Exploring your options
I don't think I've ever seen a more depressing article. Apparently, mainstream medicine has decided that the battle against dementia is over, and the disease can be crowned the victor. Researchers from the American College of Family Physicians reached this ominous conclusion after conducting a review of 96 different studies on various treatments for dementia and discovering that "there are no good options" to combat the disease. What makes this news even sadder is that it's not actually true. The researchers originally set out to determine a solid set of treatment guidelines for people battling the mind-robbing illness, but, according to the article I read, "were disappointed to find no good options for patients with dementia, and no way to determine which drug might be best for certain cases." The resulting recommendation? "Doctors just need to try them in a hit-or-miss fashion to try to help patients." First of all, as Dr. Wright likes to say, that's not science, that's faith. Faith that one of the drugs they've already deemed useless might help some unfortunate human guinea pig -- I mean patient -- at some point. Second, and more important, when did it become acceptable to sacrifice people to a deadly disease rather than look to the treatments that DO work? No, there may not be any good patented drug options for treating dementia, but there are plenty of natural options, ones that may even help prevent it from occurring in the first place. In fact, just a few months ago, in the January issue of Nutrition & Healing, Dr. Wright wrote about a recent study that linked stomach acid suppression with increased risk of dementia. And in the March 2006 issue, he talked about three natural techniques that can dramatically reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, which accounts for more than half of all dementia cases. And last, but certainly far from least on the list of natural dementia-fighters is lithium. This mineral has been proven in numerous studies to help keep brain cells operating at peak performance, not to mention reduce the risks for both Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Be on the lookout for more details on the solid evidence supporting lithium's role in combating degenerative diseases (like dementia, Alzheimer's, and one that's even more deadly) in the April 2008 issue of Nutrition & Healing. And, in the meantime, you can always refer back to Dr. Wright's original series on this mineral, which appeared in the August and September 2003 editions of the newsletter. Subscribers can download and view all of these issues for free by visiting the Archives portion of the Nutrition & Healing website, www.wrightnewsletter.com, and logging on with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent newsletter. Source: "Review finds no good drugs for dementia," Reuters Health News, 3/4/08 |
