At 21:08 28/08/2012, Mike wrote:
Keith wrote:
> In my opinion, I regard Terry Pratchett as a pseud. and he's no more
> suffering from what he calls "a very rare form of Alzheimer's" than
> I do.
(MS) Are you quibbling about his diagnosis as reported in the media or
charging him with malingering or grandstanding?
I shouldn't have written what I did about Terry Pratchett. It's only
my opinion. Mind you, he likes publicity and, over the years, I've
read him and seen him, many times in the media. As for his "very
rare form of Alzheimer's" I'm quoting what he says his doctor told
him (some five years or so ago now!)
(MS) As far as I know, it's still not possible to conclusively diagnose
(what is properly, technically called) Alzheimer's until post mortem
examination. "A rare form of Alzheimer's" could well be used, by
doctors -- those who habitually try to water down medical complexity
for the abysmally ignorant and misinformed public [1] -- to describe
any sort of brain atrophy or deterioration. At age 64, loss of motor
coordination is an untimely affliction. If the medics are using the
term "Alzheimer's" cavalierly when talking someone as bright and
educable as Pratchett, that's risible. A non-Alzheimer's atrophy of
the motor cortex, of unknown etiology, doesn't carry the same
predictable threat of eventual dementia. Someone who would sooner be
dead than physically incapacitated *and* demented might well choose to
live with the motor impairment and a uncompromised mind.
I've never studied these dementia matters (though I studied the
cerebral cortex full-time for a couple of Sabbatical years some 35
years ago as a break from a collapsed business) but, from what little
I know, diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, Parkinson's,
Huntington's, autism, etc have similar etiologies in that they start
out in the womb caused by either mutations at fertilization or as
inherited epigenetic predispositions. They tend not to be tripped
off, however, until at least, puberty (except for autism which is
fully expressed by then). Some of them (schizophrenia is the usual
example that's cited) manifest themselves before the age of about 30
(by which time the frontal cortex has largely stopped developing) and
others at various ages thereafter.
There's no doubt in my mind from observation over the years that
early (and slow) onset of Alzheimer's is inversely related to
intelligence. There are some very bright individuals (usually
successful individuals who are assumed to be bright) who gradually
become senile in their 60s and 70s but they strike me as being very
rare. I associate intelligence as being directly related to the
number and density of neuronal networks in the cortex (particularly
the frontal lobes) so, in the anomalous cases, I presume that
blockages happened to form at particularly crucial nodes. Otherwise,
when trying to recall a word or a motor skill, the highly networked
cortex can find a quick work-around.
Keith
- Mike
[1] I laugh to myself every time I recall my encounter with a
dermatologist. I don't think I've posted this anecdote here
before.
Dermatologist and I sit down face to face on stools. I
describe symptoms (which happen to be in remission at that
point.) He asks a couple of pertinent questions which I
answer. I can see his mind go Click! and he launches into what
is obviously a canned spiel something like:
Many people have this. It is a matter of individual
variation in sensitivity. It is caused by mites which
everyone naturally has on their skin. It is not that you
are dirty, just that you are more susceptible to the mites
which....
I interrupt him:
Me: I've taken skin scraping and looked for mites, didn't
find any.
MD: You can't see them. They're too small.
Me: I've used a 20 power field microscope and can't see
any.
Now he's irritated and raises his voice.
MD: You *can't see* them. They're too small
Me: How many legs do these mites have?
Now he's pissed off and barely restraining himself.
MD: They don't HAVE legs. They're TOO SMALL!
Me: Okay, mites are arthropods. They're related to spiders
and they all have eight legs.
MD: Call them organisms.
Me: So, you mean some kind of yeast or fungus?
MD: Call them organisms!!
Ding! It dawns on me that this is an old-school guy who avoids
using three-syllable words with "laymen" and is absolutely,
unequivocally *never* going to utter the word "yeast" in my
presence lest I launch into some kind of pop-doctoring,
alternative-medicine, my-granny-told-me, saw-it-on-television,
rant about yeast infections. Yow! I had forgotten that such
guys still existed.
Anyhow, he prescribes a different cortisone and recommends
Nizoral shampoo. Working back from the Nizoral poop sheet, I
determine that his "mites" are probably pityrosporum ovale,
Nizoral whacks them real good, I don't need the cortisone and all
is well. Jeez, he coulda just *said*.
--
Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~.
/V\
[email protected] /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com
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