Yeah I was kind of mentioning this stuff more because one day your parents will get old.
Statins have benefits that typically outweigh the side effects, and confusingly they seem to protect people from dementia as well as causing issues with memory and cognition. It's nothing to regret, just worth knowing it's a factor.
Diet can do it too, e.g vitamin D deficiency also causes cognitive decline, and if doctors find out someone is eating 50% butter and puts them on statins (anti cholesterol) that causes reversible cognitive decline as well.
Bizarrely, with elderly people you also have to watch out for "silent" UTIs - they don't hurt so the person might not realise they have one and it causes really marked signs of dementia, eg they say really dementia-ish things. Antibiotics clears it up. I saw this one first hand and it was such a relief to actually figure it out and get the person back to normal.
It's not all natural either. I've recently learned about anticholinergic burden and am annoyed I didn't know sooner because with the health system the way it is now (so many locums, no continuity of care, overworked hospitals) elderly people really need their family looking out for stuff like this.
cognitive issues related to medications eg anticholinergic burden
belief that they no longer "understand" the way things work and have to take younger people's word for things
fear due to physical vulnerability (give in to scammers to avoid getting hurt physically)
loneliness (give in to scammers because they think they are making a human connection)
What we can do to help oldies is to be actively in their lives and looking out for them. Helping them navigate stuff and just letting them know we are there.
What can I say, I was young and it feels like it should work so I kept thinking maybe the champagne wasn't good enough, maybe it works better with dry instead of sweet, etc.
If you hate tonic, maybe substitute one of those fancy Fever Tree club sodas then?
liv @ liv @lemmy.nz Posts 14Comments 1,019Joined 2 yr. ago
Yeah I was kind of mentioning this stuff more because one day your parents will get old.
Statins have benefits that typically outweigh the side effects, and confusingly they seem to protect people from dementia as well as causing issues with memory and cognition. It's nothing to regret, just worth knowing it's a factor.