Ask an Expert about Alzheimer's Disease

First, I would look at his medications. If he is taking niacin, or another medication that increases blood flow to the skin, the heat sensation could be related to that medication. Next, consider whether he could be anxious. See when the heat feeling occurs and whether it follows particular stresses or frustrations. Finally, there is a small chance this would represent a focal seizure or other neurological problem that can be addressed by a neurologist.

The term “karyotype” means a description of the number and appearance (under a microscope) of the chromosomes in a cell nucleus. Alzheimer's disease heritability is influenced by genes, but for most patients with AD the karyotype would not look different from that of someone without the disease.

One important exception is in people with Down syndrome. In this disease, there is an abnormal karyotype that includes 3 copies of chromosome 21 (trisomy). People with Down syndrome are much more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those in the general population.

Alzheimer's disease does not typically affect the shape of the skull. Brain size often decreases as the disease progresses; however, this is not reflected by any change in the bones of the skull.

The presence of a stroke actually increases rather than decreases the formation of plaques, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to mimic a stroke around a plaque.

I am sorry for your loss, and many grieving individuals question whether medications prescribed during a terminal illness were more harmful than beneficial. The medications for Alzheimer's disease are not thought to either decrease or increase survival time; however, quality of life is modestly improved for some affected people and their caregivers. Ascites is more typically caused by liver failure than by malfunctioning kidneys, and it is more often the case that malfunctioning kidneys alter the effects of medications rather than vice versa.

By far, the most important risk factor for Alzheimer's disease is advancing age. With increased longevity, both the incidence (number of new cases per year) and prevalence (number of cases altogether) have increased greatly. Currently, an estimated 5.4 million suffer from Alzheimer's disease in the United States. The number of adults aged 65 years and older is expected to more than double between 2010 and 2050. An especially large increase will occur in the very elderly.

If your mother's apartment building houses many elderly residents, age may be a more important factor than location; however, there have been attempts to study geographical clustering of AD in order to understand the causes of this brain disease more fully. Many researchers have wondered whether location determines exposure to a risk factor in the environment. Other experts have wondered if the geographic clustering may represent to some degree variations in physicians' diagnostic procedures, reporting practices, and medical opinions. So far, though, there appears to be no universal explanation for the observed clustering that raises questions such as yours.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, but there are many other conditions that interfere with memory, reasoning, language, visual and spatial orientation, and other cognitive abilities. All the other causes, grouped together, are non-Alzheimer's dementia. Many of the patients with non-Alzheimer's dementia have vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, or one of the frontotemporal dementias. If your mother's mental capacity is indeed “fine” and halted speech is her only symptom, a vascular cause may be the explanation for her symptom. It would certainly be reasonable to seek another opinion, this time from a neurologist with expertise in strokes.