31 Jan 1997
Ida and others: For two very interesting articles about the
recently discovered dual nature of learning and memory, and the
effects of PD, see Science, 6 Sep 1996, pp 1263-1264 and 1399-1402.
(or the reviews in Current Science Reviews for October 1996).
Cheers,
Joe



J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694
3527 Cody Road
Sherman Oaks CA 91403


On Fri, 31 Jan 1997, elizabeth leslie wrote:

> Ida, Thank you.  What you say about learning new things is true I'm
> sure.  I have just recently realised that the amount of learning that has
> taken place in my ailing brain this last 5 months is pretty phenomenael,
> given I had almost 0 (conscious!) exposure to PD till then.  Also I think
> the temptation to dwell on what is lost overrides the recognition of what may
> have been gained.
>
> I must admit I have ben worrying quite a bit about whether I'll have the
> necesssary competence to adjust meds when necessary, and to take
> advantage of things like Brian's charts which are in the 'too hard'
> basket right now.  I do think more and more 'just one step at a time' -
> that's Parkie-think, for sure.
>
> Beth
>
>  On Thu, 30 Jan 1997, Ida Kamphuis wrote:
> >
> > It realy is a very threatening subject you ask about. During my first time as a
> > PWP I read about dementia as just an inevitable symptom of PD in several books.
> > Going to meetings of the Dutch organisation of PWP's, I could see with my own
> > eyes it was not that simple. I met a lot of people who where parkies for a long
> > time but where evidently not demented.
> > For myself I was not so sure, my life was turned upside down. It lasted a long
> > time before I knew the right dosis of med's. I suffered from disturbed
> > concentration. I could not read a book in another language than Dutch.
> > With the passing of time however all turned more or less back to normal. I know
> > my memory is not what it used to be. However, all people growing older feel the
> > same.
> > One diagnostic sign of dementia is the impossibility to learn something new.
> > Just three years ago we planned a holiday in Turkey. I have always tried to
> > learn a few hundreds words of the language of the countries we visited. In this
> > case it was a double challenge because Turkish not a language of the
> > Indo-European language-family. But I could do it. It did cost more repetition
> > than I would have needed before. But having done so the words remained in my
> > brain.
> >
> > I have looked for literature about this topic. I found just one thing. It
> > consists of preliminary unpublished results of a study of the departement of
> > neuropsychology of the University of Amsterdam. They found the following
> > disturbances in PWP's:
> > - disturbances in spatial orientation.
> > - disturbances in rote-learning. This became more difficult, more
> > time-consuming, but results were of the same quality and perseverance as in
> > normals.
> > So it may be true that Alzheimer dementia has a higher frequency in PWP's than
> > in normals, but it seems that the "dementia" that is usually seen in Parkinson
> > is from a different and less threatening type.
> >
> > Regards, Ida Kamphuis, 52/12
> >
>