Posted on 06/25/2012 9:18:58 PM PDT by null and void
STRESSFUL lifestyles could be the key trigger for incurable Alzheimer’s disease, scientists believe.
Even the trauma of bereavement or moving home could bring on dementia.
Scientists funded by the Alzheimer’s Society are investigating the link and hope their findings could lead to new drug treatments to fight the disease.
A study at the University of Kuopio in Finland has found that the long-term effects of stress may be the biggest cause of the disease.
When stressed, our blood pressure rises as our heart beats faster and levels of the hormone cortisol in the bloodstream also increase.
Experts believe once cortisol enters the brain it starts to kill off cells there, leading to Alzheimer’s.
"All of us go through stressful events. We are looking to understand how these may become a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer’s"
Professor Clive Holmes at the University of Southampton
The Finnish scientists found that patients with high blood pressure and high cortisol levels were more than three times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those without these conditions.
Professor Clive Holmes at the University of Southampton, who is leading the new research, said: “All of us go through stressful events. We are looking to understand how these may become a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer’s. Bereavement or a traumatic experience, possibly even moving home, is also a potential factor. This is the first stage in developing ways in which to intervene with psychological or drug-based treatments to fight the disease.
“We are looking at two aspects of stress relief – physical and psychological – and the body’s response to that experience.”
The study will monitor 140 people aged over 50 with mild memory problems over 18 months. They will be assessed for levels of stress and any movement from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. About 60 per cent of those with this impairment go on to develop Alzheimer’s.
The study is part of a £1.5million package of six grants being given by the charity to find the cause of the disease, a cure and a way to prevent it.
Alzheimer’s Society research manager Anne Corbett said: “The study will look at the role chronic stress plays in the progression from mild thinking and memory problems – mild cognitive impairment – to Alzheimer’s disease.
“We feel this is an important area of research that needs more attention. The results could offer clues to new treatments or better ways of managing the condition. “It will also be valuable to understand how different ways of coping with stressful life events could influence the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”
Research has shown that stressed middle-aged women are 65 per cent more likely to develop dementia.
Scientists at Gothenberg University in Sweden found those who complained of repeated periods of stress, including irritation, anxiety or sleeping problems were significantly more likely to develop dementia in old age than those who led worry-free lives.
As part of the new study, researchers will track the volunteers’ levels of cortisol, released by the body in response to chronic stress. A number of illnesses are known to develop earlier or made worse by chronic stress including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
Stress can lead to high blood pressure which increases the risk of a heart attack because the heart has to work harder to pump more blood around the body. Cholesterol is also linked to the condition as it is a by-product of cortisol.
Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “Understanding the risk factors for Alzheimer’s could provide one piece of the puzzle we need to take us closer to a treatment that could stop the disease in its tracks.”
This Obama presidency has been pretty stressful, but unfortunately, I still remember the last four years :(
FDA announces safety changes in labeling for some cholesterol-lowering drugs
Important safety changes to the labeling for some widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are being announced today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
These products, when used with diet and exercise, help to lower a person’s “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol). The products include: Lipitor (atorvastatin), Lescol (fluvastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Altoprev (lovastatin extended-release), Livalo (pitavastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), Crestor (rosuvastatin), and Zocor (simvastatin). Combination products include: Advicor (lovastatin/niacin extended-release), Simcor (simvastatin/niacin extended-release), and Vytorin (simvastatin/ezetimibe).
“We want health care professionals and patients to have the most current information on the risks of statins, but also to assure them that these medications continue to provide an important health benefit of lowering cholesterol,” said Mary Parks, M.D., director for the Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products in the Office of Drug Evaluation II in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
The changes to the statin labels are:
* Certain cognitive (brain-related) effects have been reported with statin use. Statin labels will now include information about some patients experiencing memory loss and confusion. These reports generally have not been serious and the patients’ symptoms were reversed by stopping the statin. However, patients should still alert their health care professional if these symptoms occur.
"Stress" produces so many side effects that it's really hard for modern, hyperspecalized medicine to correlate back to the root cause.
What is behind this latest analysis? Gov wanting to justifiy people 'not working'? Are they wanting 'de-stress modalities taking precedent; at Gov behest? Another angle per 'required' 'health care'?
Maybe next, we will learn that speed limits under 35mph help resist dementia; or that babies raised 'in home' with Mother; are 'stressed'! Will we learn that Electric cars help reduce stress and ,consequently Alzheimers stats improve?
Will we all be doing 'tai chi' in the public square on 'Doctor's Orders'? What are they thinking? . .
Good grief; 'life happens'. . .and meantime, all the culprits, are Government exempt. Just not Government recommended/required antidotes. . .
Perhaps, having a Government as 'Nanny'; causes dementia. What about those flu shots? Too many vaccines?
No, no; and 'no'; we can be certain.
Wow! Something new to stress about!
The statins are responsible for much more than dementia/Alzheimer’s (which is slowly terminal in itself). My father died from Bayer Aspirin Company’s “Baycol” in 2002 at about 87. His kidneys were killed. He never suffered from dementia.
Now when you’re stressing, you can stress even more knowing the stress is giving you Alzheimer’s!
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My late husband died at 75 from Alzheimers. He suffered from Korean combat related PTSD. He was a chronic worrier, and as was pointed out when he finally went to AA for his alcoholism, he harbored resentments. He was hit on the head several times because of street crime, and at 63 his school was moved from one location to another. He had a hard time with that move and at 66, I think this became apparent to the administration and he was encouraged to retire. His mother was also in a nursing home for a number of years and died at I think 82. His morbidly obese father died at I think 68.
On the other hand, my life has been relatively stress free ;-). I have always been basically cheerful and optimistic. My parents were not happily married. My husband of 44 years started drinking after the 2nd year of marriage, after about 10 years I would say he was a full fledged alcoholic, but he never missed a day of work. I lived in fear of his temper, and sheltered our 2 children from his outbursts. Finally, his friends took him to AA and he stopped drinking. Then in 1995 my mother was seriously ill and I cared for her for 4 months because she wanted to die at home which she did. Then my father died and my brother and I had to fix up an liquidate 6 low income rental properties. By that time it was clear my husband had alzheimers. For the last 3 years I cared for him 24/7/365, and he wanted to die at home too, which he did in 2005. Then the city “attacked” me for neglecting my property for those 10 years, and I struggled for over 2 years getting out from under Condemnation proceedings.
At any rate, I now continue to optimistic and happy and have a wonderful, non-drinking man in my life probably permanently at my age of 74 My mother died at 89 of congestive heart failure, my father at 99 of a stroke. They were both mentally lucid near the end at least when well rested.
So, the question is, why do I have absolute mental clarity at roughly the same age that my husband died, who had only been able to remember for 10 or 15 seconds for the previous 4 years. We ate roughly the same, my healthy cooking, and I give/gave us both a collection of vitamins and minerals tailered to our individuality. I think there is much more to it than the article suggests. I can remember 30 years earlier, my husband would get a sort of blank look for a few seconds and seem to not be all there. Never affected his driving though. My mother would ask if I was sure he did not have petit mal epilepsy, but that did not seem likely. The search for answers must continue.
I am so sorry to hear about your difficulties. I too have had to surmount troubles, see my comment #29. I would strongly encourage you to learn about supernutrition and vitamin/mineral therapies. You can google your illnesses of interest. List the illness and then add nutrients and supplements for healing. You should get some interesting information.
I was doing this for my husband with Alzheimer’s and myself for stress. Although it did not stop my husbands illness and death, he was in pretty good physical condition until the last 6 months when he became incontinent, and then began having some trouble walking. Actually, only for the last month was he really physically disabled. I think the key to end of life living with relatively good condition until the very end can be achieved with super nutrition. Good luck.
“having Alzheimers will keep me from having a stressful life.” Actually, there is some truth to that, before my husband developed Alzheimers he worried a lot and harbored resentments. With Alzheimers he could only remember for 10 or 15 seconds, and he never could remember anything to worry about or to resent. I just had to be sure to feed him in a hurry so he would not leave the house “hunting” for food when he got hungry.
“having Alzheimers will keep me from having a stressful life.” Actually, there is some truth to that, before my husband developed Alzheimers he worried a lot and harbored resentments. With Alzheimers he could only remember for 10 or 15 seconds, and he never could remember anything to worry about or to resent. I just had to be sure to feed him in a hurry so he would not leave the house “hunting” for food when he got hungry.
B.S. We are living longer and healthier than ever.
people in the past did not live long enough to suffer from these advanced aged diseases.
Seriously, sort out the things you are stressed about. You'll find a lot of it is something that you can't control. Play "what if", make a backup plan, and a backup plan for that, and then let God take it over, at least until you can affect it.
The only things worth stressing over are the ones you can affect, then do what you can... and clear the decks by taking care of the little crap that doesn't take much more time to fix than it does to worry about it.
One day at a time, FRiend (sometimes minute to minute)!
Now Relax! (there is always time to panic later).
Could be. We don't know, so I wouldn't rule anything out at this point.
I have noticed that certain behaviours and habits can affect the likelyhood of other diseases/maladies, from cancer, heart/lung/kidney/liver diseases, skin problems, etc., and I think that stresses on an organism may make it susceptible to infection.
It is likely there is no one simple answer for all cases, and we may still be misdiagnosing or lumping together separate maladies under a symptomatic classification even though their causes are unrelated.
Actually, I found that riding my old shovelhead with fairly loud pipes, open highway and wind in my face, was a great stress reliever... All the 'modern' beeps, dings, whirrs, and other electronic noises (especially including *&^*^&&* cell phones!) are not relaxing at all.
Boy, am I in trouble!
From my reading on Alzheimer’s there is a fairly large hereditary component; most likely susceptibility that other conditions trigger. Those triggers may be worry or life style. I doubt that they will ever be able to nail down the triggers. A hereditary gene they probably will find.
I must say that you must be a very strong individual to have endured all that you did and manage to maintain a positive attitude.
Congratulations on a life well lived.
Obama appears to be one of them.
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