Another dementia warning
What’s the point of telling us all these warning signs of impending dementia? If there was much to be done to prevent the deterioration, I could understand it. But as far as I know there isn’t a whole lot except recommendations for general health like exercise and keep a healthy weight.
But anyway, here’s the latest correlation with dementia:
Participants with a voice disorder but no hearing loss were 58 percent more likely to develop cognitive problems or dementia later on, while for those with a voice disorder and hearing loss the chances more than doubled: 104 percent. …
It’s important to note that cause and effect isn’t proven here: having a voice quality problem doesn’t mean later brain health complications are inevitable, or that the voice issues are directly triggering cognitive decline, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease (the study didn’t separate these three end results).
One thing that occurs to me is that voice problems – particularly, a soft voice – can go along with Parkinson’s, which can also correlate with dementia.
No offense, but I’m not going to read the article. I don’t like to think about it, so I won’t.
I had a friend with high-blood pressure. He had a stroke and afterward his voice sounded like Daffy Duck.
I don’t know if that ever cleared up.
What is a “voice disorder”? I refuse to read about dementia warning signals if there is no treatment to forstall or prevent dementia. What’s the point of such studies as this one?
My exact thoughts on medical testing – if nothing can be done for it, why bother testing for a condition if ‘early detection’ does nothing for the prognosis? I worry enough as it is. If it is to ‘prepare’, I’m all set if I get hit by a truck tomorrow, don’t need a long range plan.
Even more broadly as I dealt with some treatable health issues of my own is “don’t do a test if the result won’t change your treatment plan”, which I thought was good advice since there seems to be tests for everything which becomes data but no changes for what to do or prognosis.
Sigh…just like my junior pre-health students taking intro physics after 2 years of biology and chem and trying to knock into their heads that correlation does not equal causation. They were very much in love with any R2 value above 95 despite it not making physical sense. Most medical researchers still have not learned that lesson.
I am old, 81 years old and I, at times have to search in my head for words. At times they are simple words and most often they are proper nouns, names of people and things and yet, I seem do be able minded. I have had to deal with folks with dementia and it is a terrible situation for some of us who used to be rather intelligent and kind of smart.
I remember years ago, about 30 years ago when a woman came out to our skeet range and asked me where I was practicing if I could help her with her husband shooting skeet. Her husband knew how to hold his gun, he knew to call,”PULL” to have the skeet come out and then he had a few problems getting the next shells in his shotgun, a very nice double barrel shotgun. Until we got on station he was kind of lost and I was standing by to make sure he always had his gun pointed in a safe direction, I had quit shooting just to help the man and woman as they moved through the stations.
It was kind of interesting because as he called pull for the target to move on out he missed very few targets, some other part of his brain would take over and make the shoot, most of the time. I was very carful moving along with the two of them and when we finished the round, 25 shoots, not great but not too bad his wife thanked me. Then she said that dementia is a most cruel disease for older folk and her husband used to be the smartest. most kind, gentle man and he loved shooting birds and shooting skeet. Then she said she would try to bring this fine gentleman who was her husband out a few more times however things were not going so well and she love him ever so much.
I told her that I was happy to help them and I tried to hide a few tears as they left the field and she loaded him up to take him home. That was a sad, good day for me to help just a bit.
Old Texan:
I’ve got you by a year, but your first paragraph rang a bell. I find myself with the same issues. Names, simple things. The other day at breakfast I could not pull up the word Cranberry. Finally remembered cocktail went with it and was able to order.
My Mom never shot skeet as far as I know, but toward the end when she had advanced dementia/Alzheimers she no longer knew who we were, yet she could still sit and play the piano. Couldn’t read music but the fingering was still there as well as recall. Play Chopin Etude 25/1 and it would roll out from somewhere.
OldTexan
I have had that word search issue for decades. A childhood friend, back in junior high created some words to signify words that she couldn’t remember: hoodinker, thingamabob, hoozamadoozy. Words to remember when the precise word slips your mind.
OldTexan, didn’t you say you were from SW Oklahoma? My mother was from there.
I taught 8th grade math for a year in a 2% white school in TX. One day after class, a student came to me and said, “Mr. X, there are classes you can take to deal with your speech defect.” Certainly there were smartalecks in that class who would have said this to put the teacher down, but this particular student had always been respectful and well-behaved. He said so w good intentions.
I had to suppress a laugh, and told him that what I had was not a speech defect, but a New England accent (not as strong as those from Eastern Mass.) After that I occasionally entertained the class with stories from Bert and I, which I had known since high school. I was not that difficult for me to do—talk a little slower, for example. Years later I found out I had a connection with someone involved in the first Bert and I album.
Got halfway through Neo’s post, then realized I had read it this morning.
Did a study actually refer to a rate of 104%? Did some of the patients cause dementia in bystanders as well?
I hate it when I can visualize a person’s face but not recall the name.
I believe the point is that you can make preparations, so that you can, say, give your son a durable power of attorney while still in your right mind, instead of his having to go the difficult and more expensive route of being declared your guardian after.
Old Texan: Your skeet words ring a bell. My best friend, who shot skeet for the Air Force national team while he was on Air Force duty during ‘Nam, taught me skeet, and we had many good shoots before he died of metastatic melanoma. I got better than him! Now I have my good guns in a closet, unable to shoot any more, because of age and its infirmities. I introduced him to quail hunting, and we traveled together in W. Tx and OK in search of the hard-flying, always startling, covey flushes, with our fine bird dogs. Had a pickup fitted with dog boxes. Miss that very much. It has caused me to wonder if there are coveys in Heaven, and I might be reunited with my dogs!
Mary Catelli is absolutely on target: do the things now that need to be done, while you can remember what you are doing.
Our family spent most of 2025 taking care of our oldest sister who had gone pretty far down the road to dementia, as I think I mentioned from time to time.
She was pretty well prepared, having completed the necessary powers of attorney papers and her will a few years earlier, but things were still easier to take charge of because she was still capable of giving consent personally to her bankers and doctors.
We got her into an elder care facility near our brother, and she is doing much better, since they help her remember her meds and get her to most of her doctor appointments, but our brother is still carrying a big load personally to take care of her finances and personal needs.
AesopSpouse and I have started preparations for our kids to take over, but going through all the accumulated papers and possessions is daunting, even though we can still remember what it’s all about. 😉
Let me correct that for you.
🙂
I’ve had several family members taken by Alzheimer’s. And don’t recall anyone having this issue preceding it.
But I have followed notices, perhaps all linked at Instapundit, at first. So, I’ll relate a few easy steps that are correlated with less incidence of Alzheimer or dementia.
A recent focused study just this year had a novel cohort variable. Higher meat eating among those with the vulnerable genetic variant DNA, two of four of which elevate the risk of Alzheimer’s, if present. (IIRC, these two are found in like 80% of those dying of the disease?)
I’ll finish that one research finding after mentioning the very easiest implied preventatives.
Easiest? 2,000 IUs of Vitamin D a day. There are so many benefits — heart disease, dementia risk, from taking Vit-D supplements that it’s a no-braniner.
I took 10,000 IUs per day during COVID, and settled back to 5,000. I’ve recently decided to go up to 7,000 per day because at my 250Ibs, I’m double sized of the average study subject. Right sizing right.
Another even easier one. Shingles vaccination! IIRC Wiki, the first Shingles vax had an implied under 20% benefit of lower risk of Alzheimer’s.
I got the vax in 2012 or so. But I got the more recent and better vax (released 2021?) in August, which has an implied risk reduction over 40%! Check my work at Wikipedia.
The old pneumonia vax has a benefit like these, I believe. But I’m not sure of the degree implied benefit. This winter I expect to go for the newer one that casts its net of bugs wider. And I’ll do Wiki research before doing it.
Also, taking the usual flu vax has this benefit. Only once. No anti-Alzheimers benefit to taking more. I’m sure many here resist it.
I’ve only gotten it if I do a lot of travel during flu season. Otherwise, I’d rather just get the exposure benefit to my immune system.
PLEASE correct my statements if anyone knows better! I’m flying here without checking my research files. I like to keep some basics handy in my head for the social info sharing situation.
I just searched for “more meat for Alzheimer’s” and got at least two dozen hits, recent stories on it. So, I’ll just pull a couple quotes from AI Summary that confirm my recollection.
The APOI-4 gene with a high propensity for Alzheimer’s is strongest among Nordic peoples. And the Swedes keep good records of their population. And since I’m half Nordic, I assume this runs in my family and likely me! But until now, what good would a gene test result do for me? Nothing.
That’s now changed because a Swedish retrospective cohort study found that higher meat consumption has implicit protective anti-Alzheimer’s disease effects.
AI: “Higher consumption of unprocessed meat may be linked to a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia, particularly in individuals with certain genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.”
In detail, AI adds, “Studies suggest that individuals with this variant who consume more unprocessed meat experience slower cognitive decline.
“Processed Meat: Consumption of processed meats, such as bacon and sausages, is associated with a higher risk of dementia. For example, eating more than a quarter serving of processed meat daily can increase dementia risk by 14%.”
I’ve tried to follow this advice. But I’ve found it difficult to carry out on a weight adjusted basis.
The APOE gene can be tested by mail via the Alzheimer’s Association, for $250, IIRC. Service back by mail may take 3 or 4 weeks to get back.
Local lab chains will do it in less than a week, for at greater expense.
At any rate, I need to huddle with family and consult a doctor about achieving this dietary change. Twenty years ago or more,n the meat heavy”paleo diet” was the rage among my friends. I ignored it.
Will I live to regret it? Maybe you won’t , though!
I did a search for “John Campbell Alzheimers reduced vitamin D”, a prolific video poster during COVID, a nurse teaching doctor in the UK.
Two of his video’s popped up, as well as oodles of news about medicine on this connection.
“Vitamin D reduced dementia by 40%”
“Dr. John Campbell” — one video 18 m, another from 2023 at 15m.
The accumulating evidence for the prophylactic benefits of Vit-D supplementation is persistent and vast.
A 2023 Epoch Times piece came up, concluding “At this point, there is simply no question that optimizing vitamin D levels is a crucial part of maintaining optimal health.” https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/vitamin-d-reduced-dementia-risk-by-40-percent-5182476
SURPRISE! This piece is a bullet point summary of Campbell’s 18m video!
One bullet point teaser:
“A study in a cohort of 12,388 persons showed that vitamin D exposure over 10 years could lower the risk of dementia by 40 percent; women in the study experienced a greater benefit than men.“
I read ABOVE much disbelief about correlation studies. Sure. Of course. But even the causal mechanism of the benefits of aspirin took half a century to discover.
Many if not most med treatments don’t know the cause — yet.
LIFE is too short. 10 years of vitamin supplementation like Vit-D seems paltry cost to improve the quality of older aging. A lifelong friend from age 12 said, “no riskee, no gainee.”
If you ain’t willing to assume a little risk, aren’t you already, practically dead?
John Campbell reviews study results here, “very likely causel” he reports, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U4CD1uKnZA
Age of entry into this study was a median of 71 yo.
I’m now reading a second book (of 3) of a Scottish detective going back to his kinda remote island roots, solving murder cases. The Lewis Man (Peter May — excellent write with some awards).
One of the main characters has early-mid dementia, and there are parts of the book written from his first person view.
Very interesting; yet a little tear-jerking sad.
My dad died young at 56; along with stepmother; but my grandfather was 86 and had started having such memory problems & living problems.
If there is any point to these Alzheimer’s warnings that is actionable, it’s the common sense: eat balanced, healthy food; some exercise especially outside with sunlight (even thru clothes); take some C & D vitamins.
Thru the summer I’ve been reading books on our little balcony that gets sun from about 2:30-6, so my summer tax above the lighter tanned legs is pretty good.
I think I recently read about a study that found a strong correlation between getting regular cardiovascular exercise and a lowered risk for dementia.
No question that moderately intensive exercise and weight lifting are so darn good for everyone! But I had a couple of surgeries last year and just kept postponing getting back into exercising, such that I have done diddleysquat so far in 2026.
Mad at myself. Last week I spent a few days at a house in a lake and after I jumped off the dock, I found it was a strain to swim around to the other side. Being a decent swimmer all of my life, that shocked me.
Hoping that somewhat panicked experience will kick my rear into gear again!
The other thing that’s actionable is planning your estate, getting your affairs in order, making decisions about retirement, future care and living arrangements. The problem is that these signals are so noisy that you can’t really make any decisions based on them.
The thing about Vitamin D is that it can be produced by the human body on exposure to sunlight and so necessarily correlates negatively with all kinds of problems that interfere with getting around.
Jimmy at 12:50 pm:
Decisions, decisions!
I’m simply going to lay those on my kids. 4 kids, my will says each gets 25% of my estate. And that’s it. They can choose from my art collection, my map collection, my furniture, my oriental rugs. The management burden will be on my estate manager, who will be paid by my estate. I will not be in a position to care!
Thank you, everyone.
Thinking on your thoughts has helped me.
Commonly known: but getting a revocable living trust is often advised to avoid issues with probate. As the successor trustee for my parent’s trust, when they passed, I had full authority to access and distribute their assets to the children identified in their document. No one questioned that authority when I had the applicable documents available with me.
Time and attention from a fully qualified estate attorney is not cheap, but using one recommended to us gave us peace of mind when we did our own revocable trust a few years ago. Probably near time for another session with her to update our current situation and desires. But that is something that is easy to put off.
Similar for me, R2L. My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when he was 86. He had already set up a living trust with me as successor trustee. (As an aside, I’m not sure he actually had Alzheimer’s, as he lived another 12 years with only some forgetfulness and brain fog but no precipitous decline.) It made taking care of everything after he passed much simpler.
Welp, if AI doomsaying fails we can always fall back on this.