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You may have heard the joke about the 2 guys in the woods and a bear comes after them.
One of the guys opens his backpack and starts putting on a pair of running shoes.
The other guy says, “What, are you crazy?
You can’t outrun that bear.”
And the first guy says, “Oh, I don’t have to outrun the bear.
I just have to outrun you.”
OK, maybe not the funniest joke ever.
But there is a point to it, and it has to with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s.
So bear with me, and I’ll explain.
Hi, I’m Tony Dearing, of GoCogno.com, the web site for people with mild cognitive impairment.
If you have been diagnosed with MCI, that means you have a higher risk of dementia.
And most people don’t know if they have Alzheimer’s or not.
So that specter is always hanging over them.
They know what their risk is, and they’re being told about all these things they should
be doing to reduce that risk.
Exercise.
Diet.
Brain-training.
Managing blood pressure.
Try this medication, or that vitamin.
They have good days, and they have bad days.
On their worst day, they may find themselves asking, “Why?
Why do I even try all these things?
I can’t outrun Alzheimer’s.”
Well, there’s an answer to that question.
And the answer is, You don’t have to outrun Alzheimer’s.
You only have to outrun the lack of a treatment for it.
That race is going on right now.
And it’s one that you possibly might win.
I say that, because I want you to give you cause for hope.
With Alzheimer’s, hope is a precarious thing.
Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death, and among the top 10 causes, it’s
the only one that can’t be prevented or cured.
So we have to be honest about that prognosis, particularly after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
occurs.
I was reading an article the other day about the Western New York Center of Excellence
for Alzheimer’s, which is an amazing program.
But there was a point in that article where the head of the center Dr. Roberto Diaz Del
Carpio was talking about the reality that healthy lifestyle choices can slow the progression
of Alzheimer’s, but not stop it.
"You have to be cautious with that,” he said.
“You cannot give a patient false hope.”
And yet, on the other hand, we cannot lead hopeless lives.
There has to be some hope.
And when I talk to experts about Alzheimer’s research, they are hopeful.
They’re excited.
Because we’re closing in on a cure.
And those aren’t my my words.
That’s the title of a report issued last month by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery
Foundation.
Dr. Howard Fillit, the founding executive director of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery
Foundation, just wrote an essay in the Huffington Post, that he called “126 Reasons for Hope”
He said right now, there are 126 drugs in clinical trials and some of them have “a
very good chance” of succeeding.
He went on to write: “In my 30 years as a geriatrician and neuroscientist, I have
never been more hopeful than I am today.
I believe that the first disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s is only a few
years away.”
If one of the nation’s leading experts on Alzheimer’s has this hope, you’re allowed
to have hope, too.
Not false hope.
But a realistic hope, that motivates you to do the things that you can do to slow cognitive
decline long enough for these researcher get to the finish line.
Here’s how Dr. Richard Isaacson, the founder of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at
Weill Cornell, put it to me recently.
He told me:
“There are things you can do to reduce risks.
There may not be a magic pill or a magic bullet, I’m not trying to imply that.
But if we can delay Alzheimer’s disease by one, two, five years, if someone does everything
right and if in that time, that’s when that magic pill came out, that blockbuster drug,
then that person through lifestyle and other changes has effectively prevented their Alzheimer’s
because they delayed it and then they got a preventative drug.”
I want to leave you with those words today.
What people like Dr. Fillit and Dr. Isaacson are talking about is not a promise.
It’s a possibility.
And a reason for action.
Next week, I want to talk about one of the single most important actions that you can
take right now.
I look forward to seeing you then.
In the meantime, as always, be kind to your mind.