Hello everyone, I'm writing about my uncle because I am concerned about his health. He lives in Italy and he suffers from a bizarre illness (due to translation I do not know the exact name of the illness but I can describe the symptoms) He used to be a normal intelligent man living a normal life with his wife and children and had a normal job. Around 8 years ago (not sure the exact number) he began having strange symptoms. He would forget things easily, he would be depressed. He started to act irrationally (he started giving all his money and savings away to strangers--he was not a rich man, he was working class and he didnt have alot of money, and the little he did have he was giving it away even though he had bills and a family so this was strange behavior) His wife (my aunt) didn't understand what was happening and neither did the doctors (no suprise!!) He progressively got worst and worst. He was forced to retire, he was not allowed to drive a car anymore because he had gotten into an accident due to his confusion. He is now 53 years old and basically he functions like a 2 year old. He can't speak anymore. To say a word takes more than a half hour. Each word comes out very very slowly. He can't move anymore, I witnessed him trying to turn on the light switch in the living room of his home and it took literally 10 minutes for his hand to reach the switch and then he had to use all his force to click it on. He walks very very slowly. He can't do anything for himself anymore, he can't eat because he can't chew food by himself. My aunt feeds him food that she must blend until it is like a creamy paste. She has to bathe him and take him to the bathroom because he cannot do it himself anymore. It is really hard to understand the sounds that come out of his mouth. He is on alot of prescription medication. The doctors have not given him long to live (although its been almost 10 years since his first symptom showed up) this disease has taken a very large strain on the family because he was the "bread winner and provider" and now my aunt is basically dedicated to him 24 hours a day she does not have a life of her own anymore she can't even turn her back for a minute, because he cannot do anything for himself anymore, his children are very depressed to see their father reduced to this. His daughter cries all the time to see him like this. Sometimes he still does strange things when he gets a small burst of energy (sometimes he gets a small burst of energy that does not last long-during these periods he doens't improve at all he just begins doing strange things)for example he wakes up and insists he wants to paint the garage door at 3 am, or he insists he wants someone to drive him to his brother's house at 2 am, once he got a "burst" in a store with my aunt and he acted like a small child who wanted a toy because he wanted her to buy him a hammer and she said no and he was insisting like a child and making sounds and noise and everyone was looking. and then there are days where he can't move at all and he just looks in the air. He does that alot, he looks in the air, kind of like he is concentrating on something far away and you look at his eyes and it looks like he is not there. Even if someone is speaking to him he does this... I look at him sometimes and I wonder if maybe he's still the same man inside a "disabled" body and he understands that he has an illness that has changed his life and I wonder if he remembers how he used to be?, or has the illness completely consumed him to the point that he does not remember that he once used to live a normal healthy life, I'm not sure. What's strange is that this disease gave no warning signs, it did not creep up on him gradually, it actually sprang up on him unexpectedly all of a sudden. One day he was normal, the next he started acting wierd. The doctors say there's no help for him and that it's hereditary (which has me worried about his children), they explain that the veins (or arteries I dont know which one) that travel in his brain are slowly closing up and that in a short time left they will close up completely and he will die soon. My question is, is there anything that can be done to help him? I hate to see him be consumed by this horrible illness. Or is it too late? I hate to give up without a fight. Is there anyway to reverse his condition? Anything at all??? Please help, if anyone has had experience in this or knows what can help. He is dying anyday now I dont think he has much time left, either way he (and my aunt) can't go on living like this. If we can help him we need to start as soon as possible. Does anyone know what kind of results we can expect, is it possible for him to become the same normal man he used to be before the illness? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated on behalf of myself and my family, and especially my uncle... Thank you and God bless.

PS would I be able to send a link of this website translated in italian (they dont' understand english) to my family in italy so they can read it?

There are those that believe the political is a ridgid entity in which one chooses to participate...and those, such as myself, who believe that the way one lives IS one's politics. I did not have television for over 8 years...I now do, missed nothing but bland conversations centered on nonsense. When I could get no where with people I started to imagine they had television sets instead of heads...they ALL repeated the same old arguments fed to them through mainstream news...all the while believing that they had somehow come to that conclusion on their own!

I now watch television so as to keep myself informed about what ideas are shaping those around me, and to give myself more 'ammunition' in my attempts to open people up to other perspectives. I still often turn it off to keep my health from deteriorating.

The fact that you frequent this site IS political, given that the vast majority of people receive their health information from TV commercials sponsored by pharmaceuticals.

The world will change for the better when people realize that politics is how you think and live, and not membership in some political party.