Neuro Note - Alzheimer's Disease

 For this Neuro Note, I decided to pick a topic that hits close to home for our family, Alzheimer's disease. My grandmother was diagnosed eight years ago with dementia, but more than likely Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease can only be definitively diagnosed post-mortem. When I was growing up, I always heard reading books and doing crosswords puzzles can decrease the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. I think this can be considered true, but that genetic traits have way more of effect on the brain and its relationship to memory disorders. For example, my grandmother read a book a week and did sudoku puzzles every night before bed. The first time we saw "slips" were for Christmas, when she was making her annual Christmas gumbo, she left out shrimp and rice. My grandfather covered for her as a "lapse in error during the hectic holiday season". He would continue to cover for until his death nine years ago. He died of lung cancer that had spread up his spinal cord; on his death bed he told my dad, "Jon, I can't leave her." We always thought she took care of him, but apparently he was the brains of the operation, and she did what he told her. Now my grandmother is to the point where she is in Nursing Home with full out support for ADL's and transfers. My mom is the charge nurse at her nursing home, so we are able to keep a good eye on her. But now, she is forgetting to tell the staff when she is in pain or hurting. From many sad stories I have read, Alzheimer's disease patients take a longer time to die, but when their body does go down, a lot of times their brain forgets to tell the heart or lungs to do their jobs actively. Our family's goal now is to be proactive about symptoms and taking steps to help further research about Alzheimer's research. 

I decided to pick the video "What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's" by Lisa Genova. She first starts out by talking about neuron-to-neuron connections or synapses. This is the location where neurotransmitters are released. Along with neurotransmitters, the peptide known as, Amyloid Beta. These peptides are normally clear out by glia cells, but some researchers believe that Alzheimer's disease begins when there is an accumulation of these peptides in the synoptic cleft. These peptides began to stick together and form sticky plaques. The scary part is this starts to begin around age 40. Doctors can only be sure of this through a PET scan, because at this stage of the disease, no signs or symptoms are being shown in a person's memory, language, or cognition. Usually these signs of Alzheimer's disease don't start to present themselves until 10 to 15 years down the road. She uses the example of losing your keys. Most people around age 50-60 forget their keys, but mostly because they weren't paying attention what room they were in or where they put them down; this has nothing to do with cognition. Most people can retrace their steps and eventually find their keys in a coat pocket or under a pillow. Closer to ages 65-80, people can't even think of the last place they saw their keys. Eventually the person will find their keys in the refrigerator or bathroom; she even mentions finding them and thinking "What are these things used for?" Lisa goes on to talk about how her and other researchers think that glia cells are working overtime and eventually start to eliminate the synapse itself instead of the actual accumulating Amyloid Beta peptides. She thinks researching medication that stops this build up of peptides is their best bet to lesson the side affects of Alzheimer's. She goes on to talk about how these pills haven't been successful in clinical trials, but most of the clients in it, have already had prolonged symptoms. She goes on to talk about just DNA doesn't tip your scale drastically enough that a client automatically gets it. Some researchers think poor sleep hygiene can be a strong predictor of Alzheimer's disease. Cardiovascular disease, obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, and diabetes are some other areas that often indicate higher chances of Alzheimer's disease. She finishes her discussion talking about neuroplasticity. People with more formal education, higher literacy understanding, and engage in mentally stimulating activities have more cognitive reserve to pull from. Even if they have Alzheimer's, their brain still has so much more areas to pull from and these people often don't see the symptoms of the disease. She talks about how learning a new language, listening to new music, or meeting new friends are helpful for you to make different connections. 

Personally, I think this was a wonderful video. I would really love to read her book in the near future and see how she is as an author. I wish their was more "definitive" answers to Alzheimer's, but it makes me feel better that my grandmother did all she could to prevent her disease. Some people are just more likely to get it. I think the worst part about this disease is her forgetting being valedictorian of her gradating class, marrying the love of her life, or having three awesome children. The impact she left our lives is something we will never forget, even though she has. Now, our days are spent looking at her through her window or occasionally calling her (since Covid has hit, we can not visit her). I hope one day we will have an answer to this disease the lives it changes. 

I have included Mayo Clinics page that includes signs and symptoms. 

Reference List: 

Alzheimer’s Disease. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447

 

Genova, L. (2017) What You can do to Prevent Alzheimer’s. YouTube [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twG4mr6Jov0