Dementia is not a Normal Part of Aging

Dementia is not part of the normal aging process. Except that the main factor and predictor of dementia is age. Seeing my physician when I complain that I cannot walk/run/climb steps (choose your specific complaint here) the physician always says well “…its your age.”

And then with dementia, all of a sudden it becomes a disease. No one told me that my bad knee is due to a disease, they just put it down to age. But dementia, all of a sudden is not part of the normal aging process and yet age is the main contributory factor to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

As a scientist, I am perplexed.

How can one of the most prolific and frightening of disease not be due to old age and not part of the“normal aging process," when the main predictor is age?

Source: awareness_for_epilepsy/flickercreativecommons

Mission control: We are shutting down.

Brain: Shit.

Mission Control: We will start slow.

Brain: Do you have to?

Yes.

Why?

Because it is time.

Time for what?

Time for other people to have a chance, it is our strategy to replace old generations with new ones

Perhaps a little bit longer

How long?

….

Ok

Shutting down

First we will close down recent memories

Make it easier to detach

I am worried, will it change me?

Yes. You are dying. You will no longer be.

Did you watch the Monty Python skit with the parrot?

….yes

Ok

Shutting down

Recent memory being erased

Any pain

No…but I am worried

Why? We are shutting down, there is no pain

I miss who I was

Who “were” you?

I don’t remember

You see, trust me, I know what I am doing, I am nature

Erasing further histories

More memories erased

Oh No…please stop

Stop What?

I do not know…but my wife/husband/daughter/son/lover/helper is worried…they keep asking me to return to who I was before

That is not possible

We are shutting down

Are you in Pain?

No

Ok
Shutting down

Please stop it is hurting THEM

Hurting whom?

Those that love me

Well, did you tell them that you are shutting down

No

Why not?

I did not want to hurt them

And they are hurting now because you did not tell them?

…yes

But it is reality, it is the truth and it is ordained by Nature

I know

So you didn’t tell them

No

They want me to be healthy

And alive?

Yes

Is that even possible

No

So why did they expect it with you?

Because…

…

OK
Shutting down

Removing social constraints

Wait wait

…yes…

How do I deal with my family?

That is your domain…I deal with the timeline

Yes but can you help me?

Sure…ask them....how many people have escaped death? Does everyone expect you to die? How do they want you to die?

…

Hello?....

OK
Shutting down

___________

Note: A third of people with dementia regain their subjective quality of life, especially after settling into a nursing home. Main predictor of lowered quality of life is depression which is exacerbated by what Tom Kitwood calls  "malignant social psychology” where a caregiver’s relationship negatively affects the care-recipient. It is telling that  caregivers negatively evaluate the person with dementia's quality of life.

Some comparisons:

http://take-your-vitamins.blogspot.com/2012/04/dementia-gender-assocation.html

British Cancer Society Data:

 © USA Copyrighted 2018 Mario D. Garrett

References

Bosboom, P. R., Alfonso, H., & Almeida, O. P. (2013). Determining the predictors of change in quality of life self-ratings and carer-ratings for community-dwelling people with Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 27(4), 363-371