Dementia- one of the greatest enemies of humanity

[Daven]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27912473

Having watched my lovely Mum succumb to this cruel and undignified disease over the past few years I feel very strongly that more funding needs to be given to researching dementia and finding better treatments that slow down the progression of the disease.

What are your thoughts ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25213162

[medusa]

I couldn't agree more.

 

However, as a scientist who was involved in medical trials, I can see exactly why the search for effective drugs takes so long and is so expensive. On top of that, I can see why companies are so reticent to enter a very expensive development process when so very few of the drugs which have been tested in the past have been shown to have any efficacy at all, even in a very specific carefully controlled patient grouping.

 

In common with cancer research, IMO the major part of the research should be devoted to finding ways to prevent the disease (or individual diseases within the group of conditions at least) rather than waiting for people to get a progressive disease and then fight an uphill battle to prevent further progression and loss of function.

 

Sadly, that means that we need a whole lot more understanding before we can even really start with the sort of dementia research that needs to happen. Until we understand exactly what is happening in each of the varieties of dementia, why some people get one sort, why others get another and what differentiates the common memory problems suffered by many older people (which aren't actually dementia) and the different sorts of dementia then we can't even start with looking at the molecular changes and how to stop them.

 

It's things like dementia and cancer that show us just how little we know about human bodies (and the brain in particular) and quite how far we have to go to get to full understanding.

[poppet2]

I've heard that if you get cancer at any stage in life, you don't get dementia.

[Daven]

I've heard that if you get cancer at any stage in life, you don't get dementia.

 

You have been misinformed

Cancer is treatable and often curable - there is no cure for dementia.

[medusa]

I've heard that if you get cancer at any stage in life, you don't get dementia.

 

Sorry, but I can put paid to that one straight away. Both members of my family that got dementia had previously had cancer, and quite a number of the people who my OH has contact with through his work have both cancer and dementia currently.

 

The research has shown that some people with dementia fall into a group often called the 'super agers', which is a group of those aged over 80 who have not fallen prey to cancer, heart disease or a number of other life altering or life limiting conditions.

 

If you fall into the super ager category then you have a much lower chance of dying from heart disease, cancer, strokes etc, which leaves you fit and healthy into your very old age (and in some cases with dementia).

[libuse]

I've heard that if you get cancer at any stage in life, you don't get dementia.

 

You've heard wrong. My work brings me into contact with lots of people living with dementia, and cancer survivors are amongst their number, although there is research indicating that there's an inverse association.

 

If anyone wants to do something simple but meaningful in relation to supporting people living with dementia, they could consider becoming a dementia friend:

 

http://www.dementiafriends.org.uk

[Se7enhills]

Strangley my mother died of Cancer whlist suffering* from advanced dementia......

 

 

 

*Is Suffering the right word.... DO they know?

[Daven]

Please watch this short video - Bob explains the pain and progression of this cruel disease so well.

[libuse]

Strangley my mother died of Cancer whlist suffering* from advanced dementia......

 

 

 

*Is Suffering the right word.... DO they know?

 

It's believed they do. Have a look at this:

 

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=-119

 

It suggests that the aggression and despair exhibited by some people living with dementia stems from awareness of their new cognitive limitations. It's probably one of the cruellest conditions humans have to live with.

[Olive]

I couldn't agree more.

 

However, as a scientist who was involved in medical trials, I can see exactly why the search for effective drugs takes so long and is so expensive. On top of that, I can see why companies are so reticent to enter a very expensive development process when so very few of the drugs which have been tested in the past have been shown to have any efficacy at all, even in a very specific carefully controlled patient grouping.

 

 

Thanks for making that point Medusa. It's why there needs to be a different approach. The government have realised this now (how many years too late?). They've seen that the fuse on the ticking bomb is burning ever closer. Where will the care come from for the ever increasing number of sufferers, and how will it be paid for?

 

Any hope of medical intervention is a long, long way away whilst innovation is locked away in R&D departments, desperately protecting their own intellectual property. The best research needs to come together, be it in the UK, the US and elsewhere, in pharma or the universities and hospitals.