KNOXVILLE (WATE) – Hundreds of people were at Sevier Heights Baptist Church Thursday to hear what a leading Alzheimer’s specialist had to say about the degenerative brain disease.
Dr. John Dougherty, with Cole Neuroscience Center at UT Medical Center, not only talked, he listened as people of all ages shared their stories about life with a loved one struggling with the mind-robbing disease.
Knoxville News Sentinel – Hundreds turn out to hear Alzheimer’s Expert
WATE TV Knoxville, TN – Alzheimer’s Expert Shares His Knowledge at Knoxville Event
Today, Bloomberg Businessweek published a study documenting the decrease in the cost of care when dementia is diagnosed early. Cost savings is a great thing. But bigger than that is the increased quality of life and potential delay of disease progression for early and proper diagnosis. The earlier we diagnose a disease like Alzheimer’s, the more effective the treatments are at staving off the onset of additional symptoms or worsening of those existing. Read More
ALZselftest creator, Dr. John Dougherty, is leveraging the new driving simulator at the University of Tennessee to conduct some very important research on driving and Alzheimer’s disease. You can read the full story from WATE here. Please note the Lenoir City Forget Me Not 5k benefits Dr. Dougherty’s research. If you are in the Knoxville area, please plan to join us!
“Some people with severe memory problems have a difficult time remembering how to get home. They get lost in the car,” Dr. Dougherty says. “But also other things happen in Alzheimer’s disease. That is, one’s attention can be affected. You might see a dog or a child run across the street and may not be able to react as quickly.”
Dr. Dougherty hopes to start testing his patients in the simulator within the next couple of months.
Lenoir City is hosting the Forget Me Not 5K for Alzheimer’s on Saturday April 17. All proceeds will go toward Dr. Dougherty’s research at UT.
The Alzheimer’s Association is holding a Memory Walk in Knoxville the same day.
From WATE News in Knoxville, TN. Get the whole story here.
KNOXVILLE (WATE) – A new online test developed in Knoxville may help with earlier diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease.
An estimated 5 million people have Alzheimer’s disease and the latest studies show up to 60 percent go undiagnosed until it’s too late to do much about it.
It’s a progressive and fatal disease of the brain that destroys brain cells, causing memory loss and problems with thinking and behavior.
The simple, interactive test is posted on the Web sitealzselftest.com. It only takes 10 minutes and costs just under $20.
Your answers reveal important information about your mental functions.
The test is a sort of fitness test for the brain. It starts with questions like what year is it? What month? What week?
Then the questions progress to dig deeper into what’s going on in your brain.
At UT Medical Center’s Cole Neuroscience Center, researcher Rex Cannon, with UT Knoxville, and Dr. John Dougherty with the, UT Graduate School of Medicine, developed the test to get more people diagnosed in time to make a difference in their quality of life.
“It’s so important, if not critical, for people to come early for evaluation. That’s why we’ve been so interested in developing this test that people can access online. Or if they’re not computer literate a loved one, family member, can help them with the computer interface,” Dr. Dougherty says.
“Nobody is really afraid of the test and I think that’s important they don’t feel alienated, kind of comfortable taking it. It speaks to the patient with verbal instructions so that’s important,” Cannon says.
After you take the test, if you show early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, you can take the results to your doctor.
