4 ms·

Can someone explain to me how it can be so hard to track down the exact cause for this disease? My grandma passed from it. It seems to be relatively common. Wha

Can someone explain to me how it can be so hard to track down the exact cause for this disease? My grandma passed from it. It seems to be relatively common. What makes this so difficult to treat relative to other diseases? Freshman year of college I was told it was amyloid proteins. Then make a drug to eliminate them. I am having difficulty seeing how 20 years since my grandmother passed, the cause still shows as unknown on reputable sources.

pedalpete 2y ago
We still don't have a correct model for what Alzheimer's is, and therefore how to treat it. Compare this to something like HIV, where we were able to quickly understand that the virus attacks CD4 cells, and limits the body's ability to defend from disease. With Alzheimer's, we're still in the - is it amyloid and tau? is it inflammation? is it viral? This is compounded by our limited understanding of the brain. Another hypothesis which I ascribe to is that we are lumping multiple diseases under the label of Alzheimer's because we don't understand it enough.
- MPSFounder 2y ago
  That's interesting. It could be multiple different dementia diseases that are different enough to require their own hypothesis. I recently read League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis. CTE is also a brain condition that is only diagnosed postmortem due to the invasive procedure needed. It seems the brains of living are indeed difficult to study.
  - pedalpete 2y ago
    I think another thing to consider is that we really don't know how the brain works. Sure we know there are neurons, and they create electrical charges, and there are neurotransmitters, etc etc. but we REALLY don't have a model for how these things relate to thought, memory, etc. I equate it to how our understanding of the body has changed over time. When we understood fluid dynamics, we looked at the body as a series of pumps and magical fluid called blood which carried nutrients. When we discovered electricity, we slapped our foreheads, and thought "of course!! it's electric!!" and now we relate everything to our understanding of electrical activity AND hydrodynamics. I am sure there is a time in the not to distant future where we will discover how the mind works is related to our understanding of quantum...and we'll continue down the rabbit hole.
liveoneggs 2y ago
the brains of living people are difficult to study and test

pedalpete 2y ago

We still don't have a correct model for what Alzheimer's is, and therefore how to treat it. Compare this to something like HIV, where we were able to quickly understand that the virus attacks CD4 cells, and limits the body's ability to defend from disease. With Alzheimer's, we're still in the - is it amyloid and tau? is it inflammation? is it viral? This is compounded by our limited understanding of the brain. Another hypothesis which I ascribe to is that we are lumping multiple diseases under the label of Alzheimer's because we don't understand it enough.

MPSFounder 2y ago
That's interesting. It could be multiple different dementia diseases that are different enough to require their own hypothesis. I recently read League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis. CTE is also a brain condition that is only diagnosed postmortem due to the invasive procedure needed. It seems the brains of living are indeed difficult to study.
- pedalpete 2y ago
  I think another thing to consider is that we really don't know how the brain works. Sure we know there are neurons, and they create electrical charges, and there are neurotransmitters, etc etc. but we REALLY don't have a model for how these things relate to thought, memory, etc. I equate it to how our understanding of the body has changed over time. When we understood fluid dynamics, we looked at the body as a series of pumps and magical fluid called blood which carried nutrients. When we discovered electricity, we slapped our foreheads, and thought "of course!! it's electric!!" and now we relate everything to our understanding of electrical activity AND hydrodynamics. I am sure there is a time in the not to distant future where we will discover how the mind works is related to our understanding of quantum...and we'll continue down the rabbit hole.

liveoneggs 2y ago

the brains of living people are difficult to study and test