A new Cleveland Clinic-led study has identified sildenafil – (Viagra) and pulmonary hypertension (Revatio) – as a promising drug candidate to help prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease.

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There are currently drugs available that which for a short period of time enhance the ability of some one with dementia to better complete the interaction between the neurons that are being damaged by their specific dementia disease.

Although the available drugs currently do not halt the disease or reverse existing brain damage, they may improve the symptoms of the disease for a short period of time.

These drugs may improve an individual’s quality of life, and somewhat ease the burden on caregivers, and also possibly delay admission to a nursing home for a short period of time.

There is much research ongoing to finding a way to stop many of the dementia's. But due to the complexity of the diseases, it may be sometime before we see a cure.

However for those who have dementia when the cure does finally come, the one problem will be that these cures will not return the functions one once had.

Once the damage has been done to the brain, currently, that damage is irreversible.

For many people with dementia, adherence to a daily routine is very important. For those in the early stages they may benefit from practicing tasks designed to improve performance in specific aspects of cognitive functioning.

For example, people can sometimes use memory aids, such as mnemonics, computerized recall devices, note taking, etc. These are not long terms solutions as the ability to use these aids will in time fail and could potentially become a point of frustration as the disease progresses.

For more information regarding good care giving techniques and education of the diseases we suggest participation in one or more of our support groups.