Posted on 04/12/2008 11:37:55 AM PDT by Lathspell
Discovery of the decade? Injection ‘could cure Alzheimer’s in minutes’...if true...what a miracle....
now lets hope for a discovery to cure liberalism!!!
Perhaps it’s not the drug.
Perhaps it’s just the tilting.
Perhaps it forces blood to the brain, and rejuvenates weak brain cells.
Possible also is that the drug assists in the blood passing ‘through’.
The point is a blind study with neither the patient nor the caregivers aware of which the patient is getting so they cannot bias their responses.
I think it would be very easy for loved ones to be "sure" the meds are helping, even if only because of their great desire for it to be so.
The patient asked for the bad news first and the Dr told him that he has AIDS.
The patient responded, "AIDS...OH MY GODDDD IM A DEAD MAN!!!!! everyone will think I'm queer, what will I tell my family?, give me the other news doc"
The doc said, "You also have Alzheimer's."
The patient responded, "Alzheimer's? what a relief, for a minute there I thought you were going to tell me I have AIDS."
ping
It’s not a complete reversal of the disease, but appears to
moderate some of the symptoms pretty well(relatively speaking).
The placebo should have everything the injectable form of
etanercept has in it( buffers, diluting fluid, things
called “excipients” (which help the drug dissolve in fluid),
or stabilizers (which keep the compound from breaking apart
in solution). And it should be administered in the same
exact way as the test compound. This is so the patient is
not clued into what they are receiving.
Plus there is a placebo effect. I would suppose the patients
treated can follow directions, and have the ability to
communicate somewhat. They can be affected by outside
stimuli hopefully. When they do the testing, they want
no difference in treatment other than the presenceof the
compound being tested, therefore you can rule out placebo
effect, or the effect of other aforementioned chemicals
and procedures...
The pesky questions are...why did only 90% have measurable
improvement. Could intrathecal injection of anything
improve the symptoms of Alz.? How long does it last?
Can it cause other neuronal symptoms?...
That is brief summary of why one wants to be absolutely
sure that the effect is due to the compound in question.
All of that from tilting the patient for a few minutes??
Come on, just stand the poor guy on his head and lets not inject him in the spine with some worthless substance.
I've been injected in the spine before.
They have to place and secure you in this kind of canvas body bag and strap it to the tilt table, then another nurse holds down your hands so that you don't claw yourself bloody or spit out the rubber mouthpiece that keeps you from biting your tongue off in extreme pain.
You all have to be kidding. - you cannot asthesthize the spine
Totally frustrating in that you know there is not one thing you can do to ease her pain. On Monday, I called my Dad to see if they got home ok. Dad said that she now does not even remember going.
This insidious disease must be a top priority of our nation.
I pray for a cure for this disease. I lost my grandmother to it. The changes she went through were horrific as Alheimers ravaged her brain.
When it's a matter of life and death and a loved one badly needs a drug right now, there are a couple of different routes to take. The best way to get the drug is to find a study group that's testing the drug, and get into the study as a guinea pig. Another way is to independently import (smuggle, if necessary) the drug from Canada, Mexico, or England. Of course I've never done that. (OTTB Mare whistles while gazing at ceilng.)
Since this drug helps to inhibit the inflammatory immune response on cell surfaces and altzheimers seems to be a type of immune response gone bad the results might make some sense. This type of drug is already in use and one of the commonly advertised forms is Embrel.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the AWP on etanercept over the next couple months. It’s already expensive as hell.
Wow. If this is validated this will be great news! Thanks for the post.
>>Just what we need. A pill to turn the former Mother-in-law from He!!, now in a nursing home, back into the mother-in-law from he!!.;-)<<
Others may think this is funny, but I thought the exact same thing, my FRiend!
?
How can an injection cure degeration that has already occured in the brain?
?
Could also be sticking the needle in the neck “acutpunctures” the patient’s memory back!
He no longer remembers that conversation and is showing the first stages of the disease.
The one thing I keep telling myself, (advise from my Dad), is that the person with the disease doesn't know. If they can be happy, if oblivious, then its not so bad for them. On the other hand my Grandfather was a cranky old bas**ard, but then he kind of was before anyway.
Still waiting to see which my Dad will be. It would be nice if this drug worked and we didn't have to find out.
I agree.
It doesn’t seem to make the patients good as new, plus there’s no telling how long before the injection wears off.
What if one would need a new injection in the neck every hour or so, followed by a period spent upside down?
Plus, it’s possible that repeated injections over time could begin to lose effectiveness.
But the best part is this study shows that some function can be restored, i.e., that it had not been forever destroyed.
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