An Op-Ed article by Patricia Bencivenga and Judy Butler, published on 14 October 2022 in the Pittsbert Post Gazette, Drug company tricks: Gaslighting the worried well into becoming the worried sick, highlights the power of the rich parhmaceutical companues, and their hold on research progress, researchers and dementia charities. They provide massive amounts of funding to all cohosts, and as a consequence, weild unhealthy power. The article has many examples; these two paragraphs work well for my message today:

“Pharmaceutical companies have a history of making healthy people believe they are ill, but Biogen’s efforts to gaslight elders into thinking they have Alzheimer’s is particularly egregious. For example, it really doesn’t matter how you respond to the memory questionnaire at MyBrainGuide.org — anything you answer leads to a recommendation to visit your doctor for a cognitive workup.

Biogen teamed up with UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, an advocacy group that they fund, to offer “tailored resources” if you take their online cognitive test. BrainGuide launched in March 2021 — just a few months prior to the FDA’s widely derided approval of Aduhelm (aducanumab), an ineffective drug with serious potential harms and the first of the anti-amyloid drugs for Alzheimer’s in Biogen’s pipeline. Within a year, more than 150,000 people had taken the questionnaire, conveniently offered in English and Spanish, either online or by phone.”

The article highlighted above reminded of being almost verbally attacked in London at the ADI conference, and of Professor Dale Bredesen being defamed, by a professor of neurology who only believes in the pharmaceutical approach to dementia, regardless of the side effects or if treatments actually work, or are released toop soon to meet safety standards.

So, the message was clear. It is ok for patients to spend an unacceptable $56,000 per year on a drug that has not been proven to work, or proven to be safe – but – patients are not supported to take a holistic approach, most often costing very little. Even Dale Bredesen’s Protocol is nowhere near $56,000 per year, as the original cost per patient for Aduhelm was. The cost has been reduced to $28,000 per patient per year, as reported by Biogen earlier this year: “As of January 1, 2022, Biogen will cut the price of its Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm (aducanumab-avwa) in half: saying too many patients are not currently being offered the choice of the drug due to financial considerations.”

Whereas, the average cost of a Bredesen Practitioner is somewhere between $1,399 to $3000 (this may be dependant on where you live), and the cost of supplements, which I know can be expensive, but which so far have NEVER cost me more than about $5000 per year, and usually, much less than that.

For most of my life, I have had no choice but to rely on holistic health as western medecine has failed me, so my options were restricted to healthier, non pharmaceutical interventions such as supplements and/or healthier lifestyle.

I’ve always found there are few harmful side effects from a healthier diet and increasing my weekly exercise! – Kate Swaffer

It reminded me of a phone call I took, after receiving an email asking for ‘a time sensitive meeting’, where the founder of a wealthy dementia charity in the USA asked me for my personal support for their messaging about aduhelm, and for me to garner more support for them. As I did not believe in Aduhelm being released, I declined the request. Many others including scientists who worked at the FDA also agreed, three people resigned from the FDA after its release, and more were to follow.

Oops, but I’m off track, as I want to highlight one more paragraph from Bencivenga and Butler’s article:

Pharmaceutical companies have a history of making healthy people believe they are ill, but Biogen’s efforts to gaslight elders into thinking they have Alzheimer’s is particularly egregious. For example, it really doesn’t matter how you respond to the memory questionnaire at MyBrainGuide.org — anything you answer leads to a recommendation to visit your doctor for a cognitive workup.

The other major challenge with this approach is it also makes most people believe, if they are unwell, that they will not get well, without risky and often very expensive pharmaceuticals… My firm belief is we all need to take responsibility for our own health, and for our own wellness, and not to think it is only a pharmaceutical solution that will make us well when we do get sick.

There really is big money in dementia…