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Murgatroyd314 t1_iyb3l77 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Alzheimer's drug lecanemab hailed as momentous breakthrough by Methoszs

Results are not as spectacular as the summary makes them sound, nasty side effects are common.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2340082-alzheimers-drug-results-are-promising-but-not-a-major-breakthrough/

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Starlightriddlex t1_iybgqxc wrote

To be honest, even if the drug does occasionally kill people and doesn't always work, it will still be worth it for people. Once you get Alzheimer's, you, as a person, basically die anyway and you get replaced by someone who is often cruel or violent towards your loved ones, while you waste away for years.

If given the choice to suffer through that or take a potential treatment that might kill me quickly instead, I would take the treatment. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease.

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ThickerSalmon14 t1_iyc37yr wrote

Dealing with my father in law who has Alzheimer's. It really is a disease that kills the person, but leaves the body up and walking around.

Also people can evolve and become better people... and then the memory loss takes that away. A loving inclusive man who dedicated his life to helping people turns to me and is suddenly a 19 year navy recruit who is going out to Fire Island to beat up Gays on the weekend.

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PixieDrifter t1_iycw0u9 wrote

That sounds heartbreaking for him and everyone who loves him.

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Heel_Paul t1_iybl4qr wrote

My grandpa right now was a loving person. But that guy right now isn't the person I remember. He's a mean fox news watching bigot who treats everyone like they are a piece of shit.

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Taniwha_NZ t1_iybzvyh wrote

That's happened to a lot of elderly without alzheimers, see the documentary 'the brainwashing of my dad', things have only gotten worse since then.

So this transformation probably isn't a great example of what alzheimers does to you. Or maybe it just demonstrates that watching right-wing news has the same effect on your brain as alzheimers.

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KookooMoose t1_iyco7n1 wrote

Do you know how incredibly insensitive it is to compare someone watching a news channel that you don’t agree with to a horrific disease that destroys loved ones and rocks families?

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EternalStudent t1_iycvjwv wrote

>Do you know how incredibly insensitive it is to compare someone watching a news channel that destroys loved ones and rocks familys to a horrific disease that destroys loved ones and rocks families?

FTFY, and having been someone who's had both happen... yes.

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Versificator t1_iyd1rg5 wrote

Fox news is worse. People who consume that garbage are willingly lobotomizing themselves.

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Methoszs OP t1_iycxf9r wrote

My mom passed away from alzheimers a few years ago, I can tell you that if even if the drug has a chance at killing me. I'd rather die than live through it. You become just a husk of a human.

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BeKind_BeTheChange t1_iyd9xgx wrote

My mom too. Right at 2 years ago. We actually don't know for sure that she had Alzheimer's because she refused all medical care once her memory started to slip. She would say, "I know I'm losing my memory. I don't want to be doped-up. You can deal with it."

And, she forced me to deal with it even though she absolutely refused to do any end-of-life paperwork. It was horrible dealing with my mother and our system.

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Dandan0005 t1_iybnibm wrote

Alzheimer’s is already a death sentence.

They estimate ~19 more months of independent life with this drug.

Don’t know anyone who wouldn’t take that.

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CatumEntanglement t1_iycbhmt wrote

There is zero data that shows people gain 19 months of functional independent life with this drug. The phase 3 trials were not even studying this, as the people enrolled have not passed away yet to even determine how long they had "functional life" with the drug verses a placebo group.

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Slapbox t1_iybpw8r wrote

Side effects? I'm sure there are others.

Don't get me wrong though, this drug is a big fucking deal.

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Slapbox t1_iybprho wrote

I don't feel like that's a fair characterization.

Having an effective agent for Alzheimer's, even if insufficiently effective, cracks the door open to better understanding what processes are actually crucial to Alzheimer's symptoms and which are incidental.

There have been many theories about the cause of Alzheimer's. Even though this isn't a breakthrough for anyone suffering today, this is a huge breakthrough for future research.

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