Embracing It

I visited Mom today. Next month will be 10 years since her diagnosis. In 2005 her physician said he’d read about Namenda and wanted to add it to Mom’s daily pharmaceutical cocktail. Up until then, he hadn’t prescribed any of the other four drugs for Alzheimer’s. When I walk into the nursing home, Mom’s face lights up when she sees me. She doesn’t remember anything we talk about, but when we’re talking she understands what we are discussing. Somewhere in the discussion we conclude:

I say to her, “Please don’t forget who I am.”

She says, “I will never forget you.”

“Promise?”

“Yes,” she always answers.

And when I talk to God I pray, “Please, be kind to my mother.”

Given that the average Alzheimer’s patient lives eight years with the disease and we are now at the 10-year mark and she still recognizes all of us, I’m confident that God’s hand protects my mother, is answering my prayers. And I am encouraged that God will bring another miracle to mankind through Mom.

So, my blog about Alzheimer’s is taking a kind of turn. I want to be on the cutting edge of Alzheimer’s technology, research, to understand it and help others understand it as we face the global epidemic of Alzheimer’s Disease.

“While there is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease,” advises the Alzheimer’s Association, “there are five prescription drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat it’s symptoms.”

• Donepezil (Aricept) ~ for treatment of all stages of Alzheimer’s.

• Galantamine (Razadyne) ~ for mild to moderate stages.

• Rivastigmine (Exelon) ~ for mild to moderate stages

• Tacrine (Cognex) ~ rarely prescribed because of possible side effects, including liver damage.

• Memantine (Namenda) ~ for moderate to severe Alzheimer’s Disease.

Aricept, Razadyne, Exelon and Cognex are “cholinestrerase inhibitors,” and are used to treat symptoms related to memory, thinking, language, judgment and other thought processes. These drugs increase the levels of acetylcholine. This chemical helps deliver messages in the brain.

“But Alzheimer’s Disease damages or destroys the cells that produce and use acetylcholine, thereby reducing the amount available to carry messages. A cholinesterase inhibitor slows the breakdown of acetylcholine by blocking the activity of acetylcholinesterase by blocking the activity of acetylcholinesterase. By maintaining acetylcholine levels, the drug may help compensate for the loss of functioning brain cells.”

The inhibitors may slow progression of the disease for six months to a year. Combining drugs would like result in greater frequency of side effects (nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, increased frequency of bowel movements.)

Namenda is a “receptor antagonist,” the first drug of its kind. It is used to “improve memory, attention, reason, language and the ability to perform simple tasks. “ Namenda regulates glutamate which is essential in learning and memory. Glutamate is involved in information processing, storage and retrieval.” Too much glutamate disrupts and kills brain cells.

Statistically, Namenda (receptor antagonist) significantly improves mental function and the ability to perform daily activities, according to several studies. Reportedly, it doesn’t help those with the lowest cognitive function. (For more detailed information, please visit the Alzheimer’s Association website at www.alz.org.

My goal is to find a way to check Mom out of the nursing home permanently and bring her home to live with me. She deserves to spend the rest of her life piddling around in a garden in the backyard, setting up her easel to paint or sit at the organ playing the music she so enjoyed before Alzheimer’s stole her memories.