As previously reported to some, I think that my Scots/Viking husband with a little Cree Indian had more than the suggested 1 to 4% Neanderthal. He was a 3 pack a day smoker when I told him I could not marry him if he didn’t quit. But it was 5 days to write a long paper using a no smoking library that did the job. After 2 days, stopping every 15 minutes to go out for a smoke he had written 1/10th of the paper, so he quit cold turkey. After several muggings, his Korean War PTSD asserted itself and he became an alcoholic. It was hard to tell if he was depressed because of the alcohol, but he never missed a day of work and never had a hangover. He was a blue eyed, pink skinned, red head and developed squamous cell carcinoma on his frequently sunburned hands. His son suffers from winter depression, but taking 1,000 to 2,000 units of Vitamin D in the winter has helped that. I got us into health foods and vitamins and he stopped drinking about 15 years before he died of Alzheimers. I have a theory about Alzheimers. There are tales about how elderly Indians sacrificed themselves in winter starving times by going off into the woods to die so more food would be left for their grandchildren. My husband developed a strong wandering tendency about a year before he became physically weakened/dependent. He would get really restless when he was hungry. I would have to bring him into the kitchen and give him little snacks as I rushed to get food on the table. Several times he escaped and I had to rush out to find him. Once I had to send the police to search. It would make sense that a gene that caused wandering when people were very hungry would have survival value for the younger family who had more food when grandpa went off to pee and wandered farther off to search for food and froze to death.
Sounds like you’re onto something.
But it was 5 days to write a long paper using a no smoking library that did the job. After 2 days, stopping every 15 minutes to go out for a smoke he had written 1/10th of the paper, so he quit cold turkey.
This must have been when you two were in college.
After several muggings, his Korean War PTSD asserted itself and he became an alcoholic. It was hard to tell if he was depressed because of the alcohol, but he never missed a day of work and never had a hangover. He was a blue eyed, pink skinned, red head and developed squamous cell carcinoma on his frequently sunburned hands.
I'm not sure that one necessarily followed the other, but it's sad indeed.
His son suffers from winter depression, but taking 1,000 to 2,000 units of Vitamin D in the winter has helped that. I got us into health foods and vitamins and he stopped drinking about 15 years before he died of Alzheimers. I have a theory about Alzheimers. There are tales about how elderly Indians sacrificed themselves in winter starving times by going off into the woods to die so more food would be left for their grandchildren. My husband developed a strong wandering tendency about a year before he became physically weakened/dependent. He would get really restless when he was hungry. I would have to bring him into the kitchen and give him little snacks as I rushed to get food on the table. Several times he escaped and I had to rush out to find him. Once I had to send the police to search. It would make sense that a gene that caused wandering when people were very hungry would have survival value for the younger family who had more food when grandpa went off to pee and wandered farther off to search for food and froze to death.
There are almost a hundred kinds of dementia...and they are all genetic EXCEPT Alzheimer's. It is self-inflicted in that the sufferers have "given up" on life. It's the SADDEST thing of all.