Most people suffer from memory loss as they grow older. By age 60 there will be a 50% chance that you will have dementia, which is the symptom of something more serious. There is an 80% chance that this will be alzheimers. In the united States there are now almost six million people with alzheimers.
There is no known and certain cure for either alzheimers or dementia, but there are steps that you can take to slow down the disease or in some cases even stop it dead.
The following test is incredibly simple, but it is not exhaustive. If you fail the test then you are probably suffering from dementia and you must consult your doctor. If your doctor confirms the problem you must not plunge into despair, although this is natural enough, but rather take the advice in my blogs. You can fight both dementia and alzheimers! There is a lot of advice and support available on the internet and many caring organizations throughout the world.
The three minute test.
Write down the words 'book', .car' and ,road.'
Now draw a simple wall clock with numerals and with the time at six o'clock.
Now, can you remember the three words without looking?
If you can remember the three words you are probably not suffering from dementia.
If you cannot remember any of the three you may have dementia and should consult your doctor.
If you can remember only one or two of the words, you may not necessarily have dementia, but you should consult your doctor.
My wife Julian thinks that my memory got worse this week because I forgot to pick her up from church on Sunday! As this is personal to her I think that she is prejudiced, but she was not very happy, which is understandable. The problem with suffering from dementia is that one forgets things and then you forget that you forgot!
Still, apart from a forgotten wife who was very reasonable about the situation I really do think that my memory is stable.
The weather here in Paarl is much cooler and we have had a little very welcome rain.
The dogs are fine apart from Polly who got locked out last evening. I thought that he had come in with the other two. Anyway, when we went to bed we heard her barking in irritation and I let her in. She wagged her tail at me, so I assume that I was forgiven.
The two birds are very chirpy, although Bobby the parrot hasn't got beyond saying "Hello."
The squirrels are around, but unfortunately so are rats. We also have a lot of spiders in our garden and strangely enough I am not particularly frightened of them although some are dangerous,but I am terrified of rats.
As I was sitting in my shed writing yesterday I heard an animal squeezing into the space between the ceiling and the roof. I am certain that it was a rat! Quite apart from my terror of these creatures they can be very destructive and as I have 2000 books on the shelves in there it is a challenge. I am irritated because when the shed was built on stilts I went to a lot of trouble to make sure that there was no possible way in, but somehow they have made an entrance. Thank goodness that Julian isn't afraid of rats, so I can leave the problem to her and forget about it!
Keep taking the tablets.
David Barnato.
Paarl.
South Africa
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