

Alzheimer's: The News Is Not Getting Better - cwan
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/07/26/alzheimers_the_news_is_not_getting_better.php

======
bh42222
Am I the only one who thinks that 99% chance of cerebral vascular edema is
STILL preferable to 100% chance of late stage Alzheimer's?

This is absolutely how I feel. I may not take this kind of treatment in the
early stages of the disease, but as soon as feel that I might be losing
myself, I'd roll the dice without blinking.

~~~
ender7
After losing a family member to Alzheimer's (a process which lasted almost a
decade), most of my family appears to have independently decided that they
would rather quietly off themselves (pills, etc.) than slowly have their brain
melt away - myself included.

It's hard to describe unless you've watched a loved one go through it.

~~~
dekayed
Agreed. I have tried to express this to others after my father started to
really change. Most people were shocked and assured me that I wouldn't think
that way if I actually had the disease. My only response to that was to say
that I hope this is cured by that point.

------
abstractbill
_The News Is Not Getting Better ... There have been reports of an unexpected
side effect (vasogenic edema) in several trials, for drugs that work through
completely different mechanisms._

It sounds like we could be on the verge of understanding something fundamental
about alzheimers. I'd say that's _fantastic_ news in the long-term.

~~~
po
That's what it _sounds_ like… Unfortunately, we've been on the verge of
understanding it for decades now and we're still spinning in place. Long-term
good news is no help to those of us who are watching our loved ones die before
our very eyes today. It is a grim subject to research… so much work has gone
into it and yet we still cannot even reliably diagnose it.

Not trying to be hopeless here: just remember to thank your local Alzheimer's
researcher, the job has not been that rewarding to date.

------
pella
"The ketogenic diet also may function in a neuroprotective fashion in
Alzheimer disease "

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2898565/>

\--

"Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet"

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/>

\--

" Study of the ketogenic agent AC-1202 in mild to moderate Alzheimer's
disease: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial"

<http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1743-7075-6-31.pdf>

\--

[http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=alzheimers+ketogenic+die...](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=alzheimers+ketogenic+diet)

------
estel
Alzheimer's is such a horrible disease. The prognosis for cancer has improved
incredibly over the last few decades; it would be nice to see some funding re-
prioritised for Alzheimer's.

------
narrator
I'll just leave this right here:

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20731659>

------
cwbrandsma
I kept looking for the Google Translate button while reading this.

------
mark_l_watson
Tin foil hat time, but: The W. Bush administration basically made it illegal
for cattle producers to test for mad cow desease (small organic beef producers
wanted to be able to test, and the Big Food Corps had their lacky, also known
as the President, have his administration ban reliable and cheap tests).

Anyway, is it a stretch to think that some mad cow cases are being mis-
diagnosed as Alzheimer's desease? It seems like it is at least a possibility.

BTW, I don't think that the Obama administration has lifted the ban on
testing. One lacky president is as good as another.

~~~
msbarnett
As far as I know the progression of Alzheimer's is _far_ slower than v/CJD. It
would become fairly obvious fairly rapidly that you were dealing with
something else.

~~~
mark_l_watson
I thought that v/CJD takes about 10 years, right?

A friend of my parents in California died several years ago from mad cow
desease (v/CJD) and it took many years.

Anyway, this is outside my area of expertise - my wife however spent a lot of
time looking into this and she very much believes that mis-diagnosis is
common.

~~~
msbarnett
My understanding is that the average progression for _variant_ CJD, from early
symptoms until death, is just over a year.

For "regular" CJD it's closer to half that.

Long term progressions are known to happen but are rare even given the
rareness of CJD, so your friend was quite the outlier.

