[Granville-Hough] Alzheimer's 1 - 3 March 2009

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

    I went over to UC Irvine a few years ago to hear the folks expound
on the different forms of dementia and learned a little.
It seems pretty clear to me that my wife Carol's development of the
condition stemmed from her two strokes and brain surgery after the last 
stroke to remove the accumulated fluid.
Though she showed some indications of several kinds of dementia, I
believe it was simply changes as her brain connections disintegrated.
It is clear that no two persons develop the condition in the same way.
Different connections go bad at different rates in different parts of
the brain.  It seems arbitrary to call one condition Mild Cognitive
Impairment (MCI), another Alzheimer's (AD), another Dementia Lewy Body
(DLB), and another Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).  It is fairly
difficult to get a firm diagnosis without an autopsy, but the hope is to
do just that so treatment can be fitted better to the individual
patient's condition.
    For general information, the condition called Parkinson's Disease is
characterized by growths of microscopic gunk in the brain which are
called Lewy Bodies.  Parkinson's Disease does not normally bring on
dementia.  However, when Lewy Bodies are found with additional centers
of disintegration associated with Alzheimer's, you have Dementia Lewy
Body. Your family may find out from an autopsy which condition you had.
  You will never know.
     I would think of it this way.  As a population ages, a certain
percentage will develop Alzheimer's  That's the Alzheimer's sub-population.
    Quite separately, a certain percentage of the population will
develop Parkinson's disease.  That's the Parkinson's sub-population..
    Now, within this Parkenson's subpopulation will be a percentage who
will also develop Alzheimers, and it is the same percentage as the
general population percentage which develops Alzheimers. It would seem
that Parkinsons and Alzheimers have separate triggering mechanisms which
do not influence each other. So we have the combined condition for that
subsubset, which I would have called Parkenson-Alzheimers.
    As the studies have progressed, researchers have identified the Mild
Cognitive Impairment, which is really just an earlier diagnosis of the
patient's condition.  It is in this stage where preventive measures may
be possible.  The doctor's most encouraging words were these.  "It seems
the best we can suggest is to take measures to prevent strokes and heart
disease, watch blood pressure, weight, diet, cholesterol, etc."

    In January, 2009, I watched a TV program which suggested the best
way to combat Alzheimers is: (1) develop ways for earlier detection;
(2) Following early detection,focus research on life styles, drugs, etc,
which delay the advancing of the disease.
	A criticism of past approaches is that no one detected Alzheimer's
until the patient was in an advanced stage.  The drugs for that stage
could prolong life, but it was for a patient who already could not
recognize his or her own family and was non-functional as a member of
society.  Who in their "normal" mind would want to have life prolonged
under those conditions?