Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren vog obam here. Today's episode is
Speaker 1: a classic from the archive that deals with the difficulties
Speaker 1: of diagnosing, treating, and curing Alzheimer's even though it's fairly common.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vog obam Here. People are living
Speaker 1: longer now than ever before. But with this triumph comes
Speaker 1: a truly unfortunate foe, Alzheimer's disease. Symptoms of the progressive
Speaker 1: brain disorder, which is the most common cause of dementia
Speaker 1: for older adults, typically start to show up around the
Speaker 1: age of sixty, just when many people retire and plan
Speaker 1: to start enjoying their golden years. The disease is incurable
Speaker 1: and is listed as the sixth leading cause of death
Speaker 1: for older people in the United States, but the National
Speaker 1: Institutes of Health says more recent estimates indicate it should
Speaker 1: rank third, behind only cancer and heart disease because many
Speaker 1: cases are not reported correctly. Worse, alzheimer is the only
Speaker 1: disease in the top ten causes of death United States
Speaker 1: for which there is neither a cure, nor means of
Speaker 1: prevention nor treatment. To slow down the disease, we spoke
Speaker 1: via email with David Lusk, founder of an issue advocacy
Speaker 1: consulting company called Key Advocacy. Lusk's mother, at age sixty five,
Speaker 1: began exhibiting symptoms like short term memory loss, struggling with
Speaker 1: basic paperwork, and making decisions with difficulty, but she was
Speaker 1: not diagnosed until age seventy. In two thou eight, Lusk said,
Speaker 1: by early twelve, my mother no longer believed I was
Speaker 1: her son. It was crushing to have my own mother
Speaker 1: thinks she wasn't my mother. And she even stopped saying
Speaker 1: I love you. That is the most painful thing to
Speaker 1: ever endure, never hearing your own mother saying she loves
Speaker 1: you ever again. Lusk's mother died after following a pattern
Speaker 1: of cognitive and emotional decline that has become sadly familiar
Speaker 1: for people dealing with Alzheimer's. Lusk wonders if he will
Speaker 1: get the disease himself someday, as it tends to run
Speaker 1: in families. He said that back of your mind concern
Speaker 1: and I try to ignore it, but there's also a
Speaker 1: part of me that wonders if I'm not already walking
Speaker 1: down the dark, fatal path. So many millions have and
Speaker 1: will as the numbers of people with Alzheimer's skyrockets, it's
Speaker 1: troublesome that a cure or effective treatment hasn't been found
Speaker 1: after so many years of research. It's not for lack
Speaker 1: of effort. In fact, more than one hundred drugs have
Speaker 1: been studied in clinical trials since two thousand two, to
Speaker 1: the tune of billions of dollars in funding, but none
Speaker 1: of these have proved effective enough for patient use. So
Speaker 1: what gives? Why is it so hard to find a
Speaker 1: treatment for Alzheimer's. We also spoke with Rebecca edelbay Or, PhD,
Speaker 1: Director of Scientific Engagement for the Alzheimer's Association. She said,
Speaker 1: some of the difficulty has been in being able to
Speaker 1: identify really what the initiation of the diseases in people.
Speaker 1: We've learned that some of the changes are occurring maybe
Speaker 1: ten to twenty years before they're experiencing the cognitive difficulty.
Speaker 1: That's the crux. We need to understand what's happening in
Speaker 1: the brain before you're experiencing symptoms. We're really trying to
Speaker 1: understand the biology underpinnings of the disease. This is where
Speaker 1: researchers are most focused at the moment. Part of the
Speaker 1: problem is figuring out which people to study ten years
Speaker 1: before they're showing any signs of dementia. Edel Mayer said,
Speaker 1: we're trying to I D people we believe to be
Speaker 1: at risk, and maybe the candidates have a primary relative
Speaker 1: that had full blown Alzheimer's. Maybe they have risk factors
Speaker 1: poor cardiovascular health or difficulties with their sleep. All of
Speaker 1: these things put you at risk for being someone to
Speaker 1: develop Alzheimer's. Of course, not everyone with poor heart health
Speaker 1: gets Alzheimer's. Edel Mayor notes that one of the ways
Speaker 1: to try to find people at risk is through bio markers,
Speaker 1: which are measurable substances that show up in a living
Speaker 1: thing when a particular event is occurring. Checking people who
Speaker 1: aren't yet symptomatic over a period of years and comparing
Speaker 1: them against people with Alzheimer's and varying stages can shine
Speaker 1: light on which biomarkers to look out for. Some potential
Speaker 1: biomarkers which could eventually help to pinpoint those at risk
Speaker 1: of Alzheimer's include blood and urine tests, genetic profiles, brain imaging,
Speaker 1: and pre teens in cerebral spinal fluid. Identifying some of
Speaker 1: these biomarkers might even lead to the development of preventative measures.
Speaker 1: New evidence from one of the largest clinical trials of
Speaker 1: its kind revealed in July the people who aggressively lower
Speaker 1: their systolic blood pressure to below one twenty may reduce
Speaker 1: risk of cognitive impairment. Edel Mayer said, we can modify
Speaker 1: some of our risk factors by very significantly controlling cardiovascular health.
Speaker 1: What's good for your heart is going to be good
Speaker 1: for your brain. Other modifiable risk factors could be related
Speaker 1: to diet, exercise, drugs that harm the brain, and even
Speaker 1: sleep quality, but those require more study before definitive recommendations
Speaker 1: can be made. In the meantime, continuing efforts are underway
Speaker 1: to find a treatment. Edel Mayer says that it's crucial
Speaker 1: to figure out how to quote remove those built up
Speaker 1: proteins in the brain that we believe are inhibiting neuronal
Speaker 1: communication in the brain. An additional area of study focuses
Speaker 1: on better managing the behavioral systems of Alzheimer's that can
Speaker 1: be so disruptive in day to day life, like sleep problems, agitation,
Speaker 1: or even bouts of aggression. Better management of these symptoms
Speaker 1: would mean a better quality of life for patients and
Speaker 1: their families. To improve detection, the Alzheimer's Association is planning
Speaker 1: to release twenty recommendations to help doctors make timely diagnoses
Speaker 1: and establish best practice protocols for how Alzheimer's should be handled.
Speaker 1: These guidelines are expected to be published in late For
Speaker 1: Lusk's part, he says that if a treatment or cure
Speaker 1: for this disease was discovered, he'd feel amazingly relieved to
Speaker 1: not have to dread a diagnosis of Alzheimer's, he said,
Speaker 1: to no longer have to worry about that and have
Speaker 1: that concern. That would be a huge weight lifted off
Speaker 1: my shoulders. Today's episode is based on the article why
Speaker 1: is it so Hard to find a Cure for Alzheimer's
Speaker 1: on how Stuff Works dot Com, written by Aliyah Hoyt.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership
Speaker 1: with how stuff Works dot Com, and this produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clang and Ramsay Yut. Four more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: heart Radio visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.