Anemia develops when you don’t have enough robust, healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout your body. The blood cells may lack enough hemoglobin, the protein that gives blood its red color. Anemia affects one in 10 teen girls and women. It also develops in men and children and is linked to some illnesses.  Anemia is a condition that develops when your blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells or hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a main part of red blood cells and binds oxygen. If you have too few or abnormal red blood cells, or your hemoglobin is abnormal or low, the cells in your body will not get enough oxygen. Symptoms of anemia — like fatigue — occur because organs aren’t getting what they need to function properly.

Anemia is the most common blood condition in the U.S. It affects about 3.5 million Americans. Women, young children, and people with chronic diseases are at increased risk of anemia.

There types of different anemia’s but today’s we’ll look more into is Iron Deficiency Anemia.

 Iron deficiency anemia is a common type of anemia — a condition in which blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.

As the name implies, iron deficiency anemia is due to insufficient iron. Without enough iron, your body can’t produce enough of a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen (hemoglobin). As a result, iron deficiency anemia may leave you tired and short of breath.

You can usually correct iron deficiency anemia with iron supplementation. Sometimes additional tests or treatments for iron deficiency anemia are necessary, especially if your doctor suspects that you’re bleeding internally.

Initially, iron deficiency anemia can be so mild that it goes unnoticed. But as the body becomes more deficient in iron and anemia worsens, the signs and symptoms intensify.

Iron deficiency anemia symptoms may include:

• Extreme fatigue, Pale skin, Weakness, Shortness of breath, Chest pain, Frequent infections
• Headache, Dizziness or lightheadedness, Cold hands and feet, Inflammation or soreness of your tongue, Brittle nails, and Fast heartbeat.
• Unusual cravings for non-nutritive substances, such as ice, dirt or starch.
• Poor appetite, especially in infants and children with iron deficiency anemia.
• An uncomfortable tingling or crawling feeling in your legs (restless legs syndrome).

Causes of iron deficiency anemia include:

• Blood loss. Blood contains iron within red blood cells. So if you lose blood, you lose some iron. Women with heavy periods are at risk of iron deficiency anemia because they lose blood during menstruation. Slow, chronic blood loss within the body — such as from a peptic ulcer, a hiatal hernia, a colon polyp or colorectal cancer — can cause iron deficiency anemia. Gastrointestinal bleeding can result from regular use of some over-the-counter pain relievers, especially aspirin.
• A lack of iron in your diet. Your body regularly gets iron from the foods you eat. If you consume too little iron, over time your body can become iron deficient. Examples of iron-rich foods include meat, eggs, leafy green vegetables and iron-fortified foods. For proper growth and development, infants and children need iron from their diet, too.
• An inability to absorb iron. Iron from food is absorbed into your bloodstream in your small intestine. An intestinal disorder, such as celiac disease, which affects your intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients from digested food, can lead to iron deficiency anemia. If part of your small intestine has been bypassed or removed surgically, that may affect your ability to absorb iron and other nutrients.
• Without iron supplementation, iron deficiency anemia occurs in many pregnant women because their iron stores need to serve their own increased blood volume as well as be a source of hemoglobin for the growing fetus.

Those at risk for anemia:

Anemia is a common condition. It occurs in all age, racial, and ethnic groups. Both men and women can have anemia. However, women of childbearing age are at higher risk for the condition because of blood loss from menstruation.

Anemia can develop during pregnancy due to low levels of iron and folic acid (folate) and changes in the blood. During the first 6 months of pregnancy, the fluid portion of a woman’s blood (the plasma) increases faster than the number of red blood cells. This dilutes the blood and can lead to anemia.

During the first year of life, some babies are at risk for anemia because of iron deficiency. At-risk infants include those who are born too early and infants who are fed breast milk only or formula that isn’t fortified with iron. These infants can develop iron deficiency by 6 months of age.

Infants between 1 and 2 years of age also are at risk for anemia. They may not get enough iron in their diets, especially if they drink a lot of cow’s milk. Cow’s milk is low in the iron needed for growth.

Drinking too much cow’s milk may keep an infant or toddler from eating enough iron-rich foods or absorbing enough iron from foods.

Older adults also are at increased risk for anemia. Researchers continue to study how the condition affects older adults. Many of these people have other medical conditions as well.

Major Risk Factors for anemia:

• A diet that is low in iron, vitamins, or minerals
• Blood loss from surgery or an injury
• Long-term or serious illnesses, such as kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS, inflammatory bowel disease (including Crohn’s disease), liver disease, heart failure, and thyroid disease
• Long-term infections
• A family history of inherited anemia, such as sickle cell anemia or thalassemia.

Complications of Anemia:

Some people who have anemia may have arrhythmias. Arrhythmias are problems with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. Over time, arrhythmias can damage your heart and possibly lead to heart failure.

Anemia also can damage other organs in your body because your blood can’t get enough oxygen to them.

Anemia can weaken people who have cancer or HIV/AIDS. This can make their treatments not work as well.

Anemia also can cause many other health problems. People who have kidney disease and anemia are more likely to have heart problems. With some types of anemia, too little fluid intake or too much loss of fluid in the blood and body can occur. Severe loss of fluid can be life threatening.

“Obesity has been linked to several common cancers including breast, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, gallbladder, uterine, pancreatic, and liver cancer. Obesity also increases the risk of dying from cancer and may influence the treatment choices. About 4–8% of all cancers are attributed to obesity. The underlying mechanism of obesity causing cancer is complex and is incompletely understood. Lifestyle changes that include diet, exercise, and behavior therapy are the mainstay of interventions. Drug therapy and weight reduction surgery result in a more rapid weight loss and may be used for a subgroup of cancer survivors with obesity.”

National Library of Medicine – NIH (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9857053/)

LOOKING AT ACTUAL STUDIES SUPPORTING OBESITY&CANCER LINK

Take for example through the American Cancer Society they stated in an article 2006 that a substantial evidence from clinical trials has established that obesity significantly increases the risk for heart disease and diabetes.  More recently, suspicions that obesity is linked to prostate cancer have been supported by a number of investigations, but the relationship has remained unclear.  Now through a pair of new studies provides scientists with some important insights that may have an impact on how physicians manage their patients with prostate cancer.

The pair of studies show 2 significant studies relating how obesity links with prostate cancer, which were:

The implication is that prostate cancer patients who are obese should probably be followed more closely than patients with similar cancer characteristics who are not obese. That could include regular digital rectal exams, more frequent prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, and perhaps setting a lower PSA cutoff point as an indication of recurrence, Kane explained.

The greater risk associated with obesity may be related to technical issues, Kane said. For example, it’s more difficult for surgeons to perform a radical prostatectomy in obese patients. However, surgical challenges offer only a partial explanation. In studies where surgeons verified that they had removed all cancer cells during radical prostatectomy, obese patients were still more likely to experience a recurrence of the disease.

The second study, a multi-center trial coordinated at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC, found that obese men under the age of 63 tend to have larger prostates, which makes finding tumors more difficult. As a result, there’s a real danger of delayed diagnosis, which decreases the chances of a cure and puts patients at greater risk for dying of the disease. The findings appear in the Journal of Urology.

“It’s harder to find cancer in larger prostate glands,” explained Stephen J. Freedland, MD, assistant professor of urology and member of the Duke Prostate Center at the Duke University School of Medicine. “Consequently, our data suggest that we may be underdiagnosing cancers in younger obese men. That also means that the tumors we do pick up are likely to be at a more advanced stage and perhaps more aggressive, and therefore more difficult to treat.”

Let’s look at this at a broader aspect, not just pertaining to prostate cancer.  This would be, “It’s not just patients with prostate cancer that studies like this should be directed toward,” Dr. Kane said. “Patients who are clearly at risk for developing the disease should also take notice of our findings. The central message is yet again that obesity has been identified as an important risk factor for a potentially deadly disease. For all of us, controlling our weight through diet and exercise is important, and we shouldn’t have blinders on and just think of prostate cancer. The number one risk of death for American men is heart disease, so anything we can do to reduce that risk that also reduces the risk for prostate cancer is useful.”  Including it reduces risk for other cancers as well that are impacted by disease, it makes sense.

Obesity links to an increased risk of ovarian cancer.

 Let’s look at this no: Atlanta 2009/01/05　-A new epidemiological study has found that among women who have never used menopausal hormone therapy, obese women are at an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer compared with women of normal weight. Published in the February 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the research indicates that obesity may contribute to the development of ovarian cancer through a hormonal mechanism. Ovarian cancer is the most fatal of gynecologic malignancies, and has a 5-year survival rate of only 37 percent.

To investigate this issue, Dr. Michael F. Leitzmann of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues studied 94,525 U.S. women aged 50 to 71 years over a period of seven years. The researchers documented 303 ovarian cancer cases during this time and noted that among women who had never taken hormones after menopause, obesity was associated with an almost 80 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer. In contrast, no link between body weight and ovarian cancer was evident for women who had ever used menopausal hormone therapy.

According to Dr. Leitzmann, these findings support the hypothesis that obesity may enhance ovarian cancer risk in part through its hormonal effects. Excess body mass in postmenopausal women leads to an increased production of estrogen, which in turn may stimulate the growth of ovarian cells and play a role in the development of ovarian cancer.

In another study done 2003, American Cancer Society researchers analyzed data based on 900,000 American adults with obesity and cancer that they monitored for a total of 16 years.  This is what they found in their landmark study:

1)The researchers found that the most obese women had a 62% increase in their risk of dying from cancer than women of normal weight; for obese men, the increase was 52%. The wide range of tumor types included colorectal, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, esophageal, kidney, prostate, breast, uterine, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. The researchers conclusion was that above-normal weight was associated with almost 20% of all cancer deaths in the United States. “There’s an incredibly powerful link between obesity and cancer,” says oncologist Joyce Slingerland of the University of Miami, Florida. “Everyone’s heard of obesity’s effect on heart disease and diabetes, and we’re now beginning to understand that the cancer risk is just as great,” she says.

Although researchers and epidemiologists had long suspected that diet and cancer were linked, efforts to explain why being fat makes cancer more deadly have only begun to deliver results in the past decade.

So it is up to the people in society of that country they live in to take on responsible actions to make their country a better for all, not just one.  I say that is becoming as healthy as possible that an individual can reach and without America has the answers in knowing how to make this happen 100% in our country.

A new study from American Cancer Society researchers finds it’s not just how much physical activity you get, but how much time you spend sitting that can affect your risk of death.

My final study supporting how obesity links with cancer:

Just think if this was you or someone you know in the world and this happens to you or them; GOD FORBID, but you can help yourself through prevention with losing the weight or just staying slim and tone if you already are.  This will just decrease your risk of getting the cancer.

The JCCC study, led by Dr. Guido Eibl, JCCC member and professor-in-residence in the department of surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine, revealed that mice made obese with high-calorie, high-fat diets developed abnormally high numbers of these lesions.

This is the first study to show a direct causal link in an animal model between obesity and risk of this deadly pancreatic cancer.  The JCCC study, led by Dr. Guido Eibl, JCCC member and professor-in-residence in the department of surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine, revealed that mice made obese with high-calorie, high-fat diets developed abnormally high numbers of these lesions. This is the first study to show a direct causal link in an animal model between obesity and risk of this deadly pancreatic cancer.

The mice eating the normal diet gained an average of approximately 7.2 g over 14 months. Mice on the high-fat, high-calorie diet more than doubled this with an average weight gain of 15.9 g.

Pathological tests showed that mice fed the normal diet had mostly normal pancreases with very few scattered PanIN lesions=intraepithelial neoplasias=precursors to pancreatic lesions.  They are used as markers but can only be seen microscopically so a biopsy is needed.  The mice fed high fat & cholesterol in their diet had significantly more PanIN lesions with less overall healthy pancreases.

The study showed that the mice fed a diet high in fats and calories gained significantly more weight, had abnormalities of their metabolism and increased insulin levels, and had marked pancreatic tissue inflammation with the development of PanIN lesions.

These observations suggest that such a diet like this which leads to weight gain, metabolism disturbances, pancreas inflammation and pancreas lesions that are precursors to cancer.

Obviously research is showing obesity has a link with cancer.  We now know this information let’s make a move America and people elsewhere to become a healthier nation including world.  For diversity is the US and other countries filled with all cultures, races and genders need to learn this knowledge to help make their country whether they were either born there and stayed or those born elsewhere moving to a new country, like America and we the people making up the country need to be responsible not just for yourselves but for your children and future generations in spreading good habits, good dieting, and good exercise to prevent high disease in the country for yourself and your children and the future generations by being a good role model in thinking=live healthy not unhealthy.  In time this would play an impact on your countries economy and health care system in how its run.

References:

1 –American Institute for Cancer Research, Schernhammer ES et al. Circulating levels of insulin-like growth factors, their binding proteins, and breast cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005 Mar;14(3):699-704 ES et al. their binding proteins, and breast cancer risk—Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2006 Mar;14(3):699-704/ AICR ScienceNow /Volume 16/Spring　2006

2 – Studies Help Clarify Link Between Obesity and Prostate Cancer Article date: March 2, 2006 Impact of Obesity on Prostate Cancer Recurrence After Radical Prostatectomy: Data from CaPSURE.” Published in the Nov., 2005 Urology (Vol. 66, No. 5: 1060-1065). First author: William W. Bassett, University of California, San Francisco.“Obesity, Serum Prostate Specific Antigen and Prostate Size: Implications for Prostate Cancer Detection.”Published in the Feb. 2006 Journal of Urology (Vol. 175, No. 2: 500-504). First author: Stephen J. Freedland, MD, Duke University School of Medicine.

3 –Director, Medical & Scientific Communications
American Cancer Society
david.sampson@cancer.org  Article: “Body mass index and risk of ovarian cancer.” Michael F. Leitzmann, Corinna Koebnick, Kim N. Danforth, Louise A. Brinton, Steven C. Moore, Albert R. Hollenbeck, Arthur Schatzkin, and James V. Lacey, Jr. CANCER; Published Online: January 05, 2009 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24086); Print Issue Date: February 15, 2009.

4 –Medical News Today-“Direct  Link to Obesity and Pancreatic Cancer” Author Belinda Weber

5 – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America –Article “Link between obesity and cancer” by Sarah C.P. Williams-Science Writer

6 – National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of health – Under their national cancer fact sheet regarding their article “Obesity and Cancer Risk”.

“March is National Nutrition Month. Established by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 1973, it’s an opportunity to educate about healthy food choices and designed to focus on creating healthy eating habits and participating in physical activity for better health. This year’s theme is Beyond the Table.”

The University of Arizona (https://lifework.arizona.edu/news/2024/national-nutrition-month-beyond-table)

Malnutrition involves a dietary deficiency. People may eat too much of the wrong type of food and have malnutrition, but this article will focus on undernutrition, when a person lacks nutrients because they do not consume enough food.

Poor diet may lead to a lack of vitamins, minerals, and other essential substances. Too little protein can lead to kwashiorkor, symptoms of which include a distended abdomen. A lack of vitamin C can result in scurvy.

Scurvy is rare in industrialized nations, but it can affect older people, those who consume excessive quantities of alcohol, and people who do not eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Some infants and children who follow a limited diet for any reason may be prone to scurvy.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 462 million people worldwide are malnourished, and stunted development due to poor diet affects 159 million children globally.

Malnutrition during childhood can lead not only to long-term health problems but also to educational challenges and limited work opportunities in the future. Malnourished children often have smaller babies when they grow up.

It can also slow recovery from wounds and illnesses, and it can complicate diseases such as measles, pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea. It can leave the body more susceptible to disease.

Malnutrition manifests itself as both over- and under-nutrition, and is currently not diagnosed and treated in time. It leads to serious health problems, including the estimated 60 percent of cardiovascular deaths. Researchers suggest that an accurate training of healthcare professionals may be at the heart of solving this problem.  If malnutrition was treated in time, especially from childhood or earlier adulthood many diseases of cardiac to diabetes II to obesity itself with the side effects it caused to other organs.  I could go on about different diseases but cardiac is an important one since the engine to the body is our heart (the size of your fist).

People only look at nutrients as a number, but not as something with nutritional value. They do not consider the food matrix nor biological function.

Applying nutrition into life deals with the relationship between nutrition and the health and wellbeing of a person to even a population.  Take U.S.A. we are the highest with Obesity.  In U.S.A., look how much emphasis is put on fast food selling or advertising alone and we the people over 50% fall for it and if not daily just too much.  Look at disease in this country that could be avoided due to obesity the cause for other diseases in an individual.  Which by the way didn’t happen over night.  Nobody puts  a magnum-45 to someone’s head to walk into McDonald’s or Wendy’s or KOC with many other fast food companies in U.S.A (that have flown in numbers in other countries) to order there food.  Like alcohol for some the person gets addicted to this kind of food.  To change you need the inspiration to want to with the discipline to do so.

There is another disorder Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is newly-recognized and is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating that occur twice weekly or more for a period of at least six months. During bingeing, a larger than normal amount of food is consumed in a short time frame and the person engaging in the bingeing behavior feels a lack of control over the eating.

In BED, bingeing episodes are associated with at least three characteristics such as eating until uncomfortable, eating when not physically hungry, eating rapidly, eating alone for fear of being embarrassed by how much food is being consumed, or feeling disgusted, depressed or guilty after the episode of overeating. These negative feelings may in turn trigger more bingeing behavior. In addition, although BED behaviors may cause distress by those affected, it is not associated with inappropriate compensatory behaviors such as those found in Bulimia Nervosa or Anorexia Nervosa. Therefore, people with BED often present as either overweight or obese because they consume so many extra calories.

Take the opposite,  Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by weight loss (or lack of appropriate weight gain in growing children); difficulties maintaining an appropriate body weight for height, age, and stature; and, in many individuals, distorted body image. People with anorexia generally restrict the number of calories and the types of food they eat. Some people with the disorder also exercise compulsively, purge via vomiting and laxatives, and/or binge eat.

Anorexia can affect people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, races, and ethnicities. Historians and psychologists have found evidence of people displaying symptoms of anorexia for hundreds or thousands of years.

Bulimia nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting designed to undo or compensate for the effects of binge eating.

• Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g. within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of time and under similar circumstances.
• A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g. a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).
• Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior in order to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications, fasting, or excessive exercise.
• The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least once a week for three months.
• Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.
• The disturbance does not occur exclusively during episodes of anorexia nervosa.

Instead of going on and on with diseases here is what you eat to resolve the malnutrition (either eating too much or not enough).  So eat the following in moderate amounts:

Beyond the Table is about growing your food, distributing food, purchasing food at the grocery store or farmers market, and how you treat the food at home. It focuses on food safety and storage of the foods you eat.

• Food safety is always a good idea. The old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is the best way to view the importance of food safety. Making sure foods are stored at the correct temperature and cooked at the appropriate temperature for the correct amount of time is important to prevent food poisoning. An easy way to monitor food safety in your pantry or fridge is by logging on to FoodSafety.gov. It can be accessed from your PC or an app on your phone.
• Shopping for food at the grocery store or farmers’ market is how we often purchase food for home use. Farmer’s Markets offer a great way of getting food from farm to table. Check out resources listing Tucson farmers markets and your area.
• Growing food in the desert can be challenging yet rewarding.
• Cooking skills that will enhance your food budget and possibly give you a new life skill can be found through culinary classes or invest in a basic skills cookbook if you are a beginner making your own healthy foods.
• Grocery lists make it easier to shop when you plan meals for the week. They can also help you stay on track when shopping for food.

“Someone in the world develops dementia every 3 seconds. There are over 55 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2020. This number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050. Much of the increase will be in developing countries. Already 60% of people with dementia live in low and middle income countries, but by 2050 this will rise to 71%. The fastest growth in the elderly population is taking place in China, India, and their south Asian and western Pacific neighbors.

Demographic ageing is a worldwide process that shows the successes of improved health care over the last century. Many are now living longer and healthier lives and so the world population has a greater proportion of older people. Dementia mainly affects older people, although there is a growing awareness of cases that start before the age of 65.

There are over 10 million new cases of dementia each year worldwide, implying one new case every 3.2 seconds.”

Alzheimer’s Disease International (https://www.alzint.org/about/dementia-facts-figures/dementia-statistics/)

Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, the star of the Miracle Mets 1969 World Series championship team, was diagnosed with dementia at age 74.

His family made the announcement Thursday through the Hall and said Seaver has retired from public life. He will continue to work at Seaver Vineyards, founded by the retired player and wife Nancy in 2002 on 116 acres at Diamond Mountain in the Calistoga region of California.

Seaver was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 1991, and it reoccurred in 2012 and led to Bell’s Palsy and memory loss, the New York Daily News reported in 2013.

Know this,  Lyme disease also has the unique ability to bypass the body’s blood-brain barrier, a barrier which typically prevents foreign invaders from affecting the brain, allowing the disease to enter the nervous system accounting for Lyme’s many complex neurological symptoms. Antibiotic treatment protocols alone do not account for this invasion of the body’s nervous system through the blood-brain barrier and therefore are not likely to have lasting results. To effectively treat chronic Lyme disease, antibiotics need to also move past the blood-brain barrier.

Lyme related neurological symptoms are destructive and life-changing.

The struggle to find the right diagnosis is extremely draining for patients who are already facing depression, brain fog, memory loss, tremors, and other crippling symptoms.

Can this lead to Alzheimer’s disease or make it come quicker??

Art Shamsky, who hit .300 with 14 home runs that season for the Mets, details some of the health issues of other teammates as well, among other things, in “After the Miracle,” Newsday reported last week, March 6 on Fox News Channel.

Shamsky, 77, wrote that Seaver suffers from short-term memory loss that could stem from Lyme disease. Seaver, 74, apparently told Shamsky he contracted the disease in 1991 when he lived in Connecticut.

Bud Harrelson, another key player on the championship team, which defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, four games to one, had reportedly been making visits to Seaver regularly and told some members of the team to be prepared when they re-connected with the three-time Cy Young award winner.

“He can forget things that happened just a few minutes before,” Harrelson told Shamsky, according to Newsday. “And he repeats himself a lot. But when he gets his rest, he still has a lot of energy.”

Harrelson, 74, is having his own health struggles. The former Mets shortstop was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. He opened up to CBS New York after 2016 and told the station he immediately stopped driving.

Overview of Dementia and many people can get it anywhere!

Dementia isn’t a specific disease. Instead, dementia describes a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily functioning.

Though dementia generally involves memory loss, memory loss has different causes. So memory loss alone doesn’t mean you have dementia.  So seeing a specialist who is a MD in Dementia is the expert to go to.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of a progressive dementia in older adults, but there are a number of causes of dementia. Depending on the cause, some dementia symptoms can be reversed.

Symptoms

Dementia symptoms vary depending on the cause, but common signs and symptoms include:

Cognitive changes

• Memory loss, which is usually noticed by a spouse or someone else
• Difficulty communicating or finding words
• Difficulty reasoning or problem-solving
• Difficulty handling complex tasks
• Difficulty with planning and organizing
• Difficulty with coordination and motor functions
• Confusion and disorientation

Psychological changes

• Personality changes
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Inappropriate behavior
• Paranoia
• Agitation
• Hallucinations

When to see a doctor

See a doctor if you or a loved one has memory problems or other dementia symptoms. Some treatable medical conditions can cause dementia symptoms, so it’s important to determine the underlying cause.

Causes

Dementia involves damage of nerve cells in the brain, which can occur in several areas of the brain. Dementia affects people differently, depending on the area of the brain affected.

Dementias are often grouped by what they have in common, such as the part of the brain that’s affected or whether they worsen over time (progressive dementias). Some dementias, such as those caused by a reaction to medications or vitamin deficiencies, might improve with treatment.

Progressive dementias

Types of dementias that progress and aren’t reversible include:

• Alzheimer’s disease. In people age 65 and older, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia.Although the cause of Alzheimer’s disease isn’t known, plaques and tangles are often found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. Plaques are clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, and tangles are fibrous tangles made up of tau protein.Certain genetic factors might make it more likely that people will develop Alzheimer’s.
• Vascular dementia. This second most common type of dementia occurs as a result of damage to the vessels that supply blood to your brain. Blood vessel problems can be caused by stroke or other blood vessel conditions.
• Lewy body dementia. Lewy bodies are abnormal clumps of protein that have been found in the brains of people with Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. This is one of the more common types of progressive dementia.
• Frontotemporal dementia. This is a group of diseases characterized by the breakdown (degeneration) of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, the areas generally associated with personality, behavior and language.As with other dementias, the cause isn’t known.
• Mixed dementia. Autopsy studies of the brains of people 80 and older who had dementia indicate that many had a combination of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and Lewy body dementia. Studies are ongoing to determine how having mixed dementia affects symptoms and treatments.

Other disorders linked to dementia

• Huntington’s disease. Caused by a genetic mutation, this disease causes certain nerve cells in your brain and spinal cord to waste away. Signs and symptoms, including a severe decline in thinking (cognitive) skills usually appear around age 30 or 40.
• Traumatic brain injury. This condition is caused by repetitive head trauma, such as experienced by boxers, football players or soldiers.Depending on the part of the brain that’s injured, this condition can cause dementia signs and symptoms, such as depression, explosiveness, memory loss, uncoordinated movement and impaired speech, as well as slow movement, tremors and rigidity (parkinsonism). Symptoms might not appear until years after the trauma.
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This rare brain disorder usually occurs in people without known risk factors. This condition might be due to an abnormal form of a protein. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease can be inherited or caused by exposure to diseased brain or nervous system tissue.Signs and symptoms of this fatal condition usually appear around age 60.
• Parkinson’s disease. Many people with Parkinson’s disease eventually develop dementia symptoms (Parkinson’s disease dementia).

Dementia-like conditions that can be reversed

Some causes of dementia or dementia-like symptoms can be reversed with treatment. They include:

• Infections and immune disorders. Dementia-like symptoms can result from fever or other side effects of your body’s attempt to fight off an infection. Conditions such as multiple sclerosis that result from the body’s immune system attacking nerve cells also can cause dementia.
• Metabolic problems and endocrine abnormalities. People with thyroid problems, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), too little or too much sodium or calcium, or an impaired ability to absorb vitamin B-12 can develop dementia-like symptoms or other personality changes.
• Nutritional deficiencies. Not drinking enough liquids (dehydration); not getting enough thiamin (vitamin B-1), which is common in people with chronic alcoholism; and not getting enough vitamins B-6 and B-12 in your diet can cause dementia-like symptoms.
• Reactions to medications. A reaction to a medication or an interaction of several medications can cause dementia-like symptoms.
• Subdural hematomas. Bleeding between the surface of the brain and the covering over the brain, which is common in the elderly after a fall, can cause symptoms similar to dementia.
• Poisoning. Exposure to heavy metals, such as lead, and other poisons, such as pesticides, as well as alcohol abuse or recreational drug use can lead to symptoms of dementia. Symptoms might resolve with treatment.
• Brain tumors. Rarely, dementia can result from damage caused by a brain tumor.
• Anoxia. This condition, also called hypoxia, occurs when organ tissues aren’t getting enough oxygen. Anoxia can occur due to severe asthma, heart attack, carbon monoxide poisoning or other causes.
• Normal-pressure hydrocephalus. This condition, which is caused by enlarged ventricles in the brain, can cause walking problems, urinary difficulty and memory loss.

Risk factors

Many factors can eventually lead to dementia. Some factors, such as age, can’t be changed. Others can be addressed to reduce your risk.

Risk factors that can’t be changed

• Age. The risk rises as you age, especially after age 65. However, dementia isn’t a normal part of aging, and dementia can occur in younger people.
• Family history. Having a family history of dementia puts you at greater risk of developing the condition. However, many people with a family history never develop symptoms, and many people without a family history do. Tests to determine whether you have certain genetic mutations are available.
• Down syndrome. By middle age, many people with Down syndrome develop early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
• Mild cognitive impairment. This involves difficulties with memory but without loss of daily function. It puts people at higher risk of dementia.

Risk factors you can change

You might be able to control the following risk factors of dementia.

• Heavy alcohol use. If you drink large amounts of alcohol, you might have a higher risk of dementia. Some studies, however, have shown that moderate amounts of alcohol might have a protective effect.
• Cardiovascular risk factors. These include high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol, buildup of fats in your artery walls (atherosclerosis) and obesity.
• Depression. Although not yet well-understood, late-life depression might indicate the development of dementia.
• Diabetes. If you have diabetes, you might have an increased risk of dementia, especially if it’s poorly controlled.
• Smoking. Smoking might increase your risk of developing dementia and blood vessel (vascular) diseases.
• Sleep apnea. People who snore and have episodes where they frequently stop breathing while asleep may have reversible memory loss.

Complications

Dementia can affect many body systems and, therefore, the ability to function. Dementia can lead to:

• Inadequate nutrition. Many people with dementia eventually reduce or stop their intake of nutrients. Ultimately, they may be unable to chew and swallow.
• Pneumonia. Difficulty swallowing increases the risk of choking or aspirating food into the lungs, which can block breathing and cause pneumonia.
• Inability to perform self-care tasks. As dementia progresses, it can interfere with bathing, dressing, brushing hair or teeth, using the toilet independently and taking medications accurately.
• Personal safety challenges. Some day-to-day situations can present safety issues for people with dementia, including driving, cooking and walking alone.
• Death. Late-stage dementia results in coma and death, often from infection.

Prevention

There’s no sure way to prevent dementia, but there are steps you can take that might help in slowing down the process of the disease. More research is needed, but it might be beneficial to do the following:

• Keep your mind active. Mentally stimulating activities, such as reading, solving puzzles and playing word games, and memory training might delay the onset of dementia and decrease its effects.
• Be physically and socially active. Physical activity and social interaction might delay the onset of dementia and reduce its symptoms. Move more and aim for 150 minutes of exercise a week.
• Quit smoking. Some studies have shown smoking in middle age and beyond may increase your risk of dementia and blood vessel (vascular) conditions. Quitting smoking might reduce your risk and will improve your health.
• Get enough vitamin D. Research suggests that people with low levels of vitamin D in their blood are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. You can get vitamin D through certain foods, supplements and sun exposure.More study is needed before an increase in vitamin D intake is recommended for preventing dementia, but it’s a good idea to make sure you get adequate vitamin D.
• Lower your blood pressure. High blood pressure might lead to a higher risk of some types of dementia. More research is needed to determine whether treating high blood pressure may reduce the risk of dementia.
• Maintain a healthy diet. Eating a healthy diet is important for many reasons, but a diet such as the Mediterranean diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and omega-3 fatty acids, commonly found in certain fish and nuts — might promote health and lower your risk of developing dementia.

“Tests and procedures used for colon/rectal cancer diagnosis include:

• Using a scope to examine the inside of the colon. Colonoscopy uses a long, flexible and slender tube attached to a video camera and monitor to view the whole colon and rectum. A doctor may pass surgical tools through the tube to take tissue samples and remove polyps.
• Removing a sample of tissue for testing. A biopsy is a procedure to remove a sample of tissue for testing in a lab. For colon cancer, the tissue sample is often collected during a colonoscopy. Sometimes surgery is needed to get the tissue sample. In the lab, tests can show whether the cells are cancerous and how quickly they’re growing. Other tests can give more information about the cancer cells. Your health care team uses the results to understand your prognosis and create a treatment plan.
• Blood tests. Blood tests aren’t used to diagnose colon cancer. But blood tests can give clues about overall health, such as how well the kidneys and liver are working. A blood test might be used to look for a low level of red blood cells. This result might indicate that a colon cancer is causing bleeding.

Stage II colorectal cancer is divided into three subcategories: IIA, IIB and IIC.

The difference between the categories lies in the extent to which the cancer has spread.

• Stage IIA (T3, N0, M0): The cancer has grown into the outermost layers of the colon or rectum, but has not grown through them. It has not reached nearby organs or lymph nodes, and has not spread to distant organs.
• Stage IIB (T4a, N0, M0): The cancer has grown through all of the layers of the colon or rectum, but has not grown into other organs or tissues.
• Stage IIC (T4b, N0, M0): The cancer has grown through all of the layers of the colon or rectum, and has grown into nearby organs or tissues. The cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes Surgery
• Initial treatment for stage II colon cancer is surgery to remove the section of colon that contains the tumor and surrounding tissue with its blood vessels and lymph nodes.
• The most commonly recommended protocols for patients diagnosed with stage II colon cancer:

Colectomy

A colectomy (or colon resection) is abdominal surgery that removes the section of colon where the tumor is located, tissue containing blood and lymph vessels surrounding the colon (mesentery), healthy tissue margins on either side and, if possible, at least 12 lymph nodes.  Then the remaining ends of colon are reconnected with sutures or staples.  This connection is called an anastomosis.

There are two types of surgery:

• Open colectomy:  An incision is made in the abdomen, surgery performed through the opening, and the incision closed with sutures and/or staples.
• Laparoscopic colectomy:  Three small keyhole incisions are made in the abdomen to insert a lighted instrument and specially designed surgical instruments that can be manipulated within the abdomen.  Sometimes an incision is made just long enough for the surgeon’s hand to assist during laparoscopy. This is also known as minimally invasive surgery.If your lymph nodes are cancer-free (also known as node-negative), your diagnosis is stage II colon cancer
• The tumor, tissue on either side of it (the margins), and fat and lymph nodes attached to the colon are removed for further study by a pathologist.  The pathologist evaluates the cancer cells in the tumor itself, looks for cancer in the margins and other tissue, and studies as many lymph nodes as possible in order to provide an accurate diagnosis.

Chemotherapy

Treatment of node-negative stage II colon cancer is controversial. While surgery to remove the tumor in the colon is universally accepted as initial treatment, the value of chemotherapy after that surgery to keep cancer from recurring (coming back) is hard for patients and doctors to judge.

It’s estimated that between four and five percent of patients with stage II colon cancer will benefit from chemotherapy. However, there are also side effects, some severe, associated with chemotherapy. Very few patients will die as a result of chemotherapy.

Because of the risks of treatment, researchers are looking for ways to identify patients who are at higher risk for recurrence, who are most likely to benefit from chemotherapy.

Some factors have been identified that lead to higher risk for stage II patients including:

• T4 tumors that extend beyond the outer wall of the colon into adjacent tissues and organs
• Too few lymph nodes removed and examined (less than 12)
• Cancer cells in blood and lymph vessels surrounding the tumor (not the same as lymph nodes)
• Undifferentiated or poorly differentiated tumors
• Perforation (a hole) of the colon by the tumor
• A tumor that obstructs (closes off) the colonFor high-risk stage II patients, the number needed to prevent one recurrence or death is smaller, probably 15 to 30 patients.
• It may help your decision to think about the problem in terms of numbers:  In order to prevent one recurrence or death from all cases of stage II colon cancer, 25 to 50 patients need to receive chemotherapy. One in six of those patients will have a severe side effect; one in 100 to 200 will die as a result of treatment.

Chemotherapy regimens for high-risk stage II colon cancer:

• FOLFOX:  combination treatment with infusional 5-FU (fluorouracil), leucovorin, and oxaliplatin
• FLOX: combination with bolus 5-FU, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (severe diarrhea is more common with FLOX than FOLFOX but outcomes are similar)
• Xeloda (capecitabine): oral “prodrug” which is converted to 5-FU in the tumor
• 5-FU and leucovorinThere are some indicators of a patient’s risk of recurrence of their cancer, but no clear information that higher risk means they may benefit from therapy  — thus there are research efforts underway to better define “risk” and develop treatments that will benefit the higher risk patient in a predictable way.
• Stage III colorectal cancer treatments:In this article
• Your doctor can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different chemotherapy regimens if you decide to proceed with chemotherapy after your surgery.  Chemotherapy usually lasts about six months.

Stage III Colorectal Cancer Treatments

Stage III colorectal cancers have spread outside the colon to one or more lymph nodes (small structures that are found throughout the body that produce and store cells that fight infection). Tumors within the colon wall, which also involve the lymph nodes are classified as stage IIIA, while tumors that have grown through the colon wall and have spread to one to four lymph nodes are classified as stage IIIB cancers. Those tumors, which have spread to more than four lymph nodes are classified as stage IIIC colon cancers.

Treatment involves:

• Surgery to remove the tumor and all involved lymph nodes if possible.
• After surgery, the patient will receive chemotherapy with 5-FU, leucovorin and oxaliplatin, capecitabine with oxaliplatin or capecitabine alone.
• Radiation may be needed if the tumor is large and invading the tissue surrounding the colon.

The five-year survival rate for stage III colon cancer is about 64%. Patients with one to four positive lymph nodes have a higher survival rate than people with more than five positive lymph nodes.

 Stage IV Colorectal cancer treatments:

Stage IV colorectal cancers have spread outside the colon to other parts of the body, such as the liver or the lungs. Cancer that has spread is also called “metastatic.” The tumor can be any size and may or may not include affected lymph nodes (small structures that are found throughout the body that produce and store cells that fight infection).

Treatment may include:

• Removal of the cancer surgically or another surgical procedure to bypass the colon cancer and hook up healthy colon (an anastomosis).
• Surgery to remove parts of other organs such as the liver, lungs, and ovaries, where the cancer may have spread.
• Chemotherapy to relieve symptoms and improve survival.
• Erbitux, Avastin, or Vectibix in combination with standard chemotherapy, depending upon tumor characteristics.
• Zaltrap is a drug also approved for use with chemotherapy in cases where the cancer has progressed or is resistant to treatment.
• Stivarga is a targeted therapy approved in patients whose cancer has progressed after previous therapy.
• Clinical trials of new chemotherapy regimens, or immunological therapy.
• Radiation to relieve symptoms.

The five-year survival rate for stage IV colon cancer is nearly 8% or less.

“It’s important to discuss all of your treatment options, including their goals and possible side effects, with your doctors to help make the decision that best fits your needs. It’s also very important to ask questions if there’s anything you’re not sure about.

If time permits, it is often a good idea to seek a second opinion. A second opinion can give you more information and help you feel more confident about the treatment plan you choose.

Based on your treatment options, you might have different types of doctors on your treatment team. These doctors could include:

• A gastroenterologist: a doctor who treats disorders of the gastrointestinal (GI or digestive) tract
• A surgical oncologist (oncologic surgeon): a doctor who uses surgery to treat cancer
• A colorectal surgeon: a doctor who uses surgery to treat diseases of the colon and rectum
• A radiation oncologist: a doctor who treats cancer with radiation therapy.”

American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/colon-rectal-cancer/treating.html)