Rustsmith wrote:During my last visit with our neurologist, I was quizzing her about my possible future with Alzheimers since I have a family history. She made an offhand comment that Alzheimers was one thing that my wife did not have to worry about, which I assumed was a reference to a connection with MS. I asked my wife about it and she had never heard about anything like this from any of her previous physicians.
So, maybe there is a belief among some that there is a relationship. I am not quite sure how I would rate this particular doctor. She has been competent for most of our needs, but after all, 50% of the physicians were in the bottom half of their class at med school.
And, just like the rest of us, physicians have to get their info from somewhere. They are no less likely to hear things and belief them without checking the source!
And, to both of your points, there is a LOT of casually cited info on the Web that people with MS rarely have other cognitive issues, other than those caused by MS. It's possible that there aren't a lot of studies done on it and it's folklore that everyone sort of relies on. It was not easy, actually to find any supporting info to the study I did find. I think it's clouded because people with MS can get a form of dementia - and it can be really hard to tell the types of dementia apart. also, it appears that a chemical involved in ALZ can potentially help MS, and that the same area of the brain is involved in both. Unless you'd studied both of these, it would be easy to not know the specifics.
In case anyone is wondering, here are a study cited about the the topic above.
"A 2008 study showed that people with MS were no more or less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than anyone else in their age group. While this no doubt comes as a relief to most of us living with MS, many of us are still affected by MS-related cognitive dysfunction. This usually manifests as problems with short-term memory, maintaining concentration and completing word-finding problems, which can feel like some of the symptoms of early Alzheimer's disease or other kinds of dementia (and bring similar fears and frustrations).
For more on the differences between the symptoms and progression of Alzheimer's disease and MS-related cognitive dysfunction, read the full article: Does MS-related cognitive dysfunction progress like Alzheimer's disease?"
And, another quote from the Alzheimer's Society, UK:
"Other medical conditions that can increase a person's chances of developing dementia include Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic kidney disease and HIV. Down's syndrome and some other learning disabilities also increase a person's risk of dementia (see factsheet 442, Rarer causes of dementia and factsheet 430, Learning disabilities and dementia)."