Alzheimers Society And The Daily Telegraph

[MaNaAk]

Good morning everyone,

My computer has just informed me that there is a story in the Daily Telegraph in collaboration with the Alzheimers Society about oxygen therapy which can prevent or reverse dementia. I am not able to buy the paper at the moment as I am awaiting a delivery before teaching but this would be very interesting to everyone who is a carer or who suffers from dementia.

MaNaAk

 

[MartinWL]

Sorry to disappoint but the story is about research that may not lead to practical treatment for years...

 

[Cazcaz]

Good morning everyone,

My computer has just informed me that there is a story in the Daily Telegraph in collaboration with the Alzheimers Society about oxygen therapy which can prevent or reverse dementia. I am not able to buy the paper at the moment as I am awaiting a delivery before teaching but this would be very interesting to everyone who is a carer or who suffers from dementia.

MaNaAk

It talks about findings of a study into putting people with Alzheimer’s etc into a decompression chamber (like for divers who get the bends). 90 minutes, 5 times a day.

The high intensity of oxygen forced into the system seems to improve brain function

 

[nitram]

It's not a new finding, there are reports going back a few years

hyperbaric oxygen alzheimers - Google Search

 

[Melles Belles]

It doesn’t sound a very practical solution. There would be huge demands for decompression chambers.

 

[nitram]

Also reported in today's Daily Mail

Alzheimer's 'could be stopped by putting patients in oxygen chambers'

A small-scale trial of six older people with memory loss saw their symptoms improve after having regular oxygen treatments, researchers at Tel Aviv University found.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[lollyc]

Hmmm. 6 people.... possibly with dementias of varying origin...or unknown origin. I'd believe it more if it was 6000 people.

 

[lemonbalm]

Hmmm, treatment involving oxygen masks and decompression chambers. Very dementia friendly and hardly frightening at all. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Jaded'n'faded]

Hmmm. So, when my time comes, the OT team will fit grab rails, a downstairs wetroom and a hyperbaric chamber in my house? That'll be fun.

 

[Palerider]

Well I read the first article on this published 2020 : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7293997/

It does state in the end discussion this:

'It is not known if the therapeutic effect of hyperbaric oxygen treatment is directly acting on brain functions or indirectly influencing the efficacy of the medications undertaken by AD patients.'​

​

The DM reports 16-23% effectiveness not to mention the practicalities of accessing a decompression chamber.

​

 

[Melles Belles]

Don’t you all just love the miracle dementia ’cures’ the press dig up and when you actually read the details, it’s a non starter.
Mind according to the media, every winter is going to be a very bad one and every summer a scorcher.

 

[Max68]

Don’t you all just love the miracle dementia ’cures’ the press dig up and when you actually read the details, it’s a non starter.
Mind according to the media, every winter is going to be a very bad one and every summer a scorcher.

What also annoys me is all these articles in the press suggesting potential dementia "triggers"! One such article said the other day that excercise and puzzles can keep dementia away. Mum played golf into her 80's and did the Telegraph crossword and sudoku every day and still fell victim to dementia. Some of these articles somtimes seem to "blame" what people do or don't do in their lives for the diagnosis, which is disgraceful really.

These "miracle cure" articles also always have the sentence "can delay dementia". Whislt slowing down the progression might be a blessing for some in the early stages I suspect many if they had a choice may not want to suffer longer than they have to.

 

[RosettaT]

I get really cross with all these so called 'preventative measures'.
My OH was never a couch potato. He worked 2 jobs for 23 of our 28 yr married life because he joyed being busy. He would be up a 5am on a summer's morning gardening. He disliked 'junk food', never smoked and didn't drink to excess. By all accounts he should have remained fit and healthy until he reached 120.

 

[Jaded'n'faded]

There are certain things I do/don't do, things I eat or don't eat that any medical professional would say are not part of a healthy lifestyle. That's because I enjoy those things - they increase my quality of life, make me feel happy, reduce my stress levels, etc. They say being stressed and unhappy makes you more likely to get dementia.

If I were to give up my little foibles (!), eat more sensibly, exercise more, etc, I might live a few years longer. The greatest risk for getting dementia is being very old.

I rest my case.

 

[Sarasa]

I've mentioned them before but the courses from the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre in Tasmania are well worth doing. They really helped me understand what dementia is, and what may work to help prevent it.

 

[lollyc]

I get really cross with all these so called 'preventative measures'.
My OH was never a couch potato. He worked 2 jobs for 23 of our 28 yr married life because he joyed being busy. He would be up a 5am on a summer's morning gardening. He disliked 'junk food', never smoked and didn't drink to excess. By all accounts he should have remained fit and healthy until he reached 120.

I've just had a 'support the Alzheimer's Society' envelope through the door, asking me to sign up for some puzzles to keep my brain 'active.'
I actually find this quite offensive, as it seems to suggest that this will prevent dementia.
My mother never smoked or drank. She was never overweight and walked regularly. She did a crossword every day. She knitted, sewed, had numerous hobbies. She was an active member in community groups.
And she has dementia.
I dislike the idea that those with dementia have somehow brought it on themselves.
'

 

[Palerider]

I've mentioned them before but the courses from the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre in Tasmania are well worth doing. They really helped me understand what dementia is, and what may work to help prevent it.

I did this course as well and found it very useful, filled in some gaps I didn't know

 

[Palerider]

I've just had a 'support the Alzheimer's Society' envelope through the door, asking me to sign up for some puzzles to keep my brain 'active.'
I actually find this quite offensive, as it seems to suggest that this will prevent dementia.
My mother never smoked or drank. She was never overweight and walked regularly. She did a crossword every day. She knitted, sewed, had numerous hobbies. She was an active member in community groups.
And she has dementia.
I dislike the idea that those with dementia have somehow brought it on themselves.
'

I can see why you might be offended -I have said before no one decides to step out one day and decide they are going to have dementia.

I think a lot of todays work is on prevention rather than only cure and part of that is keeping the brain active. Much of the literature shows correlations between dementia and certain lifestyle choices -these may increase the risk of dementia they also may not depending on how our own individual cookie crumbles. The other point is that the disease begins it is estimated up to some 20 years before it becomes apparrent in certain types of dementia.

There is no history of dementia in my mums family, she was always active even after retirement, hardly drank alcohol and didn't smoke but she still got Alzheimer's and she continued as best she could to keep functioning but it didn't change the outcome

 

[Violet Jane]

I think that it is important to acknowledge that there are different disease processes at work for the different types of dementia. It appears that there is more scope for reducing the risk of developing vascular dementia on the basis that what is good for the heart is good for brain. A number of footballers have developed dementia and it is thought that this is related to repeated blows to the head via heading the ball. AD involves the build up of plaques in the brain which seems to happen at random.