Chapter 1

The Text and Its Source

The Disease That Robs Us of OurselvesFor all whom Alzheimer’s impact, here’s help and hope

By Anita Bartholomew

One day you try to read a book, but can’t understand the words. Later, you get lost in your own neighbourhood. Eventually, you won’t recognise those you love. Your nody is still there…… but you’re gone.

Alzheimer’s disease was first identified in 1906 by German scientist Alois Alzheimer. Today , it’s one of the leading causes of dementia, a disease of the brain that affects cognitive ability. Other common types of dementia include vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. All lead memory loss and problems with thinking, changed behavior and a loss of ability to perform everyday tasks.

Worldwide there are nearly 35.6 million people living with dementia, according to the World Health Organisation. Up to 70% of these are thought to have Alzheimer’s disease. Of those people with dementia, more than half (58% ) are from low- and middle-income countries.

Alzheimer’s disease has a huge impact on our society. For those at risk, or already suffering, or caring for a sufferer, here is information and advice for helping to prevent, delay and cope with Alzheimer’s, as well as information about treatments available, now and in the years to come.

How do you know if it’s Alzheimer’s?Anyone can struggle, at times, to remember the title of an old movie or the name of an acquaintance. But the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are more dramatic than occasional lapses in memory.

People with incipient Alzheimer’s are unable to do what they’ve always done, like paying bills or counting out money for a purchase. The sense of smell often diminishes before the disease apparent. Or its onset can make people suddenly suspicious of those they trust.

If you or someone you care for has such symptoms, go to your doctor. Usually they will test memory using a standard cognitive test. If the patient find the test difficult, the doctor will probably refer the patient for further test, including a brain scan.

Although not yet widely used, spinal fluid testing is considered one of the most accurate indicators of the disease. It measures levels of the proteins involved in Alzheimer’s and, when combined with a brain scan, offers an 85 to 90% accurate diagnosis, says Kaj Blennow, a professor of clinical neurochemistry at Sweden’s Sahlgren-ska University Hospital.

Treating the symptomsIf Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed, there are several drugs that treat the symptoms, including Aricept (done-pezil), Exelon (rivastigmine), and Reminyl (galantamine).

These drugs may improve memory and reasoning symptoms temporarily, say several experts, but they might not work for everyone. “The long-term outcome is not well known,” says Blennow, and the disease will probably “catch up” in the end. “They don’t have any significant

effect on slowing the disease’s progressions,” says drug researcher Dr Kurt Brunden from the University of Pennsylvania.

Studies suggest that exercise might help slow progression of the illness, even after symptoms appear, and your doctor might also suggest certain supplements. One recent study showed that when those with mild cognitive impairment took high doses of vitamins B12 and B6, the vitamins “slowed the rate of shrinkage of the brain … and also slowed their cognitive decline over two years,” says Oxford University’s Proffesor A. David Smith.

A new medical drink, Souvenaid (made up of several essential nutrients includingomega-3 fatty acids), is in clinical trials and expected to be available soon by prescription in Europe and the US. After 24 weeks, people with mild Alzheimer’s disease who drank Souvenaid scored better on memory test than those who drank a placebo. Says Proffesor Philip Sceltens, directors of the Alzheimer Centre at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, “The combination of essential nutrients is better than each of them alone.”