Current Treatments for Alzheimer's
What Is Available Now To Treat Alzheimer's?
Gretchen Heuring | ElderThink |12.8.10
Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease are broken into two categories described as cognitive and behavioral. Cognitive symptoms involve memory, language, paying attention, and judgment. Behavioral symptoms include emotional expressions like temper outbursts, suspiciousness, or withdrawal.
Diazoxide, a drug used decades ago to treat high blood pressure has been shown to improve learning and memory in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Aging. The drug improves blood flow in the brain and prevents the harmful accumulation of two proteins, beta-amyloid and tau, which are hallmarks of Alzheimer's.
Drugs currently on the market can slow or delay Alzheimer's cognitive symptoms. These drugs all seem to lose their effectiveness over time and some are prescribed in combination. Researchers all over the world are working hard on medicines for both prevention and cure.
Other drugs are prescribed for behavioral symptoms such as sleeplessness, depression and anxiety. These include Celexa, Remeron or Zoloft.
Aggression can be extreme with Alzheimer's patients. Depakote, Tegretol or Trileptal are prescribed for aggression.
Paranoia, hallucinations and agitation are most often treated with antipsychotic drugs such as Risperdal, Seroquel or Zyprexa.
There are a class of drugs called Anticholinergics, that can cause serious side effects for people with Alzheimer's. These would be Atrovent, Combivent, DuoNeb and Spiriva. This class of drugs is usually used to treat incontinence, motion sickness or muscle spasms.
