The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told about Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis

This review is from an insider, I am an 86 year old retired engineer who is coping with the early stages of the problem itself. The position of the author is that what is called "Alzheimer's Disease" is essentially the same as 'Old Age' but the Alzheimer's word is too scary and should be avoided. On pg 36 he states "statistically speaking, it is not normal to be demented at sixty six, whereas the onset of of some dementia in one's eighties, ninetie's or beyond is more or less the normal expectation"..."It would actually be quite abnormal for someone not to have increasing memory challenges in their seventies, eighties, and beyond". The book is very good and with many examples explains clearly the many individual problems of Alzheimer's. I would recommend it to other older folks who wonder, or to the family members weho are worried about Mom or Dad. Don't let the title fool you. Unfortunately it gives the impression of debunking the problem, but he emphasizes that the problem is real and he is only discouraging the use of that scary word, Alzheimer's. I personally feel he spends too much time regailing the political issue of the evils of greed. I have only one complaint. While he mentions PET scanning (Positron Emissions Testing) as a research tool, he does not point out that it is acctually available to the patient as the first, and possibbly the only, real medical test which positively diagnoses the problem in a living patient. (Much sooner than waiting for an autopsy which had been the only positive diagnosis for 100 years.) It is expensive but, with a doctor's prescription, it is covered by Medi-Care for us old folks. I am personally thankful that it tipped me off about a year ahead of time that due to "cerebellar volume loss" I would soon be using a cane in addition to the memory problems already apparent due to "cebellar volume loss" as also measured by the scan. Prof Donald E. Niles.

Call it political correctness. Call it academic pressure. Call it whatever you wish, but understand that there is pressure, both subtle and overt, to follow only the conventional medical model where Alzheimer's is concerned. This model decrees that cure in the form of a pill or other medical device is the only solution to the problems of the aging brain. Huge amounts of money flow to that end. In The Myth of Alzheimer's, authors Whitehouse and George ask you to understand that: · what we are routinely told is not the whole truth about Alzheimer's disease, · there is no universal agreement on the cause or cure for the symptoms of Alzheimer's in brain or behavior, and · a billion-dollar industry relies on the perpetuation of the myth of Alzheimer's. Heresy, pure and simple. If the author were less well educated or experienced, we could burn him at the stake or, at the very least, denigrate his notions as those of a far-out kook. But as it is, we must regard his observations as having some degree of credibility. Whitehouse and George devote a chapter to the billion-dollar industry that has grown up around Alzheimer's disease, especially to those associations and foundations that have benefited richly from contributions. Of course, it's not only associations and foundations that focus so little on assistance and prevention and so much on a "cure" that has failed to materialize. Governmental bodies and pharmaceutical companies currently operate big budgets to fund hundreds of studies searching for the "cure" or symptom amelioration. Of those only about two percent focus on prevention. The Myth of Alzheimer's is the right book at the right time. More and more people are turning away from conventional medicine, partly because its cost has skyrocketed, partly because its "promises" have failed to materialize or damaged those who trusted it. The ideas this book presents will help both the aging and their caregivers gain maximum comfort at minimal cost and reduced risk. This is a uniquely important book. Read it. Learn about the theories of causation. Learn how your approach affects sufferers. Allow it to open your mind to new ways of thinking about and dealing with the syndrome known as Alzheimer's disease. Thank you, Dr. Whitehouse, for presenting an extraordinary alternate view that encourages people to take responsibility for their own aging, their own health.

I'm only in college but I've been a part-time caregiver for my great aunt since October and this book was really inspiring to my mom and I when we read it a couple weeks ago. We never say that my aunt has a "disease", and this validated our belief that she is a regular person who is still capable of having some quality of life in spite of the changes that she is undergoing. We look at old pictures together, and she still gets a lot of pleasure from doing simple things like that (the book suggests a few activities you can do). All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who is caregiving for someone, and really anyone else who is interested because there's a lot of information and a fresh new perspective here that I believe will really catch on if people give it a chance.

The Myth of Alzheimer's is not only relevant to people who have the potential of one day being wrongfully diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (which already includes everybody) but also to people interested in the medical community. As a field, medicine is commonly criticized for lacking empathy with our patients that we usually treat like customers. Medicine also seem to lack accountability (only when major mistakes are made do physicians get supervision). Furthermore it seems that medicine has forgot to create its own limits (check the price of the medication you are on). As a medical student, I believe that this criticism is founded. In medical school are taught all day every day, pure simple and elegant facts. We are given an explanation about those facts and we are then expected to go on practicing without ever asking questions. Thus we are never taught to have accountability. Exactly zero second is spent in the vast majority of medical schools on the price of health care thus physicians have no sense of limits. Finally our competitive process weeds out most people with any kind of empathy. In his book Dr. Whitehouse shows a great example of how to think outside the box, how to see the mistakes that medicine has made, and the process which has lead to the largest myth of our generation: the Myth of Alzheimer's. The success of this book will not only be seen in how many people start asking questions about the facts of Alzheimer but also by the way the medical community decides to reexamine itself and hopefully start showing more: Empathy, Accountability, and self-Limitation.

Betty Friedan helped change our thoughts and language about gender relations. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped change our thoughts and language about racial relations. Now Dr. Peter Whitehouse is helping change our thoughts and language about aging - more particularly about our aging brains. And this is a very good time for another social revolution in thought and language. Seventy-eight million Baby Boomers are reaching a time in life when brain changes due to aging are inevitable and, with enough time passing, universal. The language we use to describe the inevitabilities of cognitive aging tap into the deepest reservoirs of fear: senior moments, dementia, loss of self, and organic brain dysfunction. In particular, we think of two words with unspoken angst: Alzheimer's disease. In "The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis," Dr. Whitehouse and his young literary protégé, Daniel George, address the very foundation of our cultural and social relationships to the most dreaded disease of modern times. First described in 1907 by Alois Alzheimer, this disease has grown into a "$100-billion-a-year marketing and research juggernaut, with more than 25 million afflicted worldwide." The victims of this mysterious milady face ostracism, institutionalization, isolation, loneliness and dependency. The perpetrators of the Myths are comfortable with our collective fears because they inspire research budgets, drug sales, elaborate diagnostic testing protocols, and nicely decorated prison facilities. Above all, the Myths perpetrators create another class of human being, the unfortunate mortals who are less-than-fully human because of diminishing memories, communication skills and competencies with the activities of daily living. They are dying brains without hearts. To most of us, such a medical diagnosis is a decree worse than death itself. It is what we dread for our parents; it is what we fear for ourselves. The authors believe the time has come to change our language and our innate conceptions of cognitive aging With more than 30 years of experience as a scientist and geriatric neurologist, Dr. Whitehouse has been at the forefront of the evolution of the disease we call Alzheimer's. He has earned over a million dollars consulting with pharmaceutical companies about development of cholinesterase inhibitors, the contemporary silver bullets in drug therapies for early treatment of disease symptoms. He has accepted grants to support research and education in service of the same industry, valued at millions of more dollars. He has traveled the world to discuss the marvels of the coming cognitive pharmacopeia, again a benefactor of drug industry dollars. And, finally, he has set in motion a pugnacious call for sensibility and a more informed public. As he portends, "(the book) is at root a book for Baby Boomers and health care professionals, and anyone else who wants to join me in bringing a new understanding to A