Thursday, August 31, 2006
Alzheimer's and Alcohol
Whew!
A new study has just been released that says there is no significant connection between mild usage of alcohol and Alzheimer's.
I was relieved to see this. When I went to the seashore recently to visit my mom, I noticed how she liked her drinks.
My dad worked with her to keep her drinking moderate. But, if Mom got her way, she had her first rum-and-coke at noon, at
the latest.
Dad made sure Mom's drinks were watered down. And he kept an eye on how much she was drinking. But I still worried that
the drinking was aggravating her Alzheimer's.
That is why I was happy to see the findings about alcohol and Alzheimer's on the Internet.
According to an
article published in the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, scientists followed a study group's drinking habits for a period of up
to 24 years. Scientists tracked people who showed symptoms of dementia as well as people who seemed free of dementia.
According to Monique Williams, one of the researchers from Washington University in St. Louis who conducted the study:
Daily alcohol use had no influence on the development of Alzheimer's disease or the rate at which
the disease progresses.
The article recommends caution. It says that drinking doesn't either significantly harm or help someone
with Alzheimer's. And the key is "moderate" drinking. It is still risky for anyone to drink alcohol.
This risk from drinking increases when a person is elderly. Seniors who drink risk losing their balance, stumbling,
and breaking a hip or other critical bones. Alcohol may also make them disoriented and put them into unsafe situations in
a car, in traffic, on stairs, or in their community. Alcohol also may interact badly with medication a person is taking.
As we age, our metabolism slows down. When we drink alcohol, our body tries to break the alcohol down into nutrients
and waste products. When we are older this process takes longer and the alcohol stays in our system longer, acting as a sedative
and decreasing our alertness.
On the other hand, alcohol can be a source of pleasure, especially for an older person. And it can relieve stress
and anxiety, if taken in moderation.
My mom drinks. I'm happy to see that the drinking is not aggravating her Alzheimer's. Under the watchful eyes
of my Dad, my brothers Owsley and Tim, and my sister Lisa, Mom's drinking will be safe and not harmful.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Mom Was Sharp Today
Two days ago when I called her house in Avalon, Mom was listless and disoriented. (See my blog.) She didn't seem to remember
anything that had happened all day.
Today she was completely different.
Today Mom and I had a normal conversation. We laughed, we joked, we exchanged memories. It was amazing.
When I called, Mom was watching the U.S. Open on TV and was able to tell me who was playing, who had already won
and lost, and who was to play tomorrow.
I asked her about her friends, and she told me who was sick, who was getting better, and who she'd visited recently.
She knew about Dad's swollen elbow and described its current status.
She remembered visiting with her granddaughter Shannon Carnie last week. She told me the whereabouts of my brother Owsley,
and when he was to return to the seashore.
This may not sound like a lot. But it is a huge conversation with a lady who normally hangs up the phone after exchanging
60 seconds of pleasantries about the weather.
Mom was in rare form today. It's amazing how she can vary from one day to the next. It goes to show that it's never a
good idea to write someone off who has Alzheimer's. Give them time and be patient. The next time you talk with them, they
may knock your socks off.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Video Gamers Power Alzheimer's Research
Video games are the fastest growing form of entertainment around the world. Meanwhile, video game machines are getting
more and more powerful. They are mostly used to play video games. But now scientists are harnessing them together into a wide-flung
global network that collectively has a power larger than the world's fastest supercomputer.
The project,
Folding at Home, seeks to better understand the process of "protein folding." All proteins fold, as part of their behavior inside the body.
It is when proteins fold incorrectly that conditions such as cancer, Huntington's Disease, and Alzheimer's occur. Protein
folding is widely observed but still little understood.
Scientists at Stanford University feel that by linking thousands of home computers they can construct a virtual
computer many times faster than any single computer on the planet. Since October 1, 2000, over 1 million computers around
the world have participated in the
Folding at Home project.
Now, this past week, Sony has announced a way for its
PlayStation 3 to be linked into the worldwide Folding at Home network. Video gamers, listen up: You can still play all the video games
you know and love.
And you can help researchers track down cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's!
Anyone with a PlayStation 3 or a normal home computer can now download a "client" program from the Internet by going
to the
Folding at Home website.
How does your computer become part of the mammoth, worldwide supercomputer? Simple. It just has to be: (1) Turned on;
and (2) Online. The Folding at Home computer server at Stanford University in California keeps checking on your computer over
the Internet. If you leave your computer or video game on 24/7, then it checks 24/7. Whenever you are not using your computer
to capacity, then the Folding at Home computer sends some computing chores to your computer to handle. Your computer does
its job and sends the data back to Stanford, often within a few thousandths of a second.
How exciting is that! You can help scientists track down a cure for dreaded diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer, and
you can still use your computer or video game to your heart's content.
Monday, August 28, 2006
I called Mom today at the farm in Oxford, PA, at her home in Media, PA, and at the seashore in Avalon, New Jersey.
I began to worry when I couldn't find her anywhere.
Around dinnertime I got a call from my brother Owsley. He was calling from the seashore. Mom was there!
When I picked up the phone, he said: "Here. I have someone who wants to talk with you."
Mom came on the phone. "Hello?" she said tentatively and not too friendly.
"Hi, Mom," I said. "Boy, am I relieved. I didn't know where you were. I guess you must be at the shore. How are you?"
"Bored," said Mom.
"Aw, Mom, I'm sorry," I said. "What did you do today?"
"Nothing," Mom said. "I so bored."
Just then I heard whispering in the background. Mom got back on the phone and said, "Owsley and I went to a movie."
"What did you see?" I said.
"I don't know," Mom said. I heard her asking Owsley. She returned to the phone and said, "Twin towers ... or something."
I was surprised. Owsley and Mom had gone to see World Trade Center, the new Oliver Stone movie about 9/11?
A little fearfully I asked, "How did you like it?"
Mom turned away from the phone. I heard her ask Owsley, "How did I like it?"
I heard Owsley say something to her.
She got back on the phone. "It was okay."
Mom suddenly grew agitated. "You keep asking me questions," she said. "If you want to learn something, talk to Owsley,
talk to your father. Here's your father."
And suddenly I was talking to Dad.
Dad spoke with me for a few minutes. Then Owsley got on the phone. "Mom and I both enjoyed the movie," he said. "It was
surprisingly well made."
"And Mom did okay?" I asked. "She enjoyed it?"
"She did."
"But now she's bored," I said, in amazement. "And she doesn't remember a movie that she saw today--a movie that is supposed
to be one of the most dramatic, heart-wrenching movies of the year."
"She enjoyed it at the time," said Owsley. "Maybe that's the best we can hope for."
Friday, August 25, 2006
Babe's Elbow
Dad's mind is sharp. But his body is getting sketchy.
Last Friday night, a couple hours after Mom's birthday party, I came up the stairs to go to bed, and I saw Mom and Dad's
bedroom light on. I was surprised to see this, because usually they are in bed pretty early -- even on a party night.
The door was partly ajar, so I peeked in.
The first thing I saw was Mom on the near end of their bed, seemingly asleep.
Then I saw Owsley.
This startled me. What was Owsley doing in my parents' bedroom at this hour?
I heard him talking in a low voice. He was talking with my dad, who was all rolled up in bedcovers so I couldn't see
him. All I saw was Dad's arm, jutting straight up out of the bed, propped up by four or five pillows, and with a heating
pad draped across the elbow.
What was going on?
I went in to find out. Owsley explained that Dad's elbow was swollen with fluid and needed draining. He was trying to
make Dad comfortable but if he couldn't, they would be on their way to the emergency room in Cape May Courthouse.
Owsley kept vigil over Dad. He worked quietly and efficiently with a heating pad, ice packs, and assorted pillows to
make Dad more comfortable.
It worked. Dad finally calmed down and fell asleep.
The next morning Owsley drove Dad to the hospital ER. They came back hours later.
"What's the story?" I asked, as their car pulled up in front of my parents' house in Avalon.
"Lots of run-around,
but not much else," Owsley said. He got out of the car and ran around to Dad's side. He helped Dad get up. Dad was wearing
a blue arm sling and seemed in good spirits.
"We waited for hours," said Owsley. "They were polite. But they were afraid to do anything because of Pop's coumadin
medication to thin his blood. Pop is taking coumadin because of his high blood pressure and to reduce the chance of strokes
and blood clots. But the coumadin acts as a blood anticoagulant, and if the doctor accidentally started Pop bleeding
while draining his elbow, the bleeding might not stop. The doctor thought it was safer to risk Pop's elbow swelling rather
than risk Pop bleeding to death."
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Scarecrow Worries ... Little Bits of Me Everywhere!
In the Wizard of Oz, the monkeys attack Dorothy and her friends, the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion
in the enchanted forest. They particularly rough up the Scarecrow and fling bits of his body hay -- and his body parts! --
around the forest, before they kidnap Dorothy and carry her to the witch's castle.
Ever since I watched the Wizard of Oz, I've shuddered about the thought of someone monkeying around with my body this
way.
Now I'm getting to see it in action. It's happening to my parents. And instead of monkeys as culprits, it's old age.
MY TEETH ARE IN A MUFFIN
When I was in Avalon, New Jersey, with my parents went frequently went to Avalon Coffee, on Dune Drive, to eat breakfast.
We usually had coffee and muffins. These breakfasts were fun, delicious, and they always went smoothly.
That is, until two days ago.
On Monday my brother Owsley took my parents to Avalon Coffee for their breakfast, and suddenly Mom started whooping and
hollering: she had lost her front teeth. Mom's front teeth had been fastened to a dental bridge inside her mouth, and they
had suddenly disappeared.
Owsley's first thought was that they were in the muffins. He, Dad and Mom frantically dug through the mounds of crumbly
muffins on their outdoor cafe table. But the teeth weren't anywhere.
Owsley looked at Mom. "Oh, no," he whispered to Dad. "She's swallowed her teeth."
He and Dad exchanged horrified glances.
Mom was still pawing worriedly at the muffin fragments scattered around the table.
Owsley placed his hand on Mom's arm. "Mom," he said, "your teeth are not there. We've already ... "
At that moment Owsley noticed that Mom was using only one hand to search through the muffins. Her other hand was closed
tight. Closed tight around what?
"What are you holding in your hand, Mom?" Owsley asked.
Mom opened her hand.
It was her missing teeth.
"Oh," said Mom.
"Oh," said Owsley.
"Oh," said Dad.
PUTTING LIBBY BACK TOGETHER AGAIN
Today, Mom and Dad are up in Pennsylvania visiting Mom's dentist. He is working on a new bridge for Mom so he can glue
her teeth back into her mouth where they belong.
At least for the moment my Mom will be put back together again.
In tomorrow's blog I will continue this story by telling about Dad and how he, too, is beginning to resemble the Scarecrow
in the Wizard of Oz.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
You Added Two Years to My Life
This past weekend was Mom's 82nd birthday. We celebrated her birthday with dinner parties, breakfast parties, and brunch
parties. Mom got a cake with candles, a sweet roll with candles, a muffin with candles and a mousse with candles.
She made a lot of wishes. Then blew out all her candles.
(God, please make her wishes come true.)
Mom and Dad's best friends, Joe and Naomi Tercha, were at the center of all these parties. I telephoned Naomi two
days ago, just after I had flown from Pennsylvania back to North Carolina.
"Thank you, so much," I said to Naomi. "You and Joe were wonderful. Thank you for hosting two of the parties, and including
Owsley and me in the group."
"It was a pleasure," said Naomi. "And I think your mother did very well, didn't she."
"Oh, boy," I said. "She loves special occasions. Sometimes she even seems like our old Mom."
"Remember on her actual birthday," Naomi said, "when Beata the Polish waitress sang 'Happy Birthday' to your Mom in Polish?"
"It was beautiful," I said.
"Well," said Naomi. "Your mom was in tears after Beata sang. Then your mom leaned over to me and said, 'Naomi, thank
you. You've added two years to my life.'"
I was silent for a moment.
"What did you say?" I asked.
"I didn't know what to say," said Naomi. "I just cried with her. And I hugged her."
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
MOM IS 82 YEARS OLD!
I wrote this blog on Sunday, August 20th:
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Today is Mom’s birthday. She was born eighty-two
years ago today on August 20, 1924.
We are down at the seashore at Mom and
Dad’s home in Avalon, New
Jersey. I’ve been here since Wednesday, and we have celebrated Mom’s birthday every day since I’ve
been here.
That's a lot of partying!
Mom has had so many parties that she now
forgets which one is which. I showed her photos this morning from a party two days ago, and Mom said, “Were those taken
at my birthday party last year?"
"Nope," I said. "They were taken two nights
ago."
THIS CHURCH IS MY HOME
This morning Mom and I went to her little
Episcopal church, St. John’s-by-
the-Sea, for the ten o’clock service. It was beautifully done.
In the middle of the service, Mom leaned
over to me, and in a stage whisper she said, “This little church is my home. I was on the altar guild here for over twenty
years."
After the service, the minister and several
of Mom’s friends wished her happy birthday, and we all snapped pictures.
LOOKING FOR THE SIGNIFICANT MOMENT
I’m here in New Jersey
with my family for almost six days. I’ve been sitting around talking, celebrating Mom’s birthday and catching up with everyone.
In the back of my mind, however, is a nagging
thought. I keep thinking, “Here I am, spending all this time with people I love. I ought to be talking about important things
with them. We should be talking about global warming. We should talk about the
fall elections, the war in Iraq, my parents’ health.”
But we don’t talk about these things. Instead
we sit around hearing old stories from Dad and his friend Joe Tercha. We watch
endless Phillies games and tennis matches. We flirt with waiters and waitresses. We eat food and drink wine.
At first this made me uncomfortable. I
kept thinking, “I’m missing the opportunity to deal with some important issues with my family.”
But now I’m resigned to watching another
baseball game with Mom, Dad and Owsley, going to church and walking the boardwalk with Mom, and sitting with Mom and Dad on
their front porch, watching the world go by.
Maybe this is enough. I know we aren’t
tackling the world’s key issues. But, for my few brief days here with my parents, we are sharing each other’s lives.
For the most part we are a congenial, happy bunch. We tell jokes, we listen to stories, and we laugh.
The weird thing is: No matter what we talk
about, Mom is not going to remember it. Minutes after we finish a conversation, she has completely forgotten everything.
Even if we did solve the problems of world
peace, Mom wouldn’t remember it.
Maybe the key is that we live inside
the moment. Maybe we just need to make each moment enjoyable for Mom. We engage her in the conversation. We celebrate who
she was, and who she is now.
We make Mom laugh. We make her smile. We
get her to shed a tear of joy.
I guess I shouldn’t feel guilty. World
peace can wait, if, in the meantime, we still have Mom. Our goal can be to give her one more happy moment--another miracle
moment when she reconnects with herself and with the rest of us.
You can always tell when Mom comes back
inside herself.
These moments are pure gold.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Life at the New Jersey Shore
Just a quick note!
I've been with Mom at the New Jersey seashore for the past day. She seems fine. We're planning her birthday party on
Friday night. (She'll be 82 years old on Sunday.) She's very aware of her birthday and looking forward to it.
We're off to the beach now for some boogie boarding.
Oops! Dad just asked me to make Mom a prosciutto sandwich. After messing up her black-coffee order this morning,
I'm getting nervous.
I'd better go start on that sandwich.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Just One More Day
Just one more day until I see Mom.
The question is: What state will she be in?
I could mean "state of mind" but I don't. I mean "state of the union" as in Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
I leave tomorrow morning on a plane from Raleigh-Durham Airport to Philadelphia. I'm renting a car in Philadelphia.
Then before I make another move, I'll call Mom and Dad on my cell phone and ask them where they are.
Right now they are down at the seashore in New Jersey.
But tomorrow, who knows?
Monday, August 14, 2006
ALZHEIMER'S AND THE GARBAGE COLLECTORS
If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the
rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities
of memory, than in any other of our intelligences.
-- Jane Austen
Mom and Dad are back down at the seashore!
I called all of Mom and Dad's phone numbers yesterday and finally found them back down at the seashore in New Jersey.
"Boy!" I exclaimed, when Mom answered the phone. "I thought I had lost you guys!"
"You lost us?" Mom asked.
"You're back at the shore?" I asked.
"Didn't you call the shore, Freddie?" Mom asked. "Of course we're at the shore. We've been here since Friday."
"Oh, good," I said. "Well, that's great. You asked Dad to take you back, and he did. Have you been walking the boards?"
"I did today," Mom said. Then she seemed unsure. "Or maybe it was yesterday. No ... It was today. I walked the boards
with your brother Owsley. Then we came back and I went to church. It was today."
"Well, good, Mom," I said. "Remember, I'm going to see you in just three days."
"All right," Mom said.
(I have been telling her for two weeks that I'm coming up, but she still sounded a little surprised.)
"We'll be happy to see you," Mom said.
"Me, too, Mom," I said. "Me, too."
AGING vs TIME
Did you know there is a "timer" inside all our bodies -- the insulin/IGF-1 pathway -- that controls how fast we age?
When this pathway is stimulated, aging accelerates; when it is stifled, aging slows.
Science Express reports that scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Scripps Research Institute have pegged aging
as the prime culprit behind Alzheimer's Disease.
I repeat: It is not the passage of time but the aging process itself that causes Alzheimer's.
Almost no one has Alzheimer's before the age of 40. That is because it is at forty that our body's aging timer kicks
in. From 40 on, we go downhill.
Alzheimer's Disease is caused by the build up of toxic proteins -- plaques and tangles -- in our brains. These protein
fragments surround our neurons, beginning in the hippocampus, the memory center for our brain. Eventually these neurons die
from the choking onslaught of the poisonous, waxy proteins.
Here is a big surprise: These toxic protein clumps form inside our brain from the moment we are born. But before
we reach the age of forty our bodies' garbage collectors -- another group of helper proteins -- compact the toxic
clumps, dissolve them, and haul them out of our brains as waste material. The bad proteins are "flushed" out of our systems
and our brains remain healthy.
But at forty, the aging timer kicks in, and gradually our garbage collectors turn into slackers. They no longer attack
the bad proteins in the brain as vigorously as they did when we were young. They don't do a thorough clean-up job, and some
protein plaques and tangles remain.
This process spirals downhil as we continue to age. By the time we are in our mid-80s the garbage collectors are on strike,
and half of all people develop full-blown Alzheimer's Disease. The plaques and tangles are out of control, gobbling up our
brains, and the garbage collectors have walked off the job.
NEW TOOLS TO SPLIT THE PLAQUES AND TAME THE TANGLES
This all sounds pretty depressing, doesn't it?
However, if the scientists at Salk and Scripps are correct in their theories, we may have some new tools to fight Alzheimer's
Disease.
As part of their research the scientists became worm farmers. They grew roundworms who have a similar insulin/HGF-1 aging
"timer" as humans. Scientists grew two sets of roundworms: (1) A normal (control) group; and (2) A second group whose aging
timers had been turned down low. Both groups were injected with amyloid plaques (toxic proteins) into their skins. The first
group of roundworms (the normally aging group) immediately began to slow down and gradually became paralyzed until they could
only wiggle their heads. But the second group (the "slow agers") crawled around happy and perky, showing full mobility.
Scientists expected that they would find that the garbage collectors had cleared out all the plaques from the second
group. But when they dissected them, they found that they carried even more plaque inside them than the first group.
Puzzled and surprised, the scientists dug deeper. They analyzed the molecular structure of the plaques and came upon
a huge discovery. It turns out that the garbage collector proteins in our bodies come in two varieties -- HSF-1 and DAF-16.
HSF-1 does what researchers suspected: it unclumps the toxic protein goo so it can be flushed out of the system. But along
comes this second garbage collector -- DAF-16. DAF-16 works on the plaques like a trash compactor and clumps the
bad protein into a super-sized hunk known as a "high molecular weight aggregate."
Amazingly, this super-sized glob is less toxic than all the other blobs and doesn't affect the worms' cells. The cells
go on about their business, and the worm remains healthy.
Could this same process work on human brains? Can scientists jumpstart our aging HSF-1 and DAF-16 garbage collector
proteins to work as fast as they did when we were young, and "bag up" the bad proteins so they don't affect our brains?
Scientists at Salk and Scripps are optimistic and think they are on to something big. They think they have found powerful
new tools to fight Alzheimer's Disease.
Cross your fingers and hope that they are right. I will keep you posted as I learn more.
Friday, August 11, 2006
More Tidbits -- Mad Dads and Windows on Our Brains
I talked with Dad two days ago and asked him why he was angry. (See my Monday, August 7th blog.) Dad asked me why I was
asking him.
"I'm your son," I said. "I am worried about you if you are angry."
"I'm angry," Dad said. "Real angry."
"Is this a short-term 'angry' or long-term 'angry?'" I asked.
"Oh, I've been mad a long time," said Dad. "And I plan to stay mad."
"Ouch," I said. "Who are you mad at?"
"I'm mad at you," Dad said. "And I'm mad at your brother Owsley, your sister Lisa and your brother Timmy. And I'm mad
at other people, too."
I felt a tiny bit relieved to know I wasn't the only one Dad was mad at.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.
"Nope," said Dad.
He changed the subject to the weather, and we didn't return to this part of the conversation.
FORKS IN THE ROAD ON THE WAY TO ALZHEIMER'S
Xagena's
Medicine.Net reports that scientists at the University of Pittsburgh medical school and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
have used new advanced 3D imaging tools to open "windows" into living people's brains. These windows may help doctors catch
the first stages of Alzheimer's early enough to slow down the disease's progress.
Alzheimer's normally attacks a person's hippocampus region of the brain first. The hippocampus is the seat of a person's
memory. Scientists imaged the brains of several middle-aged people who didn't show any signs of Alzheimer's and found that
several had shrunken hippocampi. In an Alzheimer's patient the hippocampus shrinks by a quarter. Scientists found that several
scanned hippocampi shrank by 14 percent. Another group shrank by 5 percent.
This finding gave support to the theory that there are two forms of pre-Alzheimer's disease: MCI-A and MCI-MCD. MCI-A
or "Mild Cognitive Impairment - Amesiac" results in memory loss. The persons whose hippocampus shrank by 14 percent were probably
suffering from MCI-A. The second early-Alzheimer's disease -- MCI-MCD or "Mild Cognitive Impairment - Multiple Cognitive Disorder"
-- doesn't cause memory loss but does cause language and judgment impairment. The persons with the 5 percent shrinkage of
the hippocampus were probably victims of MCI-MCD.
This finding is exciting because the instruments are so sensitive that they caught this shrinkage before the onset of
symptoms. In other words, they found evidence of the disease before people started showing memory loss, or loss of judgment
or language skills. This early detection might allow doctors to begin disease therapies at an earlier date, which might make
Alzheimer's treatment vastly more successful.
But how do we get a large group of people who are in their 50s and 60s and 70s to get their brains scanned? This could
be hard, because if they don't show any symptoms they aren't motivated to undergo this procedure.
However, if we think of this scanning in the same light as prostate cancer, colon cancer or breast cancer, we can
see the incentive. These days we all know the value of monitoring and screening our bodies for these diseases so we can catch
them before they get too deadly a hold on our bodies.
The same goes for Alzheimer's. Perhaps the Alzheimer's drugs on the market, along with other non-prescription therapies
(including lifestyle changes, changes in diet, etc.) might be much more effective if we caught Alzheimer's before it had wormed
its way too deeply into our brain.
It's just a thought. But it's a hopeful thought.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!
It's almost 12 midnight so this will be very short!
Today was Mom and Dad's 59th Anniversary. I called them and sang "Happy Anniversary" over the phone, using my best operatic
baritone voice.
Mom and Dad went out with the Terchas. Lisa took Mom shopping.
Both of my parents seemed to be in a good mood today.
They said they had heard from everyone.
I love you, Mom and Dad! I'm lucky you are still both around.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Apples, Fat, Pesticides and Alzheimer's
I have lots of little news bits to share with you today:
TWO APPLES A DAY TO KEEP ALZHEIMER'S AWAY
A
study at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell concluded that apples and apple juice can fight the effects of Alzheimer's Disease
on the brain -- at least in mice.
Apples have antioxidants that counteract the cell damage caused by free-radical (ionized) molecules in the brain. These
molecules oxidize the brain cells in the same way Oxygen oxidizes metal to produce rust and corrosion. The oxidation
in the brain eventually breaks the cells down and kills them. Antioxidants in apples and other foods neutralize the harmful
molecules and prevent them from doing any more damage.
In addition, apples stimulate the production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is essential
for brain function. It is the "grease" that lubricates the brain and permits brain messages to flow from neuron to neuron.
In Alzheimer's patients acetylcholine drops drastically. However, mice who were fed apples and apple juice had up to 130 percent
higher acetylcholine levels. The acetylcholine gave the mice a huge boost in navigating through complicated mazes set up by
the scientists.
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON PESTICIDES
The Associated Press
reports that scientists have stumbled upon an unusual use for the Alzheimer's drug Galantamine. Galantamine works like apple juice
-- it blocks the chemicals that stifle the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
By accident scientists discovered that galantamine can also be an effective antidote when a person is exposed to lethal
nerve poisons such as sarin and soman. Japanese terrorists used sarin nerve gas in their infamous attacks in a Japanese subway
in the 1990s.
Researchers found that mice who were injected with galantamine resisted the effects of sarin and a sister chemical soman.
Galantamine protected the mice whether it was administered before or after the exposure to the nerve poison.
These findings might be significant for public health. It appears that galantamine might offer protection to a wide
range of poisons such as pesticides and herbicides in our environment. Scientists are going to look at the effectiveness
of galantamine as a general-purpose antidote to a variety of poisons.
The study was funded by the United States Army and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
DO YOU SUPER-SIZE YOUR BURGERS & FRIES?
A new
study from Finland shows a connection between Alzheimer's and an excessive consumption of animal fat. Researchers followed 1500
people over two decades and concluded that those people who ate more animal fats were more likely to come down with Alzheimer's
Disease.
Researchers speculate that the increased consumption of animal fat caused an increase in the amyloid ("fatty") protein
deposits in the brain that are characteristic of Alzheimer's Disease. These deposits kill the brain's neurons and grow larger
and spread across the brain during the course of the disease.
Saturated ("hard") fat from milk, butter and meat is the chief culprit. Based on the study, researchers recommended that
people eat less saturated fat and replace that with unsaturated fat found in fish, olive oil, rape-seed oil, and other products.
GOOD FAT MAKES FOR GOOD BRAIN HEALTH
Don't give up on fat. It's good for you.
There are "good fats" (unsaturated fats) and bad fats ("saturated fats" and "trans-fats").
People need a significant quantity of fat in their diet in order to help digest all sorts of fat soluble nutrients.
It is not healthy for us to strive for a fat-free diet. It is much healther to replace bad fats with good fats.
A study appearing in the Wednesday, August 9th, News and Observer shows that people who cut fat out of their diet are
depriving themselves of valuable nutrients such as lycopene, beta carotene, and lutein. These chemicals contribute significantly
to brain health. However, when a person has little or no fat in a meal, these chemicals--commonly found in red, yellow, orange
and green vegetables and fruits--are "fat soluble." When they enter the digestive tract unaccompanied by fat (from other foods),
they cannot be absorbed by the body. Instead the chemicals go unused and pass through the body and offer no nutritional benefit.
Among other things the study recommended that people consider more eating more avocados (which have good polyunsaturated
fat) and that they replace skim milk with 2% milk.
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Growing Stem Cells for Alzheimer's Brains
There has been considerable hope that stem cells might be able to fight Alzheimer's Disease. An undifferentiated stem
cell could conceivably mature into a brain cell to replace brain cells lost to Alzheimer's Disease, or even to destroy the
protein plaque that causes the disease.
Most stem cells come from human bone marrow, from placental cord blood, and from human embryos. Due to ethical and political
controversies surrounding stem cells, they have not been widely available for experimentation and use among Alzheimer's patients.
In other words, no one knows how effective stem cells might be as an Alzheimer's treatment because they are not in wide
use in the Alzheimer's research community.
All this could change, thanks to a discovery by Duke University scientists. In an
article in the July 2006 issue of Duke Medical News scientists reported that they were able to rapidly grow new stem cells from
a smaller number of human stem cells. By blocking an enzyme known as "ALDH" scientists were able to take an original culture
of stem cells and multiply them 3.4 times in only seven days.
More importantly, the scientists then injected these stem cells into mice whose immune systems were not functioning correctly.
According to the report:
The new population of stem cells migrated to the bone marrow as expected and successfully "engrafted,"
or took hold in the bone marrow, where they began to produce new blood and immune cells.
This discovery will not immediately benefit people like my mother who already suffer from Alzheimer's Disease.
However, if we significantly increase the number of stem cells available in laboratories, then the Alzheimer's research community
will begin growing stem cells in laboratories across the world and will begin experimenting with these stem cells in a variety
of ways to treat Alzheimer's Disease.
Scientists at Duke are already setting up clinical trials with human patients to assess the effectiveness of
their stem cells in treating human diseases.
With a world-wide Alzheimer's pandemic on the horizon, it is good to get this sort of news. Experts predict that
Alzheimer's will spread to tens of millions of people over the coming decades. What we need today are new tools to fight back
against this deadly, ravaging disease.
Monday, August 7, 2006
I'm Mad at Lots of People
I called my mom in New Jersey at 8:30 this morning. Sometimes Mom sleeps until after 8:30, and I wake her when I call
her so early. But not this morning.
My sister-in-law Nancy answered the phone. When I asked her about my parents she said, "They're gone, Fred."
"Gone where?" I asked. "Are they really gone?"
"Really, really gone," Nancy said. "They just got in the car and headed back to Media. You can reach them on Pop's car
phone."
ARE YOU EVER MAD?
I tried Dad's car phone but no one answered. I didn't actually reach my parents until late this afternoon, in Media.
Mom got on the phone for a moment to tell me that they had a good car trip up from the shore and that she was all right. Then,
without warning, she handed the phone to Dad.
(She does that a lot. It always surprises Dad and me.)
"Who am I talking to?" Dad asked.
"Oh! Hi, Dad," I said. "It's Fred. How are you?"
"Fred, are you mad at anyone?" Dad asked.
Was I mad at anyone? Was that how you started a phone conversation?
For a moment I was quiet. I tried to think if I was mad at anyone.
"Uh, no," I said. "I don't think so."
"Do you ever get mad?" Dad asked.
"I do," I said. "Every now and then. But why did you ask me that? Are you mad at someone?"
"I'm mad at a lot of someones," Dad said. "A whole pile of someones."
It was at that point I brought up the weather. "So how's your weather?" I asked.
I was relieved that Dad let me switch the conversation to neutral turf. He began talking about the weather. The rest
of our conversation was relaxed and non-controversial.
I know. I'm a coward. I should have asked Dad who he was mad at.
I'm curious now. Curious enough to call him back tomorrow so I can ask him who he's mad at.
I'm just afraid of the answer.
I'll bet I'm part of that "whole pile of someones."
Friday, August 4, 2006
A House Full of Family
I called Mom today at her home in Avalon, New Jersey, and I could hear a huge ruckus in the background.
"What's all that noise?" I asked.
"Just family," Mom said.
"It sounds like lots of family," I said.
"Well," she said, "there's Timmy and Nancy and their kids Patrick and Grace and Andrew."
"And?"
"And there's Owsley and Teri and their daughter Curry."
"And?"
"And there are lots of their friends."
"And?"
"And there's Andy the dog."
"And?
"And
there's the TV."
"Well," I said, "it's a lot of noise. How are you and Dad doing with all that hubbub?"
"We're doing fine," Mom said. "Everyone just does their own thing. When people get hungry, they fix a meal, eat, then
they clean up. We're all getting along fine."
HUBBUB, HARMONY AND ALZHEIMER"S
After I got off the phone with Mom I just grinned. I liked the image of a happy Mom in the midst of all that family hubbub.
Mom wasn't stressed out, she was enjoying herself.
This was a very different Mom from the old days. In the old days Mom was "in charge." She felt responsible for housecleaning,
laundry, preparing and cooking meals, pick-up, scheduling, laundry, grocery shopping. Everything!
These days, thanks to her Alzheimer's, Mom is in charge of nothing. That's not exactly true. Mom is still in charge of
Mom. She has to dress herself, do personal hygiene, and do certain high-priority "Mom" chores (like raising and lowering the
window blinds) that she chooses to do. Also, she makes a dynamite bowl of cereal and fruit for herself and Dad every morning.
But that's about it.
I remember, just a few years ago, how Mom used to blow up at all the family holidays. She got all dolled up in her best
holiday outfits and she was the master chef and master of ceremonies.
It drove her crazy.
People were late. People didn't show up. Children got sick, cranky and spit up. Pets peed on the floor. Mom did most
of the preparation herself, and she punctuated almost every family get-together with a hollering hissyfit.
Now it's all different. Mom is still the "queen bee" of everything. But mostly life goes on around her, and she has let
go. She lets all the craziness happen around her, and it doesn't bother her. In fact, she likes all the activity, all the
people, all the goings-on.
Mom has always been a "people" person. She thrives on social interaction.
All studies say that social interaction is a key ingredient for wellness for a person suffering from Alzheimer's. The
trick is to have low-stress social interaction.
This is an art that Mom (and our entire family) seems to have mastered.
It makes me very happy.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Hot, Hot, Hot!
We're going through a heat wave. It's hot everywhere. Up north, in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York it's hotter
than down here in the South. Up and down the east coast, the heat index soars to 110 degrees daily.
This morning I called Mom at the seashore expecting her to be wilting from the heat. Instead she sounded perky and energetic.
She said she goes out very early when she walks. And she was looking forward to high tide at around 2 PM today so she could
go for a cool swim in the bay, behind hers and Dad's house.
Mom praised her tiny air conditioners, stuck into windows all around their decades-old home. She said the air conditioners
made all the difference for her and Dad during the middle of the each day when temperatures skyrocketed.
HOT WEATHER TIPS FOR SENIORS & CAREGIVERS
Not everyone has an air conditioner. Sick people, seniors, and low-income people have limited resources when the temperature
gets too hot.
I went on the web after talking with Mom to see what caregivers and seniors might do to protect themselves against these
ultra-hot temperatures.
- Visit older adults at risk at least twice a day and watch them for
signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
- Make sure they are keeping themselves hydrated by drinking plenty
of cool water.
- Enourage them to avoid beverages with caffeine or alcohol. Alcohol,
in particular, increases dehydration.
- Take them to air-conditioned locations if they have transportation
problems.
- Make sure older adults have access to an electric fan whenever possible.
The current heat wave has drifted slowly from west to east across the United States like a silent killer.
Over 150 people have already died in its path.
Don't be a statistic. Don't let someone you love be a statistic. If you know a senior or any person who might be
at risk from the heat, call them or drive by and look in on them. Don't expect government agencies to do this job for you.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Support for the Caregiver: Fantasy vs. Reality
My mom has Alzheimer's Disease. My dad is Mom's primary caregiver. My brother Owsley is Dad's primary back-up. My brother
Tim and my sister Lisa also do a lot to support Dad and Mom. Tim's wife Nancy is supportive. Owsley's wife Teri is supportive.
Lisa's husband John is supportive.
(My wife Janet and I come in somewhere after that -- in the caregivers' "B" team. We live several hundred miles away
from Mom and Dad. And we don't show up enough to be a major support.)
However, despite all the support Dad gets from family members (and friends) it's not enough. Dad tells my brothers and
sister every week how he would like to see all of us (the four kids and their spouses) "step up to the plate" and provide
more support for both him and Mom.
What Dad wants is full-time support from his kids and their families. He believes we owe it to Mom because: (1) We love
her; (2) She raised us; and (3) She has always been there for us. She's our Mom; we're her kids. We need to help her now that
she needs us.
It's all very simple.
At least to my dad.
The reality, unfortunately, is different. I live in North Carolina; my parents live in PA. The other kids live closer
to my parents, but they have children, jobs, responsibilities -- a life! -- and they can't turn their backs on their life
to look after Mom.
This might change if Mom were truly in crisis. But we haven't quite reached that point yet.
So Dad is frustrated and unhappy.
CARING FOR CAREGIVERS
In Auburn, New York, the Cayuga County Office of the Aging recently landed some state money and set up an
Alzheimer's Community Service Program. Ideally this type of program -- if one were available in Delaware, County, PA -- is just what Dad needs.
In Delaware County, Dad's options for caregiving for Mom up to this point have been: (1) Himself; (2) His kids; (3) Their
friends; (4) An expensive stranger (a professional caregiver through a private company).
Dad has stuck with options #1-#3 and has steadfastly avoided option #4.
The Cayuga program sounds interesting because it would bring people to Dad to support him and Mom (outreach). And it
would be considerably less expensive than the private company options that Dad and my sister Lisa have been exploring.
In addition, the program would provide free caregiver training for Dad, my brothers and sister, their spouses (and
me). It would give Dad an outlet to vent the accumulated fears, resentments, questions, and stress he surely feels as Mom's
primary 24-7 caregiver. And it would link Dad and the rest of the family to a peer network of other families who are also
going through this terrible experience of looking after a loved one who has Alzheimer's. Just attending meetings with other
families might help our family come up with ideas on how to care for Mom.
Last, the program trains an Alzheimer's patient's friends as volunteer caregivers. This would help erase the ignorance
and stigma surrounding Alzheimer's and give Mom and Dad's friends a valuable opportunity to look after Mom in a helpful, loving
way. (Right now, one of Dad's biggest complaints is that their friends "avoid" Mom and have done little to support her
during her illness.)
More than seven out of every ten people with Alzheimer's Disease live at home. Mom is right there with the majority.
The population of people over 85 (the primary "target age" for Alzheimer's) is supposed to grow by 50% in the next ten
years. As the wave of Alzheimer's victims floods the public health system, governments are going to wake up, like Cayuga
County as done, and hopefully will start recognizing this emerging health-care epidemic. Hopefully they will begin
providing much-needed, affordable support to the people doing most of the caregiving -- people like my Dad.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Hot and Holding Steady in Avalon, NJ
Not much news today. I called Mom and missed her, but my brother Owsley called back and said things are going well. He
said Mom walked the boardwalk this morning, and the whole family is lying low due to the near 100-degree temperatures in New
Jersey and Pennsylvania. "It's really hot here," Owsley said on the phone, "but at least we have the water."
Mom got on the phone briefly to nag me about not being there and not calling back.
(I love it when she nags me
because it feels like my "old Mom" again.)
(smile.)
