Monterey, CA Parkinson’s Disease Can Take A Terrible Toll

A woman is helping an older man with his shirt off.


Like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s can be a devastating disease which can take a heavy toll on your body. There have been few new treatments for both diseases, which has been disappointing. The disease hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from researchers until last December when a report said that Parkinson’s disease strikes 90,000 older Americans each year, 3x the previous estimate of 30,000 per year. See a neurologist if you suspect that you or a loved one may be noticing shaking and other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Carmel, CA Parkinson’s Disease Can Take A Terrible Toll

A person putting an ear piece in to a persons ear.


Like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s can be a devastating disease which can take a heavy toll on your body.  There have been few new treatments for both diseases, which has been disappointing.  The disease hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from researchers until last December when a report said that Parkinson’s disease strikes 90,000 older Americans each year, 3x the previous estimate of 30,000 per year.  See a neurologist if you suspect that you or a loved one may be noticing shaking and other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

New Hope For Those With Heart Disease

A doctor and patient looking at a book


One issue facing cardiologists which are treating heart disease is the fact that they often find a hard calcium packed shell covering a soft and gooey plaque in blood vessel walls.  That makes it tough to insert a balloon to clear the artery walls.  However, there is a new technique called “Intravascular lithotripsey (or IVL)†which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, in 2021 which uses shock waves to break up hardened deposits in the heart and even kidney stones.  “Coronary artery disease patients in their Late 60’s, 70’s  or 80’s and even older will generally have calcium in their blockages, so this is an important tool for treating heart disease in older persons, particularly the elderly,†cardiologist Dr. Quinn Capers told AARP Bulletin.

Monterey, CA Parkinson’s Disease Can Take A Terrible Toll

A person putting an ear piece in to a persons ear.


Like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s can be a devastating disease which can take a heavy toll on your body.  There have been few new treatments for both diseases, which has been disappointing.  The disease hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from researchers until last December when a report said that Parkinson’s disease strikes 90,000 older Americans each year, 3x the previous estimate of 30,000 per year.  See a neurologist if you suspect that you or a loved one may be noticing shaking and other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Eat More Fiber

A table filled with lots of different foods.


A recent study of 2,735 people found that women who ate the least amount of fiber were 2.9x as likely to die from inflammatory heart disease as high fiber eaters.  For every additional 10 grams of fiber that you eat per day, your risk of stroke increases by 12% noted the research.

Alarming Number of Heart Attacks At An Early Age

A stethoscope and heart on the table.


AARP Bulletin (January/February 2023 Issue, page 9) had an alarming story about the growing number of people in their 50’s who are having a major heart attack.  The article profiled Lori Kubitz who, at the age of 54 did not smoke and was not overweight, woke at 4:00 a.m. as she was having a massive heart attack.  “We’re looking at a crisis in terms of lowering life expectancy for the first time in decades,†Dr. Sadiya Khan, a cardiologist, told AARP Bulletin.  A 2022 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists heart disease, along with the opiod crisis and COVID, as key drivers for a higher death rate.  Death rates for those being middle-aged from 45 to 64 from heart disease have risen by 8.5% between 2010 to 2020, according to Kaiser Permanente.

New Cholesterol Treatments Hit The Market

A stethoscope and heart on the table.


Roughly 30% of people who have been prescribed traditional statins to reduce blood pressure in order to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes can’t take the dosage prescribed because they can’t tolerate the muscle pain that is often a side effect.  Recent research has provided new evidence that non-statin treatments can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by taking two daily cholesterol-lowering pills along with an anti-inflammatory pill.  Physicians have embraced the new treatment strategy.  “We need to do whatever we can to lower LDL cholesterol,†Dr. Eugene Yan, a cardiologist at the University of Washington, told the Wall Street Journal.  Unfortunately, the new treatment options are more costly than statins, so we will have to see how Medicare and private insurance companies weigh in on this.

Diabetes Treatment Enters A New Phase

A person holding their hands together in the middle of a field.


New guidelines for treating Type 2 diabetes call for the use of one of the newer diabetes medicines rather than Metformin in order to help reduce weight and protect the heart and kidneys.  Many people suffer from hypertension, kidney disease and obesity along with Type 2 diabetes so this should be welcome news that these new drugs can help with that.  “It’s a fundamental departure from the classical approach of trying to fix the blood sugars, which is what we used to focus on because it’s all we could really do,†Dr. Marie McDonnell, director of the diabetes program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told the Wall Street Journal.   The new drugs belong to two classes known by the acronyms SGLT-2 and GLP-1.  The changes are being made so doctors can tailor the drug to the patient, rather than have a one-size-fits-all strategy, according to Dr. Nuha Ali El Sayed, an endocrinologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.  He is also VP of healthcare improvement at the American Diabetes Association.

85% Of Older Americans Have Chronic Disease

A woman sitting next to an older man on a couch.


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 85% of older Americans have one or more chronic condition.  This also applies to the one in five adults that AARP estimates serve as unpaid family caregivers.  Sadly, many of them have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, which can be quite challenging to deal with.  Fainting due to dehydration, falls and other forms of accidental trauma are reported to be the leading cause of hospitalization for Alzheimer’s patients, even though they are preventable.  If you are caring for a loved one, it’s important you get some respite care as the stress can be intense, particularly if you are caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease.

America Is Losing The Battle Against Heart Disease, Our Number One Killer

A stethoscope and heart on the table.


After decades of steady decline, heart disease is coming back with a fervor, and often with fatal consequences.  In 1948, President Harry Truman signed the National Heart Act, establishing the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.  The President also funded the landmark Framingham Heart Study, the world’s longest-running population study of heart disease.  For the next six decades, we were winning the war on heart disease.  Deaths from heart attacks, heart failure, heart rhythm disorders and related conditions fell a whopping 69% between 1950 and 2009.  Lately, however, it has been bad news.  “We’re looking at a crisis in terms of lowering life expectancy for the first time in decades,†cardiologist Sadiya Khan, M.D., told AARP.ORG/BULLETIN (January/February Issue, page 9). Death rates from heart disease for people between the ages of 45-64 rose 8.5% between 2010 and 2020.  More recently, the COVID pandemic has taken its toll on our nation’s hearts.  In 2020 and 2021, heart attack deaths increased by 21% for those 45-64 and 17.9% for those 65 and older.  These are frightening statistics.