Up-to-date information on Alzheimer's Research

This is the Truth, Lies, and Alzheimer's Show, brought to you by Global Media Network LLC and Passionate World Talk Radio. What is Passionate World Talk Radio? We're glad you asked. Passionate World Talk Radio is a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Media Network LLC, and our motto is to educate, enlighten, and entertain. I'm Ken Poglia, but I'm willing to bet you didn't tune in to hear me. You're probably here to listen to the wise, wise words of our host, Alzheimer's and dementia expert, bestselling author, and world-renowned public speaker Lisa Skinner. We've got a fantastic episode planned for you. If you recall from last week, Lisa gave a brief update on the latest, latest activities with regarding diagnosis, care, and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. For this week, Lisa's going to share with you some of the latest developments in Alzheimer's research. And in her new segment called What's News, she's going to share some exciting news about testing a type of drug to treat Alzheimer's disease. I'm very excited to hear, so I will hand it over to our host, Lisa Skinner.

Oh, Ken, thanks so much for that wonderful introduction. Hello again to all of you who have tuned in to listen to this episode of the Truth, Lies Alzheimer's Show. I hope you know who I am by now. I'm Lisa Skinner, your host, and I'd like to shout out a very warm welcome to all of you who have joined us today. Today for this newest episode. Thank you so much for being here. As I like to say, the purpose of this show is to talk about every aspect of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. And you know what I tell you, this is going to include the good, the bad, the ugly. I hold nothing back. I want to be as transparent with you about this disease as I possibly can, because our goal here is to get to the truth, dispel the lies and myths that continue to circulate around this disease, and unveil what I call The Secret Faces of Alzheimer's Disease. This way you'll be able to understand what it's truly like to live with this brain disease, and my hope is to zoom outside the paradigm of it exclusively being a memory loss condition and to shift people's understanding of just how dramatically this disease impacts the the lives of those who have it, those who are caregivers for people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and their family members. There are so many aspects of living with dementia that are unexpected and will surface out of nowhere at any time. And as many of you know, they show up unannounced and are completely unpredictable. That's why it's so important to be prepared for anything that emerges on this journey. I say that knowledge is power, and I am here to arm you with that knowledge so you too will have the power to negotiate the many challenges you will face having a loved one or while caring for someone with dementia because living with Alzheimer's disease is unlike anything any of us could ever imagine. Think of it as falling into a rabbit hole and entering a world unlike anything you've ever known, just like Alice did in the Alice in Wonderland story, and a world she discovered was completely unfamiliar to her. That said, it's equally important to not only understand what will occur on a day-to-day basis, but why these things occur. What is happening to the person's changing brain as they progress through the various stages of Alzheimer's disease? So with this knowledge, you will be prepared for what will challenge you, and that will be the key key to not being caught off guard. So this is Episode 13 of The Truth Lies in Alzheimer's Show. As Ken mentioned, last week in my new segment, What's News, I gave you a brief update about Alzheimer's research on— in my Alzheimer's research about latest diagnostic tools, cures, and treatments. And so I decided tonight that I wanted to do a follow-up to that episode. And so I have done some extensive research about the latest research on Alzheimer's disease. So what I'm going to share with you right now are the highlights from several resources that I have done my research through.

This—

these are the highlights from the Journal of Nervous System Disease published February 29th, 2020. As we know, Alzheimer's disease is one of the greatest medical challenges of our century and is the main cause of dementia. I've told you before, there are over 150 brain diseases that cause dementia. So again, Alzheimer's disease is the main cause of dementia. It is estimated by the World Health Organization and the Alzheimer's Association that by the year 2050, the number of people who will develop Alzheimer's disease will triple from the number of people who suffer from it today worldwide unless a treatment or a cure is found. Unfortunately, disease-modifying treatment strategies for Alzheimer's disease— at this very moment, there are no effective treatment options available for this disease. Disease. However, there have been more than 200 research projects— her— last decade, but they have either failed or been abandoned. And the most popular and broadly accepted explanations for the multiple failures of these clinical trials are due to therapies being started too late in the disease development, inappropriate drug doses, the wrong main target of the treatment, and an inadequate understanding of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease. The following are highlights from the resource I found called Learn Advocate. Also, as we are aware, Alzheimer's disease is an illness that slowly destroys brain cells and impairs the memory, thinking, and behaviors in those who have it. It is believed to be caused by a buildup of amyloid protein fragments, which disrupt communication between cells. The brains of people with Alzheimer's disease also have more plaque and tangles than the brains of people without conditions. However, I have shared with you in previous episodes that there have been a couple of studies conducted in the past showing no plaques and tangles present in some of the study participants who were symptomatic of Alzheimer's disease, and then conversely, others who were asymptomatic but showed the presence of plaques and tangles upon autopsy. So what does that tell us? That there is currently a lack of understanding to how— it's believed that there are 4 causes of Alzheimer's. Number 1 are genetic factors. In other words, the genes involved in Alzheimer's disease are passed down from parent to child. Trauma, where physical injury or stroke can damage the brain cells and cause Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Number 3, environmental toxins. So when a per— a person is exposed to certain chemicals or heavy metals, this can also lead to Alzheimer's disease. And then number 4, as we age, these plaques build up in our brains and they cause inflammation and then impair our brain function. This is what we know to date. Now, Alzheimer's disease as we know, is characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline. And I have shared with you in previous episodes that there are many ways to reduce a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. However, according to this resource that I'm reading to you now, there has been no evidence-based research to show which natural supplements or diet changes will positively work best for preventing Alzheimer's disease. Only recommendations, as I have shared with you, to help reduce the risk for developing it. So the research I found— I'm providing is as follow. This was a quote from the National Institute on Aging. Aducanumab is a drug and is the only disease-modifying medication currently approved to treat Alzheimer's disease. This medication is a human antibody or immunotherapy that targets the protein beta amyloid that I've talked about and helps to reduce these amyloid plaques that form in the brain. And those are brain lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease. From the Alzheimer's Association, they maintain That there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease, but there are treatments that may change the disease progression and drug and non-drug options that may help treat symptoms. Understanding available options can help individuals living with this disease and their caregivers cope with symptoms and improve quality of life. Again, from the National Institute on Aging. Treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Current treatment approaches focus on helping people maintain mental function, manage behavioral symptoms, and slow or delay the symptoms of the disease. In the news from October 12, 2021, Precision Medicine Data Dive shows water pills may be viable to test as Alzheimer's treatment. That was as of April 8th, 2021. The Mayo Clinic tells us in June of 2021, the FDA approved Aducanumab for the treatment of some cases of Alzheimer's disease. And again, this is the first drug approved in the United States to treat the underlying cause of Alzheimer's disease by targeting and removing amyloid plaques in the brain. It is the only one so far that's been approved of its kind. The Mayo Clinic also has shared with us that current Alzheimer's medications can help for a period of time with memory symptoms and other cognitive changes. There have been on the market for decades two types of drugs currently used to treat cognitive symptoms: cholinesterase inhibitors, which are drugs that work by boosting levels of cell-to-cell communication by preserving a chemical messenger that is depleted in the brain by Alzheimer's disease. I have seen these drugs prescribed to people for the— almost the last 30 years, and the one thing that has been consistently observed with the drugs is they tend to slow down or delay the progression of Alzheimer's disease in the people that it works on. However, it reaches a plateau stops working and then they cannot continue on the drug. Now Stanford tells us what we know, there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease yet, but there are things that can be done to maintain quality of life. The doctor, the family, and the loved ones can work together to make a care plan Care plans may include any of the following: medicines that may slow down the symptoms for a while and make the disease easier to live with while they work. The Alzheimer's Association has disclosed a clinical study called TrialMatch, which is a matching service, and you can find out how you can participate in vital Alzheimer's disease research. Recruiting and retaining trial participants is now on the greatest obstacle other than funding to developing the next generation of Alzheimer's treatments. Aricept is the only treatment approved by the FDA for all stages of Alzheimer's disease, the mild, moderate, and severe stages. You can take it as a tablet that you swallow or one that dissolves in your mouth. This is the drug, one of the drugs that I mentioned that slows or delays the progression of Alzheimer's disease while it works, and it does not work on everybody. So, those are— that's the latest and most up-to-date and current research information that I have uncovered that I'm sharing with you this evening. And in my new segment of What's News, I want to share with you that the A pharmaceutical company called Biogen is now testing a new type of drug in clinical trials that actually shuts off tau protein production before it becomes a problem. This is brand new. Nothing that they have been able to develop to date has been able to actually shut off any tau production, tau protein production. Newly approved Alzheimer's drugs like the adulam and Lekembi, they target amyloid plaques for clearance. But this new experimental drug, and it's called B2BO80, actually silences the genes responsible for making tau proteins. If the tau proteins can't grow and form, then the tau tangles can't form because there aren't any tau proteins around in the first place. The drug is currently entering the second phase of clinical trials, and this makes it the first gene silencing therapy for Alzheimer's disease to get to this trial stage. I personally think this is extremely exciting. It's a breakthrough. And B2B080 is not the first crack at Alzheimer's gene therapy for scientists. So, I will definitely keep you updated about this new experimental drug, and it is now moved into its second or third phase of a clinical trial. So, that actually is promising in itself. So, as always, I want to thank you again for listening today. We do have so much to cover in our upcoming episodes. Last week, I shared with you the Behavioral triggers. What are the most common triggers of behavioral episodes that we see in Alzheimer's disease? I want to provide you with information that you will find helpful and valuable throughout this journey. Next episode, I'm going to discuss to share with you how to respond and effectively react to the behaviors that accompany Alzheimer's disease. So remember, dementia awareness has got to be every day. Kindness is the ability to speak with love, listen with compassion, and act with patience. In my experience, I have to tell you, these are all very necessary attributes to have in order for any of us to outlast Alzheimer's disease. So, before we go, I'm going to turn the microphone back over to Ken. He has a few announcements for you, and then I'll come back on and say goodbye. And see you next week.

Thank you, Lisa. That is very exciting treatment news. Very happy to hear that. I always appreciate your news updates. For our audience, thank you for listening to the Truth, Lies Alzheimer's Show with your host Lisa Skinner. This program can be found on our website at passionateworldtalkradio.com under the shows tab under the shows tab, that is. You can also search for us on YouTube, and you can find Lisa on Facebook by searching for Lisa Skinner Author. If you're interested in Lisa's books or training programs, you can find all the information you need to know on her website, which is truthliesalzheimers.com, and her books are available at all major booksellers on all major platforms including Amazon and Apple Books, and we especially recommend the audio version of her latest book, Truth, Lies, and Alzheimer's: Its Secret Faces. And with that, Lisa, take us home.

Thanks, Ken. One last note, as I always like to emphasize, this show is really about you and how my experiences, 30 years of of experiences, expertise, and strategies will hopefully be able to help you and your loved ones have an easier time while you're struggling through this disease. I know how difficult it is. I know this is probably the hardest job that anybody will ever have to undertake, and therefore, I'd love it if you would send me your comments and/or your suggestions on what topics you'd like me to cover on this weekly show. If you're having a problem with something, let me know about it. You can send them to me at my personal email address, which is dementiawhisperer1@gmail.com. Please don't hesitate to email me and send me your questions, send me your concerns, and hopefully I can help solve the problem for you. Also, if you're listening to this on YouTube, or if you got here through our social media page, just leave your comments or questions, and I will do my best to address them. I give you that promise. So again, I genuinely look forward to receiving your thoughts and ideas, and in the meantime, Take care of you, and I will be back to talk to you and share more information with you on next week's show. Take care for now.