{"id":135749,"date":"2016-12-03T00:13:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/experimental-drug-being-tested-for-lewy-body-dementia\/"},"modified":"2016-12-03T00:13:43","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:13:43","slug":"experimental-drug-being-tested-for-lewy-body-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/experimental-drug-being-tested-for-lewy-body-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"Experimental drug being tested for Lewy body dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Merkel was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia<\/a> three years ago. He has a continuous hand tremor that has taken away his ability to work on his beloved vintage Corvettes. <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the only thing the disease has taken from this Pennsylvania man. Merkel\u2019s wife Kay has watched the disorder rob his memory. It also causes hallucinations and can lead to Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s devastating, really,\u201d she told CBS News.<\/p>\n

\"lewy-body-dementia-patient.jpg\"<\/span>
\n

Don and Kay Merkel. Don has Lewy body dementia and is participating in a new drug trial.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lewy body dementia affects about 1.5 million people in the U.S., making it the second most common type of dementia<\/a> after Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Robin<\/span>
\n CBS This Morning<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Williams’ widow on actor’s struggle with Lewy body dementia<\/h3>\n

\n Beloved actor Robin Williams died in August 2014. Despite his larger-than-life spirit on screen, Williams was battling with Lewy body dementia. H…\n <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Actor Robin Williams<\/a> is said to have suffered with Lewy body dementia<\/a> before taking his own life in 2014. His widow, Susan Schneider Williams, referred to the disease as \u201cthe terrorist inside my husband\u2019s brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medical researchers are now working on new treatment options for Lewy body dementia, including testing the first drug developed to treat it.<\/p>\n

Don Merkel is taking part in a clinical trial of that new medication.<\/p>\n

His neurologist, Dr. David Weisman, is optimistic. \u201cI\u2019m really encouraged that a drug company is aware of this disease because it\u2019s been way overlooked in the past, and taking this on I think is an exciting first step,\u201d Weisman said.<\/p>\n

The experimental drug is designed to boost neurotransmitters in the brain to improve memory and reduce other symptoms. The drug trial is taking place at 30 sites around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully there\u2019ll be a breakthrough, which is wishful thinking, but you never know,\u201d Merkel said.<\/p>\n

But while the couple tries to remain positive, they don\u2019t actually know if Merkel is getting the drug or a placebo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For now, they say they live every day the best they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if it doesn\u2019t make a difference for us, down the road it would make a difference for somebody else,\u201d Kay Merkel said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Merkel was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia three years ago. He has a continuous hand tremor that has taken away his ability to work on his beloved vintage Corvettes. But that\u2019s not the only thing the disease has taken from this Pennsylvania man. Merkel\u2019s wife Kay has watched the disorder rob his memory. It Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}