Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comU.S. drafts plan to fight feared Alzheimer's disease
Seeded on Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:02 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Educating the public and primary doctors ( who should know all about alzheimer's already ) will do little to nothing to ease the burden of caregivers. Respite and resources are what's needed for caregivers.
If we had put all the money we spent in Iraq alone into fighting Alzheimer's disease; we would have had a cure by now or at least a prevention and management mechanism!!!
We are the greatest Nation on Earth with some of the best brains in Medicine, Law, Engineering, Space exploration etc; yet we spend more on wars than on diseases that affect more than half of us...what a shame!
Doc,
Tell me......Just how in the hell do you think we became the "GREATEST NATION" on earth?
We are far from the 'greatest' nation when you look at worldwide health statistics... I think we're about 37th, right behind Croatia, even though we spend twice as much per citizen as anyone else.
Hey---but we spend almost as much as the entire balance of world on defense---and we cut education and the right fights for more cuts in education, social safety nets. On the campaign trail they promise to spend more on defense. Our priorities and policies are insane.
Whats needed is the removal from the food supply of known carcinogens and to stop IMMEDIATELY the use of the chemicals that they have been using to coat the insides of cans for 50 years. Of course the chemical industry will fight this tooth and nail because THEY are responsible for most of the Ill's we are experiencing today. I just hope the "focus" on Alzheimer's is not going to go the way of the "war on cancer". That only made the disease worse and allowed billions to be shuttled off into the pockets of so called "professionals" that their only goal is continued bonuses in their pockets.
Do you think any money is going to go towards studying the causes of Alzheimers? Is anyone going to call for eliminating toxins like aluminum and mercury from the environment? Are we going to investigate aspartame's contribution to the rise in Alzheimer's, or perhaps MSG? Are we so sure that cell phones and wireless technology isn't frying our brains?
Are we going to encourage people to eat foods that have shown the potential to ward off Alzheimers, foods like omega 3 fats, coconut oil, curcumin, and things like ginkgo, astaxanthin and vitamin D?
No, my friends, there's no profit in that. The profit lies in developing new drugs instead; drugs that will not cure Alzheimers, only make it more tolerable, at a great profit to the drug companies.
It does seem like many things that are treated, it would be easier and safer to prevent through a healthy life style, but as you said there is no profit in that.
I am unaware of aluminum being a toxin but even if it was it would pretty hard to eliminate it from the environment considering it is the most abundant element in the Earth's crust.
Plain - it is not fair to bring up facts to a nut-job. His mind is made up and he knows the truth without any data. They also blame the 'chem-trails', what they are now calling jet contrails.
Remember- you cannot use facts when talking with a 'true believer'. Facts only confuse them.
stanmrak Totally agree. Nice post.
On the bright side you can test for heavy metals with a provocation test. And you can eliminate heavy metals with chelation which is very safe. Other artificial chemicals should be avoided, but a far infared sauna over time can help eliminate a lot of toxins safely and gradually. This with a healthy diet (not too much alcohol), omega 3 fats, exercise, an active mind, and plenty of B vitamins should ward of Alzheimers.
Do you really believe that the drug companies want to find cures?? Absolutely not, there is NO MONEY in curing. Just like the shortages of drugs, there is no shortage, the drug companies decide the drug is not profitable and discontiues making the drug.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, NOT HUMAN LIFE OR QUALITY OF HUMAN LIFE!!
The quote is accurate for the health care in this country.......Find a treatment! There are cures for various diseases and conditions, but the industry prevents them from being used. This article and the comments say all that needs to be said!
My grand father had this disease, it is devistsating and needs to be delt with.
That said, trusting the obamanation, with his track record on things like solyndra, to do the right thing, with his forced mandates of jail time for health insurance violators. his attempts to subvert the constitution and violate religious doctrine. let alone the fact that he and his cronies are as inept as 3 month old kittens when it comes to running the rest of the country. hell he thinks 2+2 equals a trillion.
If anything good comes from this, it will have to be done without the governments so-called help.
I bet you think he's giving all your tax money to the black folks.
S. Ulmer, you are absolutely correct. My mother-in-law has it. She has been on Hospice care for about 2 years. Since she has not passed away, Medicare will no longer pay for Hospice services. My father-in-law, bless his heart, will do whatever to keep her alive until the bitter end. Can anyone say the word "hypocrit" about Obama and his minions?
I told my family when I can no longer shovel food into my pie hole, to stop feeding me and let nature take it's course. I think quality of life is more important than just existing and taking resources away from those who are cureable. Just my humble opinion.
Obama has nothing to do with your mothers medicare. It's Medicare that's doing it, they will only pay for so much. I know, I use to sell Medicare Supplements.
Patty, your reading and comprehension skills need work. I did not say it was my mother. She is deceased and she did not die from Alzheimer's. Obama and that nitwit Kathleen Sebilius are making health care policy and regulations every day that the American public does not even know about. And if you don't think the Obama administration is not issuing Medicare directives every day, then you are very naive. This was just a cheap political ploy by Obama. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
Sorry about that. I know that things are changing. My ex-husbands wife has it. They had to do a spin-down which means they had to get rid of all things of value, savings, property and etc. Then they put her on Medicade. And yes, my comprehension skills needs work, I'm 74.
Patty, I apologize for my harsh response to you. My father is also deceased, but through Medicare his hospice expenses were paid. He died from complications from diabetes. He had no Medicare supplement, so I had to pay for his nursing home expenses out of his funds. We just do not know how long someone will live. I am thankful that Medicare covered the hospice expenses for the six months he needed them. Hospice is a great organization, and I encourage everyone to donate to them.
bee,
no I know he is GIVING money to: china, russia, afganistan, iran, iraq, france, greece, kenya somalia, columbia, myamar, bolivia, zimbabwi, south africa, egypt, isreal, turkey, pakistan, and dozons of other countries. he has refused to pin down congress on buget issues.
literally, he had to flunk basic math, because he does think 2+2 = trillions, he has spent more than ALL previous presidents COMBINED, and refuses to stop.
This is great news. I'm definitely going to vote for what's his name.
threevok,
Of course you're going to vote for "what's his name". You'd vote for a turnip if he promised you the world!
I have a sneaking suspicion that this will end similarly to "our plan to fight Iraq"...expensive, ignored by the public, forgotten and, in the end, a huge waste of everyone's time and money.
Not only because this represents a governmental intrusion into a market sector that there's no clear mandate (i.e., no collective action problem)...but generally because, while Fighting Alzheimers is nice and all, in utilitarian terms, it's a misallocation of money.
From society's persepctive, those with Alzheimers are a clear demographic...namely, they prospective benficiaries of this spending are generally citizens of retirement age. Or, saying it in less politically correct terms...the benficiaries can generally be described as a certain segment of the population that contributes little or nothing to the collective good but rather is coasting on their stored (some might say horded) assets into oblivion.
Wouldn't it be such a Blessing, if, by the time you are elderly, there would be no worry of getting Alzheimers? Some people have it in their 50's. That's not old!
That all well and good. Yes, in rare instances people still contributing to society get Alzheimer's. But there's kids starving and our schools are terrible. 10%+ of the country is unemployed. Our manufacturing infrastructure is crumbling. Our infrastructure generally is crumbling. 1/4 people have a negative net worth. We have a huge energy issue coming to a head. Etc. etc. etc.
I'm not against Alzheimer's research as a general proposition. You're right. I may get it one day...so I'm a potential customer for the product of the research. What I'm against is the government (i) getting involved and (ii) prioritizing it to any extent over the above mentioned items and many more like them.
If the government really is going to be in the business of funding Alzheimer's research, literally not one dollar should be allocated to it until these other problems are satisfactorily solved.
You are one ignorant dude we should be taking care of our elders no matter if i could reach through this computer i woke choke the sh it ut of you One-eyed. I bet you have no member in your family that has this you are lucky than. This disease is as devastating as cancer but it just takes longer to kill. I got this feeling you are very young and naive or on welfare one of the two.
[World according to] Garp. I love how you managed to get the welfare point in there. Granted, it's wildly illogical...but it's appreciated none the less. Kudos.
Speaking of welfare. You do realize that's essentially my objection to the government's research plan. Right? You do realize I'm not objecting to private research driven by market factors.
Using your conservative nomenclature...I'm objecting to the government providing "welfare" to the elderly in the form of Alzheimer's research funds while contributing citizens, infrastructure, soldiers, etc. languish.
One Eye
You do realize that the pharmaceutical industry doesn't really do much basic research. Most of that is done in academic institutions and teaching hospitals. It is funded through NIH. The pharmaceutical industry takes that, add some of their own research and then sells the product at a huge profit. They actually spend more on marketing then they do on research.
If the government isn't involved then it wont get done.
Fair point if we're mincing.
But, Rev, how does this affect my argument that the funds are misallocated from a utilitarian perspective?
God's green herb cures alzheimers and a variety of other diseases......but the medical industry via the FDA keep it suppressed.
take it as a suppository
I'll be tokin during my senior years!
God's green herb doesn't actually have 99.999% of the health benefits that are claimed for it. It is just a smoke and mirrors campaign to get it legalized.
Oregeno???
ay! forget about it. who?
harrykid
There is nothing funny about your comment.
One day it will be your turn for life's problems.
sure there is , with the health policies we have in the U.S we are all headed in the direction of chronic health problems. Alzheimer's is the diseases of politicians. once their elected they for get about the voters that put them there.
They (whoever "they" are) should have started this program 50 years ago along with Parkinson's instead of pissing away billions fighting for people who hate our guts.
It's not really the government who determines health care policy - it's the drug and health care industries and their lobbyists. Politicians are only the puppets. Republican or Democrat; it matters not who's in office.
Yeah, you'd think that Congress and the President would just mandate a cure.
Obama's Plan is if they can't solve it, the death squads will.
Great!
Now if we spent as much on the research in one year as we have on the 'wars', where do you suppose we'd be?
If we spent as much on the research as Consumers do on supporting professional athletics, where do you suppose we'd be?
If we spent as much on the research as we have bailing out the banks, where do you suppose we'd be?
The list could go on, you realize.
Nothing will change until some researcher comes up with a real cure - and big pharma will be there to buy him out and reap trillions in profits from terrified baby boomers.
You saw it here first.
It's a great idea to spend our energy and monies on our own people. This is certainly welcomed news by the millions of families whom are dealing with this dreadful disease. Our president, once again showing leadership where it counts, the american people.
People get senile when they get old. It's a normal part of aging.
Alzheimer's is not the same as senility. Not even close. It is also not a normal part of aging, nor does it affect only old people. There are people in their 40s with it. People with someone in the family with Alzheimer's would pray for them to just be senile.
And it is not increasing just because overall people are living longer. In my family -- both sides -- people have been living into their 90s since the late 1800s but Alzheimers only appeared in the last generation before mine.
Why not legalize assisted suicide so when and or if I am diagnosed I can plan for a dignified and orderly exit?
Assisted suicide is legal in two states, but it does not encompass those with Alzheimers. In order to make use of the provision you must be diagnosed as being within 6 months of death and Alzheimer's can go on for years. You must also be of sound mind to choose assisted suicide and once you are diagnosed with Alzheimer's you are no longer of considered mentally competent enough to make that choice.
And why do you want someone else to have the responsibility to kill you? Suicide is possible without assistance.
That I s why I am all for early diagnoses this way I can tell my doctor to let me die before I am a burdened to my Family. I have watched way to many of my friends ruin their own lives caring for someone who has no clue who they are anymore. And knowing their parents most of my life if they knew how bad they would get and how modern medicine is keeping them alive way past when they should. They would have told them to let me go, pass me the pills to put us both out of this mess.
My future is going to be the other way like my mother. My mind will stay clear way into my 100's (most of my family live to way past 90 now). But my body will be a trap for me unable to move needing people to change me and feed me. That is my mother right now at 92. My plan is to put aside pills that will put me to sleep forever. That will be put in a box that is sealed and handed to my niece who will suffer the same way as my mother and me so she understands. When I am ready she will bring me the box in the nursing home and I will wait a week so no one will see the connection. It is my right as a human to choose when and how I die not the government.
Boy I don't know if congress would like this they ALL have it
Just do as they do in Soylent Green and will all be fine.
Only time travel will stop time!
Spend money on making young lives healthy, but not on old age infirmities.
Seems like an expensive waste to seek cures for the inevitable ravages of time, and the certainty of death.
If you don't care about the quality of life for old people, here is another reason. Preventing age related mental decline would keep these people mentally functional and self-reliant instead of in nursing homes. That would be less expensive for government and private insurance. That would potentially make your insurance less expensive.
@Stanmar - I believe you are the only one that knows what you are talking about and your thoughts make a lot of sense. Thank you for posting!
My mother has Alzheimer's right now. The medicines currently being lauded as the "best" for it sent her into a tailspin and over the edge into Paranoia. Until the medical world understands it better, they don't need to be making any recommendations about it. And I'll thank obama to keep his nose out of my mother's and my business. I've got all the grief I can handle right now without him bothering me, too.
So if the infusion of money Obama is calling for leads to better medicine or even a cure you won't let your mother take it because is none of Obama's business?
It's sad that our President already has it, he seems to have forgotten we have a Constitution!!!
Add in all the members of Congress!!!
As someone who has actually been diagnosed with dementia, there are 4 main points which I'd like to make. 1.a As the acticle states, there is indeed, a lot of stigma. associated with it. People need to be educated. 2. Not everyone who develops dementia is old. I was diagnosed 4 years ago, as a physically active college instructor.3.Being single, I will not have anyone to act as a caregiver when I will need one. No organization is doing anything to address this. I'm sure there are thousands of others in the same situation. 4. Education is key=many of the causes and/or cures mentioned by previous commenters do not stand up to scientific scrutiny.
P. S. My age when I was diagnosed was 50.
hahahah... oh my god... yeah were gonna get to it in 2025 hahahaha thats some bull right there... way after obama is gone and the next president just ends it... he's just spouting more bull to get re-elected.
Hey moron. Ever heard of long-term planning?
Yeah I bet their Alzheimer's portion of the O'blama plan includes a couple quick bullets in the head. I know how this government thinks, if it aint productive, and it costs us (not makes us) money, eliminate it. Dont trust these bastards as far as I can throw them. When did this government ever do anything for one of us??? They are doing a bang-up job eliminating Social Security by their ubiquitous 'Payroll Tax " decrease, second year running now. Folks, payroll tax ain't income tax. it's what you pay for social security.
In about 2 years, what you will hear is" we no longer have enough funding to pay any more Social Security benefits. And they will replace it with repressive social programs that will begin institutionalizing all people over the age of 62, and slowly eliminating them " to decrease the surplus non-productive population" . Watch for it. This is not a joke.
Why didn't I think of that? A government mandate to "fix" Alzheimers. They could model it after the government mandate that celulosic ethanol be added to gasoline products. You know, the one they use to fine the oil companies that aren't adding any to their gasolines.
Incredibly, even though Congress and the EPA have mandated it, nobody has figured out how to do it economically (or even uneconomically). Who could have known?