Memory Meds

It was a bit shocking. The wife remarked on the comments of her husband’s neurologist.  He was rumored to malign memory enhancing drugs used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease.  He was of the opinion that this class of drugs benefited the drug companies more than the victims of a senile dementia.  The wife was understandably confused by the disparity between the opinion of the neurologist and the claims of the drug companies.  The shock was the public admission of what many physicians voice in private.

Over the last ten years, most patients I’ve evaluated with a change in mental status, due to any cause, have already been prescribed memory enhancing medications.  The drug companies caution that these drugs should be limited to the victims of a senile dementia of the Alzheimer’s type.  It is very common to observe these drugs used in the treatment of stroke and head injuries.  Is this a good thing?

Unfortunately, this clinician has never witnessed a significant increase of verbal memory performance as a consequence of these medications.  This experience applies both to the preferred use of these drugs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, as well as off-label use of memory enhancing medications.  It is not intended as a blanket condemnation, rather it reflects the lack of statistically significant benefit displayed on well-normed tests of verbal memory.  There may be many people who have a significant increase of verbal memory with the use of these drugs, but none of these responders have been evaluated by this clinician.  Memory enhancing drugs that boost the neurotransmitter acetylcholine may display increased agitation, weight loss, and even chronic nausea with vomiting.  These reactions are fortunately not universal.  This clinician has witnessed the resolution of these symptoms many times after a reduction or discontinuation of the medication.  Personal experience of medication that affects glutamate levels in the brain is that they are neither very harmful or helpful in the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer’s Disease.

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The latter stages of Alzheimer’s Disease are often fraught with weight loss and agitation.  Victims of a senile dementia become too inattentive to sit through a whole meal, requiring frequent prompts and even hand feeding to keep up their body weight.  By the middle stages of Alzheimer’s, the loss of other cognitive functions largely negates a mild increase in verbal memory.  These mid-stage patients would still have trouble with planning, praxis, attention, judgment, flexibility, etceteras.  Even a significant increase in verbal memory would not return these victims to an independent lifestyle.   Memory enhancing drugs that commonly produce symptoms of weight loss and agitation should be used with obvious caution.

This clinician’s advice is to proceed with, you guessed it, caution.  Consider having a neuropsychologist perform pre and post testing to measure any significant increase in verbal memory as a consequence of these medications.  If there is not a significant increase in verbal memory after a six week trial, consider requesting the attending physician to reduce and eventually discontinue the medication.  If an acetylcholine boosting medication is utilized, and the patient develops weight loss and agitation, work with the physician to determine if the symptoms are secondary to the memory medication.  Senile dementia of the Alzheimer’s type is a horrid disease that can cripple an entire family.  Pills without a clear benefit should be considered as a risk to the patient over time; possibly creating undesired symptoms and interacting with other medications in an unpredictable fashion.  I strongly suggest to formulate conclusions based upon observation-not advertising.

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  By Artista-C, July 11, 2011 @ 10:21 am

  A Scientist in Germany claims that the LRP1 gene talks to itself in a rare amount of female patients that also suffer migraines but did not give a link to the heritage of their genetics. Meaning if they of German decent or Jewish decent. It also didn’t seem to claim the same rare gene men but also did not give the information on if they where of German or Jewish decent. This was a recent associated press article. Another site for medicine linked to the Judaic communities is claiming the LRP! is a gene of Alzheimer Disease. There is more to this story. If I am of fractioned Jewish birth from a fractioned Jewish mother and my grandfather is the only one who is not of jewish birth. He was the only one in my family that suffered the now claimed forms of dementia/alzheimers. If I got both tests from both laboratories for the LRP1 wouldn’t I be changing and determining the fate of both research institutions?

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