Quit Playing Games with My Heart - The Backstreet Boys and Dementia

Do you sometimes hear a song on the radio that takes you back to the place you were when you first heard it? The emotions well up, even the sounds and smells of that place? When I hear ‘Quit Playing Games with My Heart’, I still go back to my living room, my best friend and I sitting on a beige shag carpet in front of the stereo singing our hearts out while clutching two halves of a towel that our favourite Backstreet boy had used to wipe the sweat off his face (I shudder to think of the hygienic implications of that now). It was an autumn day and sunlight was streaming in through the balcony door. I can still feel the heat on my face and the bubble of teenage excitement bouncing around in my chest cavity.

Well, music not only soothes the teenage spirit, but also soothes behavioural outbursts in dementia patients and may help recall memories that appear all but lost.

Scientists Found Guilty for not Predicting an Act of God

Today's post breaks from my usual themes on senior healthcare or dementia, but I feel very strongly about this issue. I know most people have other thoughts on their mind (like the US Presidential debate which Canadians seem to pay more attention to then their own elections!), but yesterday, scientists in Italy were found guilty of manslaughter for not predicting an earthquake!

Junk Food and Alzheimer's - Yet Another Link to Diet

This very interesting article was recently passed on to me and I thought it was worth a share.  It explores the potential link between junk food (synonymous with high fructose corn syrup and unhealthy fats) and Alzheimer's Disease/dementia (AD). 

There has been a lot of research done in the area of insulin and AD, focusing on AD as primarily a metabolic disease.  These studies have shown that insulin and insulin-like growth factors are lower in the brains of people who died with AD compared to those that did not.  So why is insulin so important?  It is a hormone produced by the pancreas to prod the liver, muscles and fat tissues to absorb glucose (sugar) from the blood.  Following that logic, type 2 diabetes occurs in people who develop insulin resistance resulting in extremely high blood glucose levels that become toxic.  Researchers who examine AD as a metabolic disease believe AD may be the next type 3 diabetes.

The Pink Elephant - Preparing for the Possibility of Dementia

Heart breaking stories about dementia are becoming frighteningly more frequent in the media, but the majority of people stalwartly persist in denial; “it will never happen to me”, “there will be a cure” or “I’m eating right and exercising my brain to prevent it”.  Unfortunately, the statistics are pretty damning.  In Canada alone, 1.12 million individuals are expected to be living with dementia by 2038.  In fact, one person is diagnosed with dementia every five minutes.  Those are intimidating numbers even for the strongest optimist.  Perhaps it is time to start talking about the pink elephant in the room, preparing for the possibility of developing dementia. 

Summer Update

I've been entrenched for the last three months months in prepping for my comprehensive exam, which thankfully, is now done.  Apologies for my tardiness, I've been working on a different post which promises to be very interesting.  It should be ready in time for next month.  Meanwhile, if you're starved of healthcare issues related to senior health, I recommend checking in with our neighbours from the south and the changes to their healthcare system which (still) make the headlines.  Though at this point, I've given up keeping track, the editorials and commentaries are still pretty entertaining!

Getting Tough on Elder Abuse - Are We There Yet?

On Friday of last week, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-36, the Protecting Canada’s Seniors Act. The bill, fulfilling a promise made by the Conservatives during elections, seeks to amend the Criminal Code to impose harsher sentences for elder abuse. While it has received wide support, advocacy groups are hoping the government doesn’t consider this its only step in supporting victims of elder abuse. The problem is, the bill doesn’t come close to addressing the root causes of abuse.

Take for example the case of Danae Chambers, the 71-year old Ontario woman with dementia who was discovered being anally raped by her male nurse in her nursing home last year. The horrific details of the case were reported in the Toronto Star which also reported on several other cases of abuse.

Candy at the Nursing Home?

Just over half of seniors in residential care facilities in BC are prescribed anti-psychotic medication. Let me repeat that so that the number really sinks in. 50.3% of our parents, grandparents or spouses who live in residential care were prescribed an anti-psychotic drug in the past year (April to June 2011) costing a total of nearly $9.3 million. That is an incredibly sobering number.

How many years do you have left?

I just finished submitting a manuscript that looked at the differences in laboratory testing expenditures over time (a pretty staggering increase over a ten-year period in case anyone was wondering) and tried to understand what explains these increases.  It seems pretty innocuous, a blood test here, a bacterial smear there.  But its adding up fast.  Is it that we're sicker than we used to be, is the Canadian population getting older, does new technology cost that much more or is it just plain ol' over-testing?