Article on Alzheimer's Research in LA Times

There's a great article on the uncertainties of Alzheimer's research in today's Los Angeles Times. Two sentences in the article really capture how I've been feeling lately:

"In Alzheimer's research, lots of people seemed to have quit believing anything is wrong or right or crazy. Mainly, they shrug."

The article also talks about some preliminary research from Rush University that shows it's difficult to correlate plaques and tangles with dementia. News of this research adds to the suspicion that Alzheimer's is not a single disease, making promises of a "cure" less realistic.

I'm working with a group of people who have memory loss to start a registry that will document what prescription medicines, supplements and lifestyle changes (or combination of these factors) seem to help memory and thinking. While the information in this database will be self-reported and at times imprecise, we hope some patterns will emerge over time. We will make this information available to people with memory loss, their families and researchers.

If you're interested in participating in this registry, please email me at mona@tech-marketing.com and I'll let you know when the registry opens.

Comments

[Patty McNally Doherty]

It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? We spend billions of dollars on research for cancer, and diabetes, and AIDS, and heart disease, and stroke, and on and on. We work so hard to live longer – the gym, the smoking cessation, the retirement savings. We clear the path through the forest of our lives, removing obstacles and smoothing our way, only to find at the end that this path of ours falls right off the edge of the world.

They say the world isn’t flat, but when you think about it, it will be for a full 50% of us. The edge we’ll fall off is called Alzheimer’s. And those of us who don’t get it? The other 50%? We’ll be hanging onto the hands of our loved ones, dangling over the edge, unable to let go but unable to pull them back.

Where are the scouts? Where are the true leaders? And why do they keep us on this path? Where are their warning cries? Who stands along this path saying we will not lose ONE MORE PERSON? Who provides a new direction?

No one.

[Gail Rae Hudson]

I think the registry you're establishing, Mona, definitely qualifies for the category of "provi[ing] a new direction". I salute you and your colleagues.