This article is from my friend and colleague Dennis Fortier from Medical Care Corporation, dedicated to the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss.
5 Truths that Spawned 5 Myths about Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Sometimes the truth can be very misleading. This is often the case with complex topics when an “expert” makes a narrow but accurate statement that is subsequently generalized by the lay public. This is a common phenomenon in the fields of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Here are five examples of true statements that have been so commonly misinterpreted that they have spawned five harmful yet well-entrenched myths.
Narrow Truth: There is no cure for AD.
General Myth: Because there is no cure, nothing can be done for patients diagnosed with this disease.
Like diabetes and hypertension, we cannot yet cure Alzheimer’s disease. However, physicians can intervene and manage the symptoms with more success than most headlines would indicate. In fact, with a timely diagnosis, a physician can prescribe a treatment plan including pharmaceutical therapy, improved diet, physical exercise, mental and social activity, and certain OTC supplements. When this approach is combined with an educated caregiver, disease progression can be commonly slowed for some meaningful period of time.
Narrow Truth: The only certain method for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease is to inspect a sample of brain tissue during autopsy.
General Myth: Alzheimer’s disease cannot be accurately diagnosed until death.
If “certain” means 100% accuracy, then there is no certain diagnostic method for many well known diseases (Lou Gehrigs disease springs immediately to mind). However, physicians following published diagnostic guidelines can get a highly accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (90%-95), even at a fairly early stage of the disease. This diagnostic accuracy is on par with commonly accepted clinical practice.
Narrow Truth: Current treatments do not stop the progression of AD.
General Myth: Since the disease will continue to progress, there is no need to bother with treatment.
There is no doubt that reversing all memory loss would be the best treatment result and halting further memory loss would be better than ongoing decline. However, this does not mean that slowing the pace of further decline is not a worthy pursuit. We all want better treatment options in the future but until they arrive, preserving quality of life during a patient’s final years is definitely a worthwhile and attainable goal.
Narrow Truth: Cognitive decline is a part of normal aging.
General Myth: Pronounced cognitive deficits just need to be expected and tolerated
As we age, all of our organic functions tend to slow. Our ability to think, make calculations, use judgment, and store and retrieve information is not immune to this process. However, a pronounced loss of cognitive capacity severe enough to impact a person’s ability to lead an independent life is not normal. When such decline occurs, there is some underlying pathological explanation that can be identified and treated by a physician. Accepting significant loss of mental function as a normal artifact of aging is a tragedy.
Narrow Truth: It’s best not to know if you have Alzheimer’s disease
General Myth: It’s best if the problem stays undiagnosed
This final “truth” is a stretch to begin with. I can imagine that, if it were possible, an Alzheimer’s patient might enjoy life more if they could receive the highest standards of care without ever knowing they had a terrible disease. However, this does not make the case that the problem should be ignored. The published evidence in favor of managing the symptoms and prolonging a higher quality of life outweighs the presumed benefits of bliss. Additionally, patients need to know about their condition if they are to participate meaningfully in their own care and end of life decisions.
I hear and read these narrow “truths” in the media everyday. I also see first hand how the public mischaracterizes them and takes away a broader and more harmful message than is intended.
Education remains a major barrier between our current ability to care for AD patients and the higher standards that are within our immediate grasp. To address the educational gap, leading researchers distill the daily news through a non-commercial blog called “Brain Today” (it can be viewed at http://braintoday.blogspot.com).
Through this and many other educational efforts, I hope we can begin to divorce ourselves from these sound bites of misleading truth and begin to see the Alzheimer’s picture with more clarity.
Dennis Fortier
President & CEO
Medical Care Corporation
Share this Article
Found this article useful or interesting? Share it with others!
I am Wendy Wahlen from Detroit Michigan, and I was wondering at what age do you think this disease manifests itself?
Is the definition of cure you are using in this article include only curative pharmaceuticals?
To Wendy,
The onset age for Alzheimer’s has a wide range and is difficult to pin down since we still don’t completely understand the underlying pathology. The familial form (which is rare) usually begins in the 50’s and the more common form is not really a risk until age 65 where prevalence is between 1% and 5% of the population.
To Hanna,
I didn’t define cure in the article but would consider any agent (pharmaceutical or organic) or procedure that stopped/reversed the underlying pathology of the disease to be a cure.
My Grandfather was touched by perhaps Dementia, and Alzheimers. I say perhaps, because I don’t want to make assumptions, since I did not hear any M.D. from back East where he passed on say he had Alzheimers.
I did not see any of his symptoms of this disease because I was unable to visit back East during his illness.
My family said he had Alz.
Its always possible he had simple dementia. But he probably did have Alz.
Working on that probably diagnosis, it was interesting that my Grandfather manifested this disease some time after left his old home where he lived with my Grandmother who passed on before him. Grandfather Vincenzo was born in 1909. He was 89 when I left Toronto in 1998, and 92 when I was there in 2001. He was still fine to a simple observation then. It was later that he was put in a care home.
I believe it was his change in diet, and lifestyle which manifested the disease. Is it so unusual to manifest Alzheimer at this age?
When living at “home” he had his own garden, moved around and did his own shopping, and mostly grandmother cooked for him. They used the aluminum pots for many years prefering them over stainless steel, and cooking tomatoe sauce in them frequently.
We are a Sicilian-Canadian family.
I believe that medically there may be no essential correlation between aluminum pot usage and the etiology of this disease.
Grandfather, and grandmother had a system of eating minestrone’s and other foods quite often, that I am certain the nutrients, and phytochemicals, especially fresh ones from the garden in the summer (especially greens) prevented the disease from manifesting.
While the information I am giving is anectodal, I think it should be taken to heart by researchers on the etiology of this disease.
Are researchers considering multi factor etiology? Can that be discovered with modern day statistical analysis?
I am always fundamentally interested in the etiology of any medical disease, and as a Healer especially interested in the Healing of any disease.
I do think Alz is an exceptionally difficult disease to Heal, especially late in life.
There is another TCM diagnosis that I think grandfather, and many other’s have, called Yin Deficiency. Grandfather also had kidney-qi deficiency as exemplified by ringing ears, and wax not naturally coming out of the ears.
The other factor I think worth mentioning is the exposure to more indoor air pollution or chemicals in grandfather’s new home with his daughter and son-in-law. Lack of fresh air.
This is not surprising to me to be a causitive factor to the disease because I had a friend, 65 who after moving into a new apt that I found to be lacking fresh air, and was newly built, exhibiting much indoor air pollution, had a stroke.
He moved back to his house here on the West Coast which has much free fresh air compared to his newer apt which was very air tight.
Air tightness.
Intuitively I knew that his stroke was caused by a glutathione deficiency.
There’s at least two ways to look at everything. Increase indoor air pollution. Increased need for glutathione, and nutrients need to create this internal antioxidant.
Lastly, I believe that grandfather’s judicious and pleasurable use of a large glass of wine everyday with a good lunch also contributed to preventing this disease from manifesting this disease when he was at his home with grandmother.
Master Healer Salvatore Crapanzano