[MyBrainIsBroken]

Definitely hereditary. My brother's wife has this. Her mother died from it, one sister has already passed due to this, another sister will be gone soon, my brother has just reached the point where he has to start putting his wife in day care. Some group that's researching this flew my brother, his wife, and their children to Missouri so they could participate in some kind of research project about 3 months ago.

The thing about this that distinguishes it from MLC is that once it starts the person who has this loses their ability to function. My SIL is like a 2 year old right now. You have to watch her every minute because you never know what she might do. She started displaying symptoms about one year ago. One of the nice things about this is that my SIL doesn't seem to have any idea this is happening and while it's almost impossible to communicate with her, she's very good-natured.

My SIL is the same age as me, 58.

[Its_unreal]

My X is the youngest out of 4, 2 brothers and a sister, they're all fine and show no signs of any problems.

could just 1 out of the 4 be effected 

[Mermaid]

Anjae, thanks for posting about Behavior variant frontotemporal dementia. Your explanation makes it clear that MLC cannot be confused with this. I believe it's important that people understand this.

I understand that people want to find explanations for what appears to be sudden, and strange behaviour. But we shouldn't confuse things in this way.

If some of us have spouses who have spontaneous neurological disorders, these will be specific and exceptional. Most are not this case. Of course, for every event in life, for every thought, every emotion, there are corresponding neurological events. Emotions make learning and self-identity possible.

There do seem to be a number of cases of spouses who may have experienced some existential insecurity at crucial ages, or emotional events that will impact on their emotional development. These may stay hidden for years, and arise at moments of crisis.

[Velika]

This is a thread for people interested in examining the biological aspect of MLC. I think comparing it to better understood conditions helps us get an idea of what regions might be affected and explain some of the behavior and personality changes.

I think that Jungian descriptions of MLC are also interesting and resonate. They provide a very poetic and profound description of the spiritual struggles of humans. And this can include the midlife breakdown we all have witnessed.

I think a key clue to neurological aspect is the eyes. Most people whose spouse has had a severe change report eyes looking odd. In many cases there is also systemic illness, digestive or autoimmune.

Our understanding of how disease manifests in the body and the systemic nature of mental illness has increased in recent years. Scientists are still exploring now even basic functions like memory work in the brain.

[Anjae]

You're welcome, Mermaid.

I agree, it is important that people understand the difference between MLC and Behavior variant frontotemporal dementia.

Like you, I understand that MLC may seem like a lot of other things, ranging from Behavior variant frontotemporal dementia to bipolar, but it is different from them. While bipolar and MLC are very similar in many ways, once the crisis is over, the person no longs shows signs of bipolar.

Also agree that some of us may have spouses who have spontaneous neurological disorders, but most of us do not. Does MLC affects the brain? It does. Just like depression (any of its types) affects the brain. But the MLC do not seem to be permanent. Once the person leaves the crisis behind, the brain and personality go back to normal.

Its_unreal, I am fairly sure that you wife is having a MLC. Bar from something else that may happen, she will regain her normal function once the crisis is over.

Please, lets do not compare MLC to hereditary and/or degenerative diseases. Once the crisis is over people return to normal. I know I have said it a couple of times before, but I think it is important to stress it.

Jungian theory was how I get here. I Google MLC + Jung. The thing with Jungian theory is that it is all beaty, poetry, transformation, self, rebirth, etc. Nowhere does it really talks about what really happens when one is having a MLC and the real destruction that comes with it.

I was familiar with Jungian theory, but at BD and for a while after, I was not able to to together that it and what Mr J was having where the same thing. Only later, when my friend who is a psychiatrist said Mr J was having a MLC did I made the correlation. What a shock is was. The beautiful Jungian theory and reality.

[Its_unreal]

Its_unreal, I am fairly sure that you wife is having a MLC. Bar from something else that may happen, she will regain her normal function once the crisis is over.

Please, lets do not compare MLC to hereditary and/or degenerative diseases. Once the crisis is over people return to normal. I know I have said it a couple of times before, but I think it is important to stress it.

Sorry, I was just reading through and found this thread, just always looking for answers for my X drastic personality change

[Ready2Transform]

I too agree that MLC is not the same as a degenerative disorder, and will likely be less permanent than bipolar. That's the kicker - we won't know, though, which it is, until it's resolved. We can only make assumptions and explore until then. Hats off to all of you who have seen some form of satisfactory resolution to know for sure what you dealt with.

[Velika]

R2T I agree with you.

Many people with strokes recover. I have a neighbor who suffered traumatic brain injury. He eventually recovered over the course of several years.

All to say that just because someone recovers does not mean it is simply psychological and not a physical malady in some form.

[xyzcf]

The other day I watched a news program about a man who was on multiple medications and no longer recognized his wife as well as having other side effects. He had been taking 19 different medications, for many years. When many of his medications were discontinued, he became  "normal" again and resumed a happy relationship with his wife of many years. One of the medications mentioned was for hypertension.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/aging/if-you-re-taking-too-many-pills-you-may-need-n672761

This article is of great interest to me as my husband has been overweight his entire life. I would not be at all surprised that his obesity as well as other medical conditions are somehow related to his MLC.

I took the liberty of copying some of the things that stood out for me from the following article:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161031-why-obesity-damages-your-mind-as-well-as-your-body

"In doing so, Cheke has contributed to a small but growing body of evidence showing that obesity is linked to brain shrinkage and memory deficits. This research suggests that obesity may contribute to the development of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease."

"some signs that obesity affects areas of the brain known to be used in memory and imagination. In 2010, for instance, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine reported that healthy, middle-aged adults with increased abdominal fat tend to have slightly lower overall brain volume. In particular, the hippocampus, a deep brain structure sometimes called the brain’s printing press thanks to its role learning and memory, was significantly smaller in obese people compared to leaner individuals."

"More recently, a brain scanning study including more than 500 participants confirmed that being overweight or obese is associated with a greater degree of age-related brain degeneration. These effects were biggest in middle-aged people, in whom the obesity-related changes corresponded to an estimated increase in 'brain age' of 10 years.
“For example, insulin is an important neurotransmitter, and there’s a lot of evidence that diabetes is associated with changes in learning and memory,” she adds, “but there’s also evidence that high body fat on its own leads to inflammation in the brain, which can also cause problems.”

"Inflammation is another potential culprit. Psychologists from the University of Arizona examined data from more than 20,000 participants in the English Longitudinal Ageing Study, in which measures of memory, BMI, and blood plasma levels of an inflammatory marker called C-reactive protein were collected every 2 years between 1998 and 2013.
They found that greater body mass was associated with a decline in memory function, and also with higher levels of the inflammatory protein. Although these links are indirect, the results suggest that brain inflammation is one plausible mechanism by which differences in body mass might influence cognitive function in otherwise healthy, aging adults. "

[Velika]

XYZ, it is interesting how mental illness is increasingly recognized to be systemic. Hopefully this will change the landscape of diagnosis and treatment. I once had a philosophy professor who theorized that one day we would regard the concept of "emotions" in the same way we now view "humors." It makes you think!

I'm back on the neurology thread after a conversation with my mom today, who is a longtime genealogy enthusiast. She told me she recalled my MLC-H's great grandfather having been imprisoned at one point. I asked her to look it up again and sure enough he was -- for deserting his wife, sometime befeeen age 44 and 48.

So this means my husband's:
Sister
Dad (paternal)
Grandfather (maternal)
Great-grandfather (maternal)

All left their spouses. Bizarrely, each of these men was in in-law to the other, meaning they were not all directly related.

I feel that there must be some hereditary component to this. I wish we knew more! Makes me worry for our son.💔