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What Causes Brain Shrinkage, Irrational And Irritable Behavior?
Question: My husband who is 85 has been diagnosed as having braing shrinkage. However, over the last 5 months his behaviour has deteriorated too rapidly for this to be the problem. He is irrational, irritable, eats and then goes to bed after every meal; is obviously very confused. The main difference is that he has lost about 20lbs in weight over the last 10 months. I have asked for blood tests which show up OK except for a slight iron deficiency which has been corrected. I feel he may have hyperthyroidism but the doc says the test showed negative. He now looks as if he has been in a POW camp at 10.5" taller than me he weights less than I do. What tests should I ask for?
Brief Answer:
There is not much that can be done in such senile degenerative processes
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.
I have carefully gone through the details and understand your concerns. Our brain is made up of nerve cells which interconnect. The nerve cells have numerous interconnections between each others. As memories are formed, more nerve sells interconnect/associate with each other. Speaking in the reverse manner, if there is brain shrinkage and loss of association between nerve cells, memories are likely to fail. Our memories are not only related to things that happened in the past but also how to do day-to-day things or even how to run the basic body processes. It is due to this sort of nervous degenration that his quality of life has come down and he seems to have been in a Prisoners of War (POW) camp.
I do not think that the problem has any association with thyroid levels. I would not suggest further tests since they are not going to do any good. Investigations are done when it helps us to decide on the further course of actions. I do not think that in such age related degenerative processes anything can be done. Hence I would request you to accept the situation even though it might be quite hard for you. All you can do is to be supportive as much as you can.
I hope you understand.
Regards
There is not much that can be done in such senile degenerative processes
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.
I have carefully gone through the details and understand your concerns. Our brain is made up of nerve cells which interconnect. The nerve cells have numerous interconnections between each others. As memories are formed, more nerve sells interconnect/associate with each other. Speaking in the reverse manner, if there is brain shrinkage and loss of association between nerve cells, memories are likely to fail. Our memories are not only related to things that happened in the past but also how to do day-to-day things or even how to run the basic body processes. It is due to this sort of nervous degenration that his quality of life has come down and he seems to have been in a Prisoners of War (POW) camp.
I do not think that the problem has any association with thyroid levels. I would not suggest further tests since they are not going to do any good. Investigations are done when it helps us to decide on the further course of actions. I do not think that in such age related degenerative processes anything can be done. Hence I would request you to accept the situation even though it might be quite hard for you. All you can do is to be supportive as much as you can.
I hope you understand.
Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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