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It could be beginning dementia / Alzheimer's. At least that is the case for my father. Similarly to believing fake news, also lost his humour, he just doesn't g

It could be beginning dementia / Alzheimer's. At least that is the case for my father. Similarly to believing fake news, also lost his humour, he just doesn't get jokes any more, he takes them at face value. I hope this is not the case for your dad and I'm sorry if I scared you, but you could consider having him checked.

JKCalhoun 8y ago
IDK, I think it might be fear. Fear seems to come on as people see people their age dying of various diseases, etc. Mortality is staring them in the face. And though it starts with the fear, everything that panders to fear follows....
nikkwong 8y ago
What's the use in getting it checked? It's not like early cancer detection in which an early diagnosis might have some effect on the outcome of the disease. (?)
- lumberjack 8y ago
  There are meds that can slow down the demise. Also just knowing helps a lot in how to deal with the suffering.
- newname2018 8y ago
  Just to insert a single bit of anecdata here. In my wife's case the treatments to help with a dementia type disease involved medications that did improve her condition for a very short time followed by a very sharp decline. The physicians warned us about this and in one of her lucid moments she stated she wished to undergo this therapy regardless of the outcome being that what was happening to her was so mindbendingly terrible that even a few more more days of a "shared reality" was preferred to her ultimate condition. I guess my single point of reference here is that there are trade offs to this kind of therapy and family and PoAs need to carefully consider any type of treatment
hkt 8y ago
I'm sorry about your father, but your comment made me wonder how common this is. I wonder: could an aging population endanger democracy by not being able to distinguish truth from falsehood?
- Chris_Chambers 8y ago
  That thought is precisely what the people who created this article wanted you to have. They asked themselves “how can we get as many people as possible to call for banning the elderly from voting?” and worked backwards from there. Ironically if you couldn’t see this unassisted then you’re the one who should be banned from voting.

JKCalhoun 8y ago

IDK, I think it might be fear. Fear seems to come on as people see people their age dying of various diseases, etc. Mortality is staring them in the face. And though it starts with the fear, everything that panders to fear follows....

nikkwong 8y ago

What's the use in getting it checked? It's not like early cancer detection in which an early diagnosis might have some effect on the outcome of the disease. (?)

lumberjack 8y ago
There are meds that can slow down the demise. Also just knowing helps a lot in how to deal with the suffering.
newname2018 8y ago
Just to insert a single bit of anecdata here. In my wife's case the treatments to help with a dementia type disease involved medications that did improve her condition for a very short time followed by a very sharp decline. The physicians warned us about this and in one of her lucid moments she stated she wished to undergo this therapy regardless of the outcome being that what was happening to her was so mindbendingly terrible that even a few more more days of a "shared reality" was preferred to her ultimate condition. I guess my single point of reference here is that there are trade offs to this kind of therapy and family and PoAs need to carefully consider any type of treatment

hkt 8y ago

I'm sorry about your father, but your comment made me wonder how common this is. I wonder: could an aging population endanger democracy by not being able to distinguish truth from falsehood?

Chris_Chambers 8y ago
That thought is precisely what the people who created this article wanted you to have. They asked themselves “how can we get as many people as possible to call for banning the elderly from voting?” and worked backwards from there. Ironically if you couldn’t see this unassisted then you’re the one who should be banned from voting.