Buzzzzzz!

The old familiar saying, (from Erma Bombeck I believe), that 'insanity is inherited, I get it from my kids'  sometimes applies in my household!  Most often though, when I think I'm loosing my sanity it's just a feeling of  " Blech, what did I just read  [hear or see]?! "   or "Where are my car keys?!"   It can be a feeling of watching the world from underwater for some.  For me, I believe it mostly occurs because I get thinking and doing too many things at one time.  Not paying enough attention to that one thing and…. "Buzz!  Fzzipth!" I am stopped by the sudden experience of a 'brain fart!' 

Being able to remember something well usually just requires me giving my total attention in the first place.  If I am placing my car keys or wallet somewhere I usually don't, (and I have a designated place for both as I got tired of searching,…..), I slow myself down and really look at the scene I'm creating.  It works.  I love to read and do puzzles and help create crafts with my daughter,… all things that help any brain stay healthy & 'firing on all cylinders.'  We all know eating healthy and getting exercise and avoiding excess nastiness, (booze, drugs, all-nighters), also help our brains and bodies!

Anyhow, there's been a fair bit in the news about our aging population; saving for retirement, housing, and of course, memory and Alzheimer's.  A glucose called betamyloid, can 'gunk' up certain areas of the brain therefore cutting off electrical impulses, (a cause and symptom of the aging disease). No one is sure at what rate or how severely an Alzheimer's patient will be affected.  A lot of studying is going on to try to spot and treat  Alzheimer's early as it can set in 10 years before memory problems appear.

A Brampton man, (a former city councilor), Robert Linton,  was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago and wasn't going to sit around waiting for 'it' to happen.   Mr. Linton had a special surgical procedure recently.  A 'spaghetti-sized' electrode was implanted 4 inches into his brain, (near the fornix, the memory circuit).  The electrode is wired to a 3 volt battery under his skin, (near his collar bone).  The battery fires electrical impulses to the brain at 130 per second!  Mr. Linton has shown an improvement in his memory testing, most patients will at least experience a slowing down of Alzheimers symptoms.

The surgeon, Dr. Andres Lazano, at the University of Health Sciences at Toronto Western Hospital 'stumbled' onto the use of  deep-brain stimulation for memory  and Alzheimer's while performing the procedure on a very obese man. While implanting the electrode to curb the man's appetite, the man experienced vivid memories  from 30 years ago' when Dr. Lazano buzzed his fornix.  This same procedure has been used around 80,000 times worldwide for Parkinson's sufferers and some other treatments like depression.

In a nutshell Dr. Lazano implanted the circuitry in a half-dozen Alzheimer's patients mostly to prove the safety vs. the positive effects.  He predicts that after one year the areas of the brain that had formerly been damaged by the disease will be in better shape, (and start using that glucose again).  This study should have the world buzzing about Canadian know-how!  It is great news.

Also, if you get bored and need a buzz, say when you're stuck in traffic on a hot long-weekend en-route to the lake, try spelling Saskatchewan backwards!  That'll get the grey cells firing! 

(editor's note: I suspect Lynne wrote this article knowing how hard it would be for me to NOT include a graphic with Mr. Harper plugged into an electrical outlet someplace – Mark)