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0 pointsnom9y ago0 comments

Exactly. Once your brain stops working you've got nothing to lose and many people would rather take a 10% chance of living over a 100% chance of dying. It's the same with cancer, you try everything there is and even extreme side effects can be tolerated.

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8 comments · 2 top-level

maverick_iceman9y ago· 4 in thread

I would rather die than live with Alzheimers.

nomOP9y ago

The scary thing is that we can't understand what it feels like to have Alzheimer. Once progressed you become unable to judge the situation like you are used to. The world looks different from a patient's perspective.

trentlott9y ago

Having worked in a nursing home, the outlook someone with Alzheimer's has in not pleasant. It's confusing and, in the early stages, you're aware of everything you love and the understanding of your place in the world slowly slipping away.

M_Grey9y ago

It's not some peaceful slip into senility and oblivion... it's more like a sawtooth graph of waxing and waning awareness, punctuated with extreme frustration, and terror.

I know what it is like to have lost a favorite book and look for it in vain for days before the love wears off. If I had that feeling every day, just the feeling alone would cause my mind to break down. Ever remember having a great idea, but not remember what the idea was?

grandwigg9y ago· 2 in thread

I wouldn't go that far. I know a number of people (myself included) for whom there is a threshold for sideeffect vs longevity. As a chronic pain patient, even now that's are treatments possible, but I would be unable to keep my job, or even enjoy much I currently do. How valuable is life when you can't take part in it?

I imagine you don't have to be too far along into Alzheimer's to decide the side effects are worth it.

M_Grey9y ago

You don't want longevity with Alzheimer's. Talk about not being able to take part in life..

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