Document text
Over the Back Fence By HANK HENRY Dementia hits only 3 percent of seniors Oh where, oh where, has my memory gone? Oh where, oh where can it be? I used it only a minute ago, Oh where, oh where can it be? Many elderly folks experience a gradual loss of short-term memory. Most of us learn not to get too excited over something so trivial, and we develop strategies to deal with the problem. We make more notes to ourselves as reminders of what we formerly just kept available in our minds. It helps to know that only about 3 percent of the elderly go beyond short-term memory loss to actually having dementia. One of the workshops at a quarterly meeting last year of the Oregon Area Agencies on Aging and Disability featured a panel of doctors on dementia in the elderly. Several of the speakers referred to discoveries of new drugs and treatment methods. The family practice doctor said that many of his peers found it difficult because of a lack of training to follow up on possible dementia in patients. This will change as medical schools expand training for their students in this field. A hundred years ago, dementia affecting the elderly was usually called senility, and it was attributed to such things as hardening of the arteries. People might say, "He�s going senile," when a gradual loss of short-term memory was the real problem. Simply because people died at a much earlier age than they do now, doctors then had little experience dealing with age-related impairment: In 1900, life expectancy was around 47 years of age. It is hard to identify just when a person�s mind starts to have those little lapses � things like trying to remember a word or misplacing keys or a checkbook. Then, somewhere around age 60 or even earlier, many find that the number of times they have to search for a word increases. But this does not necessarily mean that their problem will get worse. Alzheimer�s is, in layman�s terms, an insidious disease in which small strands of something like plaque form in the surface of the brain, causing it to malfunction. The latest figures I have seen estimate the disease affects an estimated 3,500 families in Jackson, Josephine and Klamath counties. Patients can�t do what are called "complex executive tasks" such as cooking, cleaning and other routine chores. Memory loss is just one outcome. Parkinson�s is another dementia source. While the disease is best known for the tremors it causes, about 30 percent of all patients with Parkinson�s also have dementia. Some do not have tremors but experience other symptoms. What dementia patients experience are episodes of losing touch with reality, and sometimes, periods of paranoia. U.S. News and World Report reported last July that, "The federal government is anxious about memory loss and is investing millions of dollars aimed at defining �normal� age-related memory loss and sorting it out from the more serious declines that accompany more serious brain disease." Alzheimer�s alone costs American society $100 billion a year in lost productivity and long-term care. Halting the progression of mild memory impairment has become a pressing concern for both scientists and social planners. On the brighter side, it reported that, "Memory experts say that losing names should be one of the least worrisome changes. First of all, losing names is not uncommon, even at younger ages. Names are completely arbitrary; the brain has evolved as much for forgetting as remembering � it would be disabling if we stored too much irrelevant information." For more information on Alzheimer�s, call 1-800-733-0402. (Hank Henry is a retired Jackson County commissioner and a former radio and television announcer. Call him at 772-9055.) Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.