Epilepsy and Alzheimers

[Endless]

At one point someone in here wondered if there is a link between Epilepsy and Alzheimers. I couldn't find the post so I thought I'd start a new string.

I stumbled upon a study online. The gist of it was that Alzheimer's patients have a higher likelihood of seizures. It did not say that Epilepsy patients were more likely to get Alzheimer's.

http://www.ahaf.org/alzheimers/newsupdates/link-between-epilepsy-and.html

http://ec.europa.eu/research/headlines/news/article_09_04_28_en.html

http://epilepsy.about.com/od/symptomsandcauses/a/alzheimers.htm

And both can share the same treatment:

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=429

http://www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/ketones_to_the_rescue.html (This is a really good article on the ketogenic diet and why it works)


Whew! That's a relief!

P.S. I'm really having a good day today! Most of the time on Trileptal I can't understand this stuff. Now if I could only figure out the good day thing, and figure out how to repeat it.

 

[Blondie47]

Endless thanks for the great links!

Good day -- so nice to hear! Woo hoo! :woot:

 

[Cint]

My concern is that I've heard Alzheimer's is hereditary. My father was recently diagnosed with this awful brain disease and his mother had it as well. My epilepsy stems from a damaged hippocampus and for Alzheimer's, hippocampul disruption is one of the earliest signs and as time goes on the hippocampus shrinks, leading to more memory loss.

When I had a LTL, the neurosurgeon told me he could not get all the damaged area of my brain causing the seizures, otherwise I would end up like an Alzheimer patient with NO memory.

http://www.memorylossonline.com

The hippocampus is especially sensitive to global reductions in oxygen level in the body. Thus, periods of oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) which are not fatal may nonetheless result in particular damage to the hippocampus. This could occur during a heart attack, respiratory failure, sleep apnea, carbon monoxide poisoning, near-drowning, etc. The hippocampus is also a common focus site in epilepsy, and can be damaged through chronic seizures. It is also sometimes damaged in diseases such as herpes encephalitis, and is one of the first brain areas to show damage in Alzheimer's disease.

 

[Endless]

Cint,

I am so sorry.

You have two parents, so you may not get alzheimer's, even despite the problems. with your hippocampus. Do you know if alzheimer's is a dominant or recessive gene? It makes a difference in how likely you are to get it. If I have time later I'll look it up.

Well, right now you are very smart, and have a pretty fair memory. You are in my prayers that it is always this way.

 

[Rae1889]

most disorders are a recessive gene disorder. ones that are dominant usually result in children that cant bare children. such as down syndrome.