Doctor explains how to tell the difference between normal aging and dementia
You remember that you left something in the other room, and you move to grab it. But when you go through the doorway, all memory of what you went to get disappears, and you stand there empty-handed, searching your brain.
This may take a few seconds or a few minutes, but more often than not you will eventually remember what you were looking for and where to get it.
Dr. Kenneth Frumkin, author of Alzheimer’s or Aging? has a four-decade career as a researcher into how the brain and nervous system influence thoughts and emotions
Believe it or not, this is a good sign.
Temporary forgetting doesn’t mean you’re gone, according to Dr. Kenneth Frumkin, an emergency medicine specialist whose book Aging or Alzheimer’s? delves into a discussion about what natural age-related forgetfulness is or the early indication of Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.
Memory loss is a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. And while all seniors with Alzheimer’s have suffered memory loss, not every senior with memory loss has or will develop the disease.
Memory loss is a common sign of the normal aging process. However, cognitive decline is the ‘evil twin’.
Cognition is the difference between “remembering” and “knowing,” says Dr. Frumkin.
He writes: ‘As for the ‘Evil Twin’, when we develop cognitive deficits, these can be misinterpreted as a deterioration in memory, masking or delaying our recognition of the more serious threats of cognitive decline to our security and independence .
“It’s one thing to forget why you went to the mall (memory) and quite another to not be able to find your way home.”
Aging or Alzheimer’s? delves into a discussion about what is natural age-related forgetfulness or the early indication of Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia
Cognitive decline affects everyone to some degree. Age-related cognitive decline (ARCD) refers to natural changes in skills related to language, attention and problem solving, and typically begins around age 60.
Maybe your grandfather’s word-finding skills have declined but his vocabulary has stayed relatively the same, or your grandmother can no longer cook while she’s on the phone.
Other fairly harmless signs of normal aging include those times when the tongue is tongue-tied – when that particular word or name is difficult to figure out – a slower speed of problem-solving and decision-making; reduced processing speed, causing routine tasks such as mental arithmetic to take slightly longer; less vivid memories; and difficulty mastering a new skill or remembering new information.
ARCD is generally a gradual process, making it more manageable for the aging person, their family and the people who will care for them.
For most people, normal aging will still resemble Post-it notes around the house, and they will occasionally wonder, “Why did I come into this room again?”
But for others, taking notes and brief memory lapses will lead to more disruptive changes, such as forgetting doctor appointments or social events, having trouble following a conversation, losing the train of thought, and finding it difficult to follow instructions and complete tasks. to make. .
When it has become clear to the person experiencing memory loss that something is wrong, or if his or her family is involved, a doctor will administer cognitive tests such as the Mini-Mental Status Examination or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, to diagnose a person with mild cognitive problems. impairment (MCI).
Mild cognitive impairment does not equate to dementia, but it is also not something to be ignored or attributed to aging.
And while an MCI diagnosis does not guarantee Alzheimer’s disease in the longer term, it does make it more likely.
Dr. Frumkin said, “After a diagnosis of MCI, all outcomes still remain possible, including improvement, transition to other forms of dementia, stable deficits that do not progress, and even a return to normal cognitive function.”
A study conducted over an average of two and a half years on Veterans Affairs patients with MCI found that only 12 percent of cases had progressed to dementia.
The majority (67 percent) remained unchanged and 21 percent improved.
Dr. Frumkin said in his book that “the ‘return rate’ (from MCI to normal cognition) has been as high as 25 to 30 percent” and is related to the lack of dementia-related biomarkers found in the spinal fluid.
Without certain biomarkers – specific health points that a doctor will measure to reveal concerns – diagnosing Alzheimer’s is impossible. The most crucial of these are the build-up of plaques of amyloid proteins, fibrous clusters of tau proteins and the loss of brain cells.
But biomarkers alone are not definitive predictors of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. They indicate the presence of biological processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but the actual onset of symptoms is influenced by many factors, including genetic, environmental and health-related aspects.
The progression of Alzheimer’s disease should be viewed as a spectrum, Dr. Frumkin concludes, and not as a step-by-step process from asymptomatic changes in the brain to noticeable memory impairment, followed by mild cognitive impairment, culminating in Alzheimer’s disease. diagnosis of dementia.
In Aging or Alzheimer’s? Dr. Frumkin argues that both cognitive decline and measurable biomarkers such as proteins in the brain change gradually and continuously over time.
