Could Alzheimer's be a form of diabetes?
That's the tantalizing suggestion from a new study that finds insulin production in the brain declines as
Alzheimer's disease advances.
"Insulin disappears early and dramatically in Alzheimer's disease," senior researcher Suzanne M. de la Monte, a neuropathologist at Rhode Island Hospital and a professor of pathology at Brown University Medical School, said in a prepared statement.
Full Story @ Yahoo! News
Posted by Mrs Muddy at December 3, 2005 12:42 PMIt could also be mad cow disease.....
Posted by: mooseboy84 at December 3, 2005 05:35 PMMooseboy it's nothing like mad cow disease. Not even remotely. How do I know? My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple weeks ago and we've been dealing with my grandfather's Alzheimer's for a few years now.
And for Steven Reinberg's information: Insulin in produced in the pancreas, not the brain.
This article fails to mention that insulin production slowdown may be a result of the disease, not a cause of it. Think about it...all the synapses of the brain aren't firing quite right anymore, maybe, just maybe the brain is forgetting to tell the pancreas "hey, yo, make some insulin already!" along with the places the patient's children work, their birthdays, their grand children, the thing they said 30 seconds before.
It would fit after all...they loose motor function, begin slurring their speech, lose the ability to focus. Their muscles deteriorate. All that has to do with the brain not firing on all cylinders.
as far as I am concerned (and my father's neurologist who is a researcher and doctor for Emory Healthcare/University) all their research really shows is that insulin production falls off quickly in the beginning of Alzheimer's. News flash, in most Alzheimer's patients, they lose the same skills and functions in generally the same sequence.
Posted by: skywalker at December 3, 2005 07:23 PMOh and btw, Mad Cow disease is spread by microbes. It causes the brain to deteriorate. Alzheimer's is a plaque forming on the brain. This plaque causes the brain to fail to work properly.
But that's for the suggestion, I'll be sure to talk to the doc about that in 5 months when we go see him again.
Posted by: skywalker at December 3, 2005 07:28 PMSorry, Skywalker...I just thought it was an interresting article regardless of anyone's situation and also maybe even a glimmer of hope. I know you weren't "yelling" at me but I also didn't mean to spark any tension there either.:-/ Besides, I forgot to mention it to you the other day when you called so I thought I would post it instead.
Posted by: mrs. muddy at December 3, 2005 08:06 PMMany Alzhemiers diagnosis 'COULD' be mad cow disease.
The ONLY way to find out if person has Alzhemiers, is for an autopsy be done after death and a brain biopsy taken. To my knowledge there is no "test" for alzheimers, just a measure of congintive and memory functions not working properly. There may be some brain scans, but to my knowledge [which aint saying mutch] im not aware of one. Alzheimers is really just a range of symptons that are dementia.
Now on to mad cow.....Mad Cow disease is creutzfeldt-jacobs or CJD. Now CJD, is a nuerological disoder that attacks people who are in the 50s+. Despite what youve heard about mad cow, it mostly affects OLDER people.
Just read the first paragraph here.
http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/intro.htm
Read this here.
http://www.cjdfoundation.org/warning.html
"The main indicators which can lead to a possible diagnosis of CJD are rapid dementia and a range of neurological symptoms including unsteady gait and sudden jerky movements."
Now you have some history with Alzheimers. Now as you can Clearly see, there seems to be an Overlap in the symptoms Between CJD and Alzehimers. There have been many people that have speculated, that MANY people that have alzehuners have CJD, and because there is no test except for a brain biopsy.... most people will never know what their parent had when they died.
Now there is Definately "Mad Cow" disease that affects cattle in this country. There have been cases in Canada, and a few "scares" in this country including something that happened in NJ a few years ago. Now it is my opinion that the FDA is covering up any traces of mad cow, because it would Ruin the beef industry. I know that its out there. I rarely eat beef, and really never have eatin much of it during my life. But i am 199% sure there is Lots of mad cows in this country.
Even if "downer" cows arnt eaten, those are the types of animals that are used for dog and cat food.
If you are a "steak and potatos" type of person, I would cut back on the steak unless it was certfied organic free range.... which is expensive.
And lastly, CJD is spread by Prions, which is not a microbe but an altered protein that cant be cooked or killed.
Anyway, best of luck with your father.
Posted by: mooseboy84 at December 3, 2005 08:43 PMNot exactly. Alzheimer's is very sequential disease, the functional failures generally going in a very similar order. Mad cow on the other hand...not sure much. Not to mention that while there is not blood test that will tell you 100% on an Alzheimer's diagnosis (although they can make a damned good guess based on certain indicators in the blood.)
Madcow on the other hand is microbial...you can test for it.
CJD btw, is not for sure Mad Cow, it's only thought to be. But, both are microbial and can be found through blood tests.
Posted by: skywalker at December 4, 2005 04:06 PM