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Comment by brooklyntribe | Hacker News Reader

> 1 in 10 people will actually end up getting Alzheimer's.?

I have never seen anyone over 75 that does not have some kind of dementia. Zero. Alzheimers and Dementia will soon be one of the same classification. It's happening.

Nature is just telling us, you have to go. It will be incurable, it's painless. She's being nice to us. Yes treat it, of course, but we have to let go sometimes.

PS, I work with seniors. People have NO CLUE to what these people go through. Zero.

And NO one can face this question, eventually, we die. Know the millennials don't believe that. They can't even comprehend it death. But it's true. Really. And it's OK.

So live life as it should be. For ALL our days are numbered. Don't worry, be happy.

:-)

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I am assuming you're making a larger point about life and death, and on that level I agree with you. But as someone who also works with seniors full-time, I have to point out that Alzheimer's is:

- not the same as dementia, and never will be [1]. Dementia is an umbrella term that includes many diseases (e.g.: Parkinson's, etc), whereas Alzheimer's is just one of the many specific diseases with its own causes, symptoms, and chances of developing a cure.

- not painless. Apart from increased physical pain sensitivity [2], there's endless emotional pain that impacts the patient and their loved ones [3].

The point you're making about the inevitability of death is valid, but it shouldn't lead to the conclusion that we should just accept Alzheimer's as an incurable disease - of all the ways that a loved one can pass away, many families I work with would agree that this may be one of the worst.

Having worked with thousands of end-of-life clients, I am surprised that the research funding for Alzheimer's is far lower than that for cancer, heart disease, and HIV/Aids. My assumption is that people's view of Alzheimer's is rooted in the old and incorrect perception that it's an inevitable and natural part of aging, sometimes referred to as "senility."

Today we know a lot more about Alzheimer's, and I would challenge anyone to point out why Alzheimer's is fundamentally incurable - it's just a matter of when, and I certainly hope we'll find a cure sooner than later.

[1] https://www.kindlycare.com/dementia-vs-alzheimers/ [2] http://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/neurocognitive-disorders/al... [3] https://www.kindlycare.com/still-alice-portrait-of-a-disease... [4] http://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-2015/alzheimers...

You should disclose that you work for kindly care if you are going to link them as a resource to your argumentations IMHO...

Sorry but you are ignorant if you think that dementia is painless. My mother has dementia, and it's a horrible, horrible disease. She is going to a tremendous amount of pain, because she is confused and scared and angry. She knows something is terribly wrong all the time, but she doesn't know. She has written notes to herself that she wants to die. She can't control her bodily functions anymore and has to endure the humiliation of being bathed by strangers that scare her. It's a horrible horrible disease, and it is not painless or peaceful. I wish she would get cancer so that she could die quicker, that's how terrible this disease is.

While it is true that many of us will experience some kind of brain failure (if we don't die of something else first) making claims about absolutes like "zero" and "none" are not perhaps constructive to the conversation. My experience with my 90-year-old father in law is that he can recite far more stories about being 10 in rural Kansas in the '30s than I can of being 10 in Colorado's suburbs. He'll also demolish any who care to challenge him at Scrabble or contract bridge. Also, he happens to be the nicest, most unassuming guy ever. Dementia may eventually come for him, but today is not that day. YMMV

Using anecdotal evidence and giving empty platitudes isn't really scientific nor does it make people feel better. I am a millennial that believes that I can die. I also think that diseases like Alzhemiers are the result of increasing our life expectancy. But, since we have pushed our life expectancy higher now our task would be to improve our quality of life.

> I have never seen anyone over 75 that does not have some kind of dementia.

> PS, I work with seniors.

My fiancee says something similar, but she's a resident in a hospital, so she tends to tag "... in the hospital" or "... in the ICU" on the end of that statement because she's not seeing a random sample of all >75-year-olds.

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