By Ogova Ondego
Published May 5, 2024
When James was declared redundant by his employer at the age of 45, his family and friends felt that injustice had been done him.
Having faithfully and loyally served his company for close to 25 years during which time he had risen to the position of a manager, they saw his employer as being insensitive. They were, however, baffled when they learnt that the employer had given James his full retirement benefits of close to Sh3,000, 000. Surely an employer who does not care for his employee would not have been this kind, they concluded.
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James used this money to set up a business which never took off. Later, his wife discovered why; he made glaring errors and some workers took advantage of his absent-mindedness to defraud him. She also came to learn that James had been laid off because of daydreaming and absent-mindedness which had cost his employer great losses.
Now fearful, she took James to several medical experts but they were unable to help him.
Eventually, he was referred to a neurologist in India who diagnosed him as suffering from a disease she had never heard of, let alone pronounce, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)!
Referred to as the major chronic illness of old age, Alzheimer’s Disease, that has no effective treatment or cure to date, makes its patients, mainly the elderly, lose their intellectual abilities.
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Arguing that no one is sure what causes AD but that it could be due to factors such as injury to the head or genetic inheritance, Erastus Amayo, a Nairobi neurologist, told us some time back that some of the symptoms of AD are paranoia, confusion, morbid jealousy, memory loss and antisocial behaviour.
Dr Amayo argued that the only way to deternline whether one is suffering from AD is to examine the brain.
“X-ray may reveal if one’s brain is shrinking,” he said.
Although called the disease of the elderly, Dr Amayo says AD can also strike earlier.
“People who suffer from Down’s Syndrome are likely to be Victims of Alzheimer’s Disease even when young,” he said. “As people grow older, their brain function decreases. This is why more elderly than younger people suffer from AD.”
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Although the cause of AD is unknown, neurologists say it involves the gradual destruction of brain cells. The parts most affected are those that deal with memory and thinking ability. This could alter one’s personality.
In its early stages, a person may go about life as if they were normal. Later, they may live in a world of fantasy as they fail to make sense of reality.
Experts say once AD strikes, it may last up to 10 years during which time the victim may accomplish less and less of what they used to.
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Although painless, AD sufferers often become bedridden and can neither speak nor feed themselves in the final stages of the disease. Patients of AD may hallucinate, seeing things that exist only in their minds. At such time, their puerile behaviour may be an embarrassment not only to themselves but also their loved ones. Their actions may border on madness.
Here in Kenya where there are few nursing homes for the elderly, many could die more out of neglect than AD.
A doctor who does not wish to be named says some people who suffer from AD have often been thrown out of their homes by family members for not knowing how to handle them.
She says some people who are taken to Mathari Mental Hospital in Nairobi may suffer not from madness but AD only that no one bothers to do proper diagnosis.
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Rather than rush into punishing AD patients, argue behavioural scientists, they should be examined first.
The doctor already quoted anonymously agrees: “Before hurriedly confining people to hospitals that care for the mentally instable, medical experts must exhaust all diagnoses. It should be borne in mind that AD can be identilied only through the proce~s of elimination. Once all possible diagnoses are eliminated then the most probable diseases is AD,” argues the doctor.
She further argued that people who are depressed, confused and suffer from sleeplessness may likely suffer from AD.
“Although it is not necessarily true that everyone who exhibits these symptoms is an AD victim, nothing should be left to chance,” she said.
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Dr Amayo concurred: “There is a possibility that some people in mental institutions suffer from this disease.”
Explaining that there are several people in Kenya exhibiting signs of AD, Dr Amayo said the reason why they are not conspicuous as in the West could be due to the fact that there are fewer elderly people on the continent and that family support network is still intact in Africa compared to the Industrialised World.
“As our extended family support network breaks down due to urbanisation, AD is going to be a major problem here,” he said.
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There is no effective medication for AD. Some drugs may be used to slow down the progression of the disease in some patients. In others, drugs may alleviate memory loss. But experts point out that whatever drugs are used may have adverse side effects on the patients.
Accordingly, they advise that families of AD patients weigh the benefits and risks of the drugs before making their own decisions.
It is argued that these drugs are used not to cure AD but to treat conditions that accompany it, such as sleeplessness, anxiety and depression.
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