Which Medicines Are Used To Treat Alzheimers Disease
There is no cure for Alzheimers disease, but available medications temporarily slow the worsening of dementia symptoms and help with behavioral problems that may appear during the course of the disease.
Four medications representing two drug classes are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat the symptoms of Alzheimers disease. These drugs are the cholinesterase inhibitors and a NMDA antagonist.
Cholinesterase inhibitors. The cholinesterase inhibitors are all approved to treat the symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease . Cholinesterase inhibitors include:
- Rivastigmine and Exelon patch
These drugs work by blocking the action of acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme responsible for destroying acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is one of the chemicals that helps nerve cells communicate. Researchers believe that reduced levels of acetylcholine cause some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. By blocking the enzyme, these medications increase the concentration of acetylcholine in the brain. This increase is believed to help improve some memory problems and reduce some of the behavioral symptoms seen in patients with Alzheimers disease.
These medications do not cure Alzheimers disease or stop the progression of the disease. The most common side effects of these drugs are nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Some people may have loss of appetite, insomnia or bad dreams.
Can Cognitive Training Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Cognitive training involves structured activities designed to enhance memory, reasoning, and speed of processing. There is encouraging but inconclusive evidence that a specific, computer-based cognitive training may help delay or slow age-related cognitive decline. However, there is no evidence that it can prevent or delay Alzheimer’s-related cognitive impairment.
Studies show that cognitive training can improve the type of cognition a person is trained in. For example, older adults who received 10 hours of practice designed to enhance their speed and accuracy in responding to pictures presented briefly on a computer screen got faster and better at this specific task and other tasks in which enhanced speed of processing is important. Similarly, older adults who received several hours of instruction on effective memory strategies showed improved memory when using those strategies. The important question is whether such training has long-term benefits or translates into improved performance on daily activities like driving and remembering to take medicine.
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How These Drugs Work
These drugs may work for some people but not others, and they do not stop the progression of Alzheimers disease. Instead, the drugs may delay it or help with symptom control for a period of time, particularly in the earlier stages of the disease. This action, in turn, may help patients with their attention and focus, cognitive abilities, memory, and communication skills.
Other Vascular Health Tips
Watch your cholesterol levels. Studies also suggests there may be a connection between high cholesterol and Alzheimers and dementia, especially having high cholesterol levels in mid-life. Improving your levels can be good for both your brain and your heart.
Stop smoking. Smoking is one of the most preventable risk factors for Alzheimers disease and dementia. One study found that smokers over the age of 65 have a nearly 80% higher risk of Alzheimers than those who have never smoked. When you stop smoking, the brain benefits from improved circulation almost immediately.
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Tips For Everyday Care For People With Dementia
Early on in Alzheimers and related dementias, people experience changes in thinking, remembering, and reasoning in a way that affects daily life and activities. Eventually, people with these diseases will need more help with simple, everyday tasks. This may include bathing, grooming, and dressing. It may be upsetting to the person to need help with such personal activities. Here are a few tips to consider early on and as the disease progresses:
- Try to keep a routine, such as bathing, dressing, and eating at the same time each day.
- Help the person write down to-do lists, appointments, and events in a notebook or calendar.
- Plan activities that the person enjoys and try to do them at the same time each day.
- Consider a system or reminders for helping those who must take medications regularly.
- When dressing or bathing, allow the person to do as much as possible.
- Buy loose-fitting, comfortable, easy-to-use clothing, such as clothes with elastic waistbands, fabric fasteners, or large zipper pulls instead of shoelaces, buttons, or buckles.
- Use a sturdy shower chair to support a person who is unsteady and to prevent falls. You can buy shower chairs at drug stores and medical supply stores.
- Be gentle and respectful. Tell the person what you are going to do, step by step while you help them bathe or get dressed.
- Serve meals in a consistent, familiar place and give the person enough time to eat.
Strategy 3c: Assist Families In Planning For Future Care Needs
The vast majority of people do not think about or plan for the long-term services and supports they will need until they experience a disability or AD. Many Americans incorrectly believe that Medicare will cover most of the costs of these supportive services.31, 32 Unfortunately, by the time care is needed, it is difficult to get coverage in the private long-term care insurance market, and options are limited.33 Educating people about their potential need for long-term services and supports and the significant advantages of planning ahead for these services encourages timely preparation. Planning ahead can help ensure that individuals with AD receive care in the setting they prefer and that their dignity is maintained.
Action 3.C.1: Examine awareness of long-term care needs and barriers to planning for these needs
HHS is working to better understand why middle-aged adults do or do not plan for long-term care needs. HHS will conduct a national survey to examine attitudes toward long-term care. It will also identify barriers to long-term care planning.
Action 3.C.2: Expand long-term care awareness efforts
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My Mom Has Memory Problems That Are Really Impacting Her Life But Shes Refusing To Seek Evaluation Or Help What Can We Do
In such situations, I will revert to the “family conference.” In such a setting, all significant members of the family meet alone first and agree on the significance of the problem and what needs to be done with the assistance of a social worker who is skilled in the day-to-day management of memory problems. A plan is devised. Then the family meets with the older adult and as a group virtually insists that the older adult seek help, if not for her sake, then for the sake of the family. Have an appointment already set up. Have at least two family members go with the older adult to the evaluation and make certain that the family express to the clinician the problems that have been noticed. This approach works most of the time IF the family is in agreement and speaks as one voice.
Counseling From A Mental Health Or Social Work Professional
Mental health or social work professionals help you understand your feelings, such as anger, sadness, or feeling out of control and overwhelmed, and help you deal with any stress you may be feeling. They also help develop plans for unexpected or sudden events.
What to know about costs:
- Professional mental health counselors charge by the hour. There may be big differences in the rates you would be charged from one counselor to another.
- Some insurance companies will cover some of these costs.
- Medicare or Medicaid may cover some of these costs.
- You must pay all costs not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance.
How to find them:
- It’s a good idea to ask your health insurance staff which counselors and services, if any, your insurance plan covers. Then check with your doctor, local family service agencies, and community mental health agencies for referrals to counselors.
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What Newer Medications Are Under Study
All currently approved medications target Alzheimers disease after it develops. Scientists are currently researching ways to stop or slow the progress of Alzheimers disease before it starts.
Some of the drugs in late-stage investigation are called monoclonal antibodies. These drugs target the amyloid protein that builds up in brain cells. They work by attaching to the amyloid proteins as they float in the brain and remove them, before they form into the plaques and tangles that interfere with the brains ability to properly function.
These drugs are still in clinical trials and are several years away from Food and Drug Administration approval in the United States. Early results have been mixed, with some trials showing no improvement in brain function others showing a slight improvement . Despite the mixed results, researchers are excited about this new potential method to modify the disease process.
Support For Family And Friends
Currently, many people living with Alzheimers disease are cared for at home by family members. Caregiving can have positive aspects for the caregiver as well as the person being cared for. It may bring personal fulfillment to the caregiver, such as satisfaction from helping a family member or friend, and lead to the development of new skills and improved family relationships.
Although most people willingly provide care to their loved ones and friends, caring for a person with Alzheimers disease at home can be a difficult task and may become overwhelming at times. Each day brings new challenges as the caregiver copes with changing levels of ability and new patterns of behavior. As the disease gets worse, people living with Alzheimers disease often need more intensive care.
You can find more information about caring for yourself and access a helpful care planning form.
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Targets Of Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention Research
Researchers are exploring these and other interventions that may help prevent, delay, or slow Alzheimer’s dementia or age-related cognitive decline. Other research targets include:
- New drugs to delay onset or slow disease progression
- Diabetes treatment
- Blood pressure- and lipid-lowering treatments
- Sleep interventions
- Vitamins such as B12 plus folic acid supplements and D
- Combined physical and mental exercises
Goal : Prevent And Effectively Treat Alzheimer’s Disease By 2025
Research continues to expand our understanding of the causes of, treatments for, and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. This goal seeks to develop effective prevention and treatment modalities by 2025. Ongoing research and clinical inquiry can inform our ability to delay onset of Alzheimer’s disease, minimize its symptoms, and delay its progression. Under this goal, HHS will prioritize and accelerate the pace of scientific research and ensure that as evidence-based solutions are identified they are quickly translated, put into practice, and brought to scale so that individuals with Alzheimer’s disease can benefit from increases in scientific knowledge. HHS will identify interim milestones and set ambitious deadlines for achieving these milestones in order to meet this goal.
Key to advancing this goal is the Obama Administration’s investment of $50 million in new Alzheimer’s disease research funding in fiscal year 2012 and $80 million in new Alzheimer’s disease research funding in fiscal year 2013. These investments will open new opportunities in Alzheimer’s disease research and jumpstart efforts to reach the 2025 goal.
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How Does Alzheimer’s Disease Affect The Brain
Scientists continue to unravel the complex brain changes involved in Alzheimers disease. Changes in the brain may begin a decade or more before symptoms appear. During this very early stage of Alzheimers, toxic changes are taking place in the brain, including abnormal buildups of proteins that form amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Previously healthy neurons stop functioning, lose connections with other neurons, and die. Many other complex brain changes are thought to play a role in Alzheimers as well.
The damage initially appears to take place in the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex, which are parts of the brain that are essential in forming memories. As more neurons die, additional parts of the brain are affected and begin to shrink. By the final stage of Alzheimers, damage is widespread and brain tissue has shrunk significantly.
Ology For The Inventory
Federal departments, including HHS, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, used the following search terms to identify projects that they supported during FY2010: Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and frontotemporal dementias. Representatives from each agency then sorted the projects they identified into the categories below, as defined by federal interagency subgroups on research, clinical care, and long-term services and support programs:
Research Subgroup
- Planning for future care needs
In the report below, programs and initiatives are organized by these categories. In the Supplementary Material section at the end of the document, this material is presented in tabular form and organized by agency.
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Complementary And Alternative Medicine
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.
Communicating With An Alzheimer’s Patient
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Consumer Health: Can Music Help Someone With Alzheimers Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disorder that causes brain cells to waste away and die. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, which is a term used to describe a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily function.
As many as 5.8 million people in the U.S. were living with Alzheimers disease in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And this number is projected to nearly triple to 14 million people by 2060.
Memory loss is the key symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. An early sign of the disease is difficulty remembering recent events or conversations. As the disease progresses, memory impairment persists and worsens, affecting the ability to function at work or at home.
Musical memories often are preserved in Alzheimer’s disease, though, because key brain areas linked to musical memory are relatively undamaged by the disease. Research suggests that listening to or singing songs can provide emotional and behavioral benefits for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
Music also can benefit caregivers by reducing anxiety and distress, lightening the mood, and providing a way to connect with loved ones who have Alzheimer’s disease especially those who have difficulty communicating.
If you’d like to use music to help a loved one who has Alzheimer’s disease, consider these tips:
Whats Next With Dementia Prevention Research
More research is needed to find ways to help prevent Alzheimers and related dementias. Future research may determine that specific interventions are needed to prevent or delay the disease in some people, but others may need a combination of treatments based on their individual risk factors. Understanding risk factors and choices you can make now is important for both your present and future health. In addition to this website, consider the resources listed below to learn more.
You can also help researchers learn more about preventing dementia by participating in clinical trials and studies. Search the Alzheimers.gov Clinical Trials Finder to find studies that need volunteers.
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