DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have some additional thoughts for your
answer about hardening of the arteries. When I worked in The
National Health Service Corps in rural Pennsylvania, patients
specifically used the term "hardening of the arteries" to
describe their elderly relatives with dementia. This was in the
era before brain scans. Now we would call the condition either
Alzheimer's disease or multi-infarct dementia. - R.B., M.D.
ANSWER: Many people use "dementia" as a distinct brain illness;
it isn't. It's a blanket word that covers all brain disorders
where brain function deteriorates. Among the functions that go
are memory, difficulty in performing simple arithmetic, the
inability to use proper words, a severe limitation on learning
anything new and the feeling of being overwhelmed when it comes
to making a decision. People with dementia often dress
inappropriately, putting on a winter coat in the middle of
summer. They become lost in what should be familiar locations.
"Senility" was once a popular word for demen