JOAN’S BLOG – THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2008 – DOOMED TO DEVELOP AD – NO MORE CONFLICTING STUDIES FOR ME! 

Yesterday’s news article that short arms and legs are linked to dementia, was the last straw for me.  I have just about had it with the expert’s advice on the Alzheimer’s risk factors and prevention strategies. If they are correct, I am doomed. Doomed. Doomed .

Let’s see where my pluses and minuses are in all of this. If I exercise my brain, I’ll prevent or at least delay AD for a long time. Okay, that’s a plus for me – I am always writing and learning ; if I exercise my body, I’ll prevent or delay AD. I’ll count that as a for me. Not as often as I should, but about 3 times a week. If I have belly fat, I’m doomed. Oops, a big minus  there.   

Now the latest – if I have short arms and legs, I’m doomed. Oops, another very big minus  there. As if I had anything to do with my “short” genes.

If I have diabetes, high blood pressure, and too much weight, I’m also doomed. Unless my weight is in my legs and not my belly – then I’m okay. Unless my thin legs are short, in which case, I’m not okay. Well, I don’t have diabetes. That’s a plus . Of course I have high blood pressure. Who has an AD spouse and DOESN’T have high blood pressure?

If you’re intelligent and develop AD, you can fool people longer into thinking you don’t have it.  No, wait. I read about another study that said if you’re intelligent and you get AD, you’ll decline faster. And wasn’t there a study that said less intelligent people don’t show signs of AD because………..they’re not too bright anyway, so no one notices if their cognition is failing?????

So what does this mean? Stupid, skinny people with long arms and legs don’t get AD, or they can hide it for a long time?  Or is it intelligent, skinny people with long arms and legs don’t get AD, and THEY can hide it for a long time?

Another study said that if you’re a man, you’re more prone to MCI (mild cognitive impairment), which usually leads to Alzheimer’s Disease.  Does that mean if you’re a woman, you won’t get MCI, you’ll just head right into AD? Because studies show women are more likely to develop AD than men.

All the studies say that if you live long enough, you’ll definitely develop AD. How does that account for the many highly functioning, cognitively intact 90 year-olds, like my own Dad?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not paying attention to the “experts” and the “studies” anymore. I am going to try to live a healthy lifestyle, which means – continue to read as voraciously as I always have; continue to learn new things (as I am doing every day with the writing and technology of web work), exercise, try to lose weight, and stop stressing about the rest of it.

Feedback to joan@thealzheimerspouse.com

©Copyright 2008 Joan Gershman   

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