A Month to Focus on Alzheimer’s and Our Brains

This month is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness month, and it is a chance to talk some more about something that trouble’s everyone of us as we grow old. I’m speaking on my own experience, but I will bet dollars to donuts* that most seniors feel the same way. I’ll go out on a limb here and say we all are constantly in fear of “losing it” and are quick to point out someone else that’s losing it. We use that phrase to describe someone whose actions are giving the indication that they are experiencing something more than just the normal forgetfulness and idiosyncrasies of growing old . . . that they may be suffering some sort of dementia. Virtually all of us have had some experience with someone who has some form of Alzheimer’s or dementia, and we are fearful that we might become afflicted with this personality and memory robbing disease, and it really scares us.

I just had my yearly Medicare wellness exam, and I’m sure my blood pressure spiked when they did the part where they asked me to remember a name and address, went on to discuss other things and then asked me to repeat the name and address. I passed the test, but it was scary. I didn’t want to be “losing it”. I do get frustrated when I can’t recall a word that has been in my vocabulary for years and fits perfectly in my discussion, but I can’t pull it out. The only comfort I have is that it afflicts my peers also. Just so you know how prevalent it is, just now, I couldn’t remember the word peers, I knew there was a word that fit perfectly, but I couldn’t remember it. I asked Google, ”what is the word for people my own age” and the first choice was the word I wanted, peers. I say all this because you only grow old once. There are no “do overs,” and it’s not fun watching your mental and physical body deteriorate. Thankfully, there are some things, besides Google, that can help you identify and slow down dementia.

The Alzheimer’s Association web site, www.alz.org has a great collection of information that can help you as you identify and, if necessary, deal with yours or a loved one’s onset of Alzheimer’s or dementia. I say both Alzheimer’s and dementia because there are so many different types and degrees of dementia. I heard Harry Johns say, when he was the President and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, “If you’ve seen one case of Alzheimer’s you’ve seen ONE case of Alzheimer’s”, each case is unique. I’ll use the term dementia in this blog to denote all different types of dementia and Alzheimer’s. To give you some actionable information I’ll give you links below to the different places you can find information about dementia, but I will talk in a little more detail about something that doesn’t get discussed very often, clinical trials.

The first link is to the 10 early signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's. It is a place where you can learn the differences between warning signs of Alzheimer's and typical age-related changes. It’s a great place to alleviate some of you fears as you grow older and get forgetful.

This link discusses the advantages you have if your dementia was detected and diagnosed early. It includes medical benefits, emotional and social benefits, the benefit of giving you more time to plan for the future and cost savings. A couple of notes, there hasn’t been any treatments or prescription drugs for dementia until the last few years. Early detection will allow these new drugs to work better. A fact that blew me away, if everyone’s dementia was diagnosed early it would save both the patient and the government over 7 TRILLION dollars. That’s amazing.

The last link gives us 10 things we can do if we have a friend or a loved one that is showing symptoms of dementia. It’s hard to know what to do or say, these are great ways to approach those we love. The important thing is to not let our silence delay an early diagnosis.

There is one thing that doesn’t get much notice but is extremely important, clinical trials. This link gets you to more detailed information on clinical trials. The fact of the matter is, if we don’t have people who are willing to participate in clinical trials, we are never going to get better medicine, prevention, or a cure for dementia. Some people believe that their doctor will alert them if there is a clinical trial available, that is often not the case. There are often hundreds of clinical trials, and your healthcare providers are already inundated with administrative tasks. They often don’t have the time or resources to do the research. You need to be proactive, tell your doctor you are interested. The TrialMatch program is a free, easy-to-use service that helps you find clinical research that may be a good fit, whether you're focused on treatment, diagnosis, care, or prevention. It doesn’t matter what stage of dementia you are in, they need all levels in the clinical trials. They also need healthy volunteers on many studies. These trials are reviewed for safety and while there is some chance of side effects, they are monitored and controlled. They often make it possible for the volunteer to be reimbursed for costs and all of the individual categorized information is kept confidential. Volunteering for a clinical trial is a way to really have an impact on the future health of millions of people.

I urge you to get educated on dementia, put yourself in the position that any dementia will be diagnosed early and lastly, find out if you can participate in a clinical trial. It’s an impactful way we can pay it forward.

Best, Thair

*If you’re younger than 55 you probably have never heard of this phrase. It’s an old-fashioned way to say, “I’ll give you 10 to 1 odds”. Sometimes I just like to resurrect old sayings.