Coach Pat Summitt Puts Spotlight on Early-Onset Alzheimer's

THURSDAY, Aug. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Alzheimer's disease is one of the most dreaded afflictions of old age, but the announcement by celebrated women's basketball coach Pat Summit of her Alzheimer's diagnosis at age 59 has put a spotlight on the less common, but perhaps even more devastating, form of the disease.

About 500,000 people in the United States, or about 5 percent of those with Alzheimer's, have early-onset Alzheimer's, also called "young-onset" because it's diagnosed before age 65, said Dr. Zoe Arvanitakis, a neurologist in the Alzheimer's Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Though rarer still, diagnoses among people in their 30s and 40s aren't unheard of, she noted.
"In contrast to what many people think, Alzheimer's disease does not only affect older persons. It can also affect persons in their middle adult ages," Arvanitakis said.

Symptoms for early-onset Alzheimer's are the same as for late-onset disease, experts said. Summit, coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, told the Washington Post this week that she suspected her forgetfulness was a side effect of a rheumatoid arthritis drug, until Mayo Clinic doctors told her she was showing mild signs of the dementia.

Typically, early-onset Alzheimer's progresses more quickly than late-onset Alzheimer's, experts said.

Still, the time from which a person first has symptoms to the time they've lost so much of their mental abilities that they're truly disabled varies widely from person to person, said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

For older patients, that may be 10 to 15 years; for younger ones, time to disability is usually around five years, Kennedy said.

Younger patients also have a different set of worries than older patients. Many are still working, have mortgages and even families to support, Arvanitakis said.

Recently, a change in federal law enabled patients with early-onset Alzheimer's to receive Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) and supplemental security income (SSI) more easily, Arvanitakis said.

"There used to be significant roadblocks," she said. "I remember five, 10 years ago trying to help my patients get on disability being told, 'What proof do you have they have Alzheimer's disease?' It was hard for me to convince them it was true."

Because it's relatively uncommon, people in their 40s and 50s with Alzheimer's can have difficulty getting a diagnosis. Apathy and loss of interest in things once enjoyed can be one symptom of Alzheimer's. But that's sometimes mistaken for depression, Arvanitakis said.

Several gene mutations are believed to contribute to Alzheimer's in younger people, and early-onset Alzheimer's can run in families that have a hereditary component. But for other people, what causes Alzheimer's is unknown, experts said.

In addition to having a close family member such as a mother, father or sibling with early-onset Alzheimer's, having a major depressive episode as an adult also appears associated with going on to develop Alzheimer's, Kennedy said. Many people with Down syndrome also eventually develop the disease.

There are no medications that can slow or reverse the underlying biological processes that lead to damage in the brain. But like older people, younger people can benefit from certain drugs that boost levels of a neurotransmitter in the brain that is important for forming memories, Arvanitakis said.
Those who fare the best tend to be those who have a strong support system of family and friends, she said.

High blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, heart rhythm abnormalities and high cholesterol can reduce blood flow to the brain and lead to "vascular dementia," another form of progressive decline in memory and thinking skills, Kennedy said. Research has shown that many people with Alzheimer's also have vascular changes in the brain.

To combat that, "it makes good sense to follow a heart-healthy lifestyle," he said.
Those who are intelligent and educated also have brain "reserves" that they can use to cope with the brain degeneration and continue to function, at least for a time, Kennedy said.

"They have the software to compensate for what's happening to the hardware in the brain," Kennedy said.

And although the disease is relentless and people continue to lose memory and thinking abilities, there is often time before that happens to work, to accomplish things and to enjoy life, Arvanitakis added.
"If you're the type of person who is energetic and wants to fight it and do everything possible, we do have patients that live with this diagnosis for many years and continue to lead a fulfilling and productive life," she said.

Summitt is nothing if not determined. She's won more victories than any other college coach, men's or women's, and eight national titles. According to news reports, Summitt has said she does not believe her symptoms are severe enough for her to step down as coach, and that her goal is to coach at least three more years, if possible.

She also told her team about her condition, according to the Washington Post.

"I just want them to understand that this is what I'm going through, but you don't quit living," she said. "You keep going."

Experts praised Summitt for sharing her struggle with the public.

"When you're a very public figure and you share something so personal like your own illness, it brings attention to it, and bringing attention to this devastating illness might benefit others," Arvanitakis said. "It could mean more research will be done on it. It will be recognized earlier and people could have access to treatment earlier."

The Mind/Body & Body/Mind Effect

There is a dramatic and powerful connection between our mind and body, and of our body on our mind, in fact it really should not be called a connection because it is just one bidirectional system. Hans Selye, MD, the man who coined the word stress and first mapped out it biological effects said, “The modern physician should know as much about emotions and thoughts as about disease symptoms and drugs. This approach would appear to hold more promise of cure than anything medicine has given us to date.”

It is true. The most powerful pharmacy in the world is right between your ears!

Imagine if you could turn on fat burning–and lose weight–by using only your mind!

We are seeing an epidemic of stress related disorders. Americans live on caffeine and Prozac. We use substances to manage our moods. In fact the four top selling items in grocery stores are all the drugs we use to manage our mood and energy – caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and nicotine.

Depression, anxiety, autism, attention deficit disorder, memory disorders and dementia are epidemics in our society. They are making the pharmaceutical industry highly profitable. But how do we really deal with the root of this problem?

Let’s look at the power of the mind to harm or heal.

How to use your head to heal

One of a doctor's patients came to see me after his wife died. He’d suddenly developed heart failure. His heart just wouldn’t pump. It was flooded with grief molecules, hormones like adrenalin, noradrenalin, cortisol and more. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study about how grief or emotional trauma can cause heart failure, literally a broken heart.

Rather than give him drugs for “heart failure” as the doctor was taught, he suggested he have healing touch, a form of energy and emotional healing. He did and dramatically recovered. Touch, not medication, healed his heart.

We all learned how to read and write in school but never learned how to use our minds to help us with the most important survival skills–staying happy and healthy–that other cultures differ in their training. Herbert Benson M.D., from Harvard Medical School has demonstrated the amazing power of trained meditators from Tibet to control their physiology to slow their metabolism, change their heart rates, brain waves, and raise or lower their body temperature.

He even documented on film an ancient practice called tumo, the generating of internal heat, performed by initiated Tibetan monks. They are wrapped in icy cold sheets and must dry them from their internal heat. It is speculated that they do this by actively burning fat – something called brown fat. They can sit naked on a snowy mountaintop all night and not freeze, keeping themselves warm from their internal heat.

That’s something most of us don’t have any consciousness of, or control over. Imagine if you could turn on fat burning and lose weight through your mind!

That is ultimately the power of our mind and beliefs. Unfortunately we are not trained to address the stressful psychic loads that are the burden of the 21st century. And they are killing us.

Just consider these facts:

• 95% of all illness is caused or worsened by stress.
• Low socio-economic status is associated with poorer health outcomes and risk of death from all causes. This not related to poorer health habits, but to feelings of powerlessness and loss of control.
• Internalized racism and stress are associated with high amounts of belly fat.
• Stress hormones damage the hippocampus – the memory center in the brain causing memory loss and dementia.
• In a study of people who volunteered to have cold viruses injected into their noses, only people with a high level of perceived stress got colds.
• Women with metastatic breast cancer survived twice as long if they were part of a support group
• Belonging to a group – a religious group, a bowling club, a quilting group – reduces risk of death from all causes and increases longevity despite health habits.
• In a study of doctors, those who scored high on hostility questionnaires had a higher risk of heart attacks than those who smoked, were overweight, had high blood pressure or didn’t exercise!

The good news is we can change our beliefs and attitudes and their effects on our mind and our body. You may need to learn a few new skills, but they are essential survival skills we never learned in school or from our families.

We cannot thrive without them!

Even better news is it is not only about our beliefs and attitudes. Our mind and brain function is also influenced by what happens in our bodies. By addressing all the keys to UltraWellness “mental” problems can often be cured without changing your beliefs.

The effects of beliefs and attitudes are so important, but the effects of problems in our core body systems, on our mental state and brain function– such as our hormones, immune system, gut, detox system, energy system – and our nutritional status and other environmental inputs – are just as important and mostly ignored by medicine.

Here is what we know about how to influence the mind body and the body mind system:

• Find the biological causes of problems with the mind by working on all the keys to UltraWellness I have outlined in the last 7 lessons. It could be mercury toxicity, magnesium, B12 deficiency, a toxic gut chemical or a gluten allergy that is changing your brain. So by changing your body you can change your mind!
• Learn how to actively relax. To engage the powerful forces of the mind on the body you must Do something, you can’t just sit there watching television or drink a beer.
• Try learning new skills such as meditation, deep breathing, yoga, biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, take a hot bath, make love, get a massage, watch a sunset, walk in the woods or on the beach.
• Exercise is a powerful way to burn off stress chemicals and heal the mind – well studied and well proven – just do it! It has been proven better than or equal to Prozac for treating depression.
• Clean up your diet from mind robbing molecules like caffeine, alcohol, refined sugars, and eat regularly to avoid the short-term stress of starvation on your body.
• Take a multivitamin and nutrients to help balance the stress response such as vitamin C, the B complex vitamins including B6 and B5 or pantothenic acid, zinc, and most importantly magnesium, the relaxation mineral.
• Use adaptogenic herbs (herbs that help you adapt and be balanced in response to stress) such as ginseng, Rhodiola rosea, Siberian ginseng, Cordyceps, and Ashwaganda.
• Take a hot bath or a sauna to help your body deeply relax and turn on the relaxation response.
• Examine your beliefs, attitudes and responses to common situations and consider reframing your point of view to reduce stress.
• Consciously build your network of friends, family and community. They are your most powerful allies in achieving long-term health.