Is it really Alzheimer’s, or could it be a drug you’re taking?

Imagine the terrifying thought of being told you have Alzheimer’s disease.

You realize that you’ll slowly be robbed of your precious memories, your independence and eventually your life.

Now, imagine finding out it was all a big mistake, a bad dream. You really didn’t have Alzheimer’s after all.

Well, that may be happening to hundreds of thousands of Americans.

And many of them have become sitting ducks for this devastating diagnosis simply because they were taking certain drugs or even had a very common condition left untreated.

It’s an urgent warning for anyone who may be experiencing memory loss — but you need to know the facts now before it’s too late.

Every expert has been ‘fooled’

The statistics are sobering.

The Alzheimer’s Association tells us that by the time you finish reading this, someone else in the U.S. will have Alzheimer’s disease. We’re told that over five million Americans have already been diagnosed.

But Canadian researchers, from the Keenan Research Center for Biomedical Science in Toronto, have just uncovered some startling new findings.

By analyzing the data on over 1,000 people collected by the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), they discovered that it’s possible close to 11 percent of those told by their doctors they had Alzheimer’s did not have it.

Let me repeat that: We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of Americans getting this heartbreaking diagnosis who most likely never had Alzheimer’s disease.

But how is it possible that so many mistakes could be made?

First, diagnosing Alzheimer’s isn’t based on some brain scan or blood test. It’s a judgement call made by a doctor based entirely on symptoms. And there are numerous things other than the disease itself that can cause those symptoms (more on that in a minute).

And if you’re wondering how the researchers were so sure of their conclusions, well, they looked at the only thing that can say with any real accuracy that someone had Alzheimer’s. And that’s an autopsy.

The NACC, which is funded by the National Institute on Aging, maintains thousands of brain tissue samples from over 200 NIA-funded Alzheimer’s centers in the U.S. that the Canadians used for their study.

So, what was really wrong with all those patients given that false diagnosis?

The Canadian researchers said that they probably had other types of dementia that looked just like Alzheimer’s. And that could be true, however…

…there are well over 100 drugs, both OTC and Rx, with side effects that can make some people appear to be textbook Alzheimer’s cases.

Some of the most common ones include:

• Benzodiazepines — or “benzos,” which include Xanax and Valium.
• Antihistimatines, such as Benadryl.
• Sleeping pills, like Ambien.
• Statins, such as Lipitor and other acid-reflux meds, including Zantac.
• Blood-pressure and heart drugs like Procardia and Vasodilan.
• Meds for incontinence, such as Detrol, and,
• Drugs for Parkinson’s, tranquilizers and older classes of antidepressants.

And I’m not talking about causing just a little forgetfulness, either.

Gary Kennedy, who is chief of geriatric psychiatry at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center, says that he’s been referred patients with “a clear history of dementia,” but when he “started to peel back the medications,” they began improving.

Another specialist said that “every Alzheimer’s expert living today has been fooled.”

On top of that, a few weeks ago I told you how actor and musician Kris Kristofferson had been told for years by his doctors that he had Alzheimer’s — only to be “cured” of it when he finally got treatment for Lyme disease.

And one neurosurgeon who has treated “Alzheimer’s” patients by draining excess fluid buildup in the brain for a condition called NPH, said, “I’ve seen patients go from about to enter a nursing home to playing golf again and traveling.”

The bottom line is that if you or someone you love has been told they have Alzheimer’s, it’s vital to stop, take a deep breath, and see if something else might be the cause — while you still can.

Sources:
“2 in 10 Alzheimer’s cases may be misdiagnosed” Steven Reinberg, July 26, 2016, HealthDay, comsumer.healthday.com