What's the point of identifying the Disease earlier? There's no cure! There's no current help for those afflicted, who's advocating to help those of us who are sole caretakers of our spouses, as we watch them degenerate?

Like Obama....we talk a good game!

For once can we keep partisan politics out of a health issue that affects millions of people. Susan Collins is correct, as a nation we are a people who like to fix things that are broken. Unfortunately that is not always the best modality of treatment for a disease process. Research might allow us to develop methods of preventative care that just might prolong the onset of the disease. Naturally that is going to take some dollars, but if we have to spend one dollar to save a hundred it would be well worth it. This is a long term issue with no easy solution, if we start today, perhaps our children will be spared the financial and emotional cost that many are faced with today as it relates to our parents.

Forget the drugs. They are too expensive, too late, and they don't work. Instead of focusing on the drug companies and treatment, the focus should be on brain research and prevention. In case you don't think I know what I'm talking about, I took care of both parents who had severe brain deterioration. I am working very hard with Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa and the Alzheimer's research foundation (http://www.drdharma.org) to keep my brain in shape. What good is early diagnosis? Everyone should be nice to their brain to keep it healthy as long as possible. 

What was the article about again?? I forgot. Also, what was the article about?

If you live with an Alzheimer victim, you have to have a sense of humor. Laughter really is good medicine - for you and the patient.

Terrible disease. I hope I never get it.

I am a 43-year-old caucasion female with episodic memory black-outs and a strong family history of Alzheimers. Where do I sign up for the next study?!

A friend just went to a forum on alzheimers. She thinks her 80 something year old mother might be in the initial phases. There's actually 75 different kinds of dementia, alzheimers just being one of the more common ones. The only way to truly ascertain alzheimers is after the fact, via autopsy. If earlier detection meant better treatments to postpone the onset then great. If it's just a way for pharma to peddle more meds that don't really do a damn thing, then no thanks.

I have a history of alzheimers in my family on my mothers side. I know nothing of my fathers family history. I have been tested for alzheimers which I have no faith in. Asking me to remember objects in the doctors office, then having a conversation for 5 to 10 minutes, and then asking me to cover my eyes and identify the objects that I was asked to previously remember doesn't give me much confidence in the test. I've watched my mother and several aunts get old and forget who I am, forget how to eat, and eventually die. It is a horrible desease that I don't want to get or have to live with. Nor do I want my family to have to watch and care for me if and or when I get it. My hope is to avoid this and I know that once someone discovers how to predict or knows what causes the desease, then a cure can be found. I pray they can do it before it's too late.

Terrible disease. I hope I never get it.

Having been involved both professionally ( nurse) & personally (Aunt who we were POA for), I also pray for an improvement in diagnostic measures of ANY kind.

It truly is a long, slow "good-bye."

Early detection has been available through neuropsychological evaluations for a number of years. This involves more than a "dementia" evaluation but can be highly reliable. And without the pain and discomfort of having a spinal tap. the only problem. It's not a medical procedure, but a psychological one. so it is hard to get individuals referred until it is late in the game.

And when an insurance company sends you to their company doctor for physical, will a genetic test for the Alzheimer marker be part of it? Will the company be able to exclude treatment for what will become a pre-existing condition?

I am the caregiver for my husband who is 88 years old. I am 86. My husband was a home builder in the 40ies. In 1961 he bought a bowling alley. He di everything from fixing machines, cleaning the bathroom If the man didn't show up,getting people to join leagues, stay many late nites for guys that wanted to jackpot. He was very active and at 57 he sold the business and we went to southern Texas for the winter. We danced, played shuffleboard, went on Mexico trips, took part in all the activities at the park. We sold our park model in 1996, Les had heart surgery in 1994, a stroke 1997. After that he had memory loss. He still knows the family and Me but having the bowlling alley and going south for 21 years is not things he remembers. He had a couple uncles on both side of his family who had loss of memory. I can't think Les's problems are from inactivity but a genetic part of his heritage.. I feel blessed to still have him and we have 8 children, grown with families that help me very much. We have 30 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren and the 16 if this month we will celebrate 67 years of married life. God has blessed us even with Alzheimer's.

Terrible disease. I hope I never get it.

Dementia and Alzheimer's diseases, somehow is not just genetic problems, is also caused by job-related stresses unto brain. Nurses are always thinking constantly and recollecting and memorizing a lot of things and some nurses become nervous if some tiny little things are missing. And, sometimes those tiny little things can be crucial.

It is another reason that dementia and alzheimers diseases are occupational diseases for nurses.

And, that is the reasons nurses do not overwork or overburden yourselves. Nurses are superhuman beings and are just like other employees. Do not overwork the brains.

My father was diagnosed at the age of 55 with probable Alzheimer's. What a long journey, as he did not die until the age of 78. My mother died young from a blood clot so I got Dad when she passed. I had him 10 1/2 years. He was classic in the disease, but when he died I did not want them to cut on him, so his death certifcate it says he died of old age. It made me so angry. His care was very expensive, starting out around 2k per month and at the end 6K per month. The govenment lies, they do not pay for Alzheimer's care. Not one dime of his care was covered. I felt so sorry for the people who had to keep their loved ones at home and endure the 36 hour day it requires to care for them. Now, after all the money spent I have nothing left for retirement. The new OBAMA health care bill, omits paying for any demetia, so don't let him fool you. It is a crime in this country the old and sick have no financial help. The burdens on the children of those people are enormous. Please remember this when you vote.

I have a father with Alzheimer's. He trusts only my sister who, I suspect, may be suffering from early dementia. I have been told by local authorities there is not much I can do until they do something so bizarre as to prove themselves at danger. By that time they may have lost all their assets. How crazy is a system that expects a person with diminished capacity to acknowledge the mental decline? In the meantime I clean up their financial messes whenever I am made aware of them, accept hateful remarks, cajole them into going to doctor visits (visits that never seem to address their mental decline because I have not been given the right to discuss my concerns because of HIPPA).

Terrible disease. I hope I never get it.

My mother died six years ago at 82 from complications of Alzheimer's. We'd watched helplessly for nearly ten years. Her husband having a stroke finally pushed her over the edge and she passed about four months later.

At 64, I find that I'm more forgetful, short term, than I used to be. Scares the **** out of me. I hope that help is coming soon for this horrible disease. But I suppose that older folks who have put in their productive years already are going to be low on the priority list. Better to keep squandering money on AIDS research when we already know what spreads it in order to be politically correct and save people who don't give a damn about how they treat their own bodies.

Am I a little bitter? Do I have a reason to be? You tell me.

Terrible disease. I hope I never get it.

Do We Really Need New Criteria For Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease?

There is a flurry of articles appearing in both the medical and popular press as many experts are attempting to change the criteria for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. The new criteria are based on the “amyloid hypothesis.’ Amyloid is brain protein that sometimes goes awry and is associated with the formation of plaques on neurons. The theory is based on the belief that abnormal amyloids cause Alzheimer’s disease. If this is so, the theory suggests that treatment strategies should be based on arresting or reversing the creation of amyloid plaques. Most current clinical trials of medications for Alzheimer’s disease are based on this hypothesis. By the newly proposed criteria, finding plaque on a PET scan or in cerebrospinal fluids would be cause to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in persons without memory loss or other symptoms. If adopted, many would be told either that they have or that they are on the way to developing Alzheimer’s disease.

The idea behind this change is to develop treatments before there are symptoms such as memory loss. There is a feeling that the failure of amyloid treatments is due to starting treatments after the disease has developed or progressed too far. Although this is a noble goal, there are a few reasons to be concerned based on current knowledge. First, these decisions are being made based on theory. It is still unclear whether the plaques cause the disease or are a result of the disease. This fact in combination with the failure of amyloid treatments so far to induce clinical improvement is a concern. If amyloids are not the cause of Alzheimer’s disease, we are causing a great deal of anguish for the new cases that would be falsely identified. Second, amyloids are only part of the picture. People with Alzheimer’s disease usually have other pathologies such as tangles caused by a tau protein and vascular damage from mini-strokes. Third, there are a substantial number of people who meet the autopsy criteria (including plaques) for Alzheimer’s disease that have no clinical symptoms.

I feel that we need to be more careful about converting research criteria into clinical diagnostic criteria. The new guidelines are fine for clinical trials based on theory and hope. There will be a large economic and emotional price to pay for these changes. The additional testing is expensive as are the drugs that would be used. But I am even more concerned with the emotional toll. Not every case of memory loss is a result of Alzheimer’s disease (which by current diagnostic criteria involves more than just memory loss). Not all memory loss produces disability. Not all memory loss leads to dementia. There is the security that we derive from being able to label something. If we can put a label on something we have a false sense of understanding it. This is clearly not true for Alzheimer’s disease. We need to focus on functional strengths and weaknesses in abilities rather than diagnostic labels and medical tests. This allows us to treat changes in brain function proactively based on what still works rather than being so focused on what doesn’t work.

Dr. Beckwith is a neuropsychologist, speaker, and author of Managing Your Memory: Practical Solutions for Forgetting. www.lifeandmemorycenter.com.