Tagging Dementia

The body knows that toxic substances—heavy metals and pesticides, for instance—are not only poisonous to the host, but also to pathogens. Such a Catch-22 can lead to environmental illness and immunological breakdown in which the body starts attacking its own toxic cells, but it may be the only choice a bio-system operating with damaged DNA has. {Sol Luckman}

Since doing that 16-day fast, I’ve been a bit tardy around blogging because the sluice gates opened and the “stuff” is simply pouring out, especially through my fingers. I think I am observing the toxic elements of the gunk I’ve fed my body over decades being expelled – garbage in, garbage out.

I am hoping to live a long life with all my faculties in tact like my oldest living relative, although at 95 she is less mobile because of a leg injury and would find it almost impossible to use the stairs. Nevertheless, a few months ago she decided to get on an airplane and return to the sunshine of the island of her birth. Cousin C wished to live the remaining years of her life sitting on her veranda watching the world go by and gossiping with her neighbours.

What I love about Cousin C is the sharpness of her mind and her love of debating world affairs. She also has a wicked sense of humour. I hope that I carry whatever gene she has because my greatest fear in life is that of forgetting who I am, as well as who everyone else is.

There is a row going on in the UK this week about whether it’s inhumane for dementia patients to be fitted with a tracking device, or ‘tagged’, rather like prisoners on parole, so they can be tracked when they go walk about. If I lost my mind, I think I would like to be tracked.
 

Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities, including memory loss, thinking speed, mental agility, language, attention and understanding, judgment, problem solving.

According to the Alzheimer's Society there are around 800,000 people in the UK with dementia. One in three people over 65 will develop dementia, and two-thirds of people with dementia are women. The total number of suffers in the US are in the millions. Apparently dementia is not a natural part of growing old; it is caused by diseases of the brain, and is beginning to affect younger people.

Why is dementia so prevalent in our modern society? How does lifestyle and environmental conditions affect neurological functioning? How much does heavy metals and pesticides in our environment and in the food chain contribute to neurological dysfunctions? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?

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