Why do we hear about so many Alzheimer's and Dementia cases now?

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Why do we hear about so many Alzheimer's and Dementia cases now?

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My religious norms don't allow for rational suicide, so I won't, but for those of you who feel differently, I would also say find out exactly what your bad family gene is and whether you even have it before plotting a suicide. Living a full life is worth some degree of indignity, and suffering can be reduced or relieved if you can get the docs and nurses to LISTEN though that's sometimes no mean feat. Some of the issues in getting to the cures is not knowing the genetics and metabolic underpinning of what is actually going on, or trying new treatments on what is actually a very mixed bag of different disorders so you really can't even tell that it helps at least 20% of the group (!) We would not even have steroids for Duchenne musclar dystrophy if we hadn't sorted it out from the other dystrophies for which steroids are no help or even harmful. ALS is looking that way, the folks with SOD1 mutations currently have more of a shot at real help soon; there is still some ways to go with the dementias to say the least, but there is beginning to be some help for at least a few of us and our loved ones. It would have been tragic for people with type I diabetes to suicide right before insulin came out, no?

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Well, I'm 60 and my mom didn't start showing signs until she was 80, so maybe the medical world will come up with something in 15 or 20 years. But I'm not holding my breath, ha ha.

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catchlab, I, like you, am not holding my breath either. IF and that's a gigantic IF anything is discovered it will take years for it to be available. Then, will it be affordable? (Ask my terminally ill cancer ridden SIL how the medical world is treating her and her wallet.) All I can hope is something will help the next generation. My dad didn't live to see his 70th birthday.

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I think it is environmental - food, food packaging, smoking, water quality - something. Although people are living longer, my parents generation (approx. 80 yrs old) don't recall so many w/dementias when they were my age (55). I personally know four persons w/dementia, my mother, who became symptomatic at age 67, my good friend, who is worsening now, at age 65, my friend's mother, who was diagnosed with Picks at age 61 and a neighbor who appears to be developing alz at age 71-72. These people are/were not old at the time of diagnosis. The woman with Picks has already died. I know OF many others who have had family members with alz and many were older than this, but still. Something has to be wrong here. I agree with the person who mentioned the big business aspect associated with these diseases also. My father is paying $90,000 a year for my mother's nursing home (Sunrise) and that's pretty standard from what I understand. Not to be paranoid, but, you really have to wonder - an aging population, big money to be made, a faltering economy. How much incentive is there to find a cure? But I digress. Thanks for the info on coconut oil Carol(?). Note too, our brains need cholesterol and how many people take statins. Anyway, good luck all. Elizabeth

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I too believe that the modern diet has a lot to answer for. Although the elderly now suffering from dementia are the ones who were brought up on a healthier diet, they have nevertheless spent the last few decades eating the poor quality rubbish that is available nowadays masquerading as "food". Maybe as the brain ages, it fails to process this diet. In which case, we may even start to find that dementia hits earlier and earlier in time to come. The other factor I believe has a lot to answer for is pollution. Again, maybe older brain cells cannot tolerate vehicle pollution and cleaning chemicals and they are damaged by these. Younger persons maybe can tolerate modern diets and pollution better in the early years because their body is still young, but as time goes on they may find that they are developing these problems earlier than the current older generation has done. Likewise with animals, they are susceptible to our modern idea of dog and cat food (highly processed garbage, mostly) and to modern chemicals and pollution. Years ago, many dogs and cats lived to 16 years of age without any brain degeneration, yet now there is evidence that many pets are suffering from dementia well before this age. In the case of pets, the only things that have changed are the food they eat and the pollution in our modern world. I work in a care home full of residents with dementia and it is a tragic end to an otherwise full and worthwhile life. Before I worked with dementia, I used to believe that it was only the family and friends who suffered and that the person with dementia was "blissfully unaware" of their condition...but I now know that this is rarely the case and that those existing with dementia are far from unaware - they are simply unable to process what they are aware of.

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We hear more now because many years ago no one talked about this dreadful disease of the brain, remember Alzheimers was 1st discovered in the early 1900s we have wasted way too many years just letting that fact pass us by, when our parents or grandparents showed the horrible craziness and aggression that could not be controlled they were committed to an insane asylum. I also think the diagnosis numbers are way off, even if one knew what AD was, when they passed, that was not written down as the cause. Now people are still hiding it, like it's an embarrassing subject to talk about, when my husband began his AD journey about 8-9 years ago, I knew of no one personally or otherwise that brought up the subject, since then I have become involved and outspoken about AD people are not afraid to talk about it and disclose that yes, someone in their family has it, that's what we need, the gen pop needs to know. Just think if Dr Alzheimers work had been continued when he diagnosed AD in 1906 AD most likely would have been eradicated years ago. Having this disease is one h*ll of a way to make a graceful exit! It eats away minute by minute. I just smile when I keep seeing all the articles etc about how you can beat AD, the exercise, the wine, on & on, those we know with it were scholars, Drs great minds & it did not help them. God Bless us ALL

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Several of the dementia sufferers I have cared for, prior to living - and dying - with the disease in their 80s and 90s, were very intelligent educated people with glowing careers in fields such as teaching. One was an eminent lady who moved in high circles in her healthier days. To see what this cruel disease reduces them to, is no less than tragic. I am just an onlooker - a carer. To their loved ones/families, this is a hundred times more painful.

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There is no doubt in my mind that diet is a huge factor here. We are told that so many things are good for us so that companies can make money. This is also true in the pharmaceutical field! They don't want there to be "cures" because cures do not make continuing profit. Coconut oil has been found to have many healing qualities, especially to the brain (it is the ONLY other thing that the brain can turn into energy besides glucose) and it use to be used in our food way back when until they "thought" it was bad for you and replaced it with other horrific fats. We also used to get CLA (another good fat) in our food from grass eating cows and chickens. Not any more....everything eats corn and soy, then so do we. We use to spend actual time in the sun so that our bodies produced the crucial hormone/vitamin D. Then we were told that the sun is bad, we should only go out at certain hours and if we we're out, to slather ourselves in SPF or cover up. Now a large number of our population is vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is crutial to our well being.

So back to the coconut oil. Pharmaceutical did not miss that boat either. Though it has not been well publicized they put out a "medical food" for which you need a prescription, called Axona. Guess what is in it???? You guessed it, a component of coconut oil called Caprylic Triglyceride. Now that they have changed it and added a few things (including soy for emulsification - YUCK), they can now charge you a nice price for a watered down version of something that nature can give you at a higher concentration and a lower price.

The final word on trying to eat healthy for your body and your brain is that it is exspensive. If you are trying to feed a family on a budget, it is easier to spend less and get more on "junk". It is just so sad. I am sure that the food is NOT the only factor but I do feel it is a REAL one.

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A big factor is the STATINS which sucks the good fat out of the brain, fats are needed to keep the body working, it's expensive but buying your meats & chicken from farms that don't feed the animals the crap that Monsanto makes. Also buying meats at the grocery store, just check the web on what they use to keep all those meats red & fresh looking. Quality beef is good for your health, and worth the cost

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two pups,
Yes, I agree!! But sometimes it is hard for people to make the choice of quality over quantity. You most definitely should do you homework before eating what most stores are selling. I'm all for the free range farming and support it when ever I can, seeing I live right in the heart of it. I also go out of my way to buy grass fed dairy products at the grocery along with unproccessed coconut oil. (I also use MCT oil).
Just wish I could get my MIL who has dementia/Alzheimers to consume it. She was raised on junk, prepared junked herself (plus she smoked) and won't touch anything healthy short of a banana.

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My neighbors all they consume is basically junk, but as they say you can take em to the water fountain but etc. People don't want to hear it, if it's a company name they have known all their lives they trust it to be wholesome & healthy. I order my meats from the Midwest, shipping is free, no taxes, and I love it. Tuna I order from a co in CA best on the market American Tuna ships free also, this is the real stuff not the tail ends you buy at the store. Same with dog food, anything that cannot be sold to the consumer is swept off the floor mixed with grains & sold by the tons.

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It's not just an older population. It's increasing among 40 year olds too...

sciencedaily/releases/2015/08/150806091328.htm

We can't make the mistake of thinking one or two people we know, speak for millions. Everyone knows someone who smoked into old age, but it's a terrible fallacy to conclude that smoking doesn't cause cancer for millions of others.

We're living very differently than 100, even 50 years ago. Agriculture, Livestock, electromagnetic fields have been drastically shifted, modified, and we're all consuming and living in the midst of it.

We have to remain open-minded to the reality that the drastic changes industry is making to the environment we live within, are inescapable.

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The article that awaking cites include this observation:

""In part, some of the results are explained by more effective treatments for cancer and heart disease, with advances in medicine making such physical illnesses easier to treat, whilst there have been less advances in the treatment of neurological conditions""

My husband always thought it unfair that he managed his heart disease so well only to develop dementia. And I agree, if there weren't good treatments available for heart disease he would have died (as his brothers and a sister did) long before dementia was obvious.

That is not the only factor, of course, but it is one to consider.

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I think dementia is caused by pesticides ,preservatives and insecticides. Do you agree

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Why do we hear about so many Alzheimer's and Dementia cases now?

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