My life took a huge turn when I reached out to an intuitive friend, Janet Sussman, about some troubling symptoms I was experiencing. She saw the first evidence of my brain being compromised and kindly took me to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for tests. I was given a lumbar puncture, the gold standard for diagnosing conditions affecting your brain, nerves, and spinal cord. The positive diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease upended my world.
I quietly cried most of the way home. Simple words in a test had doomed me to a permanent nightmare, a horror movie of shame in technicolor.
It didn’t feel real—it must have been someone else who had those test results. I woke up every day for months thinking that it was all a mistake, because I could still do anything and think anything that I could before. Surely, all I had to do was wake up from that nightmare and I would still be my normally helpful, honorable, discerning, gracious, and sort-of-positive self. Mostly I felt shame, and anger.
Alzheimer’s Epidemic
According to neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli, Alzheimer’s has become the great global epidemic of our time. As of this writing, an estimated 55 million people throughout the world are living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, including more than 6 million in America. If no changes in prevention or treatment are implemented, that number will nearly triple by 2050.
German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer was the first to describe this malady in 1906 as “a peculiar disease,” when he observed through a microscope a brain sample under attack and noted many tangles and plaques of unknown substance.
His research found that these substances disrupted electric signals between neurons, destroying the brain’s ability to create new memories. A neurotoxic storm can trigger the brain’s immune system, and the damage is permanent. In a few years, spatial awareness, face recognition, and long-term memory can be affected.
Recently, over 200 researchers in the U.S. and Europe working together on 70,000 patients found new developments in genetic and cell biology related to Alzheimer’s. This critical work continues, although to date there is no cure.
Jebelli, author of In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer’s, notes useful technology developing in Japan, America, India, and other countries, and recommends compassionate understanding of this disease in order to truly deal with it.
Jebelli also cites Hans Selye’s The Stress of Life, which notes that while a certain amount of stress promotes resilience, long-term stress leads to neuronal wear and tear. The brain is the main controller of how we cope with stress.
Alzheimer’s disease affects people in virtually every country, although risk factors and prevalence vary. Extended research indicates that one in three people born in 2015 will be faced with this disease.
Forms of Dementia
Dementia is the general term for a decline in mental ability (memory, reasoning, language) severe enough to interfere with daily life. It differs from Alzheimer’s, which is a specific progressive brain disease that causes dementia. There are many possible causes of dementia, including Alzheimer’s. It’s not a normal part of aging, and it gets worse over time.
Two abnormal brain structures, plaques and tangles, are the main features of Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists believe that they damage and kill nerve cells. Plaques are pieces of beta-amyloid, a protein fragment that develops in the spaces between nerve cells. Tangles are twisted fibers of another protein called tau, which builds up inside cells.
Other Common Dementias
Vascular dementia is a decline in thinking skills that happens when blood flow to the brain is blocked or reduced, restricting brain cells from receiving essential oxygen and nutrients. Sometimes these changes happen suddenly, as during a stroke that blocks major brain blood vessels. After Alzheimer’s disease, stroke is the second most common cause of dementia.
Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a type of progressive dementia related to the buildup of a protein known as alpha-synuclein that damages brain cells. Early symptoms include hallucinations and sleep problems.
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a group of disorders. Progressive cell degeneration causes FTD in two places: the brain’s frontal lobes (behind the forehead) and temporal lobes (behind the ears).
Alzheimer’s in the Brain
More than 100 years ago, Dr. Alzheimer described specific changes found in the brain that are now called beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Today we know that Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disease, marked by key changes impacting memory, thinking, and behavior.
Alzheimer’s primary symptoms are early and prominent short-term memory loss, confusion, and difficulty with familiar complex tasks. The first area to be affected is the hippocampus, where memories are stored and retrieved. This is why short-term memory loss is the first symptom of Alzheimer’s.
Typically, the disease shows up after 65, although younger people may be affected. Behavioral changes usually occur later, often manifesting as confusion or paranoia and difficulty completing familiar tasks. Hallucinations or delusions are more common in later stages, as is getting lost in familiar places.
Other Risk Factors
People who have a parent or sibling with Alzheimer’s are more likely to develop it than those who do not. The risk is due to shared genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, and it increases if more than one family member has the disease.
Two types of genes may influence whether a person develops a disease: risk genes and deterministic genes. Risk genes increase the chance of developing a disease but do not guarantee it will happen, and deterministic genes cause a disease, meaning anyone who inherits a deterministic gene will develop a disorder.
Rare deterministic genes cause Alzheimer’s in a few hundred extended families worldwide. Scientists estimate these genes cause less than 1 percent of cases. Individuals with these genes usually develop symptoms in their 40s or 50s.
Role of Ethnicity, Race & Gender
Research shows that Hispanic older adults are about one-and-a-half times as likely as white older adults to have Alzheimer’s and other dementias, whereas Black older adults are about twice as likely. No one knows the exact reason for these differences, but researchers believe this may be due to higher rates of cardiovascular disease in these groups, including contributing factors such as health and socioeconomic disparities.
Also, women live longer than men, making them more likely to develop Alzheimer’s. However, longevity does not completely explain this difference, and researchers are exploring how biological, social, and cultural differences in women may impact risk.
Preventive Factors
Age, family history, and genetics are all risk factors we cannot change. However, research is starting to show that there are lifestyle habits that may help keep your brain healthy and lower risk of cognitive decline.
Research indicates a strong connection between brain health and heart health, so so it’s important to monitor blood pressure and risks for diabetes, stroke, and obesity. A healthy diet and exercise may benefit the brain. In addition, avoiding tobacco and excess alcohol, as well as maintaining a good sleep routine and frequent social and mental activities, can make a big difference.
Added to this, science shows a strong connection between serious head injury and future risk of cognitive decline, so it’s important to protect your head by buckling your seatbelt, avoiding contact sports, and taking safety measures at home and away to prevent falls.
Helping Others
What can we do for friends or relatives dealing with early stages of Alzheimer’s?
Walk and talk together at the gym or outdoors, if weather permits, keeping mindful of their balance and safety.
Play Scrabble, bingo, and other board games, without minding who wins, unless competition is fun for everyone. Do easy puzzles.
Sing with them or for them, choosing songs they enjoy, perhaps the music of their youth, and take them to musical events.
Play dance music and move to the beat if balance is not an issue, or sit and clap the rhythms of the music while tapping feet on the floor.
Take them to movies, community events, and cultural and sporting activities.
Watch TV game shows together and participate.
Take them shopping for groceries or treat them to meals at restaurants.
Remember to include relatives and friends living some distance away by arranging regular phone calls or Zoom meetings.
None of these activities will make Alzheimer’s go away, but they will enrich life.
Since my diagnosis, I’ve had good days and more difficult days, but a lot more sunshine has come my way since a little doggie moved into my house. She now takes me to her dog park two blocks away, every day.
Let’s not take for granted any good fortune in this life. Share it with others and treasure waking up every day knowing who and what you are.