ORLANDO, Fla. – For years, scientists who study Alzheimer’s disease have acknowledged an increase in seizures in patients but didn’t focus much attention on them.
That’s changing. New information on the frequency and timing of seizures may give researchers more insight into how the disease can progress.
After three decades and six children, Scott and Susie Plakon were dealt a crushing blow. Doctors diagnosed Susie with Alzheimer’s. She was only 53.
“For several years I couldn’t even tell my kids they were going to lose their mom in three to five years because Alzheimer’s is fatal 100% of the time,” Scott said.
Scott scaled back his legislative duties to care for Susie until her death in 2018. Scott said he initially had no idea what Susie would face, including sudden, dangerous falls.
“I found her lying on her side in a seizure state, in a pool of blood coming from her head, and I didn’t know what it was,” he said.
“What can happen in the patients with Alzheimer’s disease is essentially a change in the structure of their brain,” said Dr. Rosemary Lair, medical director at Advent Health Maturing Minds Memory Disorder Clinic.
Brain and nerve cell changes can lead to seizures. A study of 300,000 U.S. Veterans over the age of 55 showed seizures were associated with twice the risk for developing dementia between one and nine years later. Laird was not involved in the newest research, but said at the very least clinicians need to carefully treat seizures and prepare caregivers.
“If the seizures are active enough and disruptive enough or put them at risk to get hurt, you have to kind of prioritize to that,” Laird said.
Scott says every scientific finding may bring doctors closer to new treatments and someday a cure.
“I’m looking forward to that day,” he said.
Scott continues to honor Susie by advocating for Alzheimer’s research and working to improve public awareness.