A TED Talk

 At a meeting I attended this evening, we were shown a TED Talk dealing with various forms of dementia.  The talk was presented by Teepa Snow and I highly recommend it to anyone who has questions about the subject.  She is a very engaging speaker who will hold your interest.  She started by talking about some of the early warning signs. Coincidentally, I had lunch with a friend today during which we discussed a mutual friend who has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and we talked about early signs we had seen, especially getting confused while driving and not remembering why she had come to a certain place.  Another early sign that was mentioned was not dealing with money issues properly.  Evidently, when our mutual friend's son became aware of her problems, he discovered stacks of unpaid bills and some missing funds.  I was too busy watching and listening to take many notes this evening, but I did learn that there are many forms of dementia and Alzheimer's makes up only about a tenth of the types of dementia found in people over 65.  I also learned that the 30 point mental acuity test that your doctor might give you if you think you have memory problems (which I passed with flying colors) is not an indicator of if you will or won't develop dementia.  And here's the last little tidbit for you to consider.  50% of people over 85 show signs of Alzheimer's.  On the bright side, if all goes well, I have six good years to look forward to.