Alzheimer’s Disease might well qualify as being the diagnosis that terrorizes people more than does any other. It possibly even surpasses cancer in that regard because it can mean losing your mind as well as your body: an unraveling of self.
Alzheimer’s Does not Easily Reveal its Secrets
And there is another aspect about Alzheimer’s that many consider frightening. Cancer can be diagnosed with as much “certainty” as modern medical science can muster; a cell is malignant when studied under a microscope. The same might not, however, be said about AD. To make an understatement it does not easily reveal its secrets.
Sure, medical experts can determine if somebody has dementia, memory loss often coupled with mental confusion on the basis of their MMSE score and other measures. As an Aging Home Health Care article “Dementia States Can Be Detected and Gauged by the Mini Mental State Exam” indicates this instrument measures the degree to which respondents are oriented by asking them basic questions: the date and their geographic location.
But things get complicated from that point onward, and here is why. Somebody can have dementia without having AD; some other possible causes include vascular dementia, a stroke, reaction to medication or depression. And it is often difficult – if not downright impossible – to know exactly what is precipitating their mental deterioration. A definite diagnosis can only be forthcoming after an autopsy uncovers the telltale plaques which characterize AD.
A Brain Scan That can Diagnose Alzheimer’s: an Advance or a Burden?
But, according to A January 20, 2011 New York Times article by Gina Kolata “F.D.A. Sees Promise in Alzheimer’s Imaging Drug." Medical advances might soon be changing all of that. It notes that a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee unanimously recommended approving a scan that can illuminate these markers in the brain of a living person. Final approval is contingent on radiologists agreeing on what the scans say and doctors being trained in how to read the sscan
“This is a big deal,” said Dr. Pierre N. Tariot, director of the memory disorders center at the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix. Asked if he would be using the scans, Dr. Tariot replied, “Absolutely.”
But, as the Times articles makes clear not everybody necessarily agrees with his positive assessment of this “medical breakthrough.” Their reasoning: An effective means of treating Alzheimer’s does not yet exist. So, knowing that you are developing AD might do little but create anxiety for you and your family members.
And like virtually all medical tests, particularly ones that deliver ever-increasing levels of sensitivity, these scans are not foolproof. The chance for false positives exists in that people can have plaque without having Alzheimer’s.
The nuns’ study now housed at the University of Minnesota made this fact obvious. In examining the brains of 670 nuns, researchers found about 10 to 15 organs that appeared diseased, despite the fact these particular sisters did not show outward signs of memory loss, according to a March 25, 2009 MPR News article by Lorna Benson “U of M resumes nun’s Alzheimer’s Study.” Also intriguing: Scientists have been able to demonstrate that nuns who exhibited more complexity in their early writings, were less likely to experience mental dysfunctions as they aged.
Alzheimer’s Seems to Offer Protection Against Cancer
And there are many other “intricacies” that should be taken into account when discussing Alzheimer’s. They present some important understandings about this disease and its complexities.
For reasons nobody seems to totally understand, persons who suffer from Alzheimer’s are less prone to develop cancer than are persons not similarly diagnosed. This link which has long been suspected, was supported though research conducted by Dr Catherine M. Roe, an instructor at Washington University’s School of Medicine.
A December 24, 2009 Medical News Today article “Alzheimer’s and Cancer Rarely Strike Together, Study” quotes her as saying, "If there truly is an inverse association, it gives us one more way of finding out what's going wrong in both cancer and Alzheimer's, and that could lead us to new ways to treat either condition.”
Her study collected data on 3,020 people aged 65 and over who were enrolled in the Cognition Substudy of the Cardiovascular Health Study run by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Participants were monitored for a mean of 5.4 years for dementia and 8.3 years for cancer.
The Medical News Today article notes Alzheimer’s is not the only neurological disease that seems marked by a low incidence of malignancy. These same links hold true for people with Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and Down syndrome.
Alzheimer’s and Spirituality
None of these scientific musings, however, seem to answer a basic question. In real world terms, not scientific jargon, what is Alzheimer’s? We all know that it can make it difficult if not impossible for people to remember facts and figures, with short term memory often being most seriously impaired. And it can cloud reasoning; things, such as solving even the most simple math problem, can become a virtual impossibility.
But does that mean AD causes all brain functioning to decline? The answer to that one is not necessarily, according to a Sentient Care article by Rosemary Shinkwin, MD MRCPsych “ An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party: Unveiling the Mystery, Inner Experiences and gifts of Alzheimer’s.” It quotes Tom Richards and Sam Tomandi as noting, “people with Alzheimer’s dementia are not merely spiraling downward into “mindless pathology”, but are human beings in states of altered consciousness, parallel realities, that may be important and meaningful experiences for them, their families, and for society.”
Sources
“Alzheimer’s and Cancer Rarely Strike Together, Study,” accessed January 24, 2011
Benson, Lorna, “U of M resumes nun’s Alzheimer’s Study,” accessed January 24, 2011
"Dementia Stages Can Be Detected and Gauged by the Mini Mental State Exam,” accessed January 24, 2011
Kolata, Gina, “F.D.A. Sees Promise in Alzheimer’s Imaging Drug," accessed January 24, 2011
Shinkwin, Rosemary, MD MRCPsych, “ An Alzheimer’s Surprise Party: Unveiling the Mystery, Inner Experiences and gifts of Alzheimer’s, " accessed January 24, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uHu6VzSBiI
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