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Are There Any Treatments For Alzheimer’s

The First Treatment For Alzheimers Disease Is Here

Treatments for dementia: The dementia guide

Alzheimers disease was first described by Alois Alzheimer in 1906, and now, more than 100 years later, doctors have an effective drug to treat the cognitive disorder.

On June 7, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved aducanumab, developed by the U.S.-based biotech Biogen and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai. But the drugs approval comes with a caveat. The FDA is requiring Biogen to conduct an additional placebo controlled study of the drug to verify its effectiveness in improving peoples memory and cognitive symptoms.

That request stems in large part from the conclusion of an expert panel convened by the FDA last November, which almost unanimously decided that the evidence presented by the drugs developers did not justify approval. The committees recommendation then went to the FDA, and the agency extended the deadline for making a decision from last March to June 7.

The drugs rocky road of failed and halted clinical trials has generated divided opinions among brain experts about how useful the drug actually is, with some, including the Alzheimers Association, supporting approval as the first treatment for the diseasethe currently approved therapies for Alzheimers only address the symptoms of Alzheimers and not its root causesand others not convinced the data prove that the benefits of the drug outweigh its potential risks.

How Common Is Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia . Alzheimers disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

One in 10 people older than 65 and nearly half of people older than 85 have Alzheimers disease. Alzheimers disease can also affect people in their 40s. The percentage of people who have Alzheimers disease rises every decade beyond the age of 60. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, with the aging of the population and without successful treatment, there will be 14 million Americans and 106 million people worldwide with Alzheimers disease by 2050.

Natural Alzheimers Treatment #: Social Interaction

Another great approach to improving cognition and overall wellness in those living with Alzheimers disease and related dementias is through psychosocial interventions. Whether your loved one is aging in place with your help, or living in an assisted living facility, research shows that ensuring constant social contact with a focus on what brings people joy improves the lives of those with dementia. There are many ways to improve the quality of life and possibly dementia symptoms through social activities.

Those living with relatives have many opportunities for improving their lives through social interactions. Research into group activities involving reminiscing showed immediate improvements in mood within the participants, and caregivers reminiscing in casual settings with elders provides a wealth of mental benefits as well, such as increased happiness for both the carer and person with dementia.

Day programs, or aduly daycares, are places that care for a group of elders, often with varying degrees of dementia, for a fee. These programs generally run for the length of a full day, or half of a day, and provide all means and supplies that would be needed to care for the elders as well as entertain them. Research into these programs shows benefits for caregivers and those with dementia alike, as well as for those living in nursing homes.

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What Does This Mean For People Living With Dementia In The Uk

In light of this decision, Aducanumab remains unavailable for people living with Alzheimers disease in Europe and in the UK.

The UK has a medicines regulation body called the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency . Although the EMA have made their decision for Europe, we await the decision by the MHRA, on whether or not Aducanumab will be approved as a treatment for Alzheimers disease in the UK.

However, in Government guidance published in January 2021 it is stated that the MHRA may rely on decisions taken by European Commission for the next two years. This suggests that Aducanumab may not be approved for use in the UK, however we will need to wait for the MHRA to announce their official decision.

Its disappointing that there are still no treatments that can slow down the progression of Alzheimers disease available in the UK. However, it is crucial that any new treatment is safe and provides clinical benefit for people living with Alzheimers disease before it is made available. It is essential that regulatory authorities are confident that Aducanumab is both effective and safe before it can be made available as a treatment.

Aducanumab is likely to continue to split opinion. However, the results of additional clinical trials will help to bring clarity to the effectiveness and benefits of Aducanumab.

Natural Remedies For Dementia And Alzheimers Finalword

3 Ways to Treat Alzheimer

So there you have our top 10 natural remedies forsuccessfully treating and reversing dementia and Alzheimers disease. But dontforget that these remedies and recommendations are also exactlywhat you need to be taking and following to prevent dementia from everaffecting you! . And like we saidearlier, you have nothing to lose by trying these treatments. We recommend youstart with #1 and then work your way down the list, using and utilizing as manyof the remedies as you or your loved one can. Expect to see some big resultswithin 3-6 months. It will, however, take at least 12 months for a full recovery so you must be patientand consistent with the daily application of these recommendations.

So what are you waiting for? Get going on this straightaway. We guarantee, the results are going to blow your mind! .

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What Lifestyle Changes Can Help

Piles of research over the last few decades have shown that lifestyle factors can have a big impact on the development of Alzheimer’s symptoms. “We are looking not only at therapeutic treatments, but also at how modifiable factors, such as a heart-healthy diet, exercise, health equity, and social engagement can reduce risk the risk of Alzheimer’s,” says Edelmayer. The U.S. POINTER Study is currently evaluating whether lifestyle interventions that target Alzheimer’s risk factors can protect cognitive function in older adults who are at risk for cognitive decline. Meanwhile, the following activities are believed to lower risk and delay the symptoms of dementia:

Can Exercise Make A Difference

There is some preliminary evidence that exercise can improve cognitive skills in people with early-stage Alzheimers disease.

For a University of Kansas study, published in February 2017 in the journal PLoS ONE, subjects took part in a supervised exercise program involving 150 minutes of walking per week.

After six months, some but not all of the subjects performed better on tests measuring memory and thinking skills. These subjects also showed a slight increase in brain size.

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What Is Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimers is the most common type of dementia, accounting for between 60 and 80% of those who are suffering from memory loss and cognitive decline that is not due to typical aging. Though there is still a lot to learn about the disease, we know that it involves changes in the brain, including shrinking, blood vessel damage, and most crucially, the development of protein deposits known as plaques and tangles: Plaques, which are made up of beta-amyloids, clog the area between nerve cells, while tangles, which are twisted fibers of the tau protein, accumulate inside the cells. Both interfere with the ability of neurons to talk to each other, and they eventually cause brain cells to die.

These changes in the brain can begin years before the person notices anything unusual is going on. In the earliest stage of the disease , the most common symptom is not being able to remember new informationthe individual may ask the same questions over and over again, get confused with simple directions, lose track of household items, and more.

Q: What Makes You So Optimistic That We Will Find A Treatment That Slows Or Stops The Disease

What The New Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Means For Patients

We now, I believe, have evidence to help us understand why the first hypothesis was wrong. Scientifically, we have very good justification to argue why our new hypotheses are correct.

Were now seeing that companies are getting back into drug development because these new pathways are so compelling.

In the coming years, our biggest focus at the Alzheimers Disease Research Center at Columbia will be accelerating drug discovery. One of the most important goals is to develop new biomarkersfor the new Alzheimers pathways. These biomarkers are crucial for developing the new generation of therapeutic agents. These biomarkers will be useful for enrolling patients into new anticipated clinical trials, following the logic of precision medicine. Also, just as biomarkers of amyloid were important for testing assumptions about the primacy of amyloid in the disease, these biomarkers are important for testingor potentially refutingthe new pathways.

Were also testing gene therapies and other ways to restore endosomal trafficking to see if that prevents neurodegeneration in animal models.

In science, though, you never can be sure. The only way well know were right is by developing drugs and testing the hypothesis in clinical trials in patients, like we did with the amyloid hypothesis.

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How Much Coconut Oil Do You Need To Take

Firstly, understand that you cannot overdose on coconutoil ever! However, too much in the beginning can cause mild diarrhea in somepeople so its best to start off slow and gradually build up. Two tablespoonstaken three times daily in divided doses is best to begin with.After a few weeks you can then increase to four tablespoonsconsumed three times per day. Just make sure the coconut oil you buy is 100% organic, virgin coconut oil. Processed coconut oil contains trans fatty acidsand should never be eaten.

In addition to taking coconut oil every day, its also agood idea to make up some coconut milk and use this instead of drinking cowsmilk. Processed dairy is exceptionally bad for dementia suffers but coconut milk is exceptionally good! You can find outhow to easily make your own coconut milk here wellnessmama.com

Alzheimers Vaccine And Immunotherapy

Researchers have been attempting to develop a vaccine for Alzheimers disease for almost a decade. The strategy behind the immunotherapy approach is to use the bodys own immune system to destroy beta-amyloid plaques.

The first Alzheimers vaccine was tested in clinical trials in 2001. However, the trial was prematurely halted because six percent of participants developed serious brain inflammation. However, the vaccination did appear to benefit thinking and memory in some unaffected participants who were monitored after the end of the trial. Researchers have now developed a safer vaccine by using antibodies against a smaller fragment of the beta-amyloid protein, which they hope will avoid the complications of the previous trial.

Another approach to developing a vaccine involves using immunoglobulin, a filtered human blood product containing antibodies. Immunoglobulin was shown to be successful in a very small trial of 8 people with mild Alzheimers disease, with most showing improvement on tests of cognitive function after treatment. Although this trial is very small, it suggests the potential for larger trials of immunoglobulin therapy, which may have safety advantages over other vaccination techniques. Although this initial research is promising, much more research needs to be done before we know whether this approach will work.

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Fda Approves Alzheimers Drug Despite Fierce Debate Over Whether It Works

Aducanumab, or Aduhelm, is the first new Alzheimers treatment in 18 years and the first to attack the disease process. But some experts say theres not enough evidence it can address cognitive symptoms.

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By Pam Belluck and Rebecca Robbins

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first new medication for Alzheimers disease in nearly two decades, a contentious decision made despite opposition from the agencys independent advisory committee and some Alzheimers experts who said there was not enough evidence that the drug can help patients.

The drug, aducanumab, which will go by the brand name Aduhelm, is a monthly intravenous infusion intended to slow cognitive decline in people with mild memory and thinking problems. It is the first approved treatment to attack the disease process of Alzheimers instead of just addressing dementia symptoms.

Biogen, its manufacturer, announced Monday afternoon that the list price would be $56,000 a year. In addition, there will most likely be tens of thousands of dollars in costs for diagnostic testing and brain imaging.

Recognizing that clinical trials of the drug had provided incomplete evidence to demonstrate effectiveness, the F.D.A. granted approval for the drug to be used but required Biogen to conduct a new clinical trial.

Early Stage Smaller Trials

What is Alzheimer

After initial trials showed that Aducanumab was safe to use in humans, a further trial called PRIME assessed if the drug could slow the progression of Alzheimers disease in people who were in the early stages of the disease. This included people who had mild cognitive impairment or early-stage dementia.

The PRIME trial started in 2012. Biogen, the pharmaceutical company who developed the drug, reported that treatment led to a reduction in amyloid levels in the brain. The company said the drug appeared to slow the rate of cognitive decline for people with mild Alzheimers disease receiving the drug.

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Q: First The Bad News Why Have All Drugs Tested In The Past Several Years Failed

In retrospect, the idea that reducing amyloid in the brainwhich all the failed drugs dois based on an incomplete picture of the disease.

To treat a disease, we need to treat whats broken. But its very difficult to find whats broken in these slowly progressive brain disorders.

One way to find whats broken is through genetics, but the first wave of genetic studies in the 80s and 90s only had the technical capabilities to investigate Alzheimers cases that run in families, those caused by a single gene.

The results of these studies all seemed to converge on one biological process: amyloid.

But these single-gene forms of Alzheimers are rareand account for maybe 2% to 3% of cases. Most cases of Alzheimers are caused by a complex interplay of many genes and the environment.

The field made the assumption that amyloid is the primary culprit in all forms of Alzheimers. It made perfect sense, because we see amyloid in all patients with Alzheimers, whether their disease is caused by a single gene or not. The amyloid finding was extremely exciting, and there was a sense that we were on the cusp of curing this devastating, horrible disease.

Diseases That Come Under The Dementia Umbrella

Dementia is not actually a single disease or illness initself. Its a shared term used to describe the difficulties people withvarious underlying brain problems or brain damage can have with their thinking,memory, and speech . So its basically a broadterm used to describe a loss of memory, intellect, rationality, social skills,and what would be considered normal emotional reactions in a person. Alzheimers,vascular dementia, Lewy Body dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease , Parkinsons,ALS and Huntingtons disease allcome under the dementia umbrella. Incredibly, one new case of dementia isdiagnosed every 4 seconds around the world. That tells you the sheer scope ofthis brutal disorder and how many lives are being affected. Of course,Alzheimers makes up the bulk of dementia sufferers , followed by vasculardementia.

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Early Onset Alzheimers Disease

Although age is the main risk factor for Alzheimers disease, this is not just a condition that affects older adults.

According to the Alzheimers Association, early onset Alzheimers disease affects around 200,000 U.S. adults under the age of 65 years. Many people with this condition are in their 40s or 50s.

In many cases, doctors do not know why younger people develop this condition. Several rare genes can cause the condition. When there is a genetic cause, it is known as familial Alzheimers disease.

Complementary And Alternative Medicine

First new Alzheimer’s treatment in more than 2 decades could be approved Monday

Since medications have had limited benefit in treating Alzheimer’s, many have turned to alternative and complementary treatments. The jury is still out on many of these approaches, and research is ongoing. Some people have reported an improvement in cognition with various supplements, but none have proven successful enough in clinical studies to warrant recommending them for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Vitamin E supplementation showed the most promise. But according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, there was only evidence from a single study that it might slow functional decline in Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies have shown there may be a protective effect of eating more fish and other foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, specifically docosahexaenoic acid . But giving people supplements of DHA after they have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease has shown no benefit.

Other CAM options that have been studied include ginkgo biloba, which has no conclusive evidence of preventing or slowing Alzheimer’s disease, and curcumin, which doesn’t have enough research yet conducted to support its use.

If you’re interested in trying complementary or alternative treatments, you should discuss them with your healthcare provider, since some have the potential to interact with other medications or may trigger significant side effects.

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Natural Remedies For Dementia And Alzheimers Treatment Option #: Coconutoil

Coconut oil works so incredibly well for dementiapatients it almost seems like a magic bullet treatment. Coconut oil containssubstances called ketones, which are a powerful brain food . The healthy fats contained in coconut oil also help to rebuild thelining of the nerves so brain communication is increased and healthy nervefunction is enhanced. Virtually all dementia suffers who try it receive overwhelmingly positive benefits. Ihad the privilege of interviewing world-renowned coconut oil expert and author,Dr Bruce Fife, not so long ago and he spoke extensively about the power ofcoconut oil for preventing and reversing Alzheimers disease .

Heres a snippet of what Dr Fife had to say in thatinterview

Coconutketone therapy has the potential to stop the progression of Alzheimers,reverse it, and in some cases completely eliminate the disease.

Themedical research on coconut oil derived ketone therapy is remarkable. In onestudy for example, Alzheimers patients were split into two groups. Each groupwas given a beverage to drink. The beverage given to one group contained MCFAsfrom coconut oil, the other beverage contained the types of fatty acidsordinarily found in the diet. Ninety minutes later the investigators had thepatients take cognitive and memory tests. The results showed that thosepatients that consumed the beverage with MCFAs scored significantly higher onthe tests.

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