A Cure for Alzheimer's Disease – Hype or Hope?

A recent New York Times article in the science section said that “researchers have become obsessed with a tiny protein called amyloid that clumps into barnacklelike balls in the brain of patients with degenerative neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s. “

A small protein called amyloid may hold the cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

Amyloid is a normal protein manufactured by all human beings. Even people with Alzheimer’s make perfectly normal amounts of amyloid. But unlike normal people, those afflicted with this dreaded disease, can’t seem to get rid of it. So it sits there in the brain like an overflowing faucet in a clogged drain as it degrades the cognitive abilities of the Alzheimer’s patient.

Amyloid disposal is part of a new wave of unexpected findings in both the treatment and potential cure for Alzheimer’s and related neurological diseases. In a sense, if scientists could speed up the disposal of amyloid, they can slow down or possibly halt the disease.

To date, potent drugs like Aricept and the Exelon patch are among the finest pharmaceuticals available to Alzheimer’s patients. But instead of treating the root causes of Alzheimer’s, they treat the symptoms of the disease by slowing down the brain’s degenerative process. To date, there is nothing available on the market to stop the inevitable.

Scientists are working day and night to find a cure. The only things stopping them are time and money.

Scientists throughout the world are working feverishly to find new drugs and methodology to fight degenerative neurological diseases. There’s talk of a viral infusion that can unbundle the clumps of synapses in the brain of the Alzheimer’s patient and help them regain more rational cognitive thought.

But testing, like FDA approval, takes time – lots of it. Even if they found the wonder drug that could cure Alzheimer’s disease, it would take several years for FDA approval and bring it to the market. Which simply means that caregivers can do little but make use of these currently prescribed drugs.

Is it real hope or real hype?
Both caregivers and patients of Alzheimer’s continue to live in hope that a cure for neurological diseases like this will be found soon enough to end the suffering - suffering both patient and caregiver endure.

In this day and age, it is difficult to tell what is truly hype and truly hope. But for those of you are either a patient or caregiver, the clock is ticking. Each day eats away at the patients ability to function, compromises their cognitive abilities and weakens their memory. Are we any closer to a cure for Alzheimer’s and related neurological diseases. Only time will tell.