a problem.

And if a drug could delay it's onset?

If a drug could delay it's onset, or slow it down after diagnosis, I would want to know, because bviously if preventative treatment was available that would be different.

At the moment, I don't think anything is available.

Maddog · Go Outside

www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/in-depth/alzheimers/art-20048103

We have them here.

And of course we know how to lower your risk of it developing in the first place..

Barksdale · Getting Gobby

I forgot I had Alzheimer's...

I wouldn't want to know. The older I get the more I accept the "what will be will be" philosophy.

Maddog · Go Outside

Barksdale wrote:
I forgot I had Alzheimer's...
I wouldn't want to know. The older I get the more I accept the "what will be will be" philosophy.

By the time you get that old they may have a cure..

Vam · 1000 Posts!?

Red Okktober wrote:
I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'

Absolutely this Ignorance is bliss, in this context.

That said, although I have no family close by me, I do have 2 very good friends I’ve already given Power of Attorney to, to settle my stuff for me in the event I’m ever incapacitated.

Digger · Admin

Vam wrote:
Red Okktober wrote:
I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'
Absolutely this Ignorance is bliss, in this context.
That said, although I have no family close by me, I do have 2 very good friends I’ve already given Power of Attorney to, to settle my stuff for me in the event I’m ever incapacitated.

I heard people say, Oh, well, I won't know anything anyway and I'll just sit in my own piss, happy as a clam. They'd clearly never visited a nursing home and seen some of the real horrors of dementia.

Syl · FIRM BUT FAIR.

Vam wrote:
Red Okktober wrote:
I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'
Absolutely this Ignorance is bliss, in this context.
That said, although I have no family close by me, I do have 2 very good friends I’ve already given Power of Attorney to, to settle my stuff for me in the event I’m ever incapacitated.

I admire your forward thinking Vam. To trust close friends enough to manage your business if you can't do it yourself, must be a weight off your mind.

Hopefully, for you, and all of us, it won't ever be needed.

Maddog · Go Outside

Vam wrote:
Red Okktober wrote:
I would say ignorance is bliss.

You'd be worried about it all the time and looking for signs - it would drive a person mad!

You know how people forget things as you age "oh what's her name - she was in that film about the boat" kind of thing. That's just normal, but you'd be thinking 'oh fuck, here it comes'
Absolutely this Ignorance is bliss, in this context.
That said, although I have no family close by me, I do have 2 very good friends I’ve already given Power of Attorney to, to settle my stuff for me in the event I’m ever incapacitated.

I have a bicuspid heart valve and an elevated calcium score (in my arteries which isn't where you want calcium).

Both of which can be managed but you gotta know you have them to manage them.

I will admit that every weird pain in my chest, or when I've got my heart rate way up, makes me think I could keel over, but there's nothing I can do if that happens..

But knowing about that has helped me modify my lifestyle to make that less likely.

Alzheimers is similar in that if you know early there are things to slow it down and buy you time.

And of course there are things to make it's onset less likely in the first place..