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As a columnist for a newspaper on the High Plains, I often have readers write me that they are begging their parents to “come back home.” Many people, after retirement, like to leave our cold winters behind, so they summer up north (often in the Minnesota lake country) and then go to the southwest for the winter months. We even have a name for them – snowbirds.

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Another day, another study. Still, new studies interest me, as they show the diverse ways brilliant minds are approaching the Alzheimer's mystery. An article on dailymail.co.uk titled, "New hope for Alzheimer's sufferers after new treatment 'restores memory in minutes,'" explains a nearly magical response by a person with Alzheimer's disease, to an injection of Enbrel, a TNF (tumor necrosis factor) drug used for rheumatoid arthritis. The man with Alzheimer's hadn't recognized his wife in months. Minutes after doctors injected the drug into the spine of the man with Alzheimer's, he recognized his wife.

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I've signed up for a two evening video course to better use video on my blogs and for other Internet projects. I've got the basics down, but there's much left to learn. I can't make the calls live, but they will be recorded for download and the price is a bargain. I thought I'd let readers know in case there's interest. You may want to check out "Boost Business With Videos 2 Day Event"  and join the group.

My sister works for Prairie Public, our PBS station here on - well, here on the prairie. Prairie Public religiously runs the old Lawrence Welk shows, which are nearly fought over by underwriters, as they are so loyally watched. Lawrence Welk was born in tiny Strasburg, ND and died in 1992 in Santa Monica, CA.

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Gloom and doom over the "tsunami" of baby boomers that is going to overwhelm everything from health care to the swimming pool is in the news daily. In fact, I'm getting pretty sick of being associated with a tsunami, but I'd better get used to it. When a phrase gets picked up that is dramatic and rolls of the tongue like that, it's not going to leave headlines anytime soon.

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A press release on pharmalive.com is intriguing. Titled “Alzheimer’s Drug Research: What if the Major Drug Companies Are Betting on the Wrong Horse?” this release focuses on alternative theories to the generally accepted ideas about what causes Alzheimer’s disease. The company featured in this release is a small biotech firm, Anavex, which is working developing a product to fight oxidative stress in the brain.

The release states: “Given the difficulties with the amyloid-beta approach, leading-edge pharmaceutical developers are turning to an alternative hypothesis about Alzheimer’s and driving novel approaches to possible treatments.  This alternate theory presumes that the disease’s cause is not amyloid-beta plaques but rather oxidative stress…”

 Farther down in the release, there are statements questioning the reason for the characteristic plaques and implying that the plaques may actually begin as the body’s attempt to correct the oxidation that is causing the disease. Will this be the direction of future research?

I’m happy to see this as another way of viewing the disease. Until there is a proven cause of Alzheimer’s, and effective treatment or prevention, researchers should be careful not to develop tunnel vision. All possible avenues need to be explored. For this to happen, there have to be companies willing to risk different approaches. 

Maybe, like cancer, Alzheimer’s isn’t all the same. Maybe there are different contributing causes. Until we know more, I enthusiastically greet each new study that shows promise, whether within the mainstream of scientific thought, or that of independent researchers looking for new paths to prevention and cure.

 If oxidation proves to be a cause, it is one more reason to eat a diet rich in antioxidants. That is something we can do now, without a prescription. I’m going to go grab a fist full of blueberries.

A Dutch study has shown promising results in increasing the quality of life for people with Alzheimer's. MSNBC.com reported on the study in an article titled "Bright lights slow dementia patients' decline." The Dutch study also used the hormone melatonin, which has been shown to help the body regulate sleep cycles. In this study, the combination of the two - lights and melatonin - showed as much improvement in the person with Alzheimer's as many showed with some drugs. Unlike drugs, there were no side effects.

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Many people would like to have genetic testing done. Whether their family history includes breast cancer, Parkinson's disease, early on-set Alzheimer's disease or any of a number of other illnesses that may have genetic roots, it can often be good to know if you are, or are not, at risk.

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During my pregnancies in the late 70s,  it was determined by some researchers that if a woman drank anything with caffeine, her child would be born with 12 toes among other horrifying defects. This was the day of the earth mother. We were also  told we were bad mothers if we had any...

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Michelle Munson-Mccorry, of Complete Compassionate Care, was kind enough to send me this excellent PDF titled "Knowledge and Skills Needed for Dementia Care - A Guide for Direct Care Workers in Everyday Language," which was created, over a period of years, by the Michigan Dementia Coalition Dementia Competencies Workgroup, 2008. You'll want to print this out and make good use of it. Michelle gave me permission to allow downloads. Please do yourself a favor and look it over. It's packed with good information for family caregivers as well as professionals.

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CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen wrote an eye-opener on elders and drugs titled "Is Grandma drugged up?" She tells the story of a family who had their mother diagnosed with dementia, and then decided to get a second opinion from a geriatrician. The diagnosis? Too many medicines interacting with on another.

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Agingcare.com wants to know what you think. They have a survey that should take about ten minutes of your time. Answering their questions will automatically give you a chance to win one of ten copies of Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories (winners randomly selected from survey responders).  

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I gave you an update on how my son and I are doing on Eniva products and their leader product Vibe.  I thought, later, that I should have been more transparent about the fact that Eniva products are sold through network marketing. This isn't a bad thing, as it makes the people who take the product and believe in it the "middle man," rather than advertisers and drug stores. However, I do want to make it perfectly clear that:

A. I would not endorse (nor will I take advertising or affiliate marketing from) a product that I don't fully believe in.

B. I would buy Eniva products in a drug store if that were how they were sold. Everything I say about them is my story and how they work for me and/or my son.

C. Yes, if you try them, and they work for you, you can begin your own networking business, though you don't need to. Some people make a living at it. I don't use it that way. I just use the products and people who see how well I'm doing ask and I give them information. Some sign on and start using it because they love it. Others pass on it (as I did twice before) saying it's too expensive or whatever. That's fine. I never push. It took me three exposures and a couple of years, plus advice from a medical professional before I decided to try it. For me, there's no turning back. I can't imagine not taking the products I take, for my brain, eyes and general health.

Anyway, I wanted to add this to the original post, but it had already gone live, and I didn't want to duplicate people's alerts. I avoid that whenever possible. So, here you go. My credibility is vital to me, so I want to be as transparent as possible.