Alzheimer's Research Investigation

[jillybean]

He doesn't snore. His sleep patterns have changed, however. He naps multiple times a day. He says he sleeps fine at night. I'm only aware of him being awake when he gets up to use the bathroom once or so at night.

 

I will see what help I can get from the Alzheimer's research Investigation.

 

I appreciate your suggestion.

Sharon, I have only just seen your reply. My hubby always said, and still does, that he "sleeps just fine. He was unaware that he was waking multiple times an hour to restart his breathing. When he completed the sleep study he was off the chart with 40 events per hour, that is 40 times an hour that his breathing was interrupted for 10 seconds or his breathes were incomplete, shallow. Normal is less than 5 event/hour. He was also napping all day. I've got to say the remedy isn't perfect, we are still struggling with it at times.

Feel free to send me a private message if you want more information or need to chat further down the line :)

& best wishes to you both.

[pilowsky]

Going and getting checked out by your doctor is a great idea - much more likely to put your mind at ease - either way.

If he's napping a lot sleep apnea is a definite possibility.

Also, if you're a heavy sleeper you may be unaware of your husband's sleep patterns at night.

 

There are many other things that can be associated with sleep problems that need to be checked out - high blood pressure for one.

[sharon j]

Thanks pilowsky. He is being treated for high blood pressure and I will ask him to follow up with the doctor.

[sharon j]

Sharon, I have only just seen your reply. My hubby always said, and still does, that he "sleeps just fine. He was unaware that he was waking multiple times an hour to restart his breathing. When he completed the sleep study he was off the chart with 40 events per hour, that is 40 times an hour that his breathing was interrupted for 10 seconds or his breathes were incomplete, shallow. Normal is less than 5 event/hour. He was also napping all day. I've got to say the remedy isn't perfect, we are still struggling with it at times.

Feel free to send me a private message if you want more information or need to chat further down the line :)

& best wishes to you both.

 

You are very kind.

[barmar]

PS. As an retired RN, my understanding 10 years ago was that Alzheimer's could only be truly diagnosed in an autopsy. I do not know if that has changed. I bring it up only to suggest that if still true, doubting the diagnosis is reasonable.

They say the same thing about TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), which is what you get from severe or repeated concussions.

 

It seems like it's generally difficult to tell precisely what's afflicting the brain without dangerous, invasive analysis. Some things, like strokes and cancers, can be seen from brain imaging, but others have to be inferred from behavior, and there can be multiple causes of the same symptoms.

[pilowsky]

It seems like it's generally difficult to tell precisely what's afflicting the brain without dangerous, invasive analysis. Some things, like strokes and cancers, can be seen from brain imaging, but others have to be inferred from behavior, and there can be multiple causes of the same symptoms.

The list of reasons for alterations in brain function - almost always negative - is extremely long.

Unfortunately, as we get older - say past 18 - the wiring in the brain becomes fixed and the ability to learn new things becomes extremely hard.

The reason is a loss of plasticity.

If you remove half (or even more) of a person's liver, the remaining liver will simply grow back and restore the missing organ.

Each liver cell in the organ does much the same thing as every other cell.

 

The brain is different. After childhood, every single neuron has a very specific function and an incredibly complex set of connections with other neurons.

David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel won the Nobel prize for discovering (amongst other things) that there are individual nerves in the brain that are activated when an object moves from left to right but not from right to left.

 

An example that is much easier to understand is that we acquire language and speech at a very young age. This results in our accent and speech pattern.

People that change location before the age of about 14 are able to acquire completely new accents.

After that age it's nearly impossible.

Similarly, right-handed people have a very tough time switching to left-handedness.

 

It follows from this that any damage to the brain in adulthood is very hard to reverse if it is caused by destruction of neurons or their connections.

 

If the problem is a drug or a metabolic disorder (for example) then reversibility is possible.

The most obvious 'metabolic' problem is lack of sleep.

It turns out that every hour of wakefulness past about 16 hours is equivalent to an increase in blood alcohol level of 0.1%. (one example - there are lots of papers about this).

 

Then it becomes very complicated because if you are sleep deprived, and drink alcohol, and you have any metabolic problem that interferes with alcohol metabolism, things get bad quickly.

[jillybean]

It follows from this that any damage to the brain in adulthood is very hard to reverse if it is caused by destruction of neurons or their connections.

 

What role does neuroplasticity have in the healing process?

[pilowsky]

What role does neuroplasticity have in the healing process?

 

A lot depends on what is meant by 'plasticity'.

During development (especially early childhood) there is an astonishing amount of organising in the brain with different neurons making connections with each other.

At this time of life brains are capable of quite a lot of re-organisation if there is damage - up to a point of course.

The earlier in life, the easier it is for the nervous system to organise itself to cope with injury.

 

When we reach adulthood it is much harder - often impossible - for the brain to cope with physical damage - severe stroke, or prolonged loss of oxygen, concussion etc.

If an adult has an injury - say from a bleed in the brain or a blockage in an artery - there will be a loss of function.

Recovery in this situation is not because of plasticity so much as resupply of oxygen as swelling settles down after the acute injury.

 

Basically, recovery in adulthood works mainly by existing pathways becoming stronger by increased use.

This is a type of neuroplasticity but it's quite different from what happens to children where completely new pathways are forming.

 

This is (probably) why things you learn as a child are not easily forgotten, but if you try to acquire new things as an adult it's much harder.

 

Teleologically (and actually I suppose) it makes sense since the formation of brain pathways is what generates your 'mind' (another big question).

If you have a major loss of nerve function when you are an adult it's hard to imagine how a therapy that caused new pathways to form in the same way they did when you were a child could do it without changing your entire personality.

 

The effect of 'mind-altering drugs' gives some insight into this problem.

 

Getting the average person to change their mind about anything is a more typical example of how it works (or fails to) in normal life.

The ability to change your mind in the face of evidence is a mild (and often hard to acquire) form of neuroplasticity, because as everyone knows, they're always right about everything.

 

This is why I like Bridge and Chess. There's always a better way to do it, so perhaps this type of game does help to improve cognition after all, even if the evidence is hard to come by.