Alzheimer's Could Be a Third Form of Diabetes

Atzanteol writes "Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer's memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes. Scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling — crucial for memory formation — would stop working in Alzheimer's disease."

Comments

First ?

[deniable]

What was I doing?

Re:I hope not... I'm getting tired of diabetes new

[suv4x4]

As a developer and student, I consume eight liters of Mountain Dew a day and I have no diabetes problems.

You're not a developer and student, that was 60 years ago. It's now 2067.

The Bleeding edge of Alzheimer's research

[stox]

Currently, there are a number of trials of therapies that target amyloid ß proteins. Some are on the verge of phase III testing approval by the FDA. We may soon be looking at the end of Alzheimer's as a life destroying disease.

Re:The Bleeding edge of Alzheimer's research

[stox]

Eli Lily's LY450139, and Wyeth/Elan's Bapineuzamab, are working on trial protocols, and should be starting phase III trials in the next few months. Calling their headquarters may provide information on how to apply for the trials. You may also be able to find information at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/

Not to be a nitpicker...

[gbobeck]

Technically, wouldn't Alzheimer's be the Fourth type of Diabetes.

Type 1, Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (alias "Juvenile Diabetes")

Type 2, Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (alias "adult-onset diabetes")

(Type 3) Gestational Diabetes

(Type 4, implied by TFA) Alzheimer's

As a side note, this comment was posted by a Type 1 diabetic.

You know what's great about Alzheimer's?

[quokkapox]

You make new friends every day!

Haha, "New friends every day." Get it?! LOL.

It's not so funny when it happens to you or your family. Wait until someone you know gets it. You won't be laughing anymore.

Haha, that guy has a limp. Haha, that woman is blind. Haha, that kid is retarded. Hahaha. Fucking hilarious.

Whatever you do, don't get Alzheimer's disease. It sucks.

My grandmother just turned 94 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease. She can barely walk anymore. I devote a few hours of my life every single day to caregiving. If you've never known someone like this, you really have no idea what's involved. Yeah, we could put her in a home. We could watch her die sooner that way, wearing diapers and ceaselessly, hopelessly calling out for someone to please take her home. As it is now, she wears diapers, but at least we always change them. In nursing homes, they don't.

Have you ever had someone you know and love, who helped raise you and even changed *your* diapers and then helped teach you how to count and how to read and how to do puzzles and math and typing and how to play games, who taught you the names of the plants that grow out in the back yard? And now she can smile and say "Hello", and tell you to get the hell out because she don't know who you are a moment later?

That's Alzheimer's. You can be helping to manage her most intimate financial affairs completely honestly, you can be doing her laundry and getting her medicine and bringing her groceries and cooking her meals and washing her dishes and vacuuming her floors and helping her get to the doctor and even wiping her ass, when she cannot do it herself anymore, and yet she'll still tell you she loves you one night, and the next morning she wants you to go away, go to hell, or just please, please take her home. Because she doesn't know what home means anymore. She's already at home, and she doesn't know who you are anymore.

She knows what she knew in 1920 or 1930 sometimes, funny stories she can still tell sometimes, but she mixes up everyone's names; she doesn't know who is who anymore. She used to speak three languages, English, German, and French. But now she often speaks gibberish, a weird combination of whatever words she still can recall. She can't always understand simple sentences. She's like a kid who cannot learn.

Alzheimer's sucks; nursing homes suck. Go visit one someday if you doubt me. My grandmother's genes and her circumstances allowed her to outlive two of her children. She never got cancer, but that's what killed her elder son at 50. She had a heart attack thirty years ago, but she didn't die of heart disease. That's what killed her elder daughter at 60. Yet my grandmother lives on, as her mind slowly disintegrates.

She still likes to watch children playing, or to meet a drooling baby, maybe a child of someone who helps care for her, brought over to visit. She still likes to pet her cats and smile and watch them roll on the floor with catnip at her feet, she still can interface with her two grandchildren, she still has a sense of humor that we all can understand and sometimes laugh about together.

She doesn't know what year it is or what day it is, and sometimes she can't remember how to properly hold a spoon (or she'll try drinking from it like a straw). But she especially likes bananas and squash and sweet potatoes and chocolate chip cookies. I know this because I'm there sometimes to remind her to take another bite. She says "This is good, thank you!"

And sometimes when you help lift her into bed at night, she'll tell you she loves you. I guess that helps make it all worthwhile.

Anyway, this is what will happen to you if you don't die of anything else or get hit by a bus before your brain starts to degrade. I suppose it hasn't been all bad, I have learned a lot caring for my grandmother. But she is no longer able to offer her opinion. [yeah, it's my own copypasta, but it's relevant]

Re:You know what's great about Alzheimer's?

[kooky45]

That's the saddest, most frightening, and heart warming post of any kind I've read for years, certainly on /. CmdrTaco should put it in the all time top 100 to remind people there's more to life, and death, than technology.

Re:You know what's great about Alzheimer's?

[siriuskase]

And sometimes when you help lift her into bed at night, she'll tell you she loves you. I guess that helps make it all worthwhile.

But, it's awfully hard to convince yourself that it's true.

There is a big difference between the care provided by you who have known the lady in better days and the caregiver for whom she is just another day at the office. But, there is a place for both. You know who she was and love and respect her for all that stuff in your past. But, you didn't choose to be a care giver. You have less time and energy for what comes more easily for you. That makes the care giving tasks much harder. Knowing who she was makes it especially painful. .The professional caregiver can be more detached emotionally. Plus, since they chose the job, they are not in a position to regret.

You don't need to put your grandmother in a "home" to get help. Unless she is ill, you don't need a nurse, either. In the US, a nurse is a skilled medical person with a degree and much too expensive for diaper changning. But, you can arrange for someone to come in for a few hours a day to deal with bathing her, feeding her, changing her,etc, in her own home. It would take a lot of the unpleasantness out of your relationship and allow you to have some life of your own.

About the people who work as care givers - not all of them are losers who do it because they have no work ethic or can't get a better job, some actually like working with people and have a proper attitude that gets them through the unpleasantness of it. You have the older ladies who seeminly love everyone and get great persoanal satsifaction out of making your life better and you also get young immigrants who are glad to be working in the US and have dreams of doing bigger things, but are professional enough to do a good job as a caregiver while going to school.

The biggest problem is finding them. The government doesn't do this sort of thing, so you need to learn about all kinds of private agencies. There are lots of them, some are better than others. They don't have big marketing campaigns, and are more likely to advertise for fundraising rather than services. And the ones who are best at fundrasing are necessarily the best at services, plus the advertisiing is aimed at people with money, not people who need the services. But, that's a whole nother discussion.

The point is, one person shouldn't devote several hours a day to unpleasant tasks made even more unpleasant by being too familiar with the person they are caroing for. I would never want my grandchild sacrificing his/her life to keep me clean. I would simply want him/her to be physically close enough to make sure that I am clean and feel loved.

Re:I hope not... I'm getting tired of diabetes new

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a warning on all drinks that contain a source of phenylalanine, in the UK at least.

The warning's in the US too. The reason for it is because of a genetic mutation that makes some people unable to metabolize the stuff properly, otherwise, it's considered an essential amino acid, although it's primary role in humans is to produce tyrosine, which could be obtained directly from diet.

Re:I hope not... I'm getting tired of diabetes new

[jrp2]

"I thought that it was not sugar so much as Phenylalanine"

The theory I have heard that makes the most sense is "high fructose corn syrup". 20 years ago Coke switched from sugar to this crap. The whole Coke/New Coke/Classic Coke marketing ploy was used to make the switch with few noticing (we were so glad to get our old coke back, we did not pay attention). Most other soft drink producers, and many other junk food manufacturers, did the same. It was much cheaper. Fructose does not trigger insulin the same way regular sugar does, causing a lot of glucose to build up in your blood. It also metabolizes quickly, sending your blood sugar through the roof within minutes of consumption.

The current Diabetes epidemic tracks this massive change in our diets almost perfectly. Give it 20 years, people get older, exercise less, the cumulative effects take hold and wham.

I almost never drank diet soda, primarily just Classic Coke. Not ridiculous quantities, but 2-3 cans a day was pretty normal. Mix that with a Snickers, ice cream, pasta, etc. In my late 30s I tried to lose weight by avoiding fat, but that pretty much leads to a high carb diet (unless you just eat rabbit food). By 40 (I am now 44) the symptoms started showing up, but I mostly ignored them.

One night I was out drinking with some coworkers, one noticed I was drinking water by the pitcher and we started talking. He was diabetic (not surprisingly another programmer who led a similar life to many of us) and had a glucometer. He measured my blood glucose and almost fell over. I had 520 mg/dl (80-120 is normal).

I am pretty sure that there is no one "smoking gun", but high fructose corn syrup sure seems a likely major factor. At least for me and many others. Especially considering the massive spike in cases, and the 15-20 year correlation to the massive introduction of HFCS to our diets.

If I can give a couple pieces of advice to the 20-somethings on this forum:

- You are not invincible. Bad habits will catch up with you in one way or another. Whether it is diabetes, heart problems, etc., it will get you. All the stock option bonanzas in the world won't save you either. Look around your office at the 40 somethings. Lots of fat and lazy folks. They were just like you 20 years ago!!!

- Get into an exercise habit, and stick with it. It does not have to be a formal plan or involve going to the gym, but walking or biking to work, the store (or the bar), parking at the back of the parking lot, etc. will all help. Going for a walk after eating is really good, as it is working off what you just shoved down your throat and speeds up your metabolism. It helps the environment too.

- Moderation is the key to food consumption. I don't advocate dropping all the good stuff, that gets too boring and you will likely not stick with it. Have your favorites, but get smaller portions and go for a walk afterwards.

I still love my DQ, but I only get it from the DQ 3 miles from my house, I get a small dish, and I ride my bike there. I still drink beer, but I only have 2 or 3 (instead of 7 or 8), and I ride my bike there too. I skip fries and have a salad instead. Have a coke, but then alternate with water or coffee instead of another coke. Get the can of coke, instead of the 20 oz or Big Gulp (forget about the price advantage, long-term that is a fallacy when you consider your health costs). All the little steps help, as long as there are lots of little things to have a cumulative effect, and you do it all (or at least most) of the time.

I will be living with this the rest of my shortened life. I will say though, it scared the the hell out of me, and I am now in as good a shape as I was 20 years ago, and way better than 10 years ago. I feel fucking great. I have more energy than I got from caffeine and sugar. I am just pissed off at myself for getting into this situation. I can't go back and change it, the damage is done. All I can do is contain it, and make it not get much worse. Hopefully I can help at least one person avoid my fate with this rant.