Today’s Boomers

According to Melissa Gotthardt,  researchers are now saying that it’s important to keep a lid on your pressure if you want to starve off dementia.

Here’s some simple ways to keep the noggin in shape -

• Regular exercise
• Eat a healthy heart diet
• Get blood pressure under control

Remember, it’s much easier to eat more when there is too much back ground noise, so try chewing your food slowly while enjoying quiet conversation.

Contact Main Line Elder Care Associates at www.mainlineeldercare.com for more information.

No one can predict when it will happen, but you should know what to do when it does.

How common is it for a person with Alzheimer’s to wander and become lost?

Unfortunately, many repeatedly wander away. Alzheimer’s or a related dementia person can also  easily become lost .

Of course, you realize how this can be dangerous and even life threatening so MLECA encourages our clients to participate inn the Alzheimer’s Association Safe Return Program and we are available to assist you with this process.

Safe Return helps reunite loved ones who have wandered.

They provide 24/7 assistance, no matter when or where you report them missing. 

GO TO WWW.ALZ.ORG. Fill out their form in its entirety to complete the registration.

Contact us at  www.info@mainlineeldercare.com for more information. We are available to help you with the enrollee registration form.

Please be pro-active and do this today because stress from  losing a loved one will weigh very heavily on your entire family. Also, we are inviting you to give us feedback as to whether this program was beneficial to you.

PLEASE BE SAFE AND PROTECT THOSE WITH ALZHEIMER’S OR DEMENTIA RELATED ILLNESSES.

Helen C. Hopkinson, J.D., President and CEO, Main Line Elder Care Associates, Inc. www.mainlineeldercare.com

<a href=”http://technorati.com/claim/j6whwmtk” rel=”me”>Technorati Profile</a>

DOZENS OF NEW DRUGS ARE IN THE PIPELINE

This news comes as the Nation braces for an epidemic of Alzheimer’s, the harrowing form of dementia, that Americans told pollsters they fear more than heart disease, stroke or diabetes.

5.9 million people in the United States have the disease, and the greatest risk factor is age. 

Today, people are living longer and millions of Boomers will turn 65 in the next 4 years. 

One in eight people age 65 and older now have Alzheimer’s. Half of those 85 and older have it.

The Good News - there are 9 new Alzheimer’s treatments being tested for the effectiveness in a Phase III trial test series and dozens in the Phase II trials. The next generation drug will be designed to prevent, destroy and clean out deposits of beta-amyloid plaque that kill the brain’s nerve cells, leading to the loss of memory and reason.

Scientists are expected to announce the results as early as 2008. 

“Within three years, it’s all but certain we’ll have disease modifying drugs that fundamentally change the nature of Alzheimer’s.” says Sam Gandy, M.D., chair of the National Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the Alzheimer’s Association and director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences in Philadelphia.

Neil Buckholtz, chief of the Dementias of Aging Branch at the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, MD, adds, “We’ve gone from drugs that help for a time with the symptoms of Alzheimer’s to trying to develop drugs that will actually slow down or reverse the disease itself.”

Gandy stated that if test results for the first new drug, Alzhemed, from Neurochem are positive, that the Food and Drug Administration may decide to fast-track the drug and we could see it approved next year.

However, should Alzhemed fail to significantly slow the progress of the disease, scientists are confident that one or more than four dozen other drugs now in human trials will succeed.

One promising drug is Flurizan from Myraid Genetics and the results from that test could be completed within 18 months.  The optimism regarding the drug trials are from the fruits of 20 years of scientific work on Alzheimer’s. 

Main Line Elder Care Associates wants to encourage you to get more information regarding these trials by contacting  the Alzheimer’s Association or www.alz.org  Also, to learn about clinical trials and studies in your area, call 1-800-438-4389.