Pain and paralysis 'could be relieved by Alzheimer's drug'

Pain and paralysis could be relieved by an experimental drug designed to treat Alzheimer's disease, a new study has indicated.

Experimental compounds used to build up the brains of Alzheimer's patients assist the regeneration of crushed or cut nerve endings, according to the research conducted at Johns Hopkins.

Researcher Mohamed Farah explained that after an injury, the tissue around nerves sometimes degenerates before the nerve can heal, but if nerves are helped to regenerate more rapidly, they could become healthy again after injury.

"Anything that speeds nerve re-growth could be enormously helpful to people with nerve injuries caused by a range of injuries and diseases, from diabetic neuropathy to motorcycle accidents," he said.

This comes after researchers at Mayo clinic developed a tool able to track the progress of multiple sclerosis, a condition that damaged the optic nerves and causes brain and spinal injury.

Doctors could potentially predict which patients will experience a faster onset of the condition, according to the findings presented at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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