These two celebrations are a call to remember and prevent, as much as possible, these diseases that plague many people in the world.

The World Alzheimer´s Day is on September 21 of each year, to remind us about this disease, that consists of a type of dementia that affects memory, cognitive abilities and conduct in affected people.  Generally, it begins in advanced ages (older than 65 years), although there are cases in younger people (early onset), with various symptoms that worsen slowly with time, until they get to interfere with the patients´ normal life.

They start with a mild memory loss, but with time they reach a stage of difficulty to keep a conversation, to recognize their family members and to take care of themselves.  They eventually die.  There is no effective cure, but there are two available medications that have succeeded in reducing the cognitive and functional deterioration, or at least to delay it, improving their quality of life.  This is a condition that, not only affects the patient, but also affects their family members. To deal with them is not easy at all and, in advanced stages of the disease, it becomes necessary to handle the patient in a specialized treatment center, when it becomes almost impossible to handle them at home.

There is a world effort in progress in search for a better treatment, and much information on possible measures to treat the illness, or to delay or prevent its onset.

With regard to the month of October, or pink and blue month, dedicated to create awareness and sensitization on breast and prostate cancers, the two causing the greatest number of deaths of all the types of cancer in women and men, it is celebrated since several years ago in Panama and the world, to call the attention of the population for the early detection of these two variants.  Only when these two are detected early, complications and deaths can be prevented.

The ideal is to detect these cancers when they are still in situ, this is, when they are still concentrated in their site of origin, and these have not extended to neighboring tissues or lymph nodes.  That is why, mammographies are promoted in women over 40 years of age, or in younger than 40 for those women with near family history of this type of cancer and, in the case of men, the blood PSA tests, a prostatic antigen that indicates the possibility of prostate cancer, also in men over 40 years of age.  It is also recommended for older men to have periodic evaluations with a urologist.

As possible preventive measures for cancer, there is always a list of measures such as:

• To have a balanced diet high in fiber, vegetables and natural fruits
• To decrease consumption of sugars and fats in excess, as well as processed and fast foods
• To walk or exercise at least 30 minutes per day
• To keep an adequate weight
• To avoid cigarette smoking and excess alcohol
• To carry out a monthly self-examination of the breasts and mammography after 40 years of age
• But mental health is also important; avoid and resolve chronic stress and anxiety, both of which have been highly associated with the development of cancer in general.

We invite all our Health Plan beneficiaries to pay attention to these celebrations, and to take the necessary measures to prevent the development of these difficult and lethal conditions.

By: Dr. Maria Ana Antoniadis