Dementia cases will triple by 2050, why? but could we be seeing a human bse epidemic?

[Bodensee]

Back in September 2001 I read a fascinating article by Kevin Toolis in the Guardian magazine about Human BSE, the title read ' EPIDEMIC IN WAITING'. In early 1996 it was acknowledged by the then government that there was a link between BSE and vCJD, at which time at least 110 victims of all ages had died from vCJD. One victim aged just 17 was Stacey Robinson from Queniborough, Leics, she was diagnosed with post natal depression and put on anti-depressants, but she became worse and was admitted to hospital when the howling started. As it turned out Stacey was'nt depressed, her brain was being eaten away by the rogue prion agent responsible for mad cow disease (vCJD). Little clumps of indissoluble protein were building up in her cerebral cortex, destroying her neural pathways amd giving her brain a sponge-like appearance. The howling went on for 5 months, night & day, soon she lost the power to walk, to talk and to eat, to clean herself, to use the bathroom. She turned aggressive, kicking, swearing and assaulting her nurses. She battered her forearm against the bed until it was black and blue. She held her hand under a scalding tap and felt no pain. In the end, the doctors turned her city hospital room into a padded cell.
In the same hospital was Pamela Bayliss aged 24, was struggling to breathe, Pamela once a bright vivacious financial clerk had developed a mystery illness a few months before, soon she became a twisted human form on the bed, whose eyes stared vacantly into space, she was in a coma, incontinent, catatonic, her lungs fighting against pneumonia.
Stacey and Pamela were the first to be struck down with human bse in 1997/98.
The clinical symptons of vCJD are a catalogue of doom:
Muscle Spasms (Myoclonus), the involuntary loss of movement including speech (akinetic mutism), cortical blindness and progressive dementia.
"Your brain function level regresses back through the evolutionary stages. You become more primitive and then you die". The median time span between the onset of symptons and death is 14 months.
In total, an estimated 750,000 BSE infected cattle entered the British food supply.
BSE takes upto 5 years to kill a cow, but everytime the rogue prion agent jumps the species barrier it mutates and the average incubation period lengthens. BSE cow prions take longer to turn into vCJD human prions and thus take longer to kill the human victim.
'BSE is probably the most cynical act of biological warfare ever waged against a civilian population by a western government'


So are we witnessing the human bse epidemic? the forecast of 115.4 million (according to World Health Organisation) people living with dementia by 2050 is quite staggering, how can this be possible, it cannot simply be down to age, something is affecting our brains, human bse has a long incubation period, too many similarities in my opinion.

My mother has dementia, no idea why, never had a general anathestic, no mercury fillings, good diet, no family history, but she has had vaccinations and eaten beef & dairy products between 1985 - 1996.
The only way to find the truth is to give every dementia patient a blood test for vCJD, currently a blood test is on trial, the scientist is Sir John Collinge based in London, I may just ask if he could test my mother's blood to rule out vCJD.

[Chemmy]

Dementia cases will triple by 2050, why?

I'm inclined to think it's because other diseases that would have killed someone off before dementia set in are now being cured.

My mum had a successful mastectomy in the late 1990s. Her dementia began in 2001.

A generation ago, the breast cancer would have been terminal.

We're all living longer - seems great on the surface, but whether this is giving us a better quality of life in our final years is a moot point, as far as I'm concerned

[Witzend]

I'm inclined to think it's because other diseases that would have killed someone off before dementia set in are now being cured.

My mum had a successful mastectomy in the late 1990s. Her dementia began in 2001.

A generation ago, the breast cancer would have been terminal.

We're all living longer - seems great on the surface, but whether this is giving us a better quality of life in our final years is a moot point, as far as I'm concerned

Agreed. A few decades ago my mother would have died of the cancer she had in her early 70s. I daresay there are many who would have died of heart conditions long before they got dementia. Also, so many older people were carried off in the past with flu/chest infections that are now treated with antibiotics, not to mention that most of us nowadays live in much warmer houses and are less likely to succumb in the first place.

[Chemmy]

My mum was in her early seventies too when they found the lump. I guess that was the time Nature intended her to leave us. Looking back over her decade of dementia, I have often contemplated whether that might not have been a better time for her to go.

[Haylett]

Very thought-provoking, this thread. Chemmy's point that longevity brings with it a higher incidence of dementia/senility is undeniably true. The BSE/vCJD mutation and dormancy is a horrifying prospect - but I suspect that there are multiple factors that impact on dementia. Diet, exercise, fragmentation of communities/society in general, drug abuse (and all that that entails), stress. A curious but true fact that mental health is better during war than in periods of peacetime. Life has become much more complex and our senses are assaulted, over-stimulated perhaps, on all fronts. So while we're getting healthier physically, mental welfare is suffering.

I wonder also whether the report takes into account improved/earlier rates of diagnosis - ie that the percentage jump in statistics is due to a more accurate identification of those who have dementia, rather than an incremental jump in those who contract it.

[Chemmy]

My grandad lived with us from 1964 - 1970 and in hindsight, clearly had dementia. I remember Mum being horrified when she went to his room and he was sitting starkers from the waist down (I was banned from going in there after that ), And I can also remember her saying he was making cups of tea for imaginary visitors. And he started wandering.

But it was never diagnosed as such -it was put down to 'old age' as recently as 1970.

[Witzend]

My mum was in her early seventies too when they found the lump. I guess that was the time Nature intended her to leave us. Looking back over her decade of dementia, I have often contemplated whether that might not have been a better time for her to go.

I have thought exactly the same re my mother, Chemmy. She had one decade without AD - though never really happy since my father died (not long before she developed cancer) and has had around one decade with it. Nearly 94 now and living a pitiful half-life with every shred of dignity cruelly ripped away.

And BTW it makes me mad when people talk about 'dignity' in dementia. Past a certain stage there simply isn't any, and can't be, no matter how kind, compassionate and sensitive the care may be.

[Witzend]

My grandad lived with us from 1964 - 1970 and in hindsight, clearly had dementia. I remember Mum being horrified when she went to his room and he was sitting starkers from the waist down (I was banned from going in there after that ), And I can also remember her saying he was making cups of tea for imaginary visitors. And he started wandering.

But it was never diagnosed as such -it was put down to 'old age' as recently as 1970.

Similar with my granny. She used to stay with my parents now and then - OH and I were living in the Arabian Gulf when my first baby was due - only hospital was dire so I had to come home to have her. My mother was petrified after I came out of hosp - my granny was thinking the baby was hers and 'that girl' (me) wouldn't look after her properly. My mother was terrified of her trying to take her off - among other things she'd got out before and banged on neighbours' door in the middle of the night, asking to be driven to Scotland.

And she thought 'that girl' (me) was stealing her nightdresses! My mother said, 'Why would she want your nightdresses - she's 60 years younger than you!' Granny said, 'Do you mean I'm old fashioned?' (highly indignant). Only of course it was never diagnosed - she died of something else a couple of yrs later in her late 80s.

I well remember my mother (having been tearing her hair) saying while I was bathing new baby daughter, 'How on earth does one of these (baby) turn into one of those?' (granny)
Yet my poor mother is now 'one of those' - she would be so appalled - thank God she's not aware.

[Chemmy]

The trouble is, I know that if I reach my early seventies and find a lump and I am showing no signs of dementia, I would want treatment too. However, I'd like to think that my family are well-enough aware of my views that if I have a life-threatening condition after dementia is evident, they will be brave enough not to sanction treatment.

My mum and dad always said 'don't let this happen to me'. Well, I can't obviously be proactive but I can make sure the end isn't drawn out longer than necessary. Having had that conversation with them has helped me enormously when making difficult decisions.

[Padraig]

Chemmy, I find your post interesting. It sets my mind racing to question why you would be horrified at seeing your granddad undressed. Of course I know the answer. It is how the mind is programmed from childhood.
In my 81st year I have little option but to exercise my brain as I continue to learn from observing every aspects of society. In many ways I find it an advantage to have been denied a childhood and released into a strange world to fend for myself.
From my observations, the educational and social system to a greater or lesser degree treat people as though on an assembly line and as a result behave like sheep. There is little questioning of the media, doctors, researchers etc, and as a result we seek the advice of 'experts' who have not had AD nor had first hand experience of 24/7 caring.
Children start out asking questions, and because we may not know the answers we inhibit their progress by telling them to be quiet. "Are we there yet? are we there yet?" Could it be the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning when we supply the answers before we ask the questions?

[Witzend]

Chemmy, I find your post interesting. It sets my mind racing to question why you would be horrified at seeing your granddad undressed. Of course I know the answer. It is how the mind is programmed from childhood.

I think Chemmy said it was her mother who was horrified. And who knows, maybe she was thinking of the old man's dignity rather than anything else, in that he himself would not have liked it had he still been the person he was before.

I know that I have often tried to protect my mother from exhibiting her lack of dignity - and I'm not just talking nakedness - to anyone but close family or carers. I'm not saying anyone else would be horrified, I'm sure they wouldn't, but I know my mother's former self would absolutely hate it.

[Chemmy]

I was referring to my mum but yes, at fifteen I wouldn't have liked to see my grandad naked either (or at any age come to that). And Witzend is right - he'd have been horrified too in his pre-dementia state.

Some people are comfortable with nudity, some are not - neither is wrong.

[Clementine]

I could not even cope with Mum getting undressed and was shocked when I saw her the first time, never mind a child her grandfather. Luckily in the Nursing Home they are dressing her in Jumpsuits to preserve her dignity.

[Chemmy]

I could not even cope with Mum getting undressed and was shocked when I saw her the first time,.

I've never seen my mum undressed and I wouldn't have even attempted to assist either her or my father with intimate care. I can remember how upset they were when my cousin's husband was helping my aunt to get dressed. They felt it was highly inappropriate; I'm not saying it was, but they had, and were entitled to have, very strong views on something like that.

Actually, I shudder at the prospect of my son or son-in-law helping me in that way - I have made it clear that I want professional help brought in, not family, should the situation arise.

[lin1]

Some people are comfortable with nudity, some are not - neither is wrong.

Yes we are all different
Dad and I were having an in depth conversation the other day and he went a bit quiet when I said that I would have no problems washing him if ever he needed help,

this is my own personal view
for me their is no difference, Ive washed my mum for a few years , and in the past ive washed my 80 yr old nan, I see no difference if dad ever needs such help, though, I know he would be far more embarrassed than my mum was
Strangely my nan was not at all embarrassed yet she was born in 1900