I am in two minds about this:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/…ers-identified
My father had Alzheimers and we as a family suffered because the doctors in the UK were so slow to give an official diagnosis. In hindsight, it was obvious that his eccentricity had turned into dementia long before we realised. So an early diagnosis would be great. But there is no treatment…
Thanks for posting this, I just came across the exact same article myself and found it an interesting read!
My mum is currently with early onset dementia living in a care home. I asked myself whether a test like this would help, I'd be in two minds about doing it. On one side, a negative result would seem great but doesn't guarantee that you wouldn't develop symptoms at a later date. The test itself seemed 90% accurate too which isn't great imo. A positive result would help organise and plan for the future, something (like OP) my mum wasn't able to do. But living with the knowledge you have and are going to develop dementia, given how cruel the condition is, isn't exactly a pleasant thought.
My only take from this is, how impressive science is to develop such testing and hopefully in the future more is learned about dementia! Whether it be tests or treatment.
I'd be worried that it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy somehow... Like if you expect to get dementia at some point, then you will. Or how it could just mess with your head. Forgot to get that flour you needed at the store? Forgot to roll up your car window? It must be that dementia kicking in.
A friend of mine who is a psychiatrist once told me that dementia isn't simply forgetting things, though. It's more like forgetting the very crucial things that people don't normally ever forget, like your name, where you are, etc.
Anyways, I think I'd rather not know, in advance. Let me enjoy living out whatever days I have left with my mind intact without having to worry about dementia kicking in. I can see, though, how it could be useful to know such a thing if there are things you can do to try to prevent it. I've read before that drinking coffee can help prevent Alzheimer's.
I mean plenty of older folk already think/stress about this even without any diagnosis.
At this stage I don't see that it would make much difference.... I have now had to deal with three people that have had this affliction and perhaps beyond maybe consider the persons living arrangements early on so they can "learn" the new environment while still in our world, I don't see there being much else you can do.
It is much more difficult for the people that have to interact and take care of them than for the people themselves. Two of the people were happy in their own little world and you just had to play your part, while the other got violent from time to time and that was very difficult to deal with.
Thankfully all three died before the needed to be put into full time care because that would have required them to leave their world and that would never have gone well.
This is a good argument for a test.
You could say this about many different medical conditions though. Ultimately the choice would still remain yours as to whether you take the test or not.
As the research itself demonstrates, every year we are learning more about treatment / research / etc. To say 'there's no treatment so what's the point in knowing' doesn't mean a treatment won't be discovered/developed tomorrow.
New drugs on the horizon…just lost a friend to alzheimers–she was totally gone for 15 years!
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/blog/t…ing-fresh-hope
Until there is a cure or at least medication to halt a disease, there seems little point in being diagnosed.
My mother died at 90 having had Alzheimers for at least 10 years. It was not all negative though. Once she was used to what was happening to her, she accepted it, became very mellow, and could often laugh at her situation. But for the last 6 months, she was lost to us and was basically in a semi-coma...
I disagree - you may want to get your papers in order, visit a few places that you had planned to visit in later life and do a few things on your wish list before you forget what was on it.
You may even want to investigate Dignitas or another end-of-life service.
Being diagnosed with dementia/Alzheimer's is not like the movies where the doc says "You've only got months to live grab your bucket list and go".
These forms of mental decay take years, sometimes a couple of decades.
And finally, Dignitas is for non-Swiss residents. "Exit" is what you mean and they will refuse anyone with dementia or other psychological problems - and they check very carefully at all stages...
That's a valid opinion, and as I mentioned, you retain the right to not take the test if you don't see any value in knowing.
But there is still value in undertaking the research because we don't know what we might learn in the future. That's the purpose of scientific research.
It may be a really long bucket list! Someone may decide to take early retirement and do something else entirely with their life for the next ten years or so.
I'm sure people outside of Switzerland get dementia too. Dignitas are a lot more relaxed about who they kill.
You are wrong, anyway with regards to eligibility. I checked the EXIT website:
The number of people suffering from dementia ailments such as Alzheimer's is steadily increasing. Persons belonging in this group are eligible for physician-assisted suicides only during the early stages of the disease .
Much easier to do if you know in advance that it is dementia and not some other condition.
My wife's mother is currently in that dementia stage where she doesn't recognise children or grandchildren and from vague symptoms which could have been something else to this stage was only a couple of years.
Lots of ways to reduce risk of getting it - on the same website:
Drink less alcohol. Don't smoke. Stay mentally well and socially active. Manage long-term health conditions. Protect your hearing. Protect your head. (wear a helmet when skiing or cycling).
And then you can still get it. I ́d rather go with: enjoy your life now, you never know when it ends and how it ends.
Well, we are past that logic already because there are now several treatments that target Alzheimer disease in particular that, at least based on the current data, appear to slow down the progression of the disease. See links above.
Most importantly these treatments target the early stages of the disease - and it will become important to be diagnosed as early as possible. That might mean testing well before you even notice something is wrong. It could be as a preventive biological screening test you do at the GP.
However, things are really, really, really at the early stage:
- there are not yet validated biological screening tests for developing Alzheimer's
- the new drugs only really work on quite narrow groups of patients
- the new drugs are not cheap
- the new drugs may have significant/critical side-effects and require constant and expensive monitoring
The ethical questions around these treatments will be profound - as for instance whether and when to test - particularly as the evidence of positive effects of the new drugs will take a long time to arrive.
The drugs are not yet approved in Switzerland and the guidelines for administration are being debated... It will still be years before even a small percentage of the population will have access to them. And these drugs only target Alzheimer disease, and there are many other causes of Dementia (Alzheimer's being the most common)...
Based on the article, there is a time limit. Getting the test at 20 YO makes not much sense (statistically). Albeit, it would make really happy....errr, melancholic a bunch of goths and the like
So, what would be a good age? 60? 70? Before? Only if some symptoms arise. Otherwise, it's just anxiety and "why our health costs are going up all the time"?
The drink less, smoke less, stay active and protect your melon are not precisely exotic recommendations.
All those things on my list would make your life more enjoyable anyway, irrespective of the change in risk.
With the way that you answered in such a negative fashion - what is it on that list that sounds so unpleasant?
I'm genuinely interested.
It's too early to be able to answer this kind of questions. The paper referenced is a research article - it's not yet about a test a regular patient can take. This will take years to develop, and its costs and reliability will not be what you read in the paper.
But if you hypothesize, then take the average age at which symptoms can appear (about 65-ish) then testing could begin from 45-50 years old... if not earlier... time will tell
They help but sometimes there is a disease that is not influenced by these factors. However, at least in theory, a healthy lifestyle can make even a present disease less apparent because of reduced stress on the non-affected neurons....
True, but looking at just one of those lifestyle choices, the Alzheimer's Society states:
Those aren't small numbers.
There are many long term studies which show these results.
I had two aunts - Sisters. Both very intelligent.
Of course this is anecdotal but one was a bit overweight and didn't exercise very much. She got dementia in her sixties and that was it.
The other went on one or two long walks everyday, in the countryside and was an avid gardener. It was part of her lifestyle and she enjoyed it.
She was still writing and debugging code in her late seventies.
She died of something else but never had any problems mentally.