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Lisa Skinner: Lisa, Hi everyone.
Welcome back to the truth lies

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and Alzheimer's show. I'm Lisa
Skinner, your host. Today, I

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want to talk about what a
neurocognitive disorder really

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is, and it might actually
surprise some of you that it

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does include other conditions
besides Alzheimer's or some of

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these other brain diseases that
cause dementia. So

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neurocognitive disorder? What
does that mean? It's a general

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term that describes decreased
mental function due to a medical

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disease other than a psychiatric
illness. So it's not mental

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illness. This is neurocognitive
disorders. Now, neurocognitive

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disorders are grouped into three
subcategories, the first one is

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delirium, like a false belief,
believing something's there.

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That's not like my grandmother
believing that there were birds

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living in her mattress and that
they would come out at night and

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peck at her face. That's an
example of delirium or a false

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belief. It's different from a
hallucination, where, when she

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was telling me, asking me if I
saw the rats running around in

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her house, she literally thought
she saw rats. That's the

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difference. That's a
hallucination. The other

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subcategory for a neurocognitive
disorder is what's called mild

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neurocognitive disorder, and the
person may be experiencing some

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decreased mental function, but
able to stay independent and do

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daily tasks. And the third
subcategory is called major

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neurocognitive disorder, which
is decreased mental function and

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loss of ability to perform your
activities of daily living, your

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daily tasks. This is also called
Dementia, and for those of you

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who are new to this program, let
me just take a minute to explain

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the difference between
Alzheimer's disease or one of

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the other 200 brain diseases
that cause what we call

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dementia. So Alzheimer's
disease, frontotemporal disease,

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Lewy Body disease, these are all
brain diseases that cause very

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similar symptomology in people
who have these brain diseases.

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The other thing that a lot of
people aren't aware of, that I

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want to make sure that you
understand, is that people can

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actually suffer from more than
one brain disease

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simultaneously. A person can be
experiencing Alzheimer's disease

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and, let's say vascular dementia
at exactly the same time, but

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those two brain diseases could
be damaging different parts of

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the brain at the same time. Now,
when we use the term dementia,

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we're referring to the symptoms,
the signs and the behaviors that

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are caused from the damage being
done to the brain from the brain

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disease, dementia is not an
actual disease. It's a broad

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term used to basically refer to
the signs symptoms and behaviors

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that we see that are caused as a
result of the damage being done

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to the brain. So it's a generic
term, but it refers to the signs

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and the symptoms like we've all
experienced this, sometimes we

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can't tell the difference
between a cold and the flu, but

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we experience symptoms, so let's
say we have the symptoms that

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are include a fever, Body aches,
sneezing all the time. Now, what

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is this? Is this a cold, or is
this the flu? Well, hopefully

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our doctor can tell us the
difference, but the symptoms

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between colds and the flu often
are overlapping and they are

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similar completely different
diseases. So that's a good kind

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of analogy for understanding the
difference between dementia and

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the actual disease. Is it's
referring to the symptoms that

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we're experiencing now, some of
the causes associated with

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neurocognitive disorder include.
Brain injuries caused by trauma.

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Brain injuries are not actual
diseases. They are caused by

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traumatic events. Traumatic
injuries, it could include

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bleeding into the brain, which
is also referred to as an

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intracerebral hemorrhage, or
bleeding into the space around

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the brain. Sub arachnoid
hemorrhage is what the medical

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term is for bleeding into the
space around the brain. Or it

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could be a blood clot inside the
skull, but it's outside the

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brain, and it's covering which
may cause pressure on the brain,

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and that's referred to either a
subdural hematoma or an epidural

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hematoma, or it can be caused by
a concussion. It also these

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neurocognitive disorders can
also be caused by a breathing

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condition. Many of us would
never have associated that with

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neurocognitive impairment, and
that would include having low

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oxygen in your body, or hypoxia,
is the medical term for it, or

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high carbon dioxide levels in
your body, that's the medical

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term for that. Is called
hypercapnia. There are also

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cardiovascular disorders that
can cause neurocognitive

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disorders and that includes in
that category, dementia due to

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many strokes, also referred to
as multi infarct dementia, heart

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infections such as endocarditis
or myocarditis, having a stroke

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or having a mini stroke, also
referred to as a TIA or a

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transient in ischemic attack,
those can be the direct Causes

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of neurocognitive disorders.
Then we have degenerative

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disorders, and these are your
actual brain diseases, and there

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are about 200 known degenerative
disorders, but let me just list

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a few of the more commonly known
ones, beginning with Alzheimer's

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disease, also referred to as
senile dementia, the Alzheimer's

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type. Fruits Feld Jacob disease
is another one that is a little

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bit more common, diffuse Lewy
Body disease. We're hearing more

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and more and more about Lewy
Body disease. Hunting disease is

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a rare one, but we're hearing
that term more often. My brother

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in law was one of my eight
family members who actually

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passed away from Huntington's
disease, normal pressure

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Hydrocephalus is another
degenerative disorder,

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Parkinson's disease, that one's
pretty well known and picks

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disease. There are autoimmune
diseases that cause neuro

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cognitive disorders, and a lot
of people don't make that

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association. So you can
experience neurocognitive

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impairment from having multiple
sclerosis or Ms. You can also

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experience neurocognitive
disorder by having an autoimmune

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disease, such as autoimmune
encephalitis, and then there's

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dementia due to metabolic
causes. And this might surprise

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some of you, kidney diseases can
lead to dementia, like symptoms,

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liver diseases, thyroid
diseases, either hyper

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thyroidism or hypothyroidism. So
either an underactive thyroid or

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an overactive thyroid vitamin
deficiencies, such as a

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deficiency in vitamin B, 1b 12
or folate, can mimic the

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symptoms of dementia,

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the confusion, the behaviors,
all the things that we see

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caused by an Alzheimer's disease
or one of these other

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degenerative disorders. The
difference is the dementia is

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due to metabolic causes. Death
can be treated and possibly

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reversed. Where the degenerative
disorders cannot, they're

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progressive, they get worse, and
they eventually lead to death.

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Then there's drug and alcohol
related conditions that can lead

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to neurocognitive disorders or
impairment, and that would

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include alcohol withdrawal,
state intoxication from drug or

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alcohol use medicine, effects
such as corticosteroids,

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sedative hypnotics, anti
histamines and antidepressants.

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There's also Wernicke Korsakoff
syndrome, which is a long term

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effect of deficiency of thiamine
or vitamin b1 and then

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withdrawal from medications such
as sedative hypnotics or

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corticos steroids can also
contribute to neurocognitive

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disorders, also included would
be a sudden onset or long term

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infection like a urinary tract
infection, is a good example

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blood poisoning, and that's what
happens with urinary tract

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infections. It can get into the
blood called septicemia, and

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just bring on dementia, like
symptoms pretty quickly, but

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Alzheimer's disease and the
other neurodegenerative

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syndromes or diseases don't
bring on the symptoms quickly

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like that, but a urinary tract
infection that gets into the

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blood system can but it's
treatable with antibiotics. A

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brain infection such as
encephalitis, meningitis is

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another one that's infection of
the lining of the brain and the

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spinal cord that can bring on
dementia like symptoms. Another

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one is called a prion infection,
and an example is mad cow

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disease. And then late stage
syphilis also mimics

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neurocognitive disorders and
Lyme disease, too. Talked about

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that recently on a on another
episode, additionally

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complications of cancer and
cancer treatment with

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chemotherapy and radiation
therapy to the brain can also

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lead to neurocognitive disorders
and The related symptomology

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other conditions that may mimic
neurocognitive disorder include

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depression, neurosis and
psychosis. Some of the symptoms

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that can differ based on the
disease, but in general,

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neurocognitive disorder causes
agitation, confusion, long term

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loss of brain function, which
includes mild cognitive

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impairment and or dementia and
severe short term loss of brain

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function or delirium. There are
tests that may include blood

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test, neuropsychological
testing, an EEG, a head CT scan,

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a head MRI and or a lumbar
puncture, which is taking fluid

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out of the spinal cap. It's
called the Spinal Tap. Treatment

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depends on the underlying
condition. Many conditions are

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treated mainly with
rehabilitation and supportive

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care to help the person with
activities lost due to areas

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where brain function is
affected. Medications may be

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needed to reduce aggressive
behaviors that can occur with

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some of these conditions. The
Outlook or prognosis for some of

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these conditions are that some
are short term and reversible,

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but unfortunately, many of these
are long term and get worse over

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time, and they are not curable.
Some of the possible

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complications are that people
with neurocognitive disorder

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often lose the ability to
interact with others or function

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on their own without needing
help with some or all. Their

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activities of daily living. So
it's recommended that you should

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contact your health care
provider if you've already been

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diagnosed with neurocognitive
disorder and you are uncertain

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about the exact type of disorder
that's causing the symptoms that

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definitely needs to be assessed
immediately. You are showing

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symptoms of a condition that I
just mentioned. You have been

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diagnosed with neurocognitive
disorder, and your symptoms are

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starting to worsen. Alternative
names are organic mental

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disorder or organic brain
syndrome. So hopefully you found

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some of this, not only
informative and valuable, but

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surprising that so many things
out there can mirror and do

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mirror the same or similar
symptomology behavior, signs

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that we see with Alzheimer's
disease and other brain

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diseases. I wanted to bring this
to your attention, because the

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symptomology that we experience
with Alzheimer's disease doesn't

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always mean it's going to end up
as full blown dementia, that

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it's possible there's an under
another underlying root cause

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that can be treated, can be
reversed, can be cured. So be

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aware of that, because if
somebody in your family, or

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somebody that you know all of a
sudden starts showing these

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symptoms, that you're thinking,
oh my gosh, this. This looks

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like it might be something like
Alzheimer's disease, not always

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the case. Take that person, have
that person go for a full

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assessment with your primary
care physician, because it just

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might be something that is
treatable and reversible and

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curable, and it's not going to
be a long term, progressive

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situation like we see with brain
diseases. So that's what I

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wanted to bring for you today to
this episode of the truth, lies

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and Alzheimer's again. I'm Lisa
Skinner, your host, and I will

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be back next week with another
new episode of the truth, lies

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and Alzheimer's disease,
bringing you more helpful, more

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valuable, more usable,
information that'll hopefully

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help you live better, happier
lives until next time. Have a

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good rest of your week. Thanks
for being here with us today,

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and we'll see you next week.
Bye, bye.