Alzheimer's - It's Not My Fault
I read with great interest the remarks about why Alzheimer's disease invades certain people and not others. I researched far and wide and I truly believe that it is a fallacy that only those who were educated, used their minds, and ate healthily were exempt.

Not so... in my almost 30 years in healthcare, I have taken care of physicians, nurses, bankers, CPA's - the most affluent and the poorest. There is no playing favorites. Chances are: if there has been a strain of the disease in your family tree, you are susceptible.

I believe that we are grasping at straws, and to no avail. My mother is in her tenth year ... sliding day by day. All her life she was active and ate healthy. In her family there are many men and women who we discovered had the disease. My father lived until age 93 with no signs of AD.

Doctors and/or researchers cannot give us at this time, a definitive reason why some people do and some do not contract it.
Pat Paterick

Alzheimer's - It's Not My Fault

Richard Taylor's critique of the media was right on target. I too, am tired of the implication that because a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk of certain types of disease, the people who have those diseases must have brought it on themselves through their own negligence. This way of thinking simply provides another excuse for the healthy members of our society to exclude persons with dementia and to feel superior to them.

"Alzheimer's" is the term the media has adopted to describe all types of dementia, and their use of the word "prevention" is imprecise at best. When the media reports that diet and exercise can prevent Alzheimer's, what they are telling us is that these things promote cardiovascular health, which reduces the risk of vascular dementia. When they report that keeping the brain active prevents Alzheimer's, what they are telling us is that an active brain may be more resilient as the disease progresses. In our age of prescription drug commercials, people want to believe that there is a "silver bullet" for every illness, and the media indulges them. The unfortunate truth is, however, that even people who do everything right still get sick.
Joel Eatmon

Alzheimer's - It's Not My Fault

What does that say about the many, many people who ate healthy, exercised all their lives, were highly educated and continued to remain mentally stimulated but still got Alzheimer's disease? Now, of course I think it is a good thing to try to live a mentally and physically healthy lifestyle, but there is no guarantee that doing so will ward off Alzheimer's. Nobody - especially Alzheimer's-related organizations should mislead the public by stating that there is anything that can prevent this terrible disease.
Carol Hillman

Alzheimer's - It's Not My Fault

The world is learning new things everyday about how to make our bodies happy and healthy. There is so much information out there! It is up to each and every person to choose to make an effort to learn. While this will not 100% prevent disease, it makes a big difference!
Rachel Lemme