Re: Smoking speeds up memory loss in old age

[Guest guest]

Here's something else for me to worry about. I quit smoking 10 years

ago, but this article makes it sound as though my mental decline will

be faster, anyway, even though I quit.

Oh well, since I have RA, I have " a median survival much shorter than

the general population, to quote another article recently sent by .

In addition, I have diabetes, which calls for a shortened survival

rate, too. So I might not live long enough for the mental decline to

happen. Uh-oh, it already has started. heheehe

Sue

On Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at 12:54 PM, wrote:

>

> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly people who smoke show a five-fold

> faster rate of age-related mental decline than people who never smoked,

> according to new study findings released Monday.

>

> Among former smokers, mental decline occurred around twice as fast as

> in

> those who said they never smoked.

[Guest guest]

Very funny, Sue!

It's not all doom and gloom. Remember that these studies and prognoses

include all kinds of people - including those who make very bad

lifestyles choices (for example, those who continue to smoke) and those

who have poor medical care and those who choose not to comply with

reasonable recommendations made by good physicians and those who have

quite serious, treatment-resistant disease.

We have to hope that new drugs like the Enbrel that you are on will

improve quality of life and survival for RA patients as a whole and for

you in particular.

From everything that I know about you, you are doing the very best you

can to be as healthy as you can be. You're at the top of the statistical

heap!

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Re: [ ] Smoking speeds up memory loss in old age

> Here's something else for me to worry about. I quit smoking 10 years

> ago, but this article makes it sound as though my mental decline will

> be faster, anyway, even though I quit.

>

> Oh well, since I have RA, I have " a median survival much shorter than

> the general population, to quote another article recently sent by

.

> In addition, I have diabetes, which calls for a shortened survival

> rate, too. So I might not live long enough for the mental decline to

> happen. Uh-oh, it already has started. heheehe

>

> Sue

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the encouragement, . You're right, I do whatever I can

to be as healthy as I can be, with all the diseases I have. LOL I'm

lucky that I am able to control my diabetes very well. I'm also lucky

that I didn't get RA until my kids were already raised and my career

completed. I have great doctors, and insurance that helps me pay for my

expensive medications. In August I will be on Medicare, and we'll see

what happens then.

Sue

On Wednesday, March 24, 2004, at 01:15 PM, wrote:

> Very funny, Sue!

>

> It's not all doom and gloom. Remember that these studies and prognoses

> include all kinds of people - including those who make very bad

> lifestyles choices (for example, those who continue to smoke) and those

> who have poor medical care and those who choose not to comply with

> reasonable recommendations made by good physicians and those who have

> quite serious, treatment-resistant disease.

>

> We have to hope that new drugs like the Enbrel that you are on will

> improve quality of life and survival for RA patients as a whole and for

> you in particular.

>

> From everything that I know about you, you are doing the very best you

> can to be as healthy as you can be. You're at the top of the

> statistical

> heap!