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Alzheimers.
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This, along with dementia, is the great fear for so many of us.
I mean, how do we know if we have dementia? Insert all the usual jokes, yada yada, but it's a serious question, & scares me to bits.
I know people that have suffered this awful fate and experienced how it affects the wider family and it's a nightmare that doesn't even end with the passing of the sufferer.
The questions, doubts, anxiety and often guilt of those left behind is something that some people never get past.
It's a solemn hope that this magnificent thing we call science can come up with answers and solutions to the dementia problem, and real soon.
I have lost loved ones to cancer, trauma, organ failure and dementia related death. It's the last one that is the most difficult to accept because you lose that person twice.
I thought long and hard about posting here in case certain people thought I was going to use it as a vehicle for trying to leverage sponsorship.
I posted it as I post about the homeless, the hungry, the addicted and those in crisis. Simply to raise awareness and to try to spark action and reaction in the community of humankind.
Well, that's put paid to an evening of frivolity, feeling a little melancholy now.
Stay safe, take care, God bless.
Closer to home. I'm concerned my own dad has a number of the symptoms of Alzheimer's or dementia. He often talks about brain fog and anxiety and repeats himself often. I've asked him to take some tests and he agrees it's a good idea, but he never gets around to it. It's the same with his hearing loss, which has been untreated for years and he never manages to book a test. One of the concerns being that untreated hearing loss has a high correlation with dementia.
One of the preventative measures seems to be to keep the brain and body active. If it's still legal when i retire and not fully solved, I expect I'll play poker for many years and continue to do puzzles and keep fit.
My late Father had Dementia for the last 20+ years of his life.
It certainly affected me adversely. I made sure I had him over to mine every Sunday for the last 15 or so years. I cannot begin to describe the Guilt you feel about dreading seeing your own Dad-or, more accurately, the shell that was left. But I treasure the lucid moments.
But he was happy for the most part. There was a particularly bad week when I had to tell him my Mum had died (suddenly, in front of him, but he could not remember). Every 10 minutes. For a week. And watching the same pain in his face. Every 10 minutes. For a week. But mostly he was happy in his own little World.
My mother had it. It's horrible.
1. Treatment for early-stage dementia is largely irrelevant. As the article mentions, only 2% of recipients diagnosed. It is not that "diagnosis was...inadequate". It is largely because sufferers, and more especially their families, desperately try and hide it
2. It doesn't "cure" anything-all it does is slow the progress of the illness for the first year or two-for the tiny fraction who come forward
3. Both the cost, and the common side effects, particularly bleeds on the brain, are a massive stumbling block. For example, as the Mail says-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12306427/Are-REALLY-turning-point-fight-against-Alzheimers-Breakthrough-new-drugs-halt-cruel-diseases-decline-experts-warn-crippling-effects-cost-outweigh-benefits.html
All we really have here is a largely theoretical possibility that, instead of someone spending 15-20 years declining from Alzheimers, it will become 16-21 years. For 2% of sufferers. At £16k a year for what looks like 3 years per patient.
Looks great for drug companies.
For the rest of us-not so much.