Memory & Culture....Who knew kids could have dementia?

Our text discusses Memory and Culture in Chapter 2. One of the things that caught my attention was the early thoughts that primitive people are/were capable of unusual, or in some cases spectacular feats of memory. The first example pointed towards the phenomenal memory of an Eskimo who was able to draw a map of a coastline 6,000 miles long without any materials, resources, or technology.   However, on the other end of the spectrum, the text pointed to the consequences being an elder in Liberia with poor memory (not memory loss) or who may lack knowledge as being looked upon with contempt by younger community members.   These are definitely extremes as it relates to culture and memory. 

But did you know that “There are many kids who have dementia as a result of rare diseases even though most people think dementia strikes the elderly”?  I found this on a website that discusses how difficult it can be to deal with dementia in children.  They cite reasons like …  “they don’t remember (or can’t learn) that burners are hot, stairs are steep or cars come up and down the street. … As you can imagine, the thought of your children forgetting who you are is very distressing to parents”. 



They list some conditions in children that involve dementia:
§  Adrenoleukodystrophy
§  Alexander disease
§  Autism (Infantile)
§  Batten disease
§  Canavan disease
§  Juvenile Huntington’s disease
§  Metabolic diseases
§  Niemann-Pick Type C
§  Subacute-sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE)
§  Tay Sachs disease.

Retrieved from http://addiandcassi.com/dementia-in-children-and-teens-when-kids-brains-regress-like-the-elderly/


Another Article revealed that Swedish researchers have identified nine risk factors -- many occurring during a person's teens -- that are tied to early onset dementia.  They are:
“Alcohol intoxication, stroke, use of antipsychotic drugs, depression, drug abuse, a father with dementia, poor mental function as a teen, being short and having high blood pressure were the risk factors they found.

Taken together, these accounted for 68 percent of the cases of young-onset dementia, the researchers said. Men with at least two risk factors and in the lowest third of overall mental ability had a 20-fold increased risk”.
Retrieved from : http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=172604

Who knew?  Although there are not as many children with dementia, we ought to pay attention to these risk factors?  How many might you have?

Comments

  1. Keona WalkerAugust 24, 2017 at 8:35 PM

    Never thought about dementia being related to young people, and I am still having difficulty in seeing this as a disease affecting younger people because I have never seen it for myself. The risk factor that sticks out to me the most is depression. There are so many teens dealing with depression (for a myriad of reasons) that I find that risk factor to be so alarming.

    In thinking about the "loss of memory", I wonder how screen time affects one's memory, especially teens. Is memory worse because of it? One would think so, but are there studies out there that confirm this?

    ReplyDelete

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