Dr. Kay Lehmann, Board Chair of the Alzheimer’s Association in the state of Washington, joins Suzanne Newman to talk about optimism on the horizon for treating and curing Alzheimer’s.
Kay points out, “Our executive director for the Association, Dr. Joanne Pike, said this two years ago at a meeting and I got full body chills when she said this: We are now in the era of treatment, we can treat this disease. There are some caveats right now. The treatments are for people who are diagnosed early enough, before too much damage is done. But they can see their symptoms lessen with the treatments. The treatments are a little arduous right now, but we know that that will get better as treatments develop. We have had three drugs approved so far and more coming. Here’s the most exciting thing: we now have a blood test that can test for the disease that’s 90% accurate. We can catch this disease before people’s brains get damaged. It’s really exciting to me that we are now getting to the point where we can diagnose it before somebody is showing symptoms, because we know the symptoms start in the brain years before they show up to your average family member. So we want to catch it as early as we can. That’s not approved yet, but you can get it through a clinical trial if you qualify.”
Kay adds, “Anything that’s good for your brain or good for your heart is good for your brain. So get that walk in. The healthier we eat, the better we exercise, the more that we do socially interactive things with other people and don’t isolate ourselves, and the more we can stay away from things that just aren’t good for us… All of those things really do make a difference. And I love that the young people are getting excited and involved in our cause as well, because we help them build healthy habits. Maybe they won’t need all these drugs, because we will end this disease.”
Check out the Alzheimer’s Association TrialMatch, which connects individuals living with Alzheimer’s, caregivers, and healthy volunteers to clinical trials that may advance Alzheimer’s research. It’s free and allows you to see which studies are a good fit for you or your loved ones. Visit https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research progress/clinical-trials/trialmatch to find clinical trials.
Visit alz.org/walk and enter your zip code to find the Walk nearest you to register or donate. Check out alz.org to learn more. Reach master level clinicians at their 24/7 help line at 800-272-3900.
Hear more podcasts about the Walks: https://answersforelders.com/tag/alzheimers-walks/
* Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/
