WINNEMUCCA - "The Way We Were," a lovely song performed by Barbra Streisand, includes the scenery description: "...misty water-colored memories of the way we were." I'd like to imagine that is what plays behind the eyes and within the mind of those with dementia. Many of my articles hold the dark and frightening side of Alzheimer's but sometimes in victims I see a quiet peace. This peace may be laced with confusion and occasional outbursts, but sometimes a flicker of calmness pervades.
I really like the "water-colored" idea. Watercolors are soft and rippling, muted and intermixed in a delightful array. I have witnessed the horrors of the disease, the helplessness of the victims, the hopelessness of caregivers. I'll try to recapture my faith that a cure for this disease awaits us in the not-too-distant future.
The song also states: "What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget. So it's the laughter we will remember..." What a pleasant, beneficial positivity rests within these words.
According to Tim Stuery in the article "When Memory Fades" (Washington State Magazine: Winter 2011/12), "Dementia is a relatively new affliction, simply because we live longer... currently 5-10 percent of the population over 65 or older are believed to have dementia. Of those 85 and older, the likelihood is 40-50 percent." Biochemist Joe Harding and neuroscientist Jay Wright (Washington State University) have studied angiotensin, a peptide that they believed regulated blood pressure. After two decades of research they have discovered that angiotensin relates directly to memory acquisition and consolidation. In their experimentation with animals certain procedures restored neural connections in the hippocampus. They are onto something: a drug that restores memory.
In most dementia Harding explains, "The main problem is not so much a loss of nerve cells...but rather a loss of connections." The two scientists have found a correlation between expanding neural connections and improvement in learning - and thus memory. The drugs being developed do not solve whatever causes dementia but they "ameliorate, correcting some of the connective damage." This research is based on study with animals and so no guarantee that the findings will replicate in humans currently exists, but pharmaceutical companies are nearly ready to run tests with individuals.
Just as statins help lower high cholesterol levels to reduce the risk of heart attacks, other researchers are seeking a similar approach for people with large amounts of beta amyloid, an abnormal protein in the brain commonly found in Alzheimer's disease patients. Medicines would clear those proteins before any signs of memory loss or other early symptoms of Alzheimer's appear. Currently, most proposed Alzheimer's drugs are tested in patients in the later stages of the disease, because no reliable medical test, brain imaging or other method currently exists to accurately detect the disease before initial symptoms appear. Recent clinical trial failures at the dementia stage are prompting a strategy to begin developing and testing drugs aimed at the early stages of the disease.
Mounting evidence supports amyloid beta accumulation in the brain as an early biomarker and a critical event in the progression of Alzheimer's. Some studies have shown that a person's brain may be damaged at least a decade prior to the first symptoms with evidence that more than 50 percent of certain brain cells are already lost by the time a patient shows even the mildest cognitive impairment (Information from Ronald Rosenberg of the Alzheimer's Association).
Billions of dollars are raised for research on cancer and HIV. Alzheimer's and other dementias rank eighth nationally in dollars for study of the disease. I hate to remind myself that I am part of the aging population but "boomers" (individuals born between 1946 and 1964) constitute 28 percent of the population. With people living longer, being mentally and physically fit are essential. Add that to research on dementias and an enormous need emerges. With in-home healthcare being slashed through budget cuts, where is one to turn? Long-term care is expensive; adequate facilities are often difficult to locate within a reasonable radius of home. Health and memory care touch us all.
To assist you, my friend Marie Gibson, has created The Caregiver's Journal. This handy, spiral-bound book has space for tracking doctor appointments, medicines, physical and occupational therapy notes for those recovering from surgery or injury, tips for the caregiver and much more. I have several copies available. Just send me an e-mail and I will drop one in the mail or by your home. You'll appreciate the simplicity of this guide.
Gini Cunningham is the facilitator for the Alzheimer's Association Support Group, which meets the second Wednesday of each month at noon at Humboldt General Hospital. Her column appears the second Tuesday of each month in the Humboldt Sun. She can be reached via e-mail, gini.cunningham@sbcglobal.net.
[[In-content Ad]]
