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Introductions: Are you caring for someone with dementia?
Caregivers: Dementia | Last Active: Mar 17 6:30pm | Replies (762)Comment receiving replies
Scott, for my personal education I am interested in learning more about the possible association of cancer with dementia, if it is being studied. I know that Diabetes is now being studied as a precursor or in association with Alzheimer's and some doctors refer to Alzheimer's as Diabetes III. There must be a connection as my husband had both Diabetes which he refused to treat, and prostate cancer, which he did not continue to treat, and ended up with a tumor wrapped around his spine which killed him. It is difficult to say when the dementia first surfaced because his personality was so obstinate and uncooperative.
I can say I lived through the whole 50-year experience and after 13 years still do not have the strength to write it all down for study. But I care so much.
Dorisena
Replies to "Scott, for my personal education I am interested in learning more about the possible association of..."
Hello @dorisena nice to e-meet you here on Mayo Connect.. I am sad to read about the challenges you faced with your husband's dementia. It must have made being his caregiver even more difficult.
I do not know of any documented connection between cancer and dementia, In my wife's case it was brain cancer and the fact the tumor destroyed her brain causing her dementia-like symptoms.
Likewise I have never seen anything linking diabetes with Alzheimer's disease, but I guess anything is possible. It seems to me, as a non-medical professional, that one being in the brain and the other being a failure of the pancreas, they wouldn't intersect.
What have you read and learned about this? I'm interested to know.
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I wonder if all the meds that many people take for their illnesses, including cancer and depression, are a large part of the reason for the dementia that develops.