Should be read by folks that has a family member with Alzheimer’s.

When people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) ” act up” and show signs of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as aggression and agitation, they are often given antipsychotic drugs. Now, it turns out, that’s a practice that could be deadly. The result of a long-term study , just published online and in the February edition of The Lancet Neurology journal shows there’s a large increased risk of severe side effects and death in patients receiving these medications. What’s more, they hasten mental deterioration.

Dr. Clive Ballard of the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases at King’s College in London and her colleagues are the first researchers to document long-term data for AD patients given antipsychotic drugs. They followed 165 patients with AD between the ages of 67 and 100 who resided in four United Kingdom facilities between 2001 and 2004. The research subjects were randomly assigned to take antipsychotic medications (thioridazine, chlorpromazine, haloperidol, trifluorperazine, or risperidone) or an oral placebo.

After a year, there was 70% survival in the antipsychotic group compared with 77% in placebo. But after two years, there was a far bigger difference in the death rate. Survival was 46% in the antipsychotic group and 71% in the placebo group. And at three years, the difference was even more stunning. Only 30% of people being given antipsychotics were still alive while almost 60 percent of those on placebos, inert substances with no drug activity, were still living. When the scientists computed the death rate for the AD patients throughout all the years, they found it was 42% lower in the placebo group than in the antipsychotic group.

So what adverse effects did the drugs have on the people with Alzheimer’s? Specifically, they were found to increase the incidence of Parkinson’s disease, sedation, edema, chest infections, stroke and death . Those taking antipsychotics also experienced an accelerated decline in their brain function. In a statement released to the media, the scientists said their research highlights the need to seek less harmful treatments for AD patients who exhibit neuropsychiatric symptoms.

“Our data add further serious safety concerns about the long-term use of antipsychotics in this population, and clinicians should certainly try to replace antipsychotics with safer management approaches. Several studies have shown that psychological management can replace antipsychotic therapy without any appreciable worsening of neuropsychiatric symptoms… Our opinion is that there is still an important but limited place for atypical antipsychotics in the treatment of severe neuropsychiatric manifestations, particularly aggression, of AD. However, the accumulating safety concerns, including the substantial increase in long-term mortality, emphasize the urgent need to put an end to unnecessary and prolonged prescribing,” the researchers stated.

Don’t forget to pick up a copy of my new Gardening Book early this spring.  You will be glad you did. No Brag Just Fact.

Cloudy apple juices contain much more antioxidant than clear cider. When you got to buy apples look for the older varieties of apples as the newer varieties tend to have lower nutrient content. The newer varieties are grown for eye appeal and for shelf life, not for nutrition.

Psychiatrists Now Calling Excessive E-Mailing a “Mental Illness”  Well there goes my E-Mail, darn.  LOL

“You have the power to tell agribusiness firms that you won’t buy sugar made from genetically modified sugar beets, or other foods”  ” I am one fellow who avoids genetically modified foods if given a choice. I do not like to be ‘forced’ to eat genetically modified sugar either because it is sneaked into my food on an undisclosed basis or because it is added into virtually all food and beverages.”  So there is my feelings on what they call G M Food or in other words Genetically Modified.

The best way for smokers to reduce their risk of strokes is to quit smoking, but the new study suggests that supplementing foods with folic acid might reduce the risk even to those who will not quit. Folic foods would be,  (whole grains, green leafy vegetables, orange and so on.  So food for thought one might say. Talk soon