Dementia by any other name is still debilitating

Everybody wants to live forever but few folks look forward to the aches of aging.

A lot of time and talent have been devoted to eliminating or finding cures for disease, developing drugs that diminish debilitation and producing prosthetics that help coping more comfortably with our lengthening lives.

Despite all the intelligence applied to the science of longevity, little has been done to enhance our brain’s power, particularly as it ages.

Dementia — its causes and cures — are still a mystery to the best medical minds.

Experienced experts even disagree on the best ways to avoid or alleviate the ravages of such neurological disorders as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Play mental agility games, such as crossword puzzles, some say. Learn a language to foster the brain’s flexibility.

Travel. Join social groups. Stay active. Exercise to maintain a healthy blood flow to the brain. Eat foods containing chemicals that stimulate brain activity and cells.

All of these are safe and sane advice for anyone wishing to stay healthy.

But there’s still no cure for such degenerative brain diseases as Alzheimer’s. The inevitable result is loss of memory, identity and mobility if death does not intervene.

Alzheimer’s disease am- bushes one-third of everyone older than 85. More than 5 million people in this country reportedly suffer from it. That number is expected to triple over the next four decades as the population ages.

No one is safe. It caught up to late President Ronald Reagan, actors Jimmy Stewart and Charlton Heston, boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Anecdotes and stories by friends, families and caregivers dealing with victims of this and other debilitating neurological diseases hurt the heart. With frustration, they watch the fading away of their loved one, all the while trying to rationalize what is happening.

The recurring theme is that these caregivers cannot realize, accept, come to grips with or face the fact that the person they once knew is disappearing. The once-witty wife becomes a slug. The once-creative dad gathers dust in the corner.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2022

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