Alzheimer’s Roundup

22 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Ann Napoletan in Advocacy and Awareness, Care Options, Diagnosis, Early Onset, Expectations, Face of Alzheimer's, Prevention, Round Up

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alzheimers, alzheimers diet, caregivers, caregiving, dementia, dementia village, living with alzheimers

Who will care for the caregivers?

“There are some 40 million Americans like my patient’s daughter. Every day, they help a parent, grandparent, relative or neighbor with basic needs: dressing, bathing, cooking, medications or transportation. Often, they do some or all of this while working, parenting, or both. And we — as doctors, employers, friends and extended family — aren’t doing enough to help them.” ~Dhruv Khullar, M.D. Read full article

After the diagnosis…

You’re worried. Your mom has shown increasing forgetfulness for months. She even got lost going to the grocery store she frequents. You hoped things would resolve themselves, but instead, they kept getting worse. You took her to the doctor, hoping the problem was due to a bad interaction of her many medicines or a treatable infection. Instead, you got the dreaded diagnosis: Alzheimer’s. Now what? Read full article

Dementia Village coming to San Diego

A San Diego nonprofit is taking an unorthodox approach to help seniors cope with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s building a village for them to spend time during the day. It’s not residential. But the village is modeled on San Diego in the 1950s, complete with vintage cars, period music, payphones and shops from the pre-shopping mall, pre-Wal-Mart era. The nonprofit says research suggests this type of visual reminder might improve cognitive function and quality of life of Alzheimer’s patients over 65. Read full article

Eating for good brain health

“Diet absolutely does play a role. The brain is like any other organ that is susceptible to (foods) that can protect against oxidation damage. … Think of oxidation like a fire getting started. These (good) foods act like little tiny fire extinguishers that help put out those fires that otherwise would cause damage leading to loss of brain function.” ~Liz Applegate, Professor, UC Davis Read full article

Living with early stage Alzheimer’s

“These days my ministry is Alzheimer’s. I am so much happier now that I’ve accepted my diagnosis. There’s a stigma associated with memory-loss disorders and oftentimes people are afraid to ask for help; I believe my calling is to help reduce that shame. You don’t have to be embarrassed to have Alzheimer’s.” ~Rev. Cynthia Huling Hummel, D.Min Read full article

Guest Post: Dementia in the Workplace

16 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by Ann Napoletan in Advocacy and Awareness, Diagnosis, Early Onset, Guests, Purple Angel, Ruminations

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alzheimers, dementia, dementia diagnosis, dementia stigma, early onset dementia, younger onset alzheimers

purpleangel1 Today, I’m pleased to share a guest post by Derek Fisher. In this piece, Derek discusses dementia in the workplace and the need to help businesses become dementia friendly. With people like Norman McNamara leading the charge, I suspect the UK may be doing a better job of reducing the stigma than we are in the States. Even so, I think we can agree there’s a lot more work to be done worldwide. Continue reading →

Early Diagnosis: Which Side Are You On?

26 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Ann Napoletan in Advocacy and Awareness, Diagnosis, Early Onset, Research, Ruminations

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alzheimers, alzheimers research, diagnosis

beach-footprints One of the more controversial subjects surrounding Alzheimer’s is whether or not it makes sense to push for early diagnosis. After all, this is a disease with no cure and no proven treatment, right? So, what good could come of knowing sooner than later?

Preclinical Diagnosis

A study recently published in the Annals of Neurology has found a link between the amount of mitochondrial DNA in one’s spinal fluid and the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s. The research shows that asymptomatic patients as well as those already experiencing symptoms have lower levels of mitochondrial DNA, and perhaps most important is the fact that this can be detected up to 10 years before symptoms appear.

Professor Ramon Trullas, head of the study being conducted at CSIC Institute of Biomedical Research at Barcelona, explains that these findings could lead to viable treatment options in the preclinical stages – something that simply doesn’t exist today.

Younger Onset

The medical community believes that the sooner treatment begins, the more likely it is that symptoms can be controlled or delayed. Imagine receiving a younger onset diagnosis in your 40’s or 50’s. For those families, truly in the prime of their lives, a few years can make a significant difference not only in planning and preparation, but in the amount of quality time they have together.

Clinical Trials and Support

Early diagnosis also allows patients to enter clinical trials much sooner, giving researchers an opportunity to study the brain in the earliest stages of the disease. The hope is that this early research will lead to treatments that can halt Alzheimer’s long before symptoms begin to manifest themselves.

Another important aspect of early diagnosis is that it gives families a chance to engage meaningful support from the very beginning. I believe that alone can be immensely helpful. With my mom, one of our greatest mistakes was allowing denial to take over.

I remember well how defensive she was; I never wanted to rock the boat, so we didn’t talk about it. Looking back, I think about how we could have handled things differently if we had faced reality at the first sign something was wrong. Building a support network would have been extremely beneficial.