broken record

Hi there - my first post here. I'ts prob been all over this board but a quick search did not find many references to COFFEE.

My father has suffered from Alzheimer’s for many years now. He has been described as unusual example of an Alzheimer’s suffer due to his extraordinarily social nature – he was once an incredibly articulate man with a rapier wit - social stimulation has always brought out the very best in him. Most people who only see him on good days and with the benefit of social stimulation simply think he is as charming conversationalist who is often funnier than your average able minded person. His social skills provide a very good mask for the cruel effects of Alzheimer’s and until recently the sad reality was when he was not socially stimulated he often couldn’t remember basic words and things that happened only seconds ago. Most of the time he could not be left unattended as was likely to attempt odd and dangerous things or wander off. I am still not comfortable leaving him alone (other than brief periods) and he still gets confused and forgets things....but things have improved considerably!

Here is the interesting thing. Around January I started to notice that my father seemed to be doing better, then better again and so on and on. Eventually, I realised that this was not just a good period and that he appeared to be experiencing a dramatic reversal of effect with many of his Alzheimer’s symptoms. Baffled by this I started racking my mind and considering what had changed or what might behind this improvement. The only apparent change in diet / lifestyle was the purchase of a very good espresso machine had resulted in my father consuming at least two / three strong and fresh coffees daily. I started telling friends and his doctor about my observation in the hope that someone might be able to shed some light on my theory - It seemed remarkable to me that such a simple little change could be behind such a major improvement in an apparently irreversible disease. Then, ironically enough, while I was boring a friend with my theory over a drink (earlier this month) a news story came over the television regarding a study that had just been published in the US relating to caffeine and Alzheimer’s.

Since seeing this news item and researching it further on the internet we have seen two doctors, neither mentioned the study or suggested drinking coffee. Other than the one news story and limited information about the study online there seems to have been very little fanfare about the study or little awareness of coffee as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s. It may be a simple coincidence that my father started drinking a lot of coffee and had a noticed and marked improvement with his Alzheimer’s just before this study was released...whatever it is has made a huge difference in our day to day life. Given, that it is such a simple treatment and there now seems to be some science that backs up my seemingly impossibly & simple theory - I feel that I should let people suffering from Alzheimer’s (directly or indirectly) know that since my father started drinking a hell of a lot more coffee we have seen a big improvement.

I'm interested to hear from others that have noticed a marked improvment with a large increase in coffee consumption and would also like to know if anyone has had a doctor suggest giving large quanities of coffee to assist with AD.

Cheers.