Wayne
Senior Member
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- Ashland, Oregon
Insulin Nasal Spray For ME Cognitive Dysfunction ?
I watched a short segment on PBS news tonight, and thought I'd post a link to it here. The first link is to the video (8 minutes); the second link is to a separate article (I pasted some excerpts below).
Insulin Spritz Shows Promise for People With Early Signs of Alzheimer's
Study Shows Insulin Spray Boosts Memory in Alzheimer's Patients
I had not been aware before watching this that diabetes is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's, and that insulin plays a critical role in memory formation. It's also necessary to be available (in the brain) to make glucose available to the brain, which I believe is the only energy the brain can use.
These factors made wonder if at least part of the reason for ME, Lyme and other chronic illness cognitive dysfunction could be a result of insulin problems. So I'll be interested to see how this research plays out, and whether insulin nasal sprays might become available for "off label" use by some progressive doctors.
I've noticed some on this board have mentioned issues with insulin use in the body. Perhaps something as simple as an insulin nasal spray could help some of the brain fog/cognitive dysfunction that we deal with.
Best, Wayne
...........................................................
September 12, 2011
What if you could prevent or slow Alzheimer's disease just by giving patients nasal spray containing insulin, just once or twice a day after a meal? ......... Researchers have been exploring that possibility for some time. But a new study out Monday provides the best indications yet that such a treatment might provide some hope for helping at least early stage Alzheimer's patients.
Results from the trial -- a so-called Phase II trial designed to test the safety and early efficacy of such an approach -- were published in the Archives of Neurology*. Scientists tested 104 patients with either early to moderate-stage Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment (often a harbinger for Alzheimer's) to see how they responded to the insulin spray. Thirty-six participants received a moderate dose of the insulin spray twice a day for four months, 36 got double that dose, and 30 of the patients were on placebo.
The initial results were encouraging.
The idea behind the insulin trial, Craft said, is that researchers increasingly understand that insulin plays an important role in the brain in both supporting memory, processing new information and protecting against the toxic effects of proteins like beta-amyloid, which collects in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.
"Alzheimer's patients," she said, "seem to have a deficiency of insulin in their brains. This led to the hypothesis that if we were to supplement insulin, we might be able to improve their symptoms or the pathology that is causing the disease. We were searching ways to get insulin to the brain. What we came up with was administering it to the nose -- using a specialized device that targets insulin to the upper part of the naval cavity. Insulin reaches the brain within a 15 to 30-minute timeframe that way."
Doctors also took PET scans of some patients, comparing the decline of the glucose metabolism in the brains. As shown in this slide of those scans, patients who took a daily dose of insulin had less of a decline in that metabolism than the placebo group.
I watched a short segment on PBS news tonight, and thought I'd post a link to it here. The first link is to the video (8 minutes); the second link is to a separate article (I pasted some excerpts below).
Insulin Spritz Shows Promise for People With Early Signs of Alzheimer's
Study Shows Insulin Spray Boosts Memory in Alzheimer's Patients
I had not been aware before watching this that diabetes is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's, and that insulin plays a critical role in memory formation. It's also necessary to be available (in the brain) to make glucose available to the brain, which I believe is the only energy the brain can use.
These factors made wonder if at least part of the reason for ME, Lyme and other chronic illness cognitive dysfunction could be a result of insulin problems. So I'll be interested to see how this research plays out, and whether insulin nasal sprays might become available for "off label" use by some progressive doctors.
I've noticed some on this board have mentioned issues with insulin use in the body. Perhaps something as simple as an insulin nasal spray could help some of the brain fog/cognitive dysfunction that we deal with.
Best, Wayne
...........................................................
September 12, 2011
What if you could prevent or slow Alzheimer's disease just by giving patients nasal spray containing insulin, just once or twice a day after a meal? ......... Researchers have been exploring that possibility for some time. But a new study out Monday provides the best indications yet that such a treatment might provide some hope for helping at least early stage Alzheimer's patients.
Results from the trial -- a so-called Phase II trial designed to test the safety and early efficacy of such an approach -- were published in the Archives of Neurology*. Scientists tested 104 patients with either early to moderate-stage Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment (often a harbinger for Alzheimer's) to see how they responded to the insulin spray. Thirty-six participants received a moderate dose of the insulin spray twice a day for four months, 36 got double that dose, and 30 of the patients were on placebo.
The initial results were encouraging.
The idea behind the insulin trial, Craft said, is that researchers increasingly understand that insulin plays an important role in the brain in both supporting memory, processing new information and protecting against the toxic effects of proteins like beta-amyloid, which collects in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.
"Alzheimer's patients," she said, "seem to have a deficiency of insulin in their brains. This led to the hypothesis that if we were to supplement insulin, we might be able to improve their symptoms or the pathology that is causing the disease. We were searching ways to get insulin to the brain. What we came up with was administering it to the nose -- using a specialized device that targets insulin to the upper part of the naval cavity. Insulin reaches the brain within a 15 to 30-minute timeframe that way."
Doctors also took PET scans of some patients, comparing the decline of the glucose metabolism in the brains. As shown in this slide of those scans, patients who took a daily dose of insulin had less of a decline in that metabolism than the placebo group.