Social Question

DarlingRhadamanthus's avatar

What do you think of today's news on a possible cure/supplement against Alzheimer's?

Asked by DarlingRhadamanthus (11273points) September 9th, 2010

The big news in the UK today is that there is something that can actually stop memory loss in the elderly and prevent Alzheimer’s. What is the wonder drug? B vitamins! link

Now, let’s see how long it takes Big Pharma to lobby the government to outlaw the sale of B vitamins in our regular shops so that it can make a huge profit off of this news.

It’s amazing that sometimes it’s something simple that works. Granted, it’s not 100 percent (nothing is) but I feel that it’s a huge leap and it isn’t toxic, either.

(Basically, I posted this because I have relatives in early stage dementia and hope that this will help some of you who have elderly relatives as well.)

Good news?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

14 Answers

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

My mother is a big believer in getting as much B vitamins as possible, so this doesn’t surprise me at all since she remembers everything. She’s 79.

DarlingRhadamanthus's avatar

@hawaii_jake….Yay! Thanks for sharing that….I hope she remembers everything at 120! We love moms! :)

Brian1946's avatar

That’s great news!

I’ve been taking B-complex vitamins for over 30 years now and I’ll continue to do so.

Aster's avatar

It sounds promising but I doubt it will stop a full blown case of Alzheimer’s. I’m a skeptic. I do hope it works, though.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

Good news – I try to get many foods with B vitamins and take a supplement as well.

Zyx's avatar

Terrible disease, great news.

I just wonder how abnormal the dosage must have been for no one to notice the improvement before. I actually started taking vitamin B when I heard it repelled mosquitos.

nikipedia's avatar

The study doesn’t actually find a difference in memory loss. It finds:

1. B vitamins slowed the rate of brain atrophy
2. The rate of brain atrophy was correlated with memory loss.

But they are not able to conclude (statistically) from these data that B vitamins are sufficient to slow memory loss. They argue that the study was underpowered, but with 83 and 85 participants in the control and experimental groups, respectively, this means that if B vitamins actually have an effect on cognition, it is a very small one.

I am personally not that worried about “Big Pharma” doing anything to B vitamins. Indeed, thanks to the lead author, the University of Oxford holds two patents on using folic acid (vitamin B9) to treat AD. So that is out of Big Pharma’s hands entirely.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

Maybe I’m worn out and heartbroken after seeing several people die horrible deaths after going through Alzheimer’s but as much as I believe these vitamins can prevent a bit of brain atrophy and retain some memory cognition, I believe those are normal parts of aging and I don’t believe Alheimer’s is normal.

Aster's avatar

My father in law had it really bad but he didn’t suffer like his wife suffered. No matter how bad it got he still joked around but she couldn’t even get any sleep and she had to keep an eye on him because he was always wandering down the street and even into the neighbors’ cars and houses. Poor lady.

CaptainHarley's avatar

Yayyyyy! Alzheimer’s is one of the very few things I fear. This is great news! : ))

DarlingRhadamanthus's avatar

Alzheimer’s obviously is not normal. It is a disease. And frankly, if there is any improvement at all by taking B vitamin high potency doses….it is better than the suffering that people go through with this disease. If taking high doses of B vitamins can allay the disease, then I am all for it. It’s amazing how people “pooh-pooh” something when it won’t hurt to attempt to supplement one’s diet. “Oh, don’t even try it…as it’s not conclusive.” Well, there was a father I just saw a few minutes ago…who tried everything that was not conclusive to save his son’s life. It was amazing. Had he listened to the “pooh-pooh” ers who insist on every study imaginable…his son would be dead.

His son had neuroblastoma…the doctors said it was incurable. The father would not take that as an answer. He quit his job and started to research alternative cures and a lot of that included cleaning up the house of all pesticides, plenty of clean water, juices, picking up the carpet…using parasite cleansers (the doctors said to him that he was crazy as parasites went out in the 19th century in England——that shows how little they know as his son passed hundreds of them along with pinworms). This father’s devotion was unbelievable and he left no stone unturned…if someone said that this was “a possibility” for his son he tried it. They forced him to give his son chemo, so he used alternative methods so that the chemo would be short and would not affect his son. The result? All the children in the ward except for one (who had severe hearing loss and gastro problems after the treatments) died of this disease. His son was cleared and is now strong and growing. His father said no to the radiation they wanted to give him afterwards…he continued his treatments at home. It was “just in case” radiation. (Right.) His father continues to monitor his food and gives him supplements and alternative treatment…though less strongly. He is fully recovered. Neuroblastoma is brain cancer. He had three tumors on his femur. He was three years old when diagnosed. He totally gives credit to the alternative and complementary medicines and treatments he used. This father spent over £100,000 of his own money and he now has started a foundation to help other children to get alternative treatments like his son did.

What was alarming to me was how the doctors gave him no hope in the UK. And told him that “nothing you can give him will work”.

As I’ve said before, I had too many relatives die from the treatment of their cancer and not the cancer itself. They were frightened by doctors into thinking it was the only way even when they were using alternative treatments and getting better.

There are great doctors (like Christiane Northrup, Andrew Weil, Gabriel Cousens) who really do see the mind-body connection and also champion alternative meds. But they are in the minority. Most doctors are courted by the big pharmaceutical companies while they are still in medical school.

My aunt is suffering from mild memory loss, she is almost 90…and she sits with relatives that continue to tell her that she has dementia, dementia, dementia….over and over. How can that not have an effect? She says, “Apparently, I have dementia…that’s what they tell me all the time.” Yet, she can sit and crochet complicated designs, carry on conversations with everyone and still function well. I think that the ideal way to heal…is to be surrounded by people who believe you can be well, with doctors who support your healing (no matter what—as long as it doesn’t harm) and are willing to look outside the box. There aren’t a lot out there.

ETpro's avatar

I have plans to drop by CVS tomorrow and pick up some Vitamin B complex. Great news. What a crushing disappointment to the big drug companies who had hoped to invent something that did the same thing, but cost $500 a month and had to be taken for life.

DarlingRhadamanthus's avatar

@ETpro….I am not sure what the quality of the vitamins at CVS are. It’s important to get high quality vitamins.

I can assure you that the vitamins at www.swansonvitamins.com are high quality and more than that, they have great service and people who will help you. Their prices are also really reasonable. They send out a catalogue is you ask for one. (This is for USA.) You can also type in any problem you have (arthritis) and they will give you suggestions.

I live in the UK and cannot get supplements from them directly, but you can go to amazon.co.uk (They sell Swanson’s, too.)

I have no affiliation with this company, by the way.

ETpro's avatar

@DarlingRhadamanthus CVS had the magic forumla B6, B9 (folic acid) and B12. You need 3X the RDA to get the effect. I’ve had good success with their house brands. They are manufactured by top-name companies. But thanks for the reference. I will check out their site.

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.
Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther