What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s and Dementia?

This is one of the best written articles on this topic I have ever read. Must reading.

clipped from www.alzheimersreadingroom.com What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s and Dementia? In a nutshell, dementia is a symptom, and AD is the cause of the symptom. When someone is told they have dementia, it means that they have significant memory problems as well as other cognitive difficulties, and that these problems are severe enough to get in the way of daily living.....

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room

Resveratrol a Compound Found In Red Wine Neutralizes Toxicity Of Proteins Related To Alzheimer's

clipped from www.alzheimersreadingroom.com An organic compound found in red wine — resveratrol — has the ability to neutralize the toxic effects of proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease, according to research led by Rensselaer Professor Peter M. Tessier. The findings, published in the May 28 edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, are a step toward understanding the large-scale death of brain cells seen in certain neurodegenerative diseases.....

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room

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On the Alzheimer's Reading Room, we discuss issues like: communication, wandering, incontinence, hygiene, patient symptoms, and what to expect as the disease progresses. We discuss all issues that are important to Alzheimer's caregivers. We provide specific insight, advice, and solutions based on real life experience.

At the Alzheimer's Reading Room, we discuss solutions to common problems that Alzheimer's caregivers face each day.

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Does the Combination of Aricept and Namenda Help Slow the Rate of Decline in Alzheimer's Patients

My name is Bob DeMarco, I am an Alzheimer's caregiver. My mother Dorothy, now 93 years old, suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

A year ago, my mother's Alzheimer's disease started to worsen. As a result, I was both concerned and worried.

At the same time, I read a new research study about the combination of Aricept and Namenda as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

"The results of this study should change the way we treat patients with Alzheimer's disease. Cholinesterase inhibitors are approved for use in mild to moderate dementia, while memantine has been approved for advanced dementia. But it looks like there is an advantage in prescribing both drugs as initial treatment."--John Growdon, MD

The results of the research study indicated that the combination of Aricept and Namenda helped slow the rate of decline in Alzheimer's patients.

To continue reading go here.

Original content the Alzheimer's Reading Room.

The Complete Eldercare Planner, Revised and Updated Edition: Where to Start, Which Questions to Ask, and How to Find Help

Should Women Be Worried about Alzheimer's ?

Current statistical studies indicate that at age 80, there is a one in five chance of suffering from Alzheimer's disease (20 out of 100).

At age 85, the odds rise to one out of every two (50 out of 100). I call this the Alzheimer's danger zone.

It is well known that women live longer than men. But, I don't think it is well known that healthy women live much longer than healthy men, and live into the Alzheimer's danger zone.

Women who reach the age of fifty without suffering from cancer or heart disease can expect to live nearly ninety-two years (92).**

Men who live to age sixty-five without suffering from cancer or heart disease, can expect to live to eighty-one (81).

I believe most men and woman would find these aging statistics startling. Especially women marrying older men.

I doubt that 50 year old women are thinking or worrying about Alzheimer's if they have not seen it in their family. It seems to me that they should be very worried. Without a treatment or a cure, 50 percent of the woman in the group described above can expect to suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's.

Here are some things that women can be doing to stay healthy, protect their brain, and decrease the chances of suffering from Alzheimer's.

The list.

• Exercise. Note, you need to get sweaty when you exercise. This means getting the heart rate up.
• Proper nutrition. Less Baby Ruth bars, Mediterranean style diet.
• More mental activites. Games, Wii, Puzzles, search the Internet.
• Kindness. Believe it or not, kindness and being conscientious help ward off dementia (reduces risk by 89 percent).
• Drink Apple Juice, Fruit or Vegetable juice , they are anitoxidant rich.
• Get the blood pressure and cholesterol down.

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Bob DeMarco is an Alzheimer's caregiver and editor of the Alzheimer's Reading Room. The Alzheimer's Reading Room is the number one website on the Internet for insight into Alzheimer's disease. Bob taught at the University of Georgia, was an executive at Bear Stearns, the CEO of IP Group, and is a mentor. He has written more than 600 articles with more than 11,000 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.

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• Are Alzheimer's Caregivers the Forgotten?
• Is it Really Alzheimer's or Something Else?
• Wii a Useful Tool for Alzheimer's Caregivers
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• 2009 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures
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• What is Dementia?
• 80 Percent of Medical Bills Contain Errors -- Fighting Mistakes

The Alzheimer's Action Plan: The Experts' Guide to the Best Diagnosis and Treatment for Memory Problems

**Davidhizar, R. (1999). Caregiving from a distance. Hospital Topics: Research and Perspectives on Healthcare

Original content the Alzheimer's Reading Room

Streaming Video of The Alzheimer's Project on the Internet

You can watch the Memory Loss Tapes on the Internet Right now.

For a description of each segment and the links go to

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Watch the Memory Loss Tapes on the Internet (HBO Streaming Video)

The Alzheimer's Project DVD

100 Million Adults Touched by Alzheimer's

HBO Alzheimer's Project / Harris Interactive Census

Read more on this topic.

Alzheimer's Reading Room: 100 Million Adults Touched by Alzheimer's

Facing Alzheimer's: A Personal Story

Tonight on ABC News "Nightline": Facing Alzheimer's: A Personal Story

Airing tonight on ABC News "Nightline", Terry Moran takes a powerful and intimate look at facing the risks of Alzheimer's. “Nightline" airs at 11:35 p.m. (ET/PT) weeknights on the ABC Television Network (check local listings). The program is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran, and Martin Bashir. John Donvan and Vicki Mabrey are correspondents. James Goldston is the executive producer.

Also see:

Nightline: Why I Got My DNA Tested for Alzheimer's Disease

Is Etanercept the Cure for Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death recently surpassing diabetes. If a cure is not found, ten million baby boomer's can expect to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's treatment is likely to be an enormous market so you can expect all kinds of alternative treatments to be popping out of the woodwork. Here comes Dr. Edward Tobinick and his claim that he has the cure--etanercept.

Dr. Tobinick claims he injects a shot of etanercept--a drug approved for arthritis-- into the neck of his patients. Unfortunately, in the video provided below, he closed the door when it was time to demonstrate the procedure.

He says,

"We leave them upside down or inclined on the examination table for about five minutes and what we believe happens is that blood flow reverses into the venous system and goes backwards into the brain...the injection targets a protein in the brain that causes inflammation...

Read more....

Is Etanercept the Cure for Alzheimer's

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Etanercept (Enbrel) in Action, see Alzheimer's patient's memory come alive (Video)

clipped from alzheimersreadingroom.blogspot.com To watch the video on how this works with Alzheimer's patients click here The Institute for Neurological Research To read about the on going research study click here Arthritis Drug Success With Alzheimer's Prompts Calls For More Investment In Research To read my previous detailed post on this topic click this link 'Instant' Alzheimer's Drug Claim, Enbrel (Etanercept) Read more about Alzheimer's at The Alzheimer's Reading Room One of the videos shows how the treatment affected 82-year old Marvin Miller. Miller can be seen muttering incoherently in response to questions from a nurse. He can't name objects like a pencil or a bracelet. Miller is then given his first etanercept injection, and according to the video, five minutes later he recognizes and embraces his wife when she comes up to him. Mrs Miller said he had not done this for years, because until that moment he did not know who she was. She appears visibly shocked by her husband's improvement.

New Alzheimer's Disease Survey Reveals Children of Sandwich Caregivers Assist With Loved Ones' Care

clipped from www.alzfdn.org Three In Five Caregivers Say Their Children Help Care For Loved Ones With Alzheimer's Disease Results from the third annual Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) ICAN: Investigating Caregivers’ Attitudes and Needs Survey suggest that Alzheimer’s disease care is a family affair. Most “sandwich caregivers” – the parents or guardians of children under 21 who also care for an aging parent, other relative or friend with Alzheimer’s disease – say their children are assisting with caregiving responsibilities that range from attending doctors’ appointments to feeding and dressing their loved ones. Survey results released today found that about three in five caregivers say their children aged 8 to 21 are involved in caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Of the caregivers who feel they do a good job balancing the care of their loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease and children under 21, more than one-third (36%) specifically cited support from children as a contributor to their success.

PARADE Magazine Features Smart Genetics and Alzheimer's Mirror

clipped from www.breitbart.com Magazine urges readers to participate in nationwide poll on Alzheimer's genetic testing Smart Genetics has announced that PARADE magazine is featuring Alzheimer's Mirror as part of a nationwide poll asking readers if they want to learn their risk level for developing Alzheimer's disease. To vote, visit: http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_03-30-2008/Intelligence_Report#health.

Teva can't yet sell Alzheimer's generic (Aricept)

My mother takes Aricept at a cost of about $160 a month. A generic versions of Aricept is sure to benefit millions and dramatically cut the cost of health care.

We use to pay over $100 a month for Zocor. The generic now runs $10 a month (since July 2007).

clipped from www.businessweek.com Drug developer Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said Friday a U.S. District Court ordered Teva to tentatively refrain from selling a generic version of Eisai Co.'s Alzheimer's treatment Aricept. The tentative injunction by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey was requested by Japan's Eisai as part of an ongoing lawsuit with Teva. Teva has already gained tentative Food and and Drug Administration approval for the generic drug and could receive final approval April 26, when the mandatory stay of approval under the patent lawsuit expires. A trial date has not yet been set.

Free Online Publications Alzheimer's and Caregiving

clipped from www.niapublications.org Acute Hospitalization and Alzheimer's Disease Online Version Only AD: A Caregiver and Patient Resource List Online Version Only Caregiver Guide: Tips for AD Caregivers Online Version Only Caregiving Basics: A Resource List Online Version Only

National Institute on Aging Clinical Trials

clipped from www.nia.nih.gov The Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials Database is a joint project of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) maintained by the NIA's Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center. Here you can search a database of clinical trials on Alzheimer's disease and dementia currently in progress at sites throughout the U.S.: Search for Trials  Trials in the News  More Information: AD Clinical Trials: Questions & Answers To search further listings of clinical trials underway at the National Institutes of Health and other research institutions, go to Clinicaltrials.gov. For information about submitting a clinical trial to the ADEAR database, send an e-mail to: trials@alzheimers.org. To receive updates about new clinical trials, subscribe to e-mail alerts.

Study Finds Improved Cognitive Health among Older Americans

clipped from www.nia.nih.gov Study Finds Improved Cognitive Health among Older Americans Rates of cognitive impairment among older Americans are on the decline, according to a new study supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) comparing the cognitive health of older people in 1993 and 2002. Higher levels of education were associated with better cognitive health.

Alzheimer's: How to help the caregivers

clipped from www.mayoclinic.com Alzheimer's caregivers need all the help they can get. If you'd like to help, but don't know how, here are some tips. Everybody says the same thing when a friend is going through a difficult time: "Let me know how I can help." But such offers are often difficult to accept — primarily because they're not specific. It's much easier to accept concrete offers, such as: "I'm going to the grocery store. May I pick up a few things for you?" "I've got a couple of hours free tomorrow afternoon. May I sit in for you while you run a few errands?" "I made an extra big meatloaf so that I could share it with you. I brought enough to last you for several meals." "Do you need some laundry done? I can come over today and do it. Or maybe I could help you sort medical bills or do dishes." Even sending a card or making a phone call means a lot. Often visits are even better Sometimes a caregiver just needs a little contact with the outside world. Be gently persistent in your offers of help

Mayo Clinic in Alzheimer's

clipped from www.mayoclinic.com What is Alzheimer's? Resources for understanding Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's symptoms and Alzheimer's treatment, including Alzheimer's medication. Alzheimer's and other dementias Alzheimer's treatment Alzheimer's symptoms Coping with Alzheimer's care Information to help you care for someone with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's caregivers: How to cope Helping people with Alzheimer's cope

I Missed the Early Signs of Dementia in my Mother

Looking back, there is little doubt in my mind I should have realized my mother was suffering from dementia sooner. Sadly, I didn't have the proper education, information, or frame of reference. Most people tend to ignore the early symptoms of the disease believing they are simply signs of "old age". Anyone who ends up in my shoes knows and understands that a person in the early stages of Alzheimer’s can function normally--even drive a car. Only when they deteriorate or some "event" takes place do we wake up to reality.

Sometimes these changes can be quite subtle but if detected raise a “red flag”. Behavior changes slowly in the elderly and as they begin to suffer cognitive impairment these changes are hard to detect.

If my mother had been enrolled in any of the studies listed below, I feel certain she would have been diagnosed sooner. This would have allowed me to get her in an exercise program, get her proper nutrition, and insured that she was taking her medication as prescribed. I learned in the last four years how important these factors are in the quality of her life.

The woman in the picture is my 91 year old mother (yes the picture is current). She suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. I am her CareGiver.

Sensors could help catch first signs of dementia
Monitors and online tests track subtle changes in daily mobility, behavior

Source Associated Press and MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Tiny motion sensors are attached to the walls, doorways and even the refrigerator of Elaine Bloomquist’s home, tracking the seemingly healthy 86-year-old’s daily activity.

It’s like spying in the name of science — with her permission — to see if round-the-clock tracking of elderly people’s movements can provide early clues of impending Alzheimer’s disease.

“Now it takes years to determine if someone’s developing dementia,” laments Dr. Jeffrey Kaye of Oregon Health & Science University, which is placing the monitors in 300 homes of Portland-area octogenarians as part of a $7 million federally funded project.

The goal: Shave off that time by spotting subtle changes in mobility and behavior that Alzheimer’s specialists are convinced precede the disease’s telltale memory loss.

Simple early signs

Early predictors may be as simple as variations in speed while people walk their hallways, or getting slower at dressing or typing. Also under study are in-home interactive “kiosks” that administer monthly memory and cognition tests, computer keyboards bugged to track typing speed, and pill boxes that record when seniors forget to take their medicines.

More than 5 million Americans, and 26 million people worldwide, have Alzheimer’s, and cases are projected to skyrocket as the population ages. Today’s medications only temporarily alleviate symptoms. Researchers are desperately hunting new ones that might at least slow the relentless brain decay if taken very early in the disease, before serious memory problems become obvious.

So dozens of early diagnosis methods also are under study, from tests of blood and spinal fluid to MRI scans of people’s brains. Even if some pan out, they’re expensive tests that would require lots of doctor intervention, when getting someone to visit a physician for suspicion of dementia is a huge hurdle. And during routine checkups, even doctors easily can miss the signs.

Bloomquist, of Milwaukie, Ore., knows the conundrum all too well. She volunteered for Kaye’s research because her husband died of Alzheimer’s, as did his parents and her own mother.

“It’s hard to know when people begin Alzheimer’s,” she reflects. “Alzheimer people do very well socially for short periods of time. If it’s just a casual conversation, they rise to the occasion.”

‘Typical’ days monitored

Measuring how people fare at home — on bad days as well as good ones, not just when they’re doing their best for the doctor — may spot changes that signal someone’s at high risk long before they’re actually demented, Kaye told the Alzheimer’s Association’s international dementia-prevention meeting last week.

“If you only assess them every once-in-a-blue-moon, you really are at a loss to know what they are like on a typical day,” Kaye explains.

High-tech monitors under study:

Researchers at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine are heading a study that ultimately plans to recruit 600 people over age 75 to help test in-home “kiosks” that turn on automatically to administer monthly cognitive exams. A video of a smiling scientist appears on-screen to talk participants through such classic tests as reading a string of words and then, minutes later, repeating how many they recall, or seeing how quickly they complete connect-the-dot patterns.
An Oregon pilot study of the motion sensors tracked 14 participants in their upper 80s for almost a year. Half had “mild cognitive impairment,” an Alzheimer’s precursor, and half were healthy. Impaired participants showed much greater variation in such day-to-day activities as walking speed, especially in the afternoons.

Why? The theory is that as Alzheimer’s begins destroying brain cells, signals to nerves may become inconsistent — like static on a radio — well before memories become irretrievable. One day, signals to walk fire fine. The next, those signals are fuzzy and people hesitate, creating wildly varying activity patterns.

Study receives unique grant

The pilot study prompted a first-of-its-kind grant from the National Institutes of Health to extend the monitoring study to 300 homes; 112 are being monitored already, mostly in retirement communities like Bloomquist’s. They’re given weekly health questionnaires to make sure an injury or other illness that affects activity doesn’t skew the results.

In addition, participants receive computer training so they can play brain-targeted computer games and take online memory and cognition tests. The keyboards are rigged to let researchers track changes in typing speed and Internet use that could indicate confusion.

Finally, a souped-up pill dispenser called the MedTracker is added to some of the studies, wirelessly recording when drugs are forgotten or taken late.
Electronics giants already sell various medical warning technologies for the elderly, including dementia patients, such as pill boxes that sound reminder alarms at dose time. And the Alzheimer’s Association and Intel Corp. are jointly funding research into how to use television, cell phones and other everyday technology to do such things as guide dementia patients through daily activities.

The next step of companies selling early symptom monitoring isn’t far off, and unbiased data on what really helps will be crucial, Kaye warns.

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease and Memory Loss in Later Life

Could Grapefruit Juice Cut Drug Costs?

The WSJ reports, some researchers are now trying to use grapefruit juice to their advantage. A University of Chicago study is pairing grapefruit juice with rapamycin, which is sold by Wyeth as an immunosuppressant and is being studied to treat cancer.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com The WSJ reports, some researchers are now trying to use grapefruit juice to their advantage. An enzyme that lives in the gut, charmingly named CYP3A4, breaks down drugs before they enter the bloodstream. Grapefruit juice has a compound that temporarily gets rid of CYP3A4 — which allows more of a drug to enter the bloodstream. That can be a bad thing in some cases. Patients shouldn’t take statins (such as Pfizer’s Lipitor or Merck’s Zocor) with grapefruit juice, because doing so can cause the drug to build up to unhealthy levels in the body. It’s too early to tell how far this sort of thing might go, and standardizing grapefruit juice as part of a drug regimen could be tricky. But some docs think the grapefruit effect could ultimately allow patients to take lower doses of drugs. Oral oncology therapies are costing $3,000 to $5,000 a month If we can lower the costs of those by 50%, you’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars saved.”