Article 17

I found this article to be extremely interesting. I'm only nineteen and I can say that I worry about getting Alzheimer's when I'm older. So I was very interested in reading the article to see what researchers are working on to help prevent the disease. It’s amazing that with the advancement of technology and the use of PET scanners and MRI machines doctors can spot and track the disease even before a person has had any symptoms. It's extremely reassuring to know that you may be able to do something about the disease. It's also amazing that that drug makers are now working on over two dozen treatments for Alzheimer’s, because unlike the treatments that are out there today these drugs will hopefully be able to stall the progression of the disease. I believe that with a disease like Alzheimer’s even if they can not find a cure for it any type of treatment to help people with the severity of the symptoms is remarkable. The article states that through decades the brains exquisite circuitry with mounds of sticky plaque and expanses of dead neurons. Even just reading that statement you can began to realize how devastating the disease is. It’s really unfortunate that there is no drug that could repair that kind of damage. And that’s why I think if drug makers are able to produce a drug that can slow down the process, like anticipated it would be a great achievement. When I began to read in to paragraph four I could start to see some of the negative outcomes that are possible with the advancement of early detection. It would be terrible if employers and insurance companies started abandoning people whose brain scans showed some type of problem. It also is scary if people do find out that they are at risk for this disease but can not cope or adjust to the idea. It’s unfortunate that PET scanning is not covered by Medicare because it would be a great benefit for older adults to get brain scans as part of their routine check ups. The earlier Alzheimer or signs of Alzheimer’s are detected the better. Hopefully there will be more a person can do about their diagnosis of Alzheimer because it would be a terrible feeling to know you are going to get this terrible disease and not be able to do anything about it besides take a drug to ease some of the symptoms. I obviously think getting the drug Memantime approved in the U.S is only another improvement we can hope for. I do not know much about the disease or the causes of the disease but Mematime seems like an opportunity that the U.S would be stupid to pass up. Reading this article made me realize that there are some things related to the aging process that you can not change, fix or help no matter what you do and that really scares me. But I can say I feel more at ease knowing that there are drug makers working on medicines that will hopefully slow the process and symptoms of the Alzheimer. It’s still extremely scary knowing that the drug treatments may not work and people may just have to live with the implications of the disease. We can only hope that these drug treatments will work and people will be able to find some comfort in knowing that if diagnosed there is some relief in sight.