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Guest Opinion
The Big 'A' - As in Alzheimer's
A disease many of us will have to reckon
with…
By Norma Sherry
April 25, 2006 - The Big A. Alzheimer’s Disease. A
dreadful looming fear that rears its ugly head every time we walk into
the other room and can’t remember why or momentarily can’t recall where
we left our car keys, or who the voice is on the other end of the phone.
These temporary lapses of memory, thankfully, are not precursors to
Alzheimer’s. We’re told they are more likely indicators that we have too
much on our minds.
Memory, however, that disappears, never to return
again, is another story. According to the experts “forgetting is not
normal”; forgetting, however, transiently is a forgivable happenstance
and not an indicator of impending doom.
Alzheimer’s disease is a slow, deliberate eating
away of neurons in the brain. It is as if massive portions of the brain
have been wiped away. In actuality, that is what happens. Huge chunks of
the brain are decimated never to be repaired or returned. Once they’re
damaged, once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. It’s why memories,
particularly recent memories are non-existent in an individual with
Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s disease, normally associated with the
more senior of our population, can actually begin as early as sixty and
in some cases, more rarely, even earlier. Those moments of inappropriate
language, or an awkward interjection once thought kind of cute, much
like that of a precocious two-year old, becomes a source of great
embarrassment to family members of an individual with Alzheimer’s.
Individuals with Alzheimer’s can often display bad
behavior. Sometimes it’s saying or shouting expletives in inopportune
situations or in front of company; sometimes it’s being aggressive or
belligerent; sometimes it’s hearing songs or voices that aren’t present
or seeing people that aren’t there. Alzheimer’s runs the gamut of
discomforting experiences.
For children of parents with Alzheimer’s the gloom
hangs as if a cloud of black doom. The knowledge that their parent may
one day not recognize them is difficult to fathom, but it happens in
many cases, but thankfully not all. Some individuals with Alzheimer’s
can actually forget how to eat, or remember that they need food for
substance. Their bladders betray them and so goes their dignity.
It is estimated that 5-million people in the United
States have Alzheimer’s; 30-million worldwide. One physician I spoke
with said matter-of-factly that “the longer we live the greater the
likelihood we will get Alzheimer’s”. Scientists know that the risk of
Alzheimer's nearly doubles every 5 years so by the age of 95 nearly
one-half of every one lucky enough to reach the ripe old age of 95 will
have Alzheimer's disease. So what is one to do?
There are many old-wives tales; we’ve all heard
them: keep your mind alive, learn a new language, do crossword puzzles.
But the truth is the professionals don’t know the answers. In fact, they
can’t even definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s until after death and upon
an autopsy. Short of that, it’s pretty much conjecture and guesswork.
Educated guesswork, but guesswork none-the-less. Most clinical charts
will state that the patient has dementia probably secondary to
Alzheimer’s, but that’s the extent of the physician putting his or her
reputation on the line.
Consulting the myriad of books on Alzheimer’s and
talking with the medical experts doesn’t allay the confusion. Sadly,
they don’t even seem to agree with one another.
The New England Journal of Medicine in February 14,
2002, wrote that there is a suspected correlation between the intake of
Folic Acid, Vitamins B-6 and B-12 and reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s.
The American Academy of Neurology reportage seems
to verify some wive’s tales. Precisely, stimulating activities such as
board games, playing a musical instrument, exercising and gardening are
all components in warding off Alzheimer’s.
But, then again, not every expert agrees.
Most of us remember the warnings that touted
aluminum as the culprit that causes of Alzheimer’s. Nowadays, that
notion is fairly confidently debunked. But, then again, there is still a
contingency that refuses to disavow this assumption. However, more often
today the new nemesis is copper and zinc.
Harvard Medical School neuroscientist, Ashley Bush,
also a devotee of the aluminum theory, recently uncovered links between
copper, zinc, and Alzheimer's disease. He conducted a promising small
clinical trial that indicated that a drug that binds metals, clioquinol,
actually slows the progression of Alzheimer's.
The FDA, U.S. Public Health Service and the World
Health Organization continue to support the use of amalgam for dental
treatments stating “there is no evidence to show any connection between
mercury-based fillings and Alzheimer's or other neurological diseases”.
However, not all clinicians are in agreement. Some laboratory studies
indicate mercury affects nerve cells and some of the biochemical
processes involved in Alzheimer's disease. Again, a conundrum.
There are studies that propose that “People who
were less active were more than three times more likely to have
Alzheimer’s disease as compared to those who were more active.” There
are other studies that suggest a prior head injury could play a role in
getting Alzheimer’s later in life.
Scientists from Erasmus Medical Center in the
Netherlands recorded the dietary habits of 5,395 men and women, who ate
lots of vegetables and took Vitamins E and C, aged 55 and over who
showed no signs of dementia. They concluded in their six-year study that
those who consumed higher amounts of beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E
and vegetables remained Alzheimer’s free. (No mention, you’ll note of
the aforementioned inclusion of vitamins B6, B12 and Folic Acid.)
The University of Minnesota’s Department of
Neurology in a study in 2002 indicated that loss of memory was reversed
in mice after administering a monoclonal antibody, BAM10. In their
report they wrote, “Our results indicate that a substantial portion of
memory loss in mice {in the study} is not permanent.”
One doesn’t have to be a scientist to know that (1)
this is a stunning report, and (2) that it disagrees with much of what
the medical profession is articulating to the families of individuals
with suspected Alzheimer’s disease.
The newest and most promising study reported on
January 19, 2006, comes from the authors of a study based at Case
Western Reserve University's Alzheimer's Disease Center in Cleveland.
This study, if further studies validate, changes all that once was
thought about the origins of Alzheimer’s disease.
According to Danilo Tagle, program director of
neurogenetics at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke, "It really is going against the central grain of what we
know, and it actually may lead to something more promising," In short,
the study’s findings indicate that prior to the amyloidal plaguing of
the brain and subsequent cell deterioration that has been well
documented that the mice showed evidence of cell cycling six-months
before any amyloid plaques showed up.
Additionally, the study indicated that these
neurons had extra chromosomes, which is another sign that the cells had
begun to divide. Furthermore, the activity was seen in the cortex and
hippocampus regions of the brain, which are most implicated in
Alzheimer's.
In the meantime, the battle and the fight rage on.
Questions outnumber the answers. In the meantime, families suffer. It
appears questionable if the Alzheimer victim suffers. Experts say that
the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient keeps them in a state of
unawareness. Perhaps this is so in the later stages, but not in the
moderate or less so stages.
Unless the Alzheimer’s patient is in the last
stages of the debilitating disease, there are many moments of lucidity.
In those moments, however brief they may be, most individuals feel
regretful and apologetic for their lack of memory or their personality
fluctuations. One doctor I spoke with said it doesn’t matter what one
says to an Alzheimer’s patient because they won’t remember it later. My
personal exposure is contrary. I’ve found that many will latch on to the
one word of negativity and remember it and repeat it often.
It is true that families must find a new, more
tolerant, less confrontational manner of talking to one’s parent with
Alzheimer’s. Many individuals with Alzheimer’s may also have a tendency
to be paranoid, confused, agitated, angry, volatile, combative, and
more, which makes coping that much more difficult.
The biggest fear for the children of parent’s with
Alzheimer’s, or suspected Alzheimer’s, is: am I destined to get
Alzheimer’s? Without a doubt this question is at the crux of our fear.
For the most part, one form of Alzheimer’s is more likely to be
familial, the other, not so. Adding more fear to this is a recent study
of twins which offers new credence to the concept of hereditary aspects.
In a study of 1200 sets of twins, 392 were later diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s.
The pragmatic view according to one physician who
said, “It's tremendously important that people actually, while they
still have a capacity to understand what's going on, sort out what's
going to happen to them, and that is an inevitable progression in
dementing diseases; at some point or other you will lose your
understanding of reality and your legal capacity to sign a will, sign a
check, to make decisions about your quality of life or whether you
should have an operation, somebody else will have to do that for you.”
Clearly, Alzheimer’s is a disease many of us will
have to reckon with…
About Norma Sherry:
Norma Sherry is an award-winning writer/producer.
She is the host of The Norma Sherry Show on WQXT-TV. She is also
co-founder of Together Forever Changing, an organization designed to
enlighten and encourage citizens to fight for our liberties.
Click here to her Website.
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