How to Tell Normal Forgetfulness From Dementia in the Elderly

The aging process can cause significant changes in the brain.  As a result, it is not very uncommon by the time some reach their seventies to experience mild forgetfulness.  Sometimes, this mild forgetfulness can be mistaken by younger family members as a sign of dementia.  While in many cases it can be a precursor to what is known as Mild Cognitive Impairment, or MCI, which is a condition that often leads to dementia, often times it is just a consequence of the aging brain.

So, how do we tell the difference with our elderly family members and friends between a sign of MCI or dementia, and just normal mild forgetfulness?

The brain, in different sections, to varying degrees and individuals, can undergo changes as we age.  Some of those changes can render us more susceptible to dementia, while others experience only mild forgetfulness.

Associative Behaviors and Personality Changes

 

People with dementia generally undergo behavioral changes that may either greatly exaggerate or sometimes run contrary to their normal personality.

 

Is the person exhibiting signs of depression?  Social withdrawl, often seems in a down mood.  Perhaps apathetic to life in general?  Depression, especially if the person has no history of it in the past, can be associated with early stage dementia.

Does your family member display a significant change in appetite?  Either greater or less?  Both symptoms can be evident of depression.  People tend to eat more, or less, depending on the individual, when they are depressed.

Is your family member becoming aggressive, and excessively frustrated more easily?  Especially when they are having trouble remembering things they are sure they should remember?  Or just seem to have a shorter fuse overall?  Aggressive behavior in the elderly may be born out of a general feeling of anxiety resulting from the disorientation that comes with dementia.

Is your family member's sleeping schedule significantly altered?  Are they staying up when they previously habitually slept, and vice versa?  The changes in the brain related to dementia can alter a person's circadian rhythm.

The Things They are Forgetting

 

We've all done it.  You have your keys in your hand, and then go looking for them.  Or maybe just put them down two seconds ago, and it takes you a few minutes to find them.  You walk into a room, and forget why you came in.  Or opened a closet door, and forgot what you are looking for.  These things can happen in more ways, and with more frequency, to the elderly.  That can be chalked up to mild forgetfulness that comes with age.

On the other hand, there are things that would be considered far more abnormal to forget.  For instance, it is easy to attribute forgetting why you came into a room as a mind slip, something that would be a cause for concern is forgetting where you are.  If you are visiting your elderly parent, grandparent, et. al, and they get up to go to the bathroom, and then come back into their living room to resume your visit and asking, "Where am I?" would be a major cause for concern.

 

If they habitually forget things such as their own age, the names of their children or grandchildren, those would be examples that should raise your concern.

If they confide to you that they have had trouble finding their way home after going to common places like their usual grocery store of choice, their favorite nearby restaurant - or have had difficulties finding their way there from home, that is often a sign of early stage dementia.

There are certainly other examples that cannot all be listed.  Use your judgment.  Is this something that should not be forgotten?  Or are these mind slips that anyone can have?  If something catches your concern, observe and converse with your loved one about things that he or she may have had trouble remembering.  If red flags go off, have them looked at by a specialist.

Oral Irrigators: Useful, but Not a Substitute for Floss

Oral irrigators, first developed in 1962, have become popularized among people who hate the chore of flossing.  They are marketed as a more comfortable and easier alternative to wrapping string around your fingers and weaving them through each of the individual crevices between your teeth.  The truth is, as useful as they are for some purposes, they can only be used in addition to, but not in place of flossing in the way of overall oral health and hygiene.

An oral irrigator made by Waterpik, perhaps the most popular brand in the market.

Author: Waterpikinc, under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Removal of Particles Between Teeth

Many people have one or more what are commonly known as "food traps" in their set of teeth.  They have those gaps between the same two teeth where food particles seem to habitually get lodged.  This problem can be exacerbated in people who develop bone loss or tooth wear, which tends to enlarge the gaps and enable more food to be caught in between.

The standard recommendation for flossing is once per day.  If you eat three meals a day, and also have a snack between meals, it would be inconvenient to floss every single time, not to mention you would go through a roll of floss much faster.  Simply turning on the irrigator and running it through those gaps will save a lot of time, effort, and of course, floss.

Tonsil Stones

Tonsil stones, commonly known as tonsiliths, are round-like clusters of material that form in the crater like pockets of tonsils.  Some people have deep enough pockets that bacteria can form a three dimensional biofilm and accumulate minerals inside these gaps.  Often, they have no symptoms, though in some they have been known to cause pain similiar to a sore throat when swallowing.  They often become malodorous, and should be eliminated from the tonsil.  An oral irrigator that can shoot a powerful enough line of water to dislodge accumulated matter between teeth can also eliminate matter from a tonsil.  This is one job that floss is not capable of doing.  If you are prone to getting tonsil stones, an irrigator would be a wise investment.

Canker Sores

These non-contagious streptococcus infections can last up to a week.  They can be caused by a number of things, including stress and trauma to the inside of the mouth.  They usually come with considerable pain and sensitivity, and make eating and drinking a somewhat painful experience while they are there.  Treatment by use of an oral irrigator can reduce the life of the canker sore.  Set your irrigator to low pressure, and aim the pulse directly at the whitish center of the sore.  This will be even more effective if you use warm, salt water.

More good news - it isn't only good for treatment, but also for prevention.  If you are prone to getting canker sores, regularly pulsing around the entire gums and insides of the cheeks will reduce your risk of getting them.

Not a Replacement for Floss

As shown above, the oral irrigator can perform more than one function that floss is not capable of.  Where their duties loosely converge is the elimination of particles from between the teeth.  However, in that duty, it can assist, but not replace floss.  When you floss, you accomplish three tasks - you remove particles between the gaps of your teeth, which is the most visible part.  However, you also remove the layer of biofilm both above and below the gum line.  An oral irrigator simply cannot effectively clean below the gum line, and it cannot rid the biofilm layer on the sides of the tooth the way floss can.  Cleaning below the gum line is critically essential to preventing gum disease.

Oral irrigators come in many brands and a wide range of prices.  They have different pulsing options, both in quality and quantity.  If you are prone to any of the above conditions, or even if you aren't...they can be good for prevention of problems and a good assistor to floss.

The Dangers of Soy

Vegetarians, especially, pay close attention to this article.  For a long time, in the midst of the anti-meat campaign, soy received high praise as a meat alternative.  The bean is indeed high in protein, and can be easily flavored to yield a desired taste.  Soymeat became popular amongst vegetarians, vegans, and people who were just trying to limit their meat consumption, based on the nutritional hype that gave many a paranoia about overconsumption of meat.  Indeed, you can eat too much meat, however, replacing it with soy is a dangerous alternative.  Thanks to more independently performed research, this legume that was once thought to be a wonder food has come under very deserved scrutiny.

The plant that produces the soybean, Glycine max.

Protein Issues

A cup of soybeans contains 29 grams of protein, with a gram of protein per 10.4 calories.  The advocates are correct in that it rivals meat in quantity of protein per serving.  What they fail to realize is that it is not only the quantity of protein that matters, but also the quality of protein, which is severely lacking in the soybean.  These beans contain incomplete proteins, unlike meats, who run the full range of amino acids.

Trypsin Inhibition

This is one method that soy indirectly attacks the endrocine functions of the pancreas.  Trypsin is a serine protease that is produced in the pancreas.  This enzyme is needed to help with the digestion of the protein that we consume.  Its mechanism is to break peptide bonds.  Soybeans are rife with molecules that are inhibitors of trypsin.  These inhibitors are also found in other foods such as lima beans, but soybeans have the highest concentration.  If you consume enough soy in a sitting, the pancreas will overwork itself, attempting to produce more trypsin to digest the protein.  Sometimes it does not succeed, and poor digestion will result.  Some of the potential symptoms are cramps and loose stools.  Even if it does succeed, consistent overworking of the pancreas is harmful over a long period of time.

Isoflavones

These compounds are polyphenols, and part of the flavonoid family.  While many groups of dietary flavonoids have tremendous health, and perhaps even medicinal benefits, isoflavones are harmful in substantial amounts.  They are known phytoestrogens in mammals, including humans.  Their chemical structure closely resembles estradiol, and they have the ability to cause estrogenic effects.  Throwing your hormones out of balance, that can affect gene expression, and put you at a much greater risk of developing certain cancers, especially breast cancer in women, in addition to disrupting their menstrual cycle.  In men, it causes excessive abdominal subcutaneous fat, and may also cause them to develop gynecomastia, or breast formation.

Red Blood Cells

Soy contains a chemical called hemaggluttinin.  This molecule causes excessive blood clotting, namely among the red blood cell component.  It does so by causing agglutination, which is the clumping together of the cells.  This harmful process is part of why blood types must be compatible in blood transfusions.  The consequence of this agglutination is that oxygen will not be able to be distributed throughout the body, putting you at higher risk for strokes.  How high the risk will depend on the degree of the hemagglutination.

 

Invertase: A Powerful Ingredient in Raw Honey

Raw honey is known to have a wide variety of beneficial components.  Today, the Sphere of Health will cover a special enzyme known as invertase.  The utility that invertase yields for your body is one of many reasons for manufacturers to stop pasteurizing honey, and for consumers to choose the raw, unadulterated product the way it comes straight out of the apiary.

The systematic name for this enzyme is beta-fructofuranosidase, but a few of its other common names are: invertin, glucosucrase, and saccharase.  Bees naturally synthesize this enzyme, and as a result, it is introduced into honey as they swallow and regurgitate the nectar until it becomes the desired consistency.  Invertase can be synthesized in a laboratory, but it is expensive to do on a large scale. 

Honeybees synthesize an abundance of invertase, especially for animals their size.

Author: LevyRat, under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Health Benefits of Invertase

Peptic ulcers commonly derived from two common factors.

• Digestive fluid imbalance in the stomach.
• An infection of Helicobacter pylori. 

Invertase has been shown to eliminate harmful bacteria in both the stomach and intestine.  It has both antiseptic and antibacterial properties.

This enzyme is also hygroscopic, meaning it can extract and retain water from a system.  When it applies itself to the intestine, it can eradicate antagonistic microorganisms that depend on moisture to survive.

The antioxidant properties of invertase also specialize in aiding the digestive tract.  It not only has nutritional but medicinal uses.  Raw honey is used in some parts of the world to fight intestinal ailments.

Perhaps the most basic ability of invertase is to break down sugars in the body.  It does so via hydrolysis, cleaving the bond between the fructose and the glucose components of sucrose.  This protects against sugar fermenting in the digestive tract.

There are other foods that contain invertase. Yeast cells contain invertase, therefore, it can be found in breads, beer, and other yeast formed foods.  However, consuming those foods have more downsides than they are worth to be a good source of invertase.  Some invertase is also found in vegetables.  Raw honey has a high concentration of invertase due to the nature of honey's manufacture.

The word raw in raw honey needs to be emphasized.  To get invertase from honey, it cannot be pasteurized.  Invertase is killed, along with the other healthy enzymes in honey, at the temperatures to which it is raised in the pasteurization process.  The enzyme is also sold as a supplement in isolated form, or as a multi-enzyme package.

As will be stated liberally in this blog, anything that helps your natural gut flora both boosts your immune system, and also slows down the aging process.