Researchers have found evidence linking junk food with Alzheimer's disease.

Read all about it here - and be depressed along with me.

It's a good thing I don't like junk food.

My Grandmother had Alzheimer's Disease and she very rarely had junk food. So their must be more to it than just junk food.

well the article didn't say junk food was the cause of it.

It said there's strong links between the two.. meaning your got more chance of getting it by eating lots of junk food.

The link is pretty tenuous, but it's an interesting article.

My father died of early-onset Alzheimer's; he also never ate a lot of junk food. He did have cholesterol issues, though.

Sharjan, my sympathies about your grandmother.

Thanks Beth.
My sympathies to you too for your Father.

It's an awful disease to deal with.
My grandmother was a gentle, quiet woman who never drove a car and she gradually turned violent towards other people in the nursing home and swore a lot.
She kept telling us about driving around to meet up with all her lovers and various other things we know she had never done in her whole life.
We credit those things to all the day time soaps she use to watch.

Very sad when they start forgetting who you are!

I'm a nurse and Alzheimers and dementia were the only patients that I would be assigned to work with. You have to have a lot of patience and know how to respond. I remember working with a lady (I actually ran as a EMT with her granddaughters husband) who after 9/11/01 came to me and told me that the terroirst were after the children. She looked at me before she died and told me she was taking a trip, but she didn't know where she was going. My own grandmother died of dementia, and my mother of lung cancer. And they wonder why there is a nursing shortage.
Sorry this post is depressing.
Susan

I can realy feel sympathy for all of you who are in a situation like this. My mother gradualy developed dementia. She would accuse my brother and father and me of doing things or saying things that were not true. It was very upsetting. And it went on for years.

Also I took care of a friends mother who was ninety years old. She had a fantastic memory until about a year before she died. It was terrible watching her lose her grip on reality. One of the most important things I learned, was that you cannot try to correct anything that they may say.
If a person with mental illness believes that you are their housekeeper and have been for the past 40 years, its best just to agree. Trying to tell them different only upsets and confuses them.

It is heartbreaking to watch a person gradualy lose their focus and comprehension. My prayers are with all who have to experience a friend or family member waste away like that...

I remember a elderly gentleman at one of the nursing homes. He didn't remember his great-granddaughter, and she broke down in tears. They may not remember with their minds, but I believe that they remember with their hearts. I know that sounds corney, but it is what I believe.

This post has been edited by MacNymph on 23 June 2009 - 03:55 PM

One of the worst aspects was that my father was a scientist -- his brain, his mind, was the centre of his being. He would have been more reconciled to becoming physically crippled. It also didn't help that at the time he first developed clear symptoms, Alzheimer's was far less well understood than it is now. We went through years of misdiagnosis and half-assed muddling.

(And, in a family where almost everyone lives and remains active and mentally sharp into their late 80's, he died at 66, ten years after diagnosis. My mother died six months later.)

The deterioration is incremental -- layers of the person you knew evaporate, and you gradually learn who they are underneath the veneers. One of the best aspects was discovering that my father's generally positive attitude towards life and people was very, very deep. The last time we were able to go hiking together, he was suffering from major vocabulary loss (aphasia), but still took delight in the world around him.

His love for my mother also went very deep; he continued to be able to recognise her long after he had forgotten who his children were.

Another good thing was that, while he was still able to make the decisions, he volunteered to participate in the advanced clinical studies of some of the medications that are now generally used to alleviate symptoms during the early years of Alzheimer's. It's kind of funny now, seeing ads for something I originally saw in a pre-marketed form. He also donated himself to Alzheimer's research after his death -- we all had blood draws as well, so they could examine near relatives.

Expectations make a big difference. The last time I saw my father, he had no idea who I was -- but I was expecting that. I was there to see him and say good-bye, and I did; I was not there for him to see me, and I went there knowing how it would be.

The time before that, I had not expected him to remember me, and he did (after a bit) -- and that was a wonderful gift, and I will always treasure it.

When my mom came home from the hospital for the last time, she told me that the CNA that hospice provided was abusing her. The young lady wasn't, and I had to get back to work. I kick my self to this very day, because what she wanted was for me to stay home with her and my step father. I've never forgiven my self for not staying home with her that last night. My step father called me the next day, and she died around 11 a.m. that following morning. If only I had picked up the phone and called in. I think in my heart she knew that I needed to get back to work, because I was sick myself, and had taken medical leave for myself, then family leave for her. But still I feel I let her down.

Aruging with a person who has dementia is so fruitless. You are right to agree with them and go on. I've had some who have said that we've been friends for 50 plus years. I'm only 43 now, and have never met these people before in my life. But they teach you so much about what there lives were like. In some ways it is an enjoyable learning experience.

My great-aunt has some form of dementia (not sure whether it's actually Alzheimer's or not). It's really sad, because I remember her younger years, and she was a real pistol! Up until maybe five or six years ago, (she's now in her early nineties) she was outrageous and funny, and you never knew what she'd say next. Then suddenly, she just started going downhill... and fast. She still seems to know who most people in the family are (at least her own children... I doubt if she recognizes me anymore), but doesn't participate in any conversations... just sits holding her daughter's dog and humming to herself most of the time.

The real irony? She was a doctor, a pediatrician, and was prominent in the field of adolescent medicine. She helped found a successful adolescent clinic in Minneapolis that's still operating to this day.