Does Dementia Lead To Alzheimer’s

Majority Reported Passing Out From Drinking

Scientists examined seven European cohort studies from the U.K., France, Sweden, and Finland to include 131,415 people.

The participants, aged between 18 and 77 years, werent diagnosed with dementia during the years when they reported their alcohol consumption .

At follow-up, an average of 14 years later, they were examined for symptoms of dementia.

Over 96,000 people in this group reported passing out due to alcohol. Of these, over 10,000 reported having lost consciousness from drinking in the past year.

Binge drinking tends to be most problematic among college aged youth and young adults, Dr. Scott Krakower, unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, New York, told Healthline.

The moderate drinkers who hadnt passed out while drinking were used as the reference group. Compared with other participants, those who reported alcohol-induced loss of consciousness were more likely to drink hard liquor and beer, rather than wine.

After excluding participants with early or late onset Alzheimers, and cardiovascular conditions to find risk of cognitive impairment, the study authors concluded, The findings of this study suggest that alcohol-induced loss of consciousness, irrespective of overall alcohol consumption, is associated with a subsequent increase in the risk of dementia.

Understanding Cognitive Impairment And Ms

A recent article published by Practical Neurology calls for doctors, researchers and caregivers of those with MS to begin moving away from ânon-specific” terms like cognitive impairment. The article recommends using specific terms, like dementia and mild cognitive impairment , to better gauge the level of impairment being suffered by the person with MS. These terms have been shied away from previously, the author states, because of the stigma attached to them â especially to the term dementia.

Most patients being diagnosed with MS are younger, still looking to raise their families and build careers and are hoping to manage this illness along with the rest of their future. The stigma of the word dementia and its connection to older adults in late stages of their lives and the severity of symptoms, can rob many patients of the hope they have to fight their disease.

Suggesting a heavy campaign of de-stigmatization and re-education around the terms of dementia and MCI, the author states these terms will be more helpful to all involved with MS treatment and research, because these terms have better clinical definition.

If you have a loved one suffering from MS and are concerned they may be exhibiting signs of cognitive impairment, please encourage them to talk to their doctor or treatment team to find the best treatment for them.

How To Protect The Brain From Fluoride And Alzheimers

Exposure to fluoride sets-up the perfect environment for Alzheimers.

Fluoride crystallizes the pineal gland, turning it in/underactive.

This is followed with a decrease in melatonin production, robbing the body of what it would use in the defense of the development of Alzheimers. With the lack of melatonin, a persons sleep is disrupted, robbing them of valuable time to recover their brain.

Aside from the pineal glands destruction by fluoride, fluoride directly damages the brain.

It increases oxidative stress and reduces antioxidant enzymes.

This essentially fuels the bad guys with machine guns and gives the good guys rocks.

Fluoride exposure leaves a persons brain without the resources to fight off brain damage, strips the brain of time to recover, increases destructive activity and decreases protective activities of the brain.

It would be harder to imagine a better environment for the onset of brain diseases.

Now, whats the solution?

Well, you have to change the environment

Recommended Reading: Smelling Farts Prevents Cancer

Metabolism In The Elderly

A younger adult taking alprazolam will process the drug much quicker than an elderly person. Alprazolam will peak in a younger individuals bloodstream within the first two hours of taking it.

Within 11 hours, the total concentration of alprazolam in their blood will reduce to half . In older adults, the half-life of alprazolam is about 16 hours. This longer half-life can lead to a toxic amount of alprazolam in their system if they take it too frequently.

Does Xanax Cause Alzheimers

Although it does not cause it, several studies have found benzodiazepines may increase the risk of Alzheimers. This association may be linked to the longer half-life of alprazolam in the elderly.

Taking alprazolam long-term can lead to a large accumulation of the drug in your system. This increases the likelihood of memory impairment and may lead to irreversible effects on cognition and memory.

Read Also: What Shampoos Cause Alzheimer’s Disease And Cancer

Causes Of Vascular Dementia

Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, which damages and eventually kills brain cells.

This can happen as a result of:

• narrowing and blockage of the small blood vessels inside the brain
• a single stroke, where the blood supply to part of the brain is suddenly cut off
• lots of “mini strokes” that cause tiny but widespread damage to the brain

Not everyone who has a stroke will go on to develop vascular dementia.

Read more about vascular dementia.

Metabolic Problems And Endocrine Abnormalities

Thyroid problems can lead to apathy, depression, or symptoms that resemble dementia.

Hypoglycemia, a condition in which theres not enough sugar in the bloodstream, can cause confusion or personality changes.

Too little or too much sodium or calcium can trigger mental changes.

Some people have an impaired ability to absorb vitamin B-12. This creates a condition called pernicious anemia that can cause personality changes, irritability, or depression.

Recommended Reading: Can Aricept Make Dementia Worse

Risk Of Dementia & Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimers is a progressive disease that affects behavioral and cognitive functions, especially memory. Alzheimers may be a cause of dementia, which is the loss of cognitive abilities that is severe enough to interfere with your life.

Several studies have shown benzos to be a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimers in geriatric patients. However, early symptoms of dementia mimic symptoms of anxiety and insomnia, which is a possible reason for this association.

Specific Information In This Report

Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures

• Brain changes that occur with Alzheimer’s disease.
• Risk factors for Alzheimer’s dementia.
• Number of Americans with Alzheimer’s dementia nationally and for each state.
• Lifetime risk for developing Alzheimer’s dementia.
• Proportion of women and men with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
• Number of deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease nationally and for each state, and death rates by age.
• Number of family caregivers, hours of care provided, and economic value of unpaid care nationally and for each state.
• The impact of caregiving on caregivers.
• National cost of care for individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, including costs paid by Medicare and Medicaid and costs paid out of pocket.
• Medicare payments for people with dementia compared with people without dementia.
• Number of geriatricians needed by state in 2050.

The Appendices detail sources and methods used to derive statistics in this report.

When possible, specific information about Alzheimer’s disease is provided in other cases, the reference may be a more general one of âAlzheimer’s or other dementias.â

Also Check: Which Neurotransmitter Is Associated With Alzheimer’s

So Should You Be Worried About Your Medications And Dementia

These findings are intriguing but they arent definitive, and they dont mean you should stop taking a medication because youre concerned about developing dementia.

First, this study found that use of certain medications was more common in people later diagnosed with dementia. That doesnt mean these drugs caused dementia. There are other potential explanations for the findings. For example, some people develop depression during the early phases of dementia. Rather than antidepressants causing dementia, the medication might be prescribed for early symptoms of dementia that has already developed. This is called “confounding by indication” and its a potential flaw of studies like this one that attempt to link past medication use with future disease.

Another reason to be cautious about these results is that they cannot be used to estimate the impact of medication use on an individual persons risk of dementia. This type of study looks at the risk in a large group, but individual factors may have a much bigger impact on dementia risk.

Still, there is reason to be concerned about the possibility that anticholinergic drugs contribute to the risk of dementia. Acetylcholine is involved in memory and learning, and past research has demonstrated lower levels of acetylcholine in the brains of people with Alzheimers disease . In addition, animal studies suggest that anticholinergic drugs may contribute to brain inflammation, a potential contributor to dementia.

How Is Alzheimers Disease Treated

Alzheimers is complex, and it is therefore unlikely that any one drug or other intervention will successfully treat it in all people living with the disease.

Scientists are exploring many avenues to delay or prevent the disease as well as to treat its symptoms. In ongoing clinical trials, scientists are developing and testing several possible interventions. Under study are drug therapies aimed at a variety of disease interventions, as well as nondrug approaches such as physical activity, diet, cognitive training, and combinations of these. Just as we have many treatments for heart disease and cancer, we will likely need many options for treating Alzheimers. Precision medicine getting the right treatment to the right person at the right time will likely play a major role.

Current approaches to treating Alzheimers focus on helping people maintain mental function, treating the underlying disease process, and managing behavioral symptoms.

Recommended Reading: Alzheimer’s Ribbon Color

Use And Costs Of Health Care Services

6.2.1 Use of health care services

People with Alzheimer’s or other dementias have twice as many hospital stays per year as other older people. Moreover, the use of health care services by people with other serious medical conditions is strongly affected by the presence or absence of dementia. In particular, people with coronary artery disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , stroke or cancer who also have Alzheimer’s or other dementias have higher use and costs of health care services than people with these medical conditions but no coexisting dementia.

FIGURE 13

• * This table does not include payments for all kinds of Medicare services, and as a result the average per-person payments for specific Medicare services do not sum to the total per-person Medicare payments.
• Created from unpublished data from the National 5% Sample Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries for 2014.

How Much Alcohol Is Too Much Alcohol

A unit is a measure of alcohol. You can find out how many units are in an alcoholic drink by reading the label. The NHS recommends not drinking more than 14 units of alcohol each week. This should ideally be spread over three or more days because binge-drinking is particularly harmful to the brain.

When a person starts drinking more than around 25 units per week on a regular basis, it may start to affect their ability to think and function properly.

Drinking a large amount of alcohol in a short space of time is known as binge-drinking. It is equivalent to drinking 8 units or more for men and 6 units or more for women. It has been suggested that older people should have lower limits because they are at greater risk of the damaging effects of alcohol.

Get support with ARBD

Recommended Reading: What Is The Difference Between Dementia And Senility

Managing Alzheimer’s Disease Behavior

Common behavioral symptoms of Alzheimers include sleeplessness, wandering, agitation, anxiety, and aggression. Scientists are learning why these symptoms occur and are studying new treatments drug and nondrug to manage them. Research has shown that treating behavioral symptoms can make people with Alzheimers more comfortable and makes things easier for caregivers.

What Are The Common Signs Or Symptoms Of Dementia

As there are many different types and causes of dementia, there can be many different signs and symptoms. Some signs and symptoms include:

• Feeling confused or disoriented
• Difficulty remembering events, conversations, names/words
• Difficulty doing daily tasks, chores, activities
• Trouble planning or organizing
• Changes to personality, mood or behaviour
• Difficulty recognizing and misplacing objects

Read Also: Does Neil Diamond Have Alzheimer’s

Risk Factors For Dementia

Researchers have identified several risk factors that affect the likelihood of developing one or more kinds of dementia. Some of these factors are modifiable, while others are not.

Age. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and several other dementias goes up significantly with advancing age.

Genetics/family history. Researchers have discovered a number of genes that increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Although people with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease are generally considered to be at a heightened risk of developing the disease themselves, many people who have relatives with Alzheimer’s disease never develop the disease, and many without a family history of the disease do get it.

In most cases, it is impossible to predict a specific person’s risk of the disorder based on family history alone. Some families with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, or fatal familial insomnia have mutations in the prion protein gene, although these disorders can also occur in people without the gene mutation. Individuals with these mutations are at significantly higher risk of developing these forms of dementia.

Abnormal genes are also clearly implicated as risk factors in Huntington’s disease, FTDP-17, and several other kinds of dementia.

Many people with Down’s syndrome show neurological and behavioral signs of Alzheimer’s disease by the time they reach middle age.

Causes And Risk Factors

The cause depends on the type, but the exact causes of many forms of dementia are currently unclear.

Dementia is not an inevitable part of aging, but age is one of the main risk factors. In fact, up to 50% of people aged 85 years and older may have a type of dementia.

Also, in the United States, around 11.3% of people aged over 65 years currently have Alzheimers disease, according to the Alzheimers Association. This number rises to 34.6% in those aged 85 years and older. Symptoms tend to worsen with age.

It is possible to develop dementia at a younger age, but the condition is more common among older adults.

Read Also: Parkinsons And Alzheimers Together

Keep Your Mind Active

An active mind may help lower the risk of dementia, so keep challenging yourself. Some examples would be:

• study something new, like a new language
• do puzzles and play games
• read challenging books
• learn to read music, take up an instrument, or start writing
• stay socially engaged: keep in touch with others or join group activities
• volunteer

Key Points About Early

• Alzheimer disease commonly affects older people, but early-onset Alzheimer disease can affect people in their 30s or 40s.

• It affects memory, thinking, and behavior.

• Although there is no known cure, early diagnosis and treatment can lead to better quality of life.

• Stay healthy with a good diet and regular exercise.

• Avoid alcohol and other substances that may affect memory, thinking, and behavior.

Also Check: What Color Ribbon Is Alzheimer’s

Effects Of Xanax On The Elderly

Alprazolam is in a class of controlled substances called benzodiazepines, which are central nervous system depressants. Benzos slow nerve activity in the CNS by increasing the effect of the neurotransmitter gamma aminobutyric acid . This lowers anxiety and increases sedation.

Other benzodiazepines include:

• dizziness
• impaired coordination

Older adults who are prescribed alprazolam should be started on the lowest possible dose and increased slowly as needed. This can help prevent some of the more serious adverse effects.

Lead Link To Alzheimer’s Disease

Early Lead Poisoning May Boost Alzheimer’s Brain Chemicals Years Later, Lab Tests on Monkeys Show

Lead poisoning is a well-known danger, especially for young children. Months or years of lead poisoning can stunt children’s growth and damage their brain, kidneys, hearing, and mental development.

Early lead poisoning may also tinker with genes in a way that sets the stage for Alzheimer’s disease as an adult, according to the new study, which is based on monkeys, not people.

The study included two groups of baby monkeys that drank formula for the first 400 days of their life. One group of monkeys got ordinary, lead-free formula. The scientists added low levels of lead to the other group’s formula.

No health problems were seen in the monkeys during the 23-year study.

The scientists checked the monkey’s brains at the end of the study. The monkeys that drank the lead-laced formula as babies had higher levels of Alzheimer’s-related proteins and more DNA damage than the other monkeys.

Lead poisoning in infancy may have made the monkeys’ genes make more of the Alzheimer’s-related proteins years later, according to the researchers, who included the University of Rhode Island’s Nasser Zawia, PhD.

Their findings appear in The Journal of Neuroscience.

SOURCES: Wu, J. The Journal of Neuroscience, Jan. 2, 2008 vol 28: pp3-9. WebMD Medical Reference: “Prevent Lead Poisoning.”

You May Like: Andrea Mitchell Speech Problems

Support For Families And Alzheimer’s Disease Caregivers

Caring for a person with Alzheimers can have significant physical, emotional, and financial costs. The demands of day-to-day care, changes in family roles, and decisions about placement in a care facility can be difficult. NIA supports efforts to evaluate programs, strategies, approaches, and other research to improve the quality of care and life for those living with dementia and their caregivers.

Becoming well-informed about the disease is one important long-term strategy. Programs that teach families about the various stages of Alzheimers and about ways to deal with difficult behaviors and other caregiving challenges can help.

Good coping skills, a strong support network, and respite care are other things that may help caregivers handle the stress of caring for a loved one with Alzheimers. For example, staying physically active provides physical and emotional benefits.

Some caregivers have found that joining a support group is a critical lifeline. These support groups enable caregivers to find respite, express concerns, share experiences, get tips, and receive emotional comfort. Many organizations sponsor in-person and online support groups, including groups for people with early-stage Alzheimers and their families.

Read about this topic in Spanish. Lea sobre este tema en español.