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Your elderly spouse repeatedly forgets to lock the front door, doesn't show up for a weekly hair appointment, loses her way to a friend's house or forgets recent conversations. Is it Alzheimer's disease or might something else be wrong?
A new urine test may help show if your loved one has Alzheimer's or if the decreased mental capacity may be caused instead by any one of several other possibilities: anemia; vitamin B deficiencies; abnormal thyroid levels; depression; a chronic infection or liver or kidney problems. Your doctor can order and perform the test, and it may be covered by some insurance programs or HMO's. There may soon be other help for Alzheimer's victims as well.
According to an article in the January/February issue of the Saturday Evening Post, the new urine test, AD7C, is being manufactured by Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation. The test has been available since last year.
"Anything that helps the physician become more certain in the diagnosis helps the family," Dr. Paul Averbach, president and CEO of the company said. He explained that even though there is no cure for Alzheimer's and no known prevention, early detection, means early treatment, and may help the family be better prepared. Early treatment may help a victim be able to stay home with the family longer.
Dr. Gregory Golden, Chief of Research and Development at VA Medical Center , Coatsville, Pennsylvania, said his hospital has successfully used the test in some cases to eliminate Alzheimer's as a cause of dementia or impairment of all aspects of brain function.
Dr. Golden said new treatments have proved promising for Alzheimer's.
The test measures a protein in the brain which is found in those with the disease and is found in urine.
Dr. Golden said clinical tests may be used to detect Alzheimer's along with with the new test. According to an article on the Yahoo web site, the tests may be used to first eliminate other causes of dementia. Some causes of dementia, such as brain tumors and others are treatable. Others, such as Alzheimer's, are not.
Dr. Golden said genetic tests may also be used to detect the disease but only in one percent of cases. He believes the tests may be inaccurate and "scare families for no good reason."
According to the Yahoo article, in Alzheimer's, brain tissues shrink, but the shrinkage is not caused by blood vessels. It is the most common illness among the elderly which caused mental deterioration, affecting 9 out of 10,000 people. Slightly more women are affected than men.
The cause of the disease is unknown. It is believed, however, it may be caused by a lack of substances used by nerve cells to transmit impulses: acetycholine, somatostatin and substance P.
Scientists also believe it may be caused by infectious prion (virus like organisms), which affect the brain and spinal cord. It may also be caused by environmental factors, such as exposure to aluminum or maganese.
In 5-10% of cases the disease may have some sort of heriditary implications, though even then it doesn't follow regular heriditary rules.
In families with multiple victims, a gene, E 4, may be present. The gene doesn't seem to be the cause and others have the gene without having the disease.
Symptoms include: impaired memory; unable to move purposefully; inability to remember how to move in certain ways; inability to find words in conversation; wandering attention; inability to maintain goals; inability to concentrate; memory loss and others.
Physical tests may include: a CT Scan, X-Rays; an MRI.
Treatments which may slow progress of the disease include Tacrine.
Stopping or changing certain medications including anticholinergics, analgesics, cimetidine and central nervous depressants may help.
According to an article on the Alzheimer's website, Ginkgo Biloba, an herb recently becoming popular in America, may prove helpful in treatment. According to the article, the herb is unknown among American doctors, but in Europe the herb is regularly prescribed for the elderly, for a total of $500 million in prescriptions.
A test using the herb and a placebo was held in Humboldt University. There were 90 people, average age 63, given either a ginko extract or a placebo. All had some kind of cerebral insufficiency. After three months the people who received the herb showed improved memory, concentration and no side effects.
The website also reported that using estrogen as a treatment for affected women has shown promise.
Although there is no effective treatment, doctors believe there soon will be treatment which can delay the onset of of the disease and slow mental deterioration. In ten years Alzheimer's may be manageable. Until then, the AD7C test may prove helpful.
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