BEIRUT: Alzheimer’s
disease is on the rise. As modern medicine and living conditions improve and
life expectancy continues to increase, more and more Lebanese are likely to
live well into their 80s.
Of those that are lucky
enough to do so, however, around 50 percent will develop Alzheimer’s, the
presently incurable, degenerative disorder, already thought to be affecting
some 30,000 to 35,000 people across the country.
Traditionally the disease
– which causes a person to become confused, disorientated and ultimately
extremely forgetful and frail – has been swept under the carpet and ignored,
with elderly relatives being sheltered from the outside world out of fear or
embarrassment.
For years after her
husband’s diagnosis “I lived in turmoil, denial and shame, spending sleepless
nights crying not knowing what to do,” said Sohaila Mansour. “I thought he was
going through a strong depression … I was cracking down, as all family and
friends kept their distance.”
The impulse to dismiss
the disease or label it kharaf, or senility, has for many years remained high
even among family members, but the rising prevalence of the disease, combined
with an increasingly more optimistic prognosis given early diagnosis mean that
ignorance is no longer an option.
“Alzheimer’s disease is a
condition that causes severe dementia that can leave individuals reduced to a
shell of their former selves and requiring round the clock care from family and
care givers,” said vice president of the Lebanese Society of Internal Medicine,
Dr Zahi Helou.
“Alzheimer’s is
underdiagnosed at present [but] with early diagnosis and treatment we can
prevent the most severe cases of the disease.”
“We want to raise
people’s awareness of the disease and its treatment so they are better prepared
to assist their older relatives if they are diagnosed with the condition,” he
added.
Over the last few years
regional spending on the disease has increased and more medical staff have
slowly gained experience in diagnosing and managing Alzheimer’s. Organizations
such as the Alzheimer’s Association Lebanon have helped bring international
experts to the region, promoted staff training and fought social misconceptions
about dementia.
But with the 2010 World
Alzheimer’s Report, released this month, finding the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region spends a mere 0.16 percent of their GDP on the disease,
the challenges remain vast.
Despite two-thirds of the
70 million global new dementia cases expected to arise in the next 40 years
coming from low- and middle-income countries, the MENA region is massively
lagging behind. According to the report, only Sub-Saharan Central and West Africa
spend less on the problem that presently costs the global economy some $600
billion a year.
While governments
certainly have a role to play in improving care, in Lebanon, where family ties
remain strong, the burden will likely continue to be a predominantly personal
one.
Fortunately, small
changes in the way we treat elderly relatives can make a big difference.
Friends and family are
better than medical methods at detecting the early symptoms such as losing
interest in hobbies or misplacing money, a new study published in the online
journal Brain has shown.
Early family recognition
can cut medical diagnosis costs and increase the chances of the patient
receiving treatments which improve the quality of life, the study found.
Being more aware can also
crucially change the way that relatives deal with the disease, bettering the
quality of life for the sufferer and family alike.
“When I first learned
about my mother’s condition, I tried to escape from her for almost two years,”
said Diane Mansour, founder of Alzheimer’s Association Lebanon. “Back then [in
2001] there was absolutely no one that knew anything, it was clouded in a total
sense of taboo.”
“But all it took was one
meeting of an association where I got some information and my view changed
entirely,” she said. “I realized that people with Alzheimer’s were fragile and
needed lots of security. Once you change the drama of Alzheimer’s you can be
very happy with your life.”
Over the last six years,
Mansour’s o
