Minding Our Elders®

Alzheimer’s Treatment Fails in Wider Study

Less than a year ago, I wrote about the promising results in an Alzheimer’s trial of an infusion called Gammagard. A story on CBSNews.com then reported that the experimental drug had been shown to halt the mental decline in some patients. Admittedly, this was a small study, but the results were exciting.  

Unfortunately, an announcement this week has given us a very disappointing update. USAToday.com reports that a larger study shows “…Patients who received infusions with Gammagard fared no better than those given a dummy solution.”

Read more about how Gammagard failed:

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Researchers working in Switzerland and Germany have found evidence strengthening the concept that the immune system plays a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. The study was done on mice using the drug ustekinumab, which is a biologic drug already approved by the Food & Drug Administration for the treatment of plaque psoriasis, an auto-immune disease.

Read more about psoriasis a drug that may treat Alzheimer's:

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Alzheimer’s Symptoms Often Manageable without Drugs

Alzheimer’s disease cannot as yet be prevented or cured. While there are some medications that may help some people with the symptoms of the disease, they have drawbacks. With this in mind, some experts feel that many symptoms of the disease are better treated with behavior interventions.  An article on newswise.com reports on the work of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) professor Laura N. Gitlin, PhD and her colleagues. These scientists are promoting the concept that if physicians integrate behavioral management strategies into early ongoing treatment, behavior changes can be controlled.

Read more about managing Alzheimer's symptoms without drugs:

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Mayo Clinic Advice on Integrative Medicine

Dear Readers: While traditional health care saves lives and cures many illnesses, prescription drugs and many surgeries also have risks and limitations. Because of this knowledge, or simply out of the need to take a more active role in their healthcare and that of their elders, many people are using the Internet and other resources to research historic, alternative methods of preventing or controlling illness and pain. According to the National Institutes of Health, close to 40 percent of the adults in the U.S. use some form of alternative health care. Alternative health care includes herbs, massage, meditation, acupuncture and many other techniques that have been used for centuries by other cultures.

Read more about Mayo Clinic book on integrative medicine:

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Cancer Drug May Help in Alzheimer's Fight

The anti-cancer drug Gleevec has been shown to disable a newly discovered key protein linked to the development of Alzheimer’s. The protein, gSAP, stimulates production of toxic beta-amyloid which is linked to the development of plaques in the brain typically associated with Alzheimer’s disease.  Dr. Gen He and Dr. Paul Greengard, both of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, have identified gamma secretase activating protein (gSAP).

Read more about Gleevec and how it may in the Alzheimer's fight:

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Compound from Grapes Could Fight Alzheimer’s

There’s no prevention or cure for Alzheimer’s disease at this point. The best many experts can do is to suggest that people adopt healthy habits such as reducing stress, exercising, weight control and a good diet including plenty of fruits and vegetables.  However, researchers are working hard to find an answer to the Alzheimer’s puzzle.

Read more about grapes and preventing Alzheimer's:

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Elders Sleeping All Day: What's the Deal?

...Then, there's simple boredom. As people age, they may suffer from chronic pain. They may struggle with reading or puzzles because of poor eyesight. They get tired of TV. These elders may not be clinically depressed, but with no schedule to keep and not much going on in their lives, they slide into the habit of napping most of the day.

Read about elders sleeping all day:

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Study Shows Stress Hormones Increase Alzheimer’s Risk

If we’re alive, we are coping with a significant amount of stress. Yet stress hormones have been shown to have a negative effect on our health.

Now, the recent article, "Stress may increase risk for Alzheimer’s disease: Stress hormones lead to Alzheimer-like protein modifications,” brings to light epidemiological studies by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in which the scientists hypothesized that adverse life events, which generally cause stress, may be one trigger for Alzheimer’s disease.

Read more about how stress increases risk for Alzheimer's:

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Green Tea Molecules Interfere With Formation of Plaques That May Cause Alzheimer’s

For the second time in less than a month I’ve found myself drawn to reports on the efficacy of green tea extract as a possible prevention or treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. In February, I wrote about a study conducted in the UK using purified extracts from green tea and red wine in early animal studies to interrupt the pathway that may lead to Alzheimer’s disease. The result of this study was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Read more about green tea extracts and Alzheimer's prevention:

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Lifting Your Elder's Mood

It's natural for you to want to try to lift your elders' moods, for their sake as well as your own. Sometimes you'll succeed, sometimes you'll fail, but trying rarely hurts. Rarely is the key word, here. Before I offer some suggestions that may help, I'd like to remind you to be sensitive to signs of anxiety, additional pain or fear. You want to cheer people up, not force them to pretend to be happy for your sake. That being said, here are some suggestions that you may find helpful.

Read more about lifting your aging parent's mood:

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Nutrition One Weapon to Reduce Risk of Alzheimer’s

In recent years, stories about Alzheimer’s disease have led a significant number of news broadcasts. Whether the story is about researchers discovering a promising new treatment or daunting statistics about what Alzheimer’s in the future will look like without a cure, few adults haven’t heard about the increasing numbers of people developing the disease.

Read more about how nutrition may affect your chance of developing Alzheimer's:

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Chronic Pain Management in People With Dementia Complicated

The combination of chronic pain and dementia is difficult to manage. While advancing dementia can render an elder heartbreakingly vulnerable, chronic pain that can’t be expressed in words by the person with dementia multiplies the difficulty of compassionate care.  Since dementia can leave people unable to verbally express the fact that they are in pain, they may scream, kick or hit. They may act out aggressively because they don’t understand why they are in pain. They just want it gone. If caregivers misinterpret the reason for this “acting out,” there is a chance that the elder will not receive proper pain management for his or her chronic or acute pain.

Read more about chronic pain management for people with dementia:

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HRT May Prevent Accelerated Biological Aging for Alzheimer’s Gene Carriers

A little more than a decade ago, most physicians considered hormone replacement therapy an important part of treating postmenopausal women because of its ability to help control hot flashes, maintain bone health and lower the risk of colorectal cancer. Their enthusiasm for this treatment abruptly reversed in July of 2002, when the same physicians took their patients off HRT nearly across the board. An article in the New York Times explains what happened.

Read more about HRT therapy and how it may help some women:

 

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Medication Could Cause Slurred Speech, Drooling

Dear Carol: My mom has several medications to help with various health problems. Lately, her speech has been slurred and she seems to be drooling quite a bit. The symptoms appear to be the most pronounced shortly after she’s taken her medications, but she has some symptoms intermittently all day. She also complains of a headache nearly every day, so we are having her eyes checked next week just to be sure, although her glasses are quite new. Can medications cause these problems? – Mary Beth

Dear Mary Beth: Yes, the slurred speech, the drooling and the headache could be caused by a medication or an interaction between medications. It's wise to get your mom’s eyes checked to make sure that her prescription is correct. Taking her to her eye doctor will also give another professional a chance to evaluate her.  It doesn’t hurt to ask a pharmacist for some input, either, since pharmacists are specifically trained in medications and may catch medication interactions that a doctor could miss.  

Read more about how medications can cause problems in aging loved ones:

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Family Caregivers Provide Nursing Services with Little Professional Support

According to Carol Levine of the United Hospital Fund, a longtime researcher and caregiver herself, and Susan Reinhard of the AARP Public Policy Institute, few non-caregivers have any real idea of how much care an in-the-trenches family caregiver provides.  In a story by Paula Span on the New Old Age Blog titled  “Caregiver, Plus M.D. or R.N.”, Carol Levine is quoted as saying, “The public perception is what you see in ads — people sitting by the bedside, holding hands, making lunch, smiling at one another…It has that glossy look. That’s not the whole story.”

Read more about how family caregivers provide nursing services:

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Alzheimer’s Drugs to be Compared Side by Side in New Trials

Researchers leading the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network (DIAN) recently announced that two pharmaceutical companies have agreed to donate investigational drugs to use in side by side trials. The trials will concentrate on people who appear to be destined by genetics to develop early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The companies have agreed to at least partially fund a five-year therapy trial, as well. 

One of the drugs, solanezumab, was part of late-stage Alzheimer's drug trials that took place in September. Solanezumab did not meet the primary endpoints, both cognitive and functional, in either of the two Phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies on the drug.

Read morea bout Alzheimer's drugs to be compared in new trials:

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Alzheimer’s Symptoms Often Manageable without Drugs

Alzheimer’s disease cannot as yet be prevented or cured. While there are some medications that may help some people with the symptoms of the disease, they have drawbacks. With this in mind, some experts feel that many symptoms of the disease are better treated with behavior interventions.

An article on newswise.com reports on the work of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) professor Laura N. Gitlin, PhD and her colleagues. These scientists are promoting the concept that if physicians integrate behavioral management strategies into early ongoing treatment, behavior changes can be controlled.

 

Read more about managing Alzheimer's symptoms without drugs:

Purchase Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories – paperback or ebook

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Existing Psoriasis Drug May Treat Alzheimer’s

Researchers working in Switzerland and Germany have found evidence strengthening the concept that the immune system plays a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. The study was done on mice using the drug ustekinumab, which is a biologic drug already approved by the Food & Drug Administration for the treatment of plaque psoriasis, an auto-immune disease.According to an article in the LA Times, Johannes vom Berg and his colleagues think that clinical trials of the drug ustekinumab should be launched to see if the drug will help fight Alzheimer’s in humans.

Read more about the immune system and psoriasis drugs for Alzheimers:

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Is Alzheimer’s Disease the Default Diagnosis for Confused Elders?

Alzheimer's organizations have worked diligently to raise public awareness of the disease. Their efforts are paying off handsomely. I’d challenge nearly anyone to find a friend or neighbor who hasn’t heard enough about Alzheimer’s disease to give some type of description of the symptoms. The downside of this awareness, however, is that even doctors can jump to possibly faulty conclusions when they see an elderly person showing signs of memory loss or significant confusion. 

A recent article in the Detroit Freet Press features Peter Lichtenberg, Ph.D., head of Wayne State University's Institute of Gerontology. In a paper for the journal Clinical Gerontology, Lichtenberg, according to the article, “highlighted two case studies: in one, a man's bouts of confusion and agitation in his late 70s were caused by illness and painful cellulitis, not Alzheimer's; in the other, an 87-year-old woman, who seemed suddenly confused, was suffering from depression.”

Read more about Alzheimer's being the default diagnosis for confused elders:

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Administration on Aging programs provide assistance for caregivers nationwide

Nearly any family caregiver has felt isolated and alone at one time or another. For many, that feeling is chronic. Friends don’t understand the strain we are under. Some people get no support from their extended family or friends. Where can we turn when there seems to be nowhere to turn? Believe it or not, many resources are at your fingertips on the Administration on Aging website.

Read about the valuable resources on the AoA website:

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