A history lesson

The word dementia is a Latin word meaning without mind.    For centuries the word was used to describe madness or mental illnesses and even mental handicaps.  It makes me think that dementia, in the use that it is today, has in fact been around for a very long time.  The simple fact that up until the 19th century, most people did not live to see 65, let alone 75 or 85, is probably the only reason why it wasn't as prevalent throughout history.  Oddly, one form of dementia was very prevalent until the creation of Penicillin.  That well known type of dementia was seen in royalty and commoners alike.  Syphilitic dementia, caused by the untreated sexually transmitted disease, was very common and many famous people suffered from it.  People like Christopher Columbus,  Napoleon, Al Capone and my favourite George Washington, all suffered and eventually died from complications of Syphilitic dementia.
It's sad really because historically, those who suffered with dementia were put into insane asylums or essentially left to die.  Luckily because of plagues and flu's etc, many didn't live to develop dementia.  Dr. Alois Alzheimer was a German doctor who worked in an asylum.  He followed many patients who had been admitted with 'madness' and who's madness developed other physical characteristics, like incontinence and the inability to walk or talk.  When a 51 year old woman that he had be following passed away he did an autopsy on her brain and discovered that the cerebral cortex was covered in what her termed as 'plaque'.
He presented his findings to his colleagues who really weren't that interested.  Yet he continued his research until his death at age 51.  He would never know the importance of his discovery or the illness that would bear his name.
In 1995 the neurology department in Munich discovered the slides and research papers  that Dr. Alzheimer had collected.  With modern technology they determined the importance of what he had documented.  The slides he had of many patients showed the progression of the disease and labelled what symptoms were present in the patient at their time of death and since the doctor had patients in the same family, it showed the genetic possibilities.  The same research that Dr. Alzheimer conducted between 1905 and 1916 was not studied again until 1976.  If only war had not broken out and had any university shown interest in his research, then perhaps our knowledge and advancement of dementia would be so much greater than what it is today.
Mom had another visitor, her second cousin Dwight.  Dwight took over from where my late great aunt had in her tracing of my grandmother's family tree.  With technology and the memory of many relatives he has successfully traced the roots of the Deck family all the way back to Kaspar and Franziska Dek, the year 1760.  I was astonished with the information that he had compiled and put into an individual binder, specific to my grandmother, Agatha.  Kaspar was born in Alsace, France.  Because of war, famine and whatever at the time, he settled in a village outside of Odessa, Russia.  Kaspar had 7 children and they all lived to grow their own families.  Today, you can find Deck that descended from Kaspar everywhere from Argentina, to South Dakota, to Russia, to Germany and to Saskatchewan.
I asked Dwight about some of the information that he had discovered.   As I child when my grandparents and my relatives wanted to discuss something that small ears shouldn't hear, they would speak in German.  It didn't work, we knew enough to figure out the just of the conversations.  One thing I remember was my great uncle Peter and how he, in his later years had developed some sort of 'mental' problem.  I was very young when he died and I don't remember him.  Knowing that dementia and mental illness can be hereditary I asked Dwight if he uncovered anything about dementia and mental illness.  He answered with a resounding "Oh my goodness yes!"
My great, great grandfather Peter had 5 sons with his first wife Annemarie.  When she died he remarried and had 4 more children with his second wife.  In all the generations that followed and only in Peters genetic line (none of his siblings genetic lines), there are writings and documentation of some sort of mental problem and not only in the women but in the men too.  Furthermore, those problems are only found in the families of the 5 sons that Peter Deck had with his first wife, none is found in the families of the children he had with his second wife.  At least two of his sons had some sort of known 'mental' problem.   One of them blew a load of money and on a whim moved to Argentina (very bi-polar behaviour).  The next generation showed some mental health issues in the form of depression.    One of Peter's and Annemarie's sons was of course named Peter and he married Lucia Herzog and one of their 13 children was my grandmother Agatha, who begot Elaine, who begot me.  As absurd as this seems, I was relieved to hear that information.  That means that the dementia isn't just striking the women in the family but also the men.  Something else that he discovered is that 'mental' problems were very prevalent in the older generations of the family appear to lessen with each generation both in the degree of illness and the number of family members afflicted.  Maybe I won't develop dementia and it's very likely that my kids won't either. 
Just 4 days ago researchers found the genetic link to dementia.  In a few years there will be a test that family members can take to see if they have the genetic markers.  Based on my family history, I'll be first in line for that DNA test.

Dr. Alois Alzheimer