Hope and Hype for Alzheimer’s

BY HARRIET HALL, M.D.

Alzheimer’s sucks! It is a relentless, devastating, cruel disease that destroys patients’ memory and personality, making them no longer the person they used to be. It leaves its victims dependent on caretakers and eventually kills them an average of 4 to 8 years after diagnosis. Ten percent of the population over the age of 65 has it; the incidence is 3% at age 65 and rises to 32% at age 85. As our population ages, millions more will be afflicted, with resultant social and financial costs for society. Already today, 15 million Americans are unpaid caretakers for patients with some form of dementia.

Alzheimer’s can be definitively diagnosed only after death, at autopsy. A substantial percentage of those clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer’s actually have other causes of dementia. As yet, there is no reliable way to make an early diagnosis, and no way to change the course of the disease once it has been diagnosed. Today researchers are developing biomarkers (spinal fluid proteins) and brain imaging methods that improve diagnostic accuracy and may eventually permit early diagnosis before the onset of symptoms. Six drugs have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of Alzheimer’s, but the drugs alleviate only some of the symptoms.1 No drug slows or stops the progression of the disease. And there is nothing that can reverse the damage.

“Awakening from Alzheimer’s”

While this is all very discouraging, scientists are diligently working to understand the disease and find an effective treatment. Others apparently think they needn’t bother. A journalist and singer/songwriter named Peggy Sarlin interviewed “cutting edge doctors” who are allegedly already successful at treating Alzheimer’s, sometimes with dramatic results. She wrote a book and produced an online video series, titled “Awakening from Alzheimer’s,” claiming that Alzheimer’s is for the most part preventable and it can be reversed in 9 out of 10 patients. Wowzers! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that were true? Sorry, but I’m skeptical. I never rely on videos for my scientific information; they tend to be sensational, one-sided, and agenda-driven. But I gave Sarlin the benefit of the doubt and suffered through her whole series of 14 videos. I was not impressed. In each video, Sarlin interviewed a doctor at length; each had a different approach.