On Alzheimer’s...
1 in 11 Canadians over the age of 65 (approximately 500,000 people) has Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
More than 71,000 of the Canadians living with dementia are under the age of 65. Of that number, 50,000 are under the age of 60.
In just five years, as many as 50 per cent more Canadians and their families could be facing Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.
As it stands today, the number of Canadians living with this disease or a related dementia will more than double within a generation (25 years).
Alzheimer’s accounts for approximately 64 per cent of all dementias in Canada.
Alzheimer’s disease is the second most feared disease for Canadians as they age.
One in three Canadians (36 per cent) know someone with Alzheimer’s disease.
On Epilepsy...
In approximately 60-75 per cent of all cases, there is no known cause. Of the remaining cases, there are a number of frequently identified causes:
- brain injury to the foetus during pregnancy
- birth trauma (lack of oxygen)
- aftermath of infection (meningitis)
- head trauma (car accident, sports injury, shaken baby syndrome)
- alteration in blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
- other metabolic illness (hypocalcemia)
- brain tumour
- stroke
On Huntington disease...
It is an inherited brain disorder that causes cells in specific parts of the brain to die.
About one in every 10,000 Canadians has HD, but one in every 1,000 are touched by the disease, whether at risk, as a caregiver, family member or friend.
The HD gene is dominant, which means that each child born to a parent with Huntington disease has a 50 per cent chance of sharing the same fate.
The symptoms of HD include:
- emotional turmoil (depression, apathy, obsessive behaviour)
- mental loss (inability to focus, think and recall, make decisions)
- physical deterioration (weight loss, involuntary movements, diminished coordination, inability to walk, talk, swallow)
The disease leads to complete incapacitation and, eventually, death.
Currently, there are no treatments that will slow down or stop the disease in humans
On Multiple Sclerosis...
MS is most often diagnosed in young adults, aged 15 to 40, but can affect children as young as two years old.
MS is unpredictable, affecting vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility. Its effects are physical, emotional, financial, and last a lifetime. There is no cure.
Did you know:
- Canadians have one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world.
- MS is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in Canada.
- Every day, three more people in Canada are diagnosed with MS.
- Women are more than three times as likely to develop MS as men.
- MS can cause loss of balance, impaired speech, extreme fatigue, double vision and paralysis.
- MS was first identified and described by a French neurologist, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, in 1868.
- We don’t know what causes MS but researchers are closer to finding the answer.
On Cerebral Palsy...
It is a term used to describe a group of disorders affecting body movement and muscle co-ordination.
The medical definition of cerebral palsy is a “non-progressive” but not unchanging disorder of movement and/or posture, due to an insult to or anomaly of the developing brain.
Development of the brain starts in early pregnancy and continues until about age three. Damage to the brain during this time may result in cerebral palsy.
On Parkinson’s disease...
Muscle tremor, stiffness and weakness are all results of Parkinson’s.
The trembling is worse when the body is at rest but will generally stop when the body is in use.
As the disease progresses, drooling, loss of appetite, stiffness affecting both sides of the body, weakness, trembling muscles, rigid posture, slow movements, difficulty walking, constant trembling of the hands, head shaking, permanent rigid stoop and an unblinking, fixed expression occur.
About one-third of Parkinson’s Disease sufferers eventually show signs of dementia.
The disease runs an average ten year course and ultimately results in death usually by an infection or aspiration pneumonia.
