My brother-in-law: He had a bad fall out of a tree when he was pruning it. He fell about 15 feet off a ladder, landed on his shoulder, broke his collar bone and a few other internal injuries. He was laid up in bed for six months and my wife (his sister) noticed toward end of this time that his mental responses seemed to be deteriorating. It has now been 15 years since fall and he has no cognizance of “what has been”. His long term memory is fair at best. His short term memory is virtually non-existent. He can no longer drive because he has no idea of how to get where he wants to go, or even of where he wants to go. In a conversation he will repeat himself every couple of minutes forgetting that he has just said that same thing – even 5 to 10 times in space of a quarter hour? His physical appearance: handsome, rugged, vigorous, he appears to be a healthy and vigorous man of 60ish. He is actually 82. A reaction to a severe injury.

Me, personally: In march of 2000 I had a mild stroke and again in May I had a second mild stroke. They were so mild I put them down as “pseudo-strokes”, one of which I had in summer of 1988, and did not couple them with “real strokes” until I was reading an article in Readers Digest in August about strokes. But...both I and my sweetie (my wife June) had noticed that my memory seemed to be getting worse. Oh, I’ve always had ability to forget what I’m talking about in mid-sentence, and to forget a word I was trying to use before I could remember and use it! But now it was getting noticeably worse. And it remains worse. I struggle often with words I know and use everyday, including street where I live, connecting street to it, names of people, places and things. A reaction to strokes.

The wife of a close friend: She was a bright woman, mother of three, housewife, teacher and good friend. She got Type II diabetes and suffered from it more than most. It got much worse than Type II diabetes usually gets, she was totally losing her ability to function in kitchen and had to be told not to cook or use stove. But a check when it kept worsening provided a clue: she was suffering from a degenerative brain disease which would 1) destroy her short term memory (1 second) but 2) leave her long-term memory. She is fully aware of fact that she no longer functions like she used to: she just has no grasp of present and she is now totally physically dependent upon 100% care support for all physical functions. Onset of a degenerative disease of brain and of unknown causes.

So five cases, five different causes, similar results but differing degrees. Simple words with frightening visualizations but not so bad when we try to understand just what it is: Dementia: Senility: two terms probably similar in meaning. More in article Dementia: Will I Get It?