Q: DEAR Ms. Posvar, I am starting to forget people’s names and where I put things. I am told that I am just stressed but I have a little fear because my grand-mother had dementia. She has been gone for 5 years but I heard that if your family has it then I will get it too. Is this true?
A: A good family history is needed to help determine the risk factors of any illness such as heart disease or cancer. Just as it will increase your risk for heart disease or cancer, so is having a family history of Alzheimers or other related dementias can increase your risk of developing dementia. However it does not guarantee that you will develop it. You cannot change family history but you can change other risk factors such as the stress you mentioned.
You have a couple of symptoms that are alarming for you and you should find out the cause of those memory changes. I do not believe in waiting for the symptoms to get so bad that it is obvious. There are many things that cause memory or thinking changes. The longer you wait and do not address the cause, the higher your risk is to developing dementia. It is important for you to know your own body and your own mind and recognize the changes. If all the doctor finds is stress causing the symptoms, then eliminate the stress. There is a lot of talk and info about managing stress and those methods are great. I also want to add get rid of the stress. Management will help temporarly. The truth is you have to eliminate it completely. As long as the stress is there in your mind, your symptoms will not completely be resolved. When it comes to something you cannot change, for example if your job is stressing you and you are not in a position to look for another job, you then must change your perspective on how you view your job. As long as your mind sees your job as a stressor, you will remain in chronic stress even if it is mild. If you need help to go through the process to renew your mind there are great Life Coaches, and sometimes Counseling is needed and do not forget Meditation and Prayer. Another good resource to find out how stress is affecting your body and mind is to have a biofeedback analysis (body scan). This will help you identify areas in your body that are out of balance and areas that are in balance. Most illness and disease start years before you have symptoms that are hard to ignore.
Q: Dear Ms. Posvar, My mom is young and my siblings and I have noticed behaviours with my mom that is out of character. I saw the 10 warning signs and one said personality changes. We think this is happening to my mom. How do we know it is dementia or is she going mad?
A: I don’t like the use of the word “mad” as it is associated with negative stigma and it implies that the person is not significant and a waste of creation. If we as a culture stop seeing humans in this approach we will heal our people when we are found with imbalances. There is a lot of religious ideation that encourage this but not all. However it is taught and recognized that “mad people” are taboo. We must approach all of the “madness” with love. My experience here on the Island is that some people believe that all mental illness including Alzheimer’s and dementia’s are taboo. From a science approach it is known as a chemical imbalance in the brain for mental illness and for Alzheimer’s and dementia’s it is brain cells that are dead and continue to die over time. Please do not give up on your mom no matter if it is mental illness or dementia. In both she will need love and support and both can live well. Mental illness can be reversed from pharmaceutical and holistic treatments. Dementia has no pharmaceutical cure but a lot of holistic treatments can reverse the earlier stages and/or prevent the progression of brain cell deaths.