When did Ronald Reagan first exhibit signs of Alzheimer's? That question is now being hotly debated within his own family.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the 40th Presidents birth, both his sons have written books about their fatherbut half-brothers Michael and Ron Reagan have very different ideas about when his illness first manifested itself..
In his new book, My Father at 100, the younger sibling, Ron Reagan, claims his father exhibited signs of Alzheimer's three years into his first term despite the fact that doctors diagnosed Mr. Reagan with the memory-robbing disease five years after he left office.
"Knowing what we know now, about the nature of Alzheimer's disease, we know that, decades before symptoms begin arriving, changes are happening in the brain," Ron Reagan writes.
He talks about how he was alarmed by his father's performance in his Oct. 7, 1984 presidential debate with Democratic challenger Walter Mondale. He writes of that day, "My heart sank as he floundered his way through his responses, fumbling with his notes, uncharacteristically lost for words. He looked tired and bewildered."
Older brother, Michael, has a different story.
"No, he didn't have dementia," Michael said. "Look what he accomplished in the last four years of his presidency: Reykjavik, S.T.A.R.T. agreements, all the things he accomplished. The speech at the Berlin Wall in 1987 on June 12th. Someone with dementia does not accomplish all of those things."
But whatare there any warning signs of this disease? Could someone have such signs even years before being officially diagnosed with the disease?Alzheimers is the irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually limits the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. It is the most common cause of dementia among older people. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioningthinking, remembering, and reasoningto such an extent that it interferes with a persons daily life and activities. Alzheimers disease impacts approximately five million Americans. Now scientists from the United Kingdom say they may have found a way to check for Alzheimer's disease years before its symptoms appear. The diagnostic test is a lumbar puncture combined with a brain scan. Their approach checks for two things - shrinkage of the brain and lower than normal levels of a protein, called amyloid, in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that bathes the brain and spinal cord.Experts already know that in Alzheimer's there is loss of brain volume and an unusual build-up of amyloid in the brain, meaning less amyloid in the CSF.To confirm their findings, the researchers recruited 105 healthy volunteers to undergo a series of checks. The results, published in Annals of Neurology, revealed that the brains of those normal individuals with low CSF levels of amyloid (38% of the group), shrank twice as quickly as the other group. They were also five times more likely to possess the APOE4 risk gene and had higher levels of another culprit Alzheimer's protein, tau.
According to the scientists this tool can identify patients with early tell-tale signs of dementia. In most people with Alzheimers, symptoms first appear after age 60. Memory problems are one of the first signs of Alzheimers disease. Some people with memory problems have a condition called amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). People with this condition have more memory problems than normal for people their age, but their symptoms are not as severe as those with Alzheimers. More people with MCI, compare with those without MCI, go on to develop Alzheimers.As Alzheimers disease progresses, memory loss continues and changes in other cognitive abilities appear. Problems can include getting lost, trouble handling money and paying bills, repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks, poor judgment, and small mood and personality changes. People often are diagnosed in this stage. Medical experts are hoping their new testing procedure will help doctors to select patients to try out as yet experimental drugs that may slow, or even stop the disease in its devastating tracks, early on. Presently there is no single test and no cure for Alzheimers. Scientists call their findings pivotal.Presently, there are several drugs as well as vaccines that are in the process of being tested, but its tough for doctors to figure out how well they work since Alzheimers is usually only diagnosed once the disease is in its more advanced stages. This new procedure changes that dynamic. The UK researchers from the Institute of Neurology, University College of London, now believe they can detect Alzheimer's disease - many years before symptoms appear.Hopefully these new findings will open doors for new and effective treatments of this devastating disease.Robin Westen is ThirdAges medical reporter. Check for her daily updates. She is the author of Ten Days to Detox: How to Look and Feel a Decade Younger.See what others have to say about this story or leave a comment of your own.
