My mom turned 80 years old on Wednesday. She lives 1500 miles away in an Alzheimer’s Memory Center. We did the usual things; sent a card, flowers, phone calls…. and she sounded good on the phone, although she couldn’t have told you it was her birthday, or who we were on the other end of the phone. I love to hear her sounding happy. It breaks my heart that she is so disconnected. I love that my dad keeps her so busy and as happy as she can be under the circumstances.

My mother is the second person in our family to have contracted Alzheimer’s disease. Her mother, my grandmother, had it, too — although we didn’t call it such in those days. Gramma had “hardening of the arteries.” Same thing, different generation. Did previous ancestors have it too? We don’t know.

That explains to you, though, why my sisters and I are highly attentive to any news that comes down the pike regarding Alzheimer’s disease. There must be genetic tendencies. We figure there’s a good chance we’re next in line. You can imagine how we peruse the headlines — we’re looking for any and every helpful tidbit, or any hopeful research results. No silver bullets have come along. But we do get promising news on occasion.

Unlike my sisters, I also pay very close attention to any of the news regarding hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and how it relates to anything at all. In 1993, I had a total hysterectomy and immediately began taking estrogen-only HRT. In these 15 years, if one was to create a chart of the good news, bad news about HRT, it would look like shark’s teeth — up and down, pointed lines - to HRT or not to HRT? And if I had only ever read the headlines — worse yet — if I had actually believed the headlines by themselves were always accurate, then I would have been on and off that HRT a dozen times in the interim.

And that brings us to the reason for today’s blog post — an article in Time Magazine called “Study: Estrogen May Fight Dementia.” Reading the headline, my heart skipped a beat! I take estrogen! Maybe it has turned out to be my silver bullet! Maybe I won’t get Alzheimers!

But therein lies the problem. It’s so easy to quickly read a headline like that, then jump to all kinds of conclusions. And that happens to all of us every day. No matter what your health concern, past present or future — a quick headline can arouse curiosity or — worse — can satisfy by itself.

Over the years, I’ve had that heart-skipping experience (both good and bad) a dozen times. I’ve watched the news — and I’ve learned to read not just the article from which the headlines derive, but I’ve then looked behind those headlines, sometimes reading the actual studies that created the news.

The big deal about this particular study is that one of the groups studied was comprised of women just like me. I actually fit the profile: age, total hysterectomy, estrogen-only HRT, dosage — almost exactly…..

But then, as happens so often…. once I read the article, I came back down to earth. It turns out that I may have been taking HRT for too many years. Or maybe not. Or it may be better news for women who kept their ovaries and didn’t have surgery at all — natural estrogen. Or maybe not.

… and the bottom line? As often happens, further studies are needed.

Here’s today’s advice: don’t ever be satisfied by reading a headline. The whole point behind a headline is to suck you in…. not give you answers. As a result, it’s very easy to get exactly the wrong impression of the underlying story and frankly, that can be dangerous at times.

If a health headline grabs your attention, look further. Were the people studied the same as you? Gender, age, family history, health challenge, treatments, even geographic location — they can all affect outcomes, and the relevance of the headline and study to you.

If you do decide the headline and story fit you, and if the results are of interest, then trace back to find the study which sparked the article. The article will tell you what journal reported the findings, or what scientist or doctor conducted the study. Just google the clues to trace back to the original, then read the original to make sure the people in the study truly represent you.

And if they do, and if you think the findings will change anything about your treatment or diagnosis, then make copies and take them to your doctor for review. Most often, your doctor will be aware of the new findings; but if not, you’ll be helping not just yourself, but other patients who fit your profile, too.

……. UPDATE !!……..

Some homework for you — get some practice reading behind the headlines …. submitted by Dr. Rich Fogoros, About.com’s resident heart guru, and healthcare system fixer, too …..

This headline came in this week, too, about statin drugs and their relationship to Alzheimer’s. Statin drugs are those that help lower your cholesterol. Give this one a look-see — and see if it applies to you:

Statin Drugs May Decrease Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

	………………
	Want more tools and commentary for sharp patients? Sign up for Every Patient’s Advocate once-a-week or so email tips Or link here to empower yourself at EveryPatientsAdvocate.com
	………………

If you were interested in the interview with Brent Boyd about the concussions he suffered while playing in the NFL, and his concern over reports of the cause of death of Andre Waters, you’ll be interested in my blog post last February: Football, Concussion and Suicide.

The NFL says that on any given Sunday, eight players suffer from concussion - yet they are denying disability payments to their players who cannot work due to those injuries after they retire.

And here’s a surprise… the vignette concludes that the NFL may be more interested in profits than it is in the welfare of the players who made those profits for them.

Yeah. Surprise, surprise.

I can’t find a link to the story itself, but here is Cynthia Bowers, the reporter’s, blog post.

So much positive reaction about Alzheimer’s and dignity, as I blogged about a few days ago…

But something depressing and sinister crossed my desk just this morning … a link sent by my dad from the Sarasota (Florida) Tribune regarding the sad reality that most Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers must suffer, and as so much of this work does, it breaks my heart.

It tells the story of Arnold Krinsk, an Alzheimer’s patient, who suffered extreme INdignity — violence, blacklisting, moving from one facility to another, and all because the people who were tasked with caring for him just don’t give a d*mn.

Dogs in kennels get better treatment.

Over the span of a year, Arnold was shuffled through five nursing facilities, plus two mental health centers, because he was deemed “difficult.” Because he would get upset and lash out, which so very many Alzheimer’s patients do, Arnold would be expelled — and it would be up to his wife of 60 years, Sara, to figure out where he should go next. The last place she found for him, before he died, was one of compassion, one that could tend his needs and offer him the dignity he so deserved. He died not long after that.

Too often, as Every Patient’s Advocate, I hear horror stories about nursing homes and the way residents are treated like animals. Trying to fix the nursing home, long-term care facility debacle is an advocacy all its own. But because both my mother and my mother-in-law reside in long term care facilities, I take so many of these reports so personally. And I thank God every day that they are both living in fine places, both treated with compassion and caring.

SHAME on those people who work in facilities that treat their residents as sub-humans. SHAME on them for not respecting those in their care. SHAME on them everytime they do something — anything — they would not want done to themselves or someone they love. SHAME on them for sucking all the quality from the life of another human being.

And SHAME on a system that allows that to happen. That system is comprised of people who must look at themselves in the mirror every day. I don’t know how they face themselves.

And don’t tell me the system works like that because there’s not enough money, or not enough staff or not enough of whatever it is. Some facilities have figured out how to make it work — and all facilities should follow suit.

Sorry — everytime I think about how we treat too many of the elders in this country - a la this article — it gets my blood boiling.

	………………
	Want more tools for sharp patients? Sign up for Every Patient’s Advocate once-a-week or so email tips Or link here to empower yourself at EveryPatientsAdvocate.com
	………………

So much positive reaction about Alzheimer’s and dignity, as I blogged about a few days ago…

But something depressing and sinister crossed my desk just this morning … a link sent by my dad from the Sarasota (Florida) Tribune regarding the sad reality that most Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers must suffer, and as so much of this work does, it breaks my heart.

It tells the story of Arnold Krinsk, an Alzheimer’s patient, who suffered extreme INdignity — violence, blacklisting, moving from one facility to another, and all because the people who were tasked with caring for him just don’t give a d*mn.

Dogs in kennels get better treatment.

Over the span of a year, Arnold was shuffled through five nursing facilities, plus two mental health centers, because he was deemed “difficult.” Because he would get upset and lash out, which so very many Alzheimer’s patients do, Arnold would be expelled — and it would be up to his wife of 60 years, Sara, to figure out where he should go next. The last place she found for him, before he died, was one of compassion, one that could tend his needs and offer him the dignity he so deserved. He died not long after that.

Too often, as Every Patient’s Advocate, I hear horror stories about nursing homes and the way residents are treated like animals. Trying to fix the nursing home, long-term care facility debacle is an advocacy all its own. But because both my mother and my mother-in-law reside in long term care facilities, I take so many of these reports so personally. And I thank God every day that they are both living in fine places, both treated with compassion and caring.

SHAME on those people who work in facilities that treat their residents as sub-humans. SHAME on them for not respecting those in their care. SHAME on them everytime they do something — anything — they would not want done to themselves or someone they love. SHAME on them for sucking all the quality from the life of another human being.

And SHAME on a system that allows that to happen. That system is comprised of people who must look at themselves in the mirror every day. I don’t know how they face themselves.

And don’t tell me the system works like that because there’s not enough money, or not enough staff or not enough of whatever it is. Some facilities have figured out how to make it work — and all facilities should follow suit.

Sorry — everytime I think about how we treat too many of the elders in this country - a la this article — it gets my blood boiling.

	………………
	Want more tools for sharp patients? Sign up for Every Patient’s Advocate once-a-week or so email tips Or link here to empower yourself at EveryPatientsAdvocate.com
	………………