June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. That may seem unnecessary since few of us are unaware of Alzheimer’s. The name invokes one of our greatest health fears: the fear of being mentally impaired. And it is common knowledge that Alzheimer’s is an incurable descent into unremitting isolation and confusion.
To this day, most drug treatments for Alzheimer’s disease focus on the same plaques. Progress has been made in slowing the progression of the disease and even sparking short-term improvements in memory formation. But in the end, there is no cure, and the disease always prevails over the drugs. Our Martys die, often not knowing who we are. And current drug therapies come with a sad offset: a wide range of side effects, from minor to severe, brain bleed and inflammation being the worst.
But research into Alzheimer’s and other neurodegeneration is not slowing down, and understanding of the processes that lead to dementia and other neurological impairments is growing. Prospective treatments continue to be advanced and studied.