[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

I responded to an ad in the Daily Sun that was looking for healthy people at least 65 years of age. I thought the study would be about lifestyle where they compare one group with another.

But I got a call yesterday and found out that they will be testing a drug. It will likely be a double-blind study with half the group taking a placebo and half taking the active ingredient. It's not intended to be a cure but to see if it helps to forestall dementia.

I have an appointment to get a blood test to see if I have a gene for Alzheimer's. Only those who have such a gene will be accepted into the study.

I'm not sure I want to know whether I have the Alzheimer's gene or not. Having an Alzheimer's gene does not mean one will necessarily get Alzheimer's. If I have such a gene I will likely be persuaded to take medication which will have some sort of side effect. So I may end up doing more harm than good.

Should I go for the blood test? What would you do?

Just say NO. An experimental drug test? You, who try to live simply & eat purely?

When my own mother, now deceased twelve years, was in the end stages of Alzheimers (the last 18 months in a skilled nursing home, in the Alzheimers/Dementia wing) I was called by a physician doing the same type of studies you mention above.

I listened politely.........but told him in no uncertain terms that I could not put her through it.........explaining to him how the Aricept had NOT been for the better after being prescribed by her specialist on aging.......so no "experimental" drugs for mom.

I also told him that I had read his article in our local newspaper which led me to look up this "experimental drug"......& its horrific side effects.....such as liver damage & on & on.......

He was moderately surprised......saying "Well, I see you've done your research".........I told him I just could NOT put her through that........I also knew they only offer these drugs to those at the end.

A few years earlier, her physician had put her on Aricept.......she immediately lost her appetite & stopped eating......dropping back down to 85 lbs. from the 100 lbs........these are common side effects which are known. She also got dizzy from it. After a short hospital stay where they put her through battery of tests, her internist (who was our neighbor as well) told me, "Your mom is in amazingly excellent health for her age (except for the dementia); her lungs are those of a younger person, her bones, her heart, etc., etc., etc........she was still walking briskly until the Aricept.

Long story short........after I said NO to the experimental drug, she passed away about a month later.......peacefully with palliative care, comfort care........at age 91. I just couldn't see an experimental drug.......with her as a test subject.

Initially, I took care of her for six years in our own home.......she had "Sundowners Syndrome" & would get up in the middle of the night & walk all around the house getting into mischief. I won't go into that......but I could write a book, believe me. I prepared her meals, bathed her, dressed her........etc. I wish I would have kept her at home, truthfully......as she was content.

However, once at "daycare" (8 a.m. to 3 p.m. five days a week) she fell over a parking log.........hurt her arm (the activity assistants were not really watching these elderly folks); after that she could no longer get into the bathtub or out of the bathtub, so I began showering her.........but she was AFRAID of the shower.

Long story short (again)......a nice community care home, along with lots of her old friends from the senior center, was her new "home" (after being with us for six straight years). This is where the Aricept "dizzy incident" happened.........she rose from her chair; a painter heard her say, "Oh, I feel dizzy" & they called an ambulance........later after numerous brain wave tests, internal tests, everything a hospital does...........the doc called to tell me she was amazingly HEALTHY.........

It wasn't till she hit 90 that she went to a regular nursing home.
At the end of that she was in diapers & a wheelchair.......that's when the experimental drug was suggested. He was a little PUSHY however finally accepted that I wasn't going to put her through it......obviously there was NO TURNING BACK.

Believe it or not, I'm not worried about getting Alzhiemers.

Lots of our friends parents had it........& were all in the same nursing home........the nurses & aides were all angels of mercy.

Her passing was very peaceful.
Every day I wish I had her back. There is no love like a mother's love.
Our dear cousin & friend just lost her 95 year old mom to Alzheimers in New Jersey. Wake is today. Funeral is tomorrow.
Huge second snowstorm supposed to hit them AGAIN.......and also Boston area...........as well as us, again.