Expert: Mary Gordon - 11/19/2009

Question
1. is there a known cure for these diseases?
2. if there is no cure, or if there is a cure, are there some things that helps to keep these diseases from getting worse? Is happiness one of them?
3. How important is happiness to the people who have this disease, or to anyone?
4. Does human interaction(like activities, playing music, talking)especially from youth help the citizens who have these diseases.
5. Do you think it is important for youth to take action and volunteer to work with the people(play music for them, talk with them, do activities with them, help them, etc...) who are affected by these diseases (ex. like at a nursing home)?
6. What do you think is the best cure for them?

Answer
1. Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease are very different illnesses. There is no known cure for either.

2. Both of these diseases are relentlessly progressive. There are some medications that can alleviate some of the symptoms for a while, and can sometimes slow down the progress a bit in some people for a while, but they do not stop the progress. In other words, even if you take the medications, you will get worse - it might just delay it a bit and buy the person more time with better quality of life. This can make a big difference for an elderly person whose life span is already limited.

3. I would say that happiness is a factor in quality of life. Few people want to keep living if it means endless suffering and misery. If a person can feel comfortable and safe, know they are cared about, and can enjoy even a few simple things, that makes a big difference. People who are very depressed or stressed tend to be more susceptible to all kinds of illnesses that can shorten their lives when added to their Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.

4. Human beings are social creatures. Almost everyone needs interaction, and feels better when there are interesting activities to participate in and people to talk to.  Many elderly people get very isolated by their disabilities, and they are very lonely and bored. Quite often they have no one to give them a hug or pay any attention to them as a person. Quite often they have had children of their own and grandchildren and they do like to see young people.

5. Sometimes young people don't realize that inside an elderly person is still a person.  Sometimes if they have a dementia, the older person doesn't even realize that they are elderly. My mother in law forgot her whole adult life, so inside in her mind, she was still a girl or young woman. She wanted to go home to her parents. She couldn't understand who we were or where her sisters were. Can you imagine if tomorrow you woke up in a body that didn't work, and you couldn't remember how you got there? You would still be you, and you would still feel scared and lonely and want to know someone cared.  You would still like to listen to music and see interesting things and have people around you. I think it is very important for young people to learn compassion and caring, and to really come to understand the "Golden Rule". We need to treat people the way we would want to be treated if we were in their shoes. Someday, if you are lucky enough to live a long time, you might end up being that person sitting alone hoping something nice will happen to break up their long lonely day.  As much as the elderly people get out of your visits, you will get back than you give by learning kindness, patience and how to give to your community.  

6. Right now there is no cure - mostly because science is still trying to figure out exactly what causes these illnesses. Perhaps when we understand exactly how these two illnesses start and why, and what causes the damage, they will be able to come up with a cure. More likely is that once we understand them better, we will be able to manage them, rather than completely cure them - kind of like the way we can manage diabetes. We can't cure it, but we can manage it as a chronic condition, and the person can live a long time and have good quality of life.  Human bodies do wear out and become frail. We aren't meant to last forever. If you could stop an illness like Alzheimer's from progressing, or really slow it down, the person might live out a normal lifespan before they became disabled.

Hope this helps.

Mary