2021.02.09 08:34
2021.02.09 08:39
2021.02.09 10:20
It is sad, Dr. HJ, but an unavoidable(?) reality we all could encounter sooner or later if we should live long enough! Oddly, however, the person oneself doesn't have enough emotion (?) to feel sad but others next to the one does! But, fortunately, it comes slowly enough (?) to reduce the shock wave to the family and friends only to watch helplessly.
Indeed, it was such a painful experience to me watching one of my closest persons in my life, John J Bergan, my life-time mentor dying with Alzheimer's who has been known as the brightest person I ever met in my life.
C'est la vie!!!!!
BB Lee
2021.02.09 11:30
Thank you, Professor, for the comment.
The above article is an exhaustive review of the very late-onset AD after age 85 like that of Tony Bennett.
It is interesting to note that environmental factors such as alcohol plays a significant role besides genetic factors
as evidenced by discordance among monozygotic twins who are living beyond '90s.
2021.02.09 15:26
It certainly is an extensive review on Alzheimer's, I learned a lot!
I don't know how many years more I would live but based on my mother's age when she passed away, I hopefully expect(?) to keep my brain function in reasonable condition till lasts. After all, everything goes with the GENE but who knows though I don't drink alcohol every day. As Sanjay Gupta wrote in his new book, 'Keep Sharp', I try hard to exercise my brain to develop new if not keep the collateral channels to use in case my main channels should get clogged with amyloids.
BB Lee
2021.02.09 16:13
I once read a large study based on autopsy findings out of the United Kingdom years ago
which clearly showed that the causes of death in people between 90 and 99
are the same compared to people from 80 - 89 and from 70-79, with CVD and Cancer
being number 1 and number 2.
The causes of death of the people over 100 were different with infections being number 1,
as I recall.
It is my personal opinion based on personal observations that one important environmental
cause of dementia after age 85 (besides alcohol and smoking, etc.) is a small vessel disease of the brain
resulting from LDL cholesterol, which is preventable with early aggressive anti-lipid Rx.
Radiologists mention quite often small vessel disease or ischemia when they read MRI of brains
done on seniors. Family docs or internists then turn around and tell their patients their MRIs are normal.
I believe if these seniors live longer into the late 80s and 90s, many of them like Tony Bennett would
develop dementia, i.e. Alzheimer's of very late-onset, which is different from early-onset that is genetic.
I have observed a number of such patients, including some senior MDs, who
gradually developed late-onset Alzheimer's over many years.
In many instances, I was easily able to predict the outcome, i.e. late-onset'
Alzheimer's when the patients refused to comply with my recommendation,
namely aggressive lipid control.
We really do not know in each individual how fast and how slow
arteriosclerosis of large, medium, and small or arteriolar vessels is.
In other words, it is my opinion that early aggressive lipid control utilizing statins and others
along with good BP control
may well prevent some of the very late-onset Alzheimer's like that of Tony Bennett.
2021.02.09 20:16
2021.02.09 20:18
2021.02.09 21:25
I am not sure if "Anti-lipid or Anti-cholesterol therapy" would keep the AD from getting worse.
My personal experience is that those drugs make things (the brain function) worse.
The "Anti-lipid or Anti-cholesterol therapy" may be mainly for the vascular disease in the brain,
not necessarily will be helping the brain tissue.
I wonder if there are any studies regarding this aspect of the medication vs. brain function.
We, the medical experts, tend to make so many mistakes by their superficial subjective bias.
The AD is, by no means, primarily a vascular disease of the brain.
There are much more etiological pathologies other than hypertension or arteriosclerosis.
How many times do we hear that people claim that their brain is not as good as it used to be
before taking the anti-lipid medications? I personally feel the same as I am taking Lipitor.
Tony Bennett, 94, discloses he has had Alzheimer's for 4 years.
This article is a good review of late-onset Alzheimer's like that of Tony Bennett,
Ronald Reagan and many others.