New Dementia Prevention Method May Be Behavioral, Not Prescribed | Hacker News Reader

New Dementia Prevention Method May Be Behavioral, Not Prescribed

nytimes.com

41 pointstroydavis16 comments

Remember the hypothesis that dementia (at least Alzheimer’s) may be caused by prions transferred during eye surgery and other eye interventions? Good vision means it’s less likely you’ll have to undergo eye surgery.

That should be pretty simple to rule out - compare the risk of dementia in people who improved eyesight by said treatments and those with poor eyesight and no treatment.

Since they recommend said treatment I would guess they made this comparison ?

Unfortunately, the past several years of clinical trials have shown the amyloid beta/tau protein prion hypothesis doesn't have legs quite yet. The field is littered with failed Alzheimer's trials. Given the cost and difficulty of clinical trials, it makes sense that researchers and public health experts would go for comparatively low hanging fruit.

I’m not convinced the relationship between poor vision / hearing and dementia is causal. Couldn’t poor brain function also lead to a decline in vision and hearing? What’s the evidence that one causes the other?

I thought this too until I learnt what tinnitus actually is. Tinnitus isn't your ear ringing, its you losing hearing from loud noises and the loss of said hearing fucking with your brain and then due to that your brain creates that ringing noise.

Is this something like being in a completely dark room, then suddenly there is a random noise pattern in your vision.

pretty much, or if you're put in an extremely quiet room you'll start to lose it.

Damn you, tinnitus, you're a cruel mistress! But seriously, do you not hear that?

High cranial pressure IIH, can cause tinnitus. It can also cause brain fog and dementia like symptoms.

Source. Have high cranial pressure.

I may have similar symptoms. How did you get diagnosed?

Look up IIH and POTS. Read through descriptions. Good clue is if symptoms are worse after laying down for awhile.

Then schedule appointment with a neurologist or neuro-ophthalmologist or both. The real test is a spinal tap to measure pressure. They will also drain off fluid if high. I felt 10x better when they did that.

Medication is usually Diamox, lasix, topomax.

It can cause swelling in back of eyes, so sometimes eye doctors will notice first. But not always.

Interesting, however, I have experienced ringing in my ears after getting home from clubs/ loud music events only to wake up in the morning and have my hearing back to normal.

Not sure how ‘temporary tinnitus’ can be explained by this theory.

https://archive.ph/FHgQT

(insert HN permathread about how eyeglass frames are a monopolistic racket, and lenses by mail are much cheaper)

Behavioral, not prescribed? But how can the medical industry monetize tha-

> "eye exams, eyeglass prescriptions and cataract surgery"

...nevermind.

That method is still "prescribed"

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