Major breakthroughs are happening, but today NPR ran an article that makes complete sense regarding the cause and cure of this disease. As a son of a victim of Alzheimers, I track every moment of potential memory loss and try to justify it. It’s obsessive and exhausting.
Why did I come to this room?
I’m looking for something.
What am I looking for?
Oh, my glasses.
And the feeling of victory once you complete the process with positive results. You find your glasses. You remember a schoolmate’s name from the sixth grade. Well that one doesn’t apply to me as I never knew any of my classmates from first grade through college Commencement. If I went to a class reunion my Hello My Name Is badge would have to include a dated picture and a scratch and sniff of bad cologne.
Some of the new discoveries are music to my ears. A propensity toward developing Alzheimers comes from your mother’s side and not your father’s side. Allen had it. Janet didn’t. I’ve seen the progression of Alzheimers and I’d much rather lose a limb than my ability to think. It is a horrifying thing to witness.
Now there’s been a test to discover if you possess the gene or not. Most neurologists discourage their patients from taking the test as there’s not much you can do with either result. My neurologist told me that if I can string together a cohesive sentence let alone a book, it’s a positive sign things are moving along.
It seems the brain produces a lot of waste. Scientists think they know where that waste goes or doesn’t go. There are 170 billion cells contained in the brain and they produce waste that a healthy brain flushes out. A waste removal system. It’s similar to how your liver and kidneys flush waste or buildup in the body. With Alzheimer’s, this flushing system slows down and the key ingredient that needs to be flushed is something called Amyloid. It gets stickier with age and harder to flush. The process of flushing requires that something motivates or pushes the fluid to the lymphatic system and eventually out of the body.
So what gets the flushing system functioning correctly? Possibly slow electrical waves to stimulate the process and restore it. Now I don’t want to get all Bride of Frankenstein on your ass but hey I’ll try it once the procedure has more definitive results. Maybe someday we’ll schedule a stimulation session much like we drop off our dry cleaning.
Clean it up and flush it all away. Wow. It’s hope that I’m gonna cling to.