Alzheimer’s is a progressive and fatal brain disease. It destroys brain cells, causes memory loss and interferes with thinking. Often it affects a person’s behavior severely enough that they can no longer work or enjoy their favorite hobbies, family or friends. It gets worse over time and is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s but there are treatments. With proper services and support, patients can live a better life. And researchers are making headway in unlocking the key to this terrible mind puzzle.
Our panel for Friday’s Smart Talk includes Edward Purzycki, Ph.D., ABPN, Lancaster General Neuropsychology Specialists. Dr. Purzycki started the Memory Disorders Center at Lancaster General Hospital in 1996. He is a member of the faculty at the LGH College of Nursing and Health Sciences and is a clinical assistant professor at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He has more than 25 years of experience in community mental health and medical psychology. His specialty interests include behavioral medicine and neuropsychology, traumatic brain injuries, sleep medicine and dementia.
Also joining us will be Daniel George, Ph.D, and co-author of the book, "The Myth of Alzheimer's." Dr. George is an assistant professor in Medical Humanities at The Penn State University. Dr, George told Radio Smart Talk listeners last week that there are two sides to the myths of the disease -- scientific and social. “The social myth is that Alzheimer’s disease is a complete and total loss of self,” he explained. “That it’s a death sentence that’s just marked by deficits and decline. Whereas anybody who’s actually experienced the condition knows that there are still moments of love and warmth … and that there still is a capacity to have a quality of life and to even make a contribution to society.”
Watch the program
On the scientific side, Dr. George noted that the myths are more controversial but he counted as number one the idea that Alzheimer’s “… is a singular disease. It’s not. It’s a very heterogeneous condition caused by hundreds of genes. The pathologies are very mixed. It’s often said to be caused by plaques and tangles. But having a high degree of plaques and tangles on your brain does not necessarily cause dementia … It’s also said that Alzheimer’s is unrelated to aging, whereas, age is the most common risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. So to say that it’s something like polio or malaria that’s a disease process with a specific pathogen is just not quite correct. It’s intimately related to the processes of brain aging.”
The Alzheimer’s Association lists 10 warning signs of the disease;
1. Memory changes that disrupt daily life
2. Challenges in planning or solving problems
3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks
4. Confusion with time or place
5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships
6. New problems with words in speaking or writing
7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps
8. Decreased or poor judgment
9. Withdrawal from work or social activities
10. Changes in mood and personality
Prevention magazine and NBC’s Today show reported on new research surrounding a diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s. “A reliable test for Alzheimer's disease has never existed, but in 2009, multiple labs around the country broke through that diagnosis barrier,” writes Richard Laliberte. “A new method of analyzing MRI images developed at the Mayo Clinic pinpoints changes in the brain with up to 80% accuracy. At UCLA, researchers have developed a blood test for AD. But the most accurate and promising technique is a skin test developed at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute at West Virginia University: with the prick of a finger, it detects defective enzymes involved with memory function that are found in both brain and skin cells. Test results proved 98% accurate at detecting Alzheimer's, says Daniel Alkon, MD, the institute's scientific director. Even more remarkable: The researchers discovered that low doses of the chemotherapy drug bryostatin reactivate the defective enzymes. "We can actually rewire broken connections in the brain and restore memory," says Alkon. "That's extraordinarily exciting because it could be used to reverse the dreadful consequences of many brain diseases." Clinical trials in people will get under way in 2010.”
Robert Tucker, a retired bank executive who lives in Mechanicsburg, was the primary caretaker of his wife, Kay, when she was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years ago. Robert will share on our program his experiences with Alzheimer’s. He cared for Kay 24 hours a day, seven days a week for two years. But then a combination of her worsening condition and his own health issues, including a bout with prostate cancer – now in remission – Type-2 diabetes and heart- valve replacement surgery made it necessary for Robert to place Kay in assisted living. She now resides at Country Meadows on the West Shore.
Robert told me Kay had a brain tumor 32 years ago and underwent surgery. Doctors now believe the dementia that became evident at age 59 actually began as damage from her surgery decades ago. Robert and his two sons, one of whom lives in Mechanicsburg, began to recognize cognitive changes in Kay. “We noticed confusion, short-term memory loss, inability to solve problems. For example, we were having work done to a home we were selling and she couldn’t remember which contractors were coming to do which jobs at the house each day,” he explained. By 2007, Kay had reached a point “where she would confuse her nights and days. She’d get up and wander around the house at all hours of the day and night. Do things at unpredictable times. She was increasingly difficult to manage. I could only leave the house to go to the grocery store when I could get someone to stay with her for an hour while she rested,” Robert lamented.
The decision to place Kay in assisted living and then the choice of which placement would be best were “very tough,” Robert admits. “She recognizes me. I’m about the only one. Even though our older son and his wife and their two boys come to visit, a few weeks ago, she started telling the caregivers that he was her nephew. It’s really tough. Fortunately, the two grandchildren are young enough that they don’t realize Grandma doesn’t recognize them anymore.” It is a heartbreaking realization but one that emboldened Robert to become active in the Greater Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. He is now a member of its board of directors.
“We’re at a stage where the best I can hope for is to keep her comfortable and to keep her from getting hurt …. In addition to my wife, my brother who’s 11 years older than me was diagnosed with it last year and I have a sister two years older and she was diagnosed six months ago … The other aspect of it is that I’ve done a lot of lobbying with state and federal legislators. The story I tell them is, ‘Look, I’ve got prostate cancer, an artificial heart valve, Type-2 diabetes. So, why am I here talking to you about Alzheimer’s? Some combination of those diseases will cause my death but I’ll be surrounded by family, clergy, and I’ll have a chance to say goodbye. When my wife dies, she’ll be surrounded by loved ones, but in a real sense, she’s going to die alone because she won’t recognize any of them.’”
Robert hopes that through the advocacy of groups like the Alzheimer’s Association, families and patients will get the help they need to cope with the disease, researchers will get the funding and technical support they require to develop a medical breakthrough, and public consciousness will be raised about the horrendous toll this illness takes on our society.
Jan Lewis lives in suburban Harrisburg and will join our panel. Her father, Samuel Orlowsky, was in his early 80s when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. However, Jan believes he suffered from the early effects of the disease for years . “He was repetitive. He would repeat things or stories all the time and we thought, ‘Oh, that’s just Dad.’” she recalled. Doctors acknowledge that early-stage Alzheimer’s patients can become very adept at masking the disease especially when their family is loathe to confront the reality of a diagnosis.
“It was in the back of my mind but forgetfulness is so much a part of the aging process that it (Alzheimer’s) was something I never really thought about. I accepted it more as a part of his aging. When he was diagnosed and continued to live at home, nothing really changed except for a gradual loss of interests. He was a great gardener. We finally knew there was something wrong the year he didn’t talk about ordering seeds through the catalogue. We knew then there had been a major step taken,” Jan said. Her father succumbed to Alzheimer’s in December 2006.
To shine a spotlight further on this complex disease, Hershey Area Playhouse at Country Meadows last weekend staged a performance of the play, Full Moon over Montmartre. The play chronicles the lives of a couple, Frank and Sadie, as they deal with the diagnosis that Sadie has early-onset Alzheimer’s. Their dreams for traveling and an adventurous retirement must be altered. Click here to listen to a scene from the play and a discussion about the production from last week’s Radio Smart Talk program.
comments
RSS feed for comments to this post