A Success With Alzheimer's

[Gregory Matthews]

Miia Kivipello & Krister Hakansson, "A Rare Success Against Alzheimer's: A gold-standard clinical trail provides evidence that diet, exercise and an active social life can help prevent cognitive decline."  Scientific American, April, 2017, Pages 32-37.

I am not going to quote from the above article as I believe that to do so might not properly represent the conclusions of the authors.  It should be noted that they clearly believe that more evidence needs to be collected from further research.

But, I do believe that there is value in the above article for anyone who is interested in the subject of dementia.

In reading the article, it should be noted where they do not claim that evidence is proof.  That is an important issue.

 

 

[Outta Here]

I'd love to know if they had any success with people with early-onset Alzheimer's. If I follow my father's footsteps, I should start showing signs within a two to 3 years. 

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

the full article mentioned in the OP is apparently only available if one pays to read it...

 

(a genetic predisposition towards Alzheimer's and dementia can be determined by doing a DNA test, then uploading the raw data to a DNA health website, such as Promethease.com)

[LifeHiscost]

Use of pharmaceutical drugs is common among those who are predisposed to cognitive disability.

 

 

Auguste Deter

 

Auguste Deter

Auguste Deter (German pronunciation: [aʊ̯ˈɡʊstə ˈdeːtɐ]; 16 May 1850 – 8 April 1906) is the first person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Her maiden name is unknown. She married Karl Deter in the 1880s and together they had one daughter. Auguste had a normal life. However, during the late 1890s, she started showing symptoms of dementia, such as: loss of memory, delusions, and even temporary vegetative states. She would have trouble sleeping, would drag sheets across the house, and even scream for hours in the middle of the night.

Karl could not take it any more. Being a railway worker, he had to admit her to a mental institution so that he could continue to work. He brought her to the Institution for the Mentally Ill and for Epileptics in Frankfurt,Germany, on 25 November 1901 where she was examined by Dr. Alois Alzheimer. He asked her many questions, and later asked again to see if she remembered. He told her to write her name. She tried to, but would forget the rest and repeat: “I have lost myself.” (German: “Ich hab mich verloren.”) He later put her in an isolation room for a while. When he released her, she would run out screaming, “I do not cut myself. I will not cut myself.” Her words have been commemorated in an important work, commissioned by the Susquehanna Valley Chorale, composed by Robert Cohen and librettist Herschel Garfein, entitled “Alzheimer Stories“.

After many years, she became completely demented, muttering to herself. She died on 8 April 1906. More than a century later, her case was re-examined with modern medical technologies, where a genetic cause was found for her disease by scientists from Gießen and Sydney. The results were published in the journal The Lancet Neurology. According to this paper, a mutation in the PSEN1 gene was found, which alters the function of gamma secretase, and is a known cause of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

  

God is Love!~Jesus saves! 

[Outta Here]

Interesting. She died of Alzheimer's at the same age my father did: 56. And yep, he had a mutated gene too. But, he wasn't a "user" of pharmaceuticals. 

My siblings and I have decided not to have our DNA tested because *if* we do carry the gene, we still need insurance coverage. We don't want to be labeled  with a "pre-existing" medical condition.

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

insurance companies are not privy to DNA results...  

[Outta Here]

That's not what I've been told by the neurologist working with my dad. Of course, that was in 2002. Maybe things are different now.

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

many people had (and still have) misconceptions about DNA testing — my physician was also under the impression that insurance companies could get the information...

But there have always been multiple confidentiality safeguards in place, unless one uses a disreputable company...  The only way your DNA results could ever possibly be connected to an insurance company is if a physician ordered a test for medical diagnostic reasons.  But even at that, I doubt that most health insurance companies would go to the trouble of deciphering an individual's entire genome to find hidden indicators for a *possible* predisposition to an illness.  

 

[LifeHiscost]

Wouldn't that be considered epidemic proportion?

God is Love!~Jesus saves! 

Keep looking up! Hope you have a