Ailment can be confused with Alzheimer’s

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The inability to finish a sentence, memory loss and walking with a shuffle all sound like symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. But, some people who think they have dementia may actually have a “fixable” problem.

It’s a good day for 63-year-old Jim Young. He can navigate around his family without falling and carry on a conversation.

But this former engineer worries his balance and memory will soon fail him. Young says his condition seems to have gotten “progressively worse.”

“I didn’t know if he was just getting premature aging or if he was getting Alzheimer’s,” says Jamie Young, Jim’s son.

Jim Young doesn’t have dementia. He has another problem. It’s called normal pressure hydrocephalus. It’s the buildup of too much fluid on the brain.

“In an adult you have a fixed space in the skull,” says Doctor Mark Luciano, Cleveland Clinic. “The bucket is going to be one size. As the ventricles expand, something else has to give and what gives unfortunately is the brain.”

However, Jim Young is a good candidate for surgery. Doctor Luciano drills a small hole in Young’s head and inserts a shunt tube into the brain’s ventricles. The tube runs under the skin from the skull to the abdomen. When the fluid empties, a valve on the shunt regulates the amount of fluid drained.

The procedure has risks, including brain injury and infection. Also, it may not work for everyone.

Jim Young understood the risk but felt life was worth it.

“I walk down to the end of the street and back and I couldn’t do that before,” Young says. “And I think I can have an intelligent conversation with someone now.”

They are improvements Jim Young never thought were possible.

While this treatment might hold promise for five percent of patients believed to have dementia, each patient must undergo a battery of tests to determine if they are even a candidate.

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