Alzheimer's Disease

Long Term Care Insurance: Who to Trust?

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:18:00 +0200

A contract is a contract, and a long term care insurance company has the right and responsibility to follow it's policy's wording to the letter. Buyers BEWARE! Companies can "interpret" vague wording in their favor. So, it's a very good idea to enlist the expertise of an insurance coverage contract lawyer in the very beginning, rather than waiting until being denied. Just know that lawyers are pricey, so be prepared to spend some extra cash for this last step.

Unless you are well versed in contract law and know the in's and out's of the insurance industry's language, do not supposed that you are smarter than your long term care insurance company's lawyers. Make sure you know what you are buying.

Checking policy wording with a contract lawyer who knows the long term care insurance lingo while also making sure you have a competent and compassionate long term care insurance broker in your corner is the best of both worlds.

Brokers can be very helpful, as long as they are consumer-focused, however they are not trained in law. Even Clay's long term care insurance mentor/trainer, who had years of experience, was caught unaware a few times. After believing a policy's wording meant that it promised coverage under certain circumstances, Charlie was devastated and infuriated to learn that a client's claim was questioned. Charlie wasn't a lawyer, and in good faith he believed what the insurance company had alluded to during his training. Maybe he was too trusting. His training was about sales, not about specific wording in a particular policy and the legal ramifications of such wording for his clients.

However, IF a long term care insurance company tries to deny your claim, your broker can go to bat for you arguing in your behalf. Charlie did this for his clients and he won. Often a broker can push a claim through, when a consumer cannot. They can't argue law, but some do have "pull". This is especially true if the broker is an long .. ( devamı )

Exercise Your Mind

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:17:01 +0200

The more you work your brain, the more likely you will stave off Alzheimer's disease

Just a modest amount of mental stimulation can go a long way towards warding off Alzheimer's disease. This is the opinion of researchers who created mice genetically modified to get a condition similar to it.

Researchers at the University of California-Irvine studied hundreds of mice altered to make them develop abnormalities known as plaques and tangles in brain tissue that are considered hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease in people. Writing on Tuesday in the Journal of Neuroscience, they said periodic learning sessions-swimming in a tub of water until finding a submerged platform to stand on-slowed the development of those two abnormalities in the mice.

"The remarkable thing was that just by learning infrequently, they still had a very dramatic effect on the Alzheimer's disease pathology, " said Kim Green, one of the researchers.

"So it suggests that in humans, if you learn more and more and more, it's going to have a huge, beneficial effect," Green added.

The findings highlight an idea that also has emerged in other research-that exercising one's mind is important to staving off Alzheimer's disease, the degenerative brain malady that is the most common form of dementia among the elderly.

Smart link Green noted that other studies have found that highly educated people are less likely to develop Alzheimer's than people with less education.

There is no known cure for Alzheimer's , which gradually destroys a person's memory and ability t o learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily activities.

"What we have shown is that by learning by stimulating your mind, you're able to protect against the development of the pathologies associated with the disease," Green said.

"Crossword puzzles reading books, learning a new language-anything you can do to stimulate the brain is go.. ( devamı )

The All Your Need To Know About Alzheimer's: A Complete Guide

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:17:00 +0200

Unbelievably, one out of ten people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, in a recent statistic polls, almost 19 million Americans suffer one way or the other from this dreaded progressive disease. Below are some information that you will find useful about the disease.

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative problem characterized by memory loss as well as loss in thinking skills. It is actually part of a constellation of memory and brain problems called dementia. It can lead to behavioral changes, loss of language skills, disorientation, confusion and increasing dependency. Most experts believe that Alzheimer’s is caused by a problem in the genetic make-up and is often associated with old age.

What are the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?

What is however difficult with this problem is the fact that the onset of the disease will often manifest in symptoms often associated with forgetfulness when getting old. What separates this problem though is the fact that people with Alzheimer’s will eventually even forget normal routines and simple tasks. For instance, patients with Alzheimer’s can forget how to hold a spoon and fork while others will forget how to brush their teeth and take a bath. Believe it or not, some medical experts even say that some even forget hoe to breathe, something which comes quite naturally with a person.

One problem though with this is the fact that one can actually have no way of knowing whether it is ordinary forgetfulness or Alzheimer’s when it is just in the initial stages. It can start with ordinary forgetting of names and faces until it progresses to something major that can render the person totally incapacitated.

Who are affected by Alzheimer’s disease?

Although there are cases of Alzheimer’s that affected people in their 30s, most patients are over th.. ( devamı )

The Role of Brown Seaweed in the Treatment of Alzheimer's

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:16:01 +0200

Millions of aging Americans worry about Alzheimer’s. If you forget a name or misplace you car keys, is it just a momentary lapse, or the beginning of a slow slide into dementia? And the older you get, the more likely it is that you will suffer from Alzheimer’s. But you don’t have to lay back and wait for the disease to take over your mind. This article will discuss some of the tools researchers have come up with to fight the debilitating affects of Alzheimer’s.

A Mysterious Killer

Let’s be up front with this. No one knows exactly why people develop Alzheimer’s. There has been some research that points to three possible causes for the disease: Genetic factors, injury, or lifestyle choices. Researchers hypothesize that it is a combination of all three. Until researchers can pinpoint the cause, finding the cure is an uphill battle. But there are things you can do to increase your chances of remaining free of this debilitating disease. If you have it already, these same techniques help you treat the illness.

The Power of Antioxidants

Recent research has turned up evidence that antioxidants may hold the key to slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s in individual patients. In the study Reduced Risk of Alzheimer Disease in Users of Antioxidant Vitamin Supplements (Arch Neurol 2004; 61:82-88), authors Peter P. Zandi, PhD, et. al., analyzed data from 4740 elderly Utah residents. They looked for any relationships between supplement use and the incidence of Alzheimer's disease. And though they found "no notable reduction in risk of incident AD with vitamin E orvitamin C alone or with multivitamins," taking E and C together was another matter. In fact, the higher the doses of E and C (taken in combination), the lower the incidence of Alzheimer’s. The authors suggest this is because vitamin C might help to break down vitamin E, making it more easily used by the body. According to Dr... ( devamı )

First Proof Against Alzheimer's

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:15:03 +0200

Proof: Alzheimer’s Crashes

She was not a spring chicken, her head hung low as she waited in line until it was her turn to ask a question.

Tell me, she said, can Speed Learning help me control my symptoms of Alzheimer’s?

Look, I said, we have both anecdotal evidence (she said, he said), and a 15-year research project by Dr. David Snowden at the University of Kentucky with a nursing home for Nuns age eighty and above. However, our pro forma answer is Speed Learning is for students and executives who need to 3x their reading speed and 2x their long-term memory. We have senior citizens who are graduates but we never mention Alzheimer’s.

She seemed to sink lower and finally said; I still want to take the course because it might do me some good and I used to love reading.

Learning Slows Physical Progression of pf Alzheimer’s Disease

The headline on January 24, 2007 published by the Journal of Neuroscience about learning slowing Alzheimer’s grabbed my attention. The research was done by neuroscientists Frank LaFeria and Dr. James McGaughm at the University of California at Irvine. These are top-guns in their profession.

What the gist of it?

The elderly, by keeping their minds alert, vertical and seeking, can help delay the onset of this scary degenerative form of dementia. Since 1959 this is the first report to make this claim from a major university neurological team.

It seems that using your brain for (cognitive learning) stops clumping and plaque formation; both disconnect neuron-to-neuron feedback causing mental instability and loss of memory.

Remember the term tangles, which do what it sounds like in the brain when Alzheimer’s raises its head. Studying and using your brain (use it or lose it) defeats (overcomes) tangles.

By the way, it is a scientific fact highly educated people (Master’s and up) are less li.. ( devamı )

Promising Research For Alzheimer's Disease Cure

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:15:02 +0200

There are scientific advancements that look promising for controlling and preventing the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is such a complex disease that most experts anticipate that a drug that will control the disease will very likely contain a drug cocktail. The treatment that is only conjecture may include a regimen of drugs that is used to treat AIDS.

The progress in the search for a cure for Alzheimer's looks promising. Several Research scientists are being funded by The Alzheimer's Disease Association as well as additional resources from private and philanthropic organizations. Scientists are gaining insights how the disease progresses in the brain. Many Experts believe that a new generation of treatments will evolve that will prevent, slow or perhaps reverse the damaging effects of Alzheimer's disease.

The newest discovery in the Alzheimer's research community is from the UK. A team of research scientist led by Dr. Emma Kidd at Cardiff University's Welsh School of Pharmacy recently completed a study showing that it is possible to decrease production of a small protein called amyloid (A*), This protein is believed to be the main cause of the disease. The research was funded by the Alzheimer's Society, the UK's leading care and research charity for Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have discovered a new brain imaging compound that shows promise by giving researchers a way to detect Alzheimer's disease earlier. This imaging molecule can detect and map the plaques and tangles in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

This discovery could eventually lead to earlier diagnosis of the devastating disease. The compound is called FDDNP. FDDNP also holds promise as a research tool to evaluate new treatments for Alzheimer's. The study was funded in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).. ( devamı )

Origins Unknown-The Battle With Alzheimer's Continues

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:16:00 +0200

One could trace back the history of Alzheimer's disease from a presentation and lecture made by a German psychiatrist in 1906 during 37th Meeting of Southwest German Psychiatrists held in Tübingen.

Dr. Alois Alzheimer presented his findings on a woman who had died after years of having memory problems and confusion.

When Dr. Alzheimer autopsied the patient's brain, he found thick deposits of neuritic plaques outside and around the nerve cells. He also found a lot of twisted bands of fibers or neurofibrillary tangles inside the nerve cells.

Today, medical specialists need to find the presence of the same plaques and tangles at autopsy in order to have a conclusive diagnosis that Alzheimer's disease indeed caused the disease. And due to this lecture and achievement in research and studies, the medical community has bestowed the honor of naming the disease after Dr. Alzheimer.

However, Dr. Alzheimer's work only signaled the start of years of medical research and studies which could only resolve the mysteries of the disease by so much. Up until now, Alzheimer's disease has still unknown origin and remains to have no cure. At first, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was limited for individuals between the ages of 45-65 since the symptoms of pre-senile dementia due to the histopathologic process are more common and prominent during this age.

However, during the 1970s and early 1980s, the term Alzheimer's disease began to be used to refer to patients of all ages that manifest the same symptoms.

Statistics show that around 350,000 new cases of Alzheimer's disease are being diagnosed each year. It is estimated that by 2050, there are 4.5 million Americans afflicted by the disease. Recent studies have shown that there is an increase risk of contracting and developing Alzheimer’s as one grows older.

It has been reported that 5 percent of Americans between the ages of 65 to 74 suffer from.. ( devamı )

Alzheimer's Risk May Be Reduced By the Mediterranean Diet

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:15:01 +0200

Alzheimers has been a subject in many households over the last decade as more and more people become aware of its existence and the sadness it can bring to families and friends. A small breakthrough is always welcome in these areas and so it has seemingly been found within the Mediterranean diet. The following studies have been released to the media in many parts of the globe and although it may only represent the beginning of perhaps a larger breakthrough, it does address the importance of diet. In this case, the Mediterranean diet.

In a number of studies undertaken recently it was found that a Mediterranean diet and possibly fish oil supplements are potential ammunition in the fight against Alzheimer's disease. In addition, it seems omega-3 fatty acid supplements might slow cognitive decline in milder cases

One study, a Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas and his colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center in New York found that eating a Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk for developing Alzheimer's disease, a form of dementia that can affect memory, language and behaviour.

The information apparently formulated from researchers who studied over 1,900 adults with an average age of 76. From all the participants, 194 already had Alzheimer's and 1,790 did not.

Over the previous year their diets were ranked from a low of zero to a high of nine for how closely they adhered to a Mediterranean-style diet, which includes large amounts of fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereals and fish, moderate amounts of alcohol, and reduced intake of red meat and dairy products. For each additional unit on the diet score, the risk for Alzheimer's disease decreased by 19 to 24 per cent.

Those participants who were in the top one-third of the diet scores had 68 per cent lower odds of having Alzheimer's disease than those in the bottom one-third, after researchers considered other factors such as age and weight. Equally interesting,.. ( devamı )

How To Avoid Alzheimer's Disease

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:15:00 +0200

Start fighting Alzheimer's disease no matter what age you are, that way you will help reduce your chances of getting this disease. Exercise your brain regularly by reading, memorizing things, playing games that force you to use your brain, doing crossword puzzles, etc. Keep your brain in tip-top shape.

Here are some tips that I found in the book Superfoods Healthstyle, by Steven G. Pratt and Kathy Matthews:

•Eat fish on a regular basis, especially the fatty varieties like wild Alaskan salmon. This is because of the omega-3 fatty acids that it contains. You can also get your omega-3s in DHA enriched eggs (eggs with high omega-3 content, like Eggland’s Best eggs).

•Keep your blood pressure low, ideally around 120/80

•Keep your weight an optimum level. Do this by eating properly and exercising on a regular basis.

•Feed your brain with complex carbohydrates (like whole wheat bread and oatmeal) so you can give your brain a steady supply of glucose that it needs to improve your memory.

•Have your homocysteine levels checked since you could nearly double your chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease if they are elevated. If they are elevated, make sure you take a good multivitamin that has all the B vitamins.

•Have a complete blood count done to make sure you are not anemic.

•Keep your cholesterol below 200 mg/d

•Don’t drink too much alcohol

•Exercise to increase the blood flow to the brain

•Socialize

•Lower your risk for diabetes

•Eat blueberries – which are also sometimes called “brain berries”

•Eat avocado, which works in a similar way as blueberries

•Avoid transfats

•Make sure you take in lots of vitamins C and E

•Eat lots of pumpkin and spinach, which are high in betacarot.. ( devamı )

Would You Swim In The Cook's River?

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:14:00 +0200

For those of you who don't know, there is a Cook's river which flows into Botany Bay, original landing site of Captain Cook who claims to have discovered Australia. In those days Sydney had pristine waters and no doubt the sailors eagerly drank fresh water coming from this small river.

Well, things have changed. The river is now fed by a concoction of effluent from factories and chemical plants and I would guess you have more chances of surviving in the Pirana Infested Amazon! It is a fact of life that many of our urban waterways are badly polluted.

I pointed this out to someone and he suggested not to forget the air we breathe. There is a motorway which runs near the Cook's river which has ventilation problems. Every day trucks pour out Carbon Monoxide, Hydrogen Sulphide and Benzine and thousands of commuters inhale a cocktail of these.

A food technologist from the CSIRO, Australia's peak scientific research organisation told me that their research was confined to how to make bread and other foods look better and last longer. Most of the research is paid for by commercial companies and nutrition is last n the last. Food has the vitamins processed out of it and the artificial vitamins are added to make it look like it is nutritious. We have no idea what we are eating!

These days we are trained to think that these things don't affect us. Somehow we can take in tons of toxicides, herbicides and heavy metals and have perfect health! Over 2 billion pounds are dumped into the environment every year. Many of our medicos deny a link between intake of these poisonous substances and the increase in degenerative disease. We are told we are living longer, but have you looked around lately? How many people are partially disabled in their 30s and 40s? Is this really normal?

Looking at the scientific evidence, our bodies were never designed to cope with the high levels of toxins and heavy metals we are exposed to. We store th.. ( devamı )