4 Comments

cool objective look beyond the headlines from Rory. I would like to know what is happening with the 150 million that boris SET ASIDE TO IMPPROVE TECHNOLOGY IN CARE HOMES. iT MIGHT BE SMALL BEER ALONGSIDE THE BILLIONS(?) SPENT ON DRUG RESEARC BUT THIS IS A PRACTICAL SOLUTION AVAILABLE NOW WHICH IS KNOWN TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF ALZEIMERS'S PATIENTS.

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Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases have turned out to be much more complicated than scientists expected and there is a definite feeling of hope fatigue among sufferers, that we're always 5 years away from a breakthrough therapy. I think a dose of realism, like the words of Dr Carare, is much needed.

5 years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's I did an MSc in neuroscience so that I could better understand what is going on in my brain. The conclusion I came to after getting to grips with some of the latest research is that we're still 30-40 years away from fully understanding, and therefore potentially curing, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and the like. That said, there are drugs that look to be capable of slowing progression, at least for some people, and there are other strategies like cell replacement that may become viable in the next decade.

It's something of a dilemma for sufferers: the only way to make progress is to support funding for fundamental scientific research and to participate in clinical trials, but equally I find myself drained by the emotional rollercoaster of over-hyped news; indeed I am sometimes tempted to completely disengage from all the science and simply focus on living my life while I still can.

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I suppose it’s an achievement to get drugs across the blood brain barrier.

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