The medical cupboard is absolutely bare if the need is for Alzheimer’s prevention or management.

The National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) this spring issued its consensus report on Alzheimer’s disease.

It was so carefully worded, a mark of NIMH’s understanding that the news that there is no news about Alzheimer’s disease is potentially devastating to families of those who have it, for people who have a family history of the disease and even for the people who have engaged in brain games as a means of helping themselves stay mentally sharp.

They are back to square one with this disease. They said so.

In the meantime, here is a study showing the cost of failing to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

The president of the Alzheimer Association is quoted as saying that the funding for research for this disease has been “stunningly neglectful.”

All available avenues for discovering causes and treatments for this deadly disease appear to have led scientists nowhere—despite serious efforts on many fronts. No one fails to understand the tragedy this disease causes.

This disease is winning on the grandest imaginable scale. This story assesses the dollar costs. There is no way to place a price on the human suffering Alzheimer’s causes.

The Medpage Today story quotes one source as saying that Alzheimer’s is what cancer used to be. No one will talk about it. For families, protective of the dignity of the patient, talking openly is  not smart. That would change how people responded to the person who is in decline long before mental changes could matter to the outside world.

This report is a battle cry. It is saying if there is not the belief that this disease can be managed, nothing will happen.

Medpage Today

“The availability of treatments that would delay the onset or slow progression of Alzheimer’s disease could save the American healthcare system up to $7 trillion by the year 2050, according to projections by the Alzheimer’s Association.

“But these savings won’t be realized unless the federal government reverses what the group called “chronic underinvestment” in Alzheimer’s disease research.

“Given the magnitude and the impact of this disease, the government’s response to this burgeoning crisis has been stunningly neglectful,” said Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer Association, in a statement.

“Alzheimer’s is an unfolding natural disaster. The federal government has sent a token response and has no plan,” Johns charged.”

Source: Medpage Today, May 19, 2010

Source: Alzheimer Association Commissioned Report, Lewin Group. Its purpose is to calculate the benefits of finding prevention and treatment approaches.