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New Research Highlights Urgent Need for Early Alzheimer’s Disease Detection and Intervention

“In my case, symptoms began to appear when I was only 57. In fact, the doctors believe early-onset Alzheimer’s has a strong genetic predictor, and that it may have been progressing for some years before I was diagnosed.” – Pat Summitt

Anyone who’s gone through the experience of a loved one developing Alzheimer’s disease and progressively deteriorating to a shell of their former selves knows how devastating this brain disease is for both patient and those who love and care for him or her.

Memory Performance Changes May Show Up in 20s with Family History of Alzheimer’s

Startlingly, as the latest research shows, Alzheimer’s disease risk isn’t confined to older individuals. Changes in memory performance may start showing up in men and women in their 20s if they come from families with Alzheimer’s disease history. Indeed, deficits in memory and thinking are the first clinical presentations of this progressive neurological disorder.

According to the research from the Translational Genomics Research Institute, such higher risk is more pronounced in men with a family history of the disease, as well as among those who have diabetes, are carriers of a common genetic chain in APOE, a gene that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk, and those who may have a lower educational attainment.

What makes this risk even more concerning, however, is the fact that there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, nor effective treatments that slow the disease.

An estimated 5 million Americans now have Alzheimer’s disease, and projections for 2050 hint at some 14 million people that will be afflicted with the brain-robbing condition.

Diagnosing Early Personality Changes May Help Predict Alzheimer’s Disease in Earliest Stages

In a 2018 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Mayo Clinic researchers recruited and tested cognitively normal people who were genetically more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as well as a control group who did not have the genetic predisposition. All study participants were given medical and neurological tests and were also screened for depression, and physical and cognitive function.

Researchers wanted to test their theory that when personality changes begin early, when symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may be less noticeable in those with a genetic risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease, it may be possible to predict the disease in its earliest stages. The behavioral changes include mood swings, depression, and anxiety, and may be so subtle they’re barely noticeable.

Although not all people who have MCI ultimately develop Alzheimer’s disease, for those with a genetic component for Alzheimer’s, the risk may be as high as 90 percent. Researchers said their findings suggest that further research may help in the development of safer treatments and preventive options for some of the more severe behavioral challenges affecting people who have Alzheimer’s disease.

Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease

The Alzheimer’s Association has a comprehensive list of the 10 early signs and symptoms that may indicate Alzheimer’s disease.

1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life.

It’s not occasionally forgetting someone’s name that should be concerning, but forgetting information that was recently learned. Another common symptom to be on the lookout for is if you, or someone you know or care about frequently can’t recall or doesn’t remember dates and/or events that are important. Instead, he or she repeatedly asks you for the same information. It’s also likely that those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease rely more on notes they’ve written or family members to remind them of things they need to do, where things are, what medicines to take, appointments and so on.

2. Problem-solving or planning challenges.

While it’s not uncommon for aging individuals to have difficulty now and then in balancing a checkbook, when the ability to figure out a plan or intelligently work with numbers (paying bills on time, figuring out budget) occurs a lot, it could be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s. Trouble concentrating on tasks, even conversations, and requiring longer to do everyday things are other problem-solving and planning challenges experienced by those who may be in the early stages of the disease.

3. Finding it hard to complete routine, familiar tasks.

Whether at home, work, or enjoying leisure activities, someone with developing Alzheimer’s disease may find increasing difficulty doing everyday tasks. They may, for example, forget where their church or the grocery store is, or become confused over how to drive the car. Not being able to recall how a game works or performing a work-related task may pose problems as well. Note that these symptoms are different than asking someone how to program a piece of electronic equipment or change settings, such as in a smartphone or computer, which are typical age-related changes, not precursors of Alzheimer’s.

4. Experiencing confusion over place or time.

Forgetting where they are, how they got there, losing track of time passing, seasons and dates is symptomatic of early Alzheimer’s disease progression. Not being able to understand something, the timing of the football game, for example, that hasn’t started yet, is another example of someone just beginning Alzheimer’s. If someone gets mixed up about what day of the week it is, but quickly figures it out, that’s more of a typical age-related change.

5. Inability to or difficulty in understanding spatial relationships, visual images.

Another common sign a person with Alzheimer’s may display related to vision. He or she may have trouble reading, judging distance, inability to differentiate contrast or color, making driving increasingly difficult. Cataracts, however, is not a sign of Alzheimer’s, but more related to age.

6. Speech problems.

Normal age-related change means a person may find it hard to select the right work on occasion, whereas someone with Alzheimer’s may have considerable difficulty conversing with others, struggle with words, stop in the middle of a sentence, not knowing where to go from there, or endlessly repeat themselves.

7. Losing things and being unable to find them.

Everyone occasionally misplaces things, necessitating retracing steps to find them. That’s typical age-related change. Someone with Alzheimer’s, however, may put something down or away in an unusual place (like keys in the refrigerator), underwear in the garbage, and not be able to figure out where they left them. This may result in the person accusing others of deliberately hiding the things or stealing them. According to medical experts, this begins to happen more frequently in those with Alzheimer’s.

8. Problems with judgment.

Those with Alzheimer’s begin to have poor or decreased ability to make good decisions. Their judgment is off, with the result that they may make some very poor choices. Giving inappropriate sums of money to a charity or others, inattentiveness to personal care and grooming are other examples of judgment problems affecting those with Alzheimer’s. This is different than the typical age-related change of occasionally making a bad decision.

9. Withdrawal and isolation from social activities.

When someone with Alzheimer’s starts to avoid social situations, hobbies, projects, sports, or other social activities, they may do so because of the changes they’ve experienced that they know they’re having trouble with. This is not the same as getting tired of obligations associated with family, work or social venues.

10. Mood and personality changes.

As people get older, they tend to revert to familiar ways of doing things and become irritated when something disrupts their habits. Someone with Alzheimer’s, however, are often easily upset, can become anxious, afraid, confused, depressed, or suspicious, especially when they are away from their normal environment.

While Alzheimer’s disease may not strike you or someone in your family, if it does and you see symptoms of its development, schedule or encourage a doctor’s appointment right away. After some tests, the doctor and patient can explore various treatments to help provide some symptom relief and also preserve and extend independence for those detected with Alzheimer’s early. There are also clinical trials for Alzheimer’s medications and treatment that he or she may be eligible for.

What Happens When Trusting Your Gut Causes Anxiety?

Trust your gut.

This advice gets thrown around a lot—that we should be able to listen to a little voice inside that tells us that something isn’t right, or we need something different than what we’re getting. And yes—listening to our intuition is incredibly valuable. But what is our intuition, exactly? And what happens when our intuition lets us down?

Intuition is often spoken about as a deep inner “knowing,” some wisdom that has some mysterious access, somehow, to the truth about the world. Our bodies can, indeed, pick up signals from the world around us that our minds may not have rationally worked out, so it’s important to pay attention not only to what we think about a situation, but also how we feel about it.

The tricky thing about following our feelings, however, is that we might feel scared about something new, or attracted to someone who might be bad for us, or safe with someone who is manipulating us, or oblivious to danger in the environment.

Our intuition is essentially created from the experiences that we’ve had in the past and the information we’ve picked up from our families, our environment, and our good and bad experiences. When we get a gut feeling, we’re not getting a little shining hit of truth, necessarily, we’re just getting some extra information from our subconscious about how we feel.

Intuition Can Get Too Comfortable

That could be a good thing, but it also could be a problem. Our intuition will always want to guide us toward what feels comfortable and away from what feels uncomfortable. Usually, that’s a good thing, but some things in life feel comfortable not because they are good but simply because they are familiar.

For example, we tend to choose romantic partners based on our gut feelings, not based on any kind of rational thought process. We just “know.” But what we know is whether or not someone “feels” right to us, and that feeling usually comes from whatever we learned about love dynamics as children. People who would be kind and supportive to us might “feel” wrong simply because we’re not used to it, and the unfamiliarity makes us feel uncomfortable.

Another problem is how easily our intuitions are manipulated. Because intuition is non-rational, there’s no set of facts to compare it to and confirm our choices for good or ill. Advertising is an industry that makes its bread off of manipulating our intuitions, teaching our subconscious, for example, what it means to be pretty or feminine or masculine or a good parent. Many a cult leader has cultivated a merry crowd based on manipulating intuitions.

Our intuitions can hold fear of the unknown, fear of the unfamiliar, and fear of whatever we’ve been taught to fear in the culture we live within. Our intuitions can also, however, hold a sense of courage and adventure that wants us to move past those fears and try something new.

So what do we do with the confusing messages of our intuition? Do we ignore them and try to simply live from our rational minds?

Not at all. It’s vitally important to let our guts teach us how we feel. But we want the mind and the gut to be in communication with each other, to measure how we feel against what we think. Allowing our intuitions to call the shots on a day-to-day level is generally a pretty good idea, but when it comes to big life decisions (or consistently unhelpful patterns) we need to get our minds on board. Along with, perhaps, the minds of our closest people (and maybe a good therapist).

This post courtesy of Spirituality & Health.

It May Be Possible to Counter Some of the Genetic Risk of Alzheimer’s With These Lifestyle Changes

Keto Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Sea salt caramel is no kiddie flavor (although more discerning children may love it). In fact, sea salt caramel may be one of the most nuanced and decadent ice cream varieties out there…. Something about the caramel flavor feels richer than other ice creams. Something about the sea salt offers a bite that satisfies beyond taste imagination. It’s where sweet meets depth. And with this recipe, it’s an indulgence you can still revel in—even while keto, thanks to the magic of Swerve.

Pro tip: pour Mark’s cold-brew coffee over a scoop for the ultimate cool taste combo.

Servings: 6 half-cup servings

Time In the Kitchen: 45 minutes

Chill Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

¾ cup Brown Swerve
3 Tbsp water
2 cups heavy cream (room temperature)
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (room temperature)
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
6 large egg yolks (room temperature)
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)

Instructions:

In a medium pot over medium heat, melt 3/4 cup Brown Swerve sugar with 3 tablespoons water, swirling skillet frequently, until Swerve turns mahogany brown in color (it should be almost but not quite black). This should take around 10 minutes.

Add heavy cream, almond milk, 1/8 tsp salt, and simmer until cream mixture is completely smooth and warm. Remove pot from heat. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. While whisking constantly, slowly pour about a third of the warm cream into the yolks, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream.

Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer). This should take between 25-30 minutes. You want to avoid cooking ice cream mixture too fast because the egg could curdle.

Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight or for 8 hours.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into ice cream machine. Churn in ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Sprinkle flaky sea salt into base during the last 2 minutes of churning. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed. Enjoy!