Herpes Vaccine Fighting Alzheimer’s?

herpes virusSo, not that anyone is going to opt for herpes, but several recent studies reported that taking herpes medication lowers your risk of Alzheimer’s. The study published in Medical New Today reported that Alzheimer’s risk is 10 times lower with herpes medication.

“In the herpes group, the risk of dementia was over 2.5 times higher
than in the control group.”

Two articles (Tsai et al., published in PLoS One in November 2017; Chen et al., published in the January/February 2018 issue of Journal of Clinical Psychiatry) demonstrate an increased risk of subsequent senile dementia (SD) development in patients with acute varicella zoster (herpes zoster) infection. 

I found this to be a fascinating read and who knows where the cure might originate? Here’s to a cure. Intrigued. 

Tinkering with the Gamma Frequency in our Brains

A friend shared with me “Bringing the Gamma Back” which is a podcast from Radiolab. It shares the impact of light frequency treatment in mice. Those mice with with both early cognitive issues and full-blown Alzheimer’s positively responded to the light treatments. The amount of plaques reduced and they seemed to regain prior memories — all from just a one hour exposure to light pulsing at 40 beats per second.

Unfortunately, positive outcomes in mice rarely translates to humans. The reports from MIT seem to still be discussing the mice trials. I would have hoped given the zero risk of the treatment that someone might have started human testing.

Heck, after listening to the story, I am interested in figuring out how to set this up at home. Who’s brain couldn’t use a little cleaning?

It’s encouraging to see the vast array of new research, and I hope soon, something will land on a real way to slay the beast. Hoped. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ongoing Role of Advocacy for Caregivers

As a caregiver, you learn the important role you fill when you speak up for your loved one. This talk by Samuel Cohen inspired me. He reminds us that our loved ones with dementia (including Alzheimer’s) are unable to advocate for a cure for themselves. And now that they are gone, I now have the time and space to help answer his call to advocate for those who suffered from this disease.

Honestly, it’s also self-interest. I aspire to be an active grandparent for my children. Because I had them later in life, I will be in my 70s most-likely when (and if) there are grandchildren. If I want to have a relationship with them, I need to know then in their teen and young adult years.By then, I will be in my 80s. Statistically, 50% of us living in our 80s will have some form of dementia if we don’t find a cure. Undertaken.