“You will forget, no. I love you.” This January 2, 2017, Catherine Laborde said goodbye to TF1 after presenting the weather for almost 30 years. At that time, the presenter who died on Tuesday, January 28 knew a neurodegenerative disease, which will reveal in 2018 in her book Tremble (PLON).
While first thought of Parkinson, the final diagnosis pointed out a close disease, Lewy’s body dementia, which also has common characteristics with Alzheimer’s.
“Lewy’s body (MCL) is a complex neurodegenerative disease that affects several parts of the brain and whose evolution is very variable,” explains the French site of Alzheimer’s. In France, almost 250,000 people would be affected by this disease, but “67 % are not diagnosed.”
Cognitive disorders
The disease, which usually begins after 50 years, is characterized by cognitive disorders. “The sick person is experiencing difficulties in visual and spatial perception. It can also have problems performing several tasks simultaneously, to logically reason. Unlike Alzheimer’s disease, memory problems may not appear at the beginning of the disease, but When it progresses, “he explains,” explains France Alzheimer.
Patients also have behavioral and mood disorders. “They are generally manifested by symptoms of depression, apathy, agitation, anxiety, a state of paranoia or sometimes even a delirium,” continues France Alzheimer. About 80% of sick people also experience visual and auditory hallucinations. “
Other symptoms are divided into motor disorders and resemble those of Parkinson’s disease: deceleration, stiffness or tremor.
A fluctuating disease
“He got into a phase in which he has trouble expressing himself. (…) understands what they say, but he has many problems to formulate things. Therefore, communication becomes extremely difficult,” said the husband of Catherine Laborde, Thomas Stern, in October 2022 in the France 2 “Start today.”
He explained that his wife ranged from moments of “confusion” and “lucidity.” “Fluctuations” are characteristics of Lewy’s body disease.
“A person with MCL can look in a vacuum for a long period or seem sleepy and lethargic and spend a lot joke or even following a movie “, illustrious France Alzheimer.
Other personalities have suffered this disease, such as American actor Robin Williams, who died in 2014.
Source: BFM TV
