welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Monday, July 3, 2017

my head hurts

MY HEAD HURTS
thats what i told my wife she
last week as i was headed towards getting my mri

thats good she said
no
she wasnt being mean to me
she like me knows that if my head hurts a week or so
after getting my infusions of the aducanumab
thats a good thing

thats a side effect of the medicine
since
if i get headaches
that could mean i am getting the real thing
however
i will never ever know if i did get the real thing
unless
this mri shows something

the way this stuff works
the aducanumab
is it is an antibody to the bad beta amyloid that forms
plaques in the brain
beta amyloid plaques
these plaques damages brain cells
thus
the beta amyloid theory of what happens in alzheimers disease

remove these plaques then you are slowing down
or
if we are all lucky
stopping the disease in its tracks

the headaches
if they are caused by the aducanumab
occur in folks who receive it who have the apoe 4 apoe4 gene
which i do

for some reason those of us with this combo
are at risk as the beta amyloid is being removed
of getting micro bleeds
like
when you remove a scab off a wound
and
it bleeds

so you can get these when you remove the plaques of beta amyloid
with the aducanumab
however
if you get these micro bleeds
you get ousted from the study
since
things have the potential to get worse if it progresses

so if they call me to tell me the results of the mri
thats not a good thing
not hearing anything
thats a good thing

now dont worry about me
getting bleeding in the brain

i had headaches 24/7 after the first infusion
that lasted a week
however
that headache the other day was the first one i have had since

i have a different feeling
a different approach
i like having the headache up there
i usually wont even take a tylenol for them
they just remind me
that maybe
just maybe
i am one of the lucky ones that is getting the real thing
the real deal
i want to experience the full headache
its almost comforting knowing that its there

then
i do have about a week of fatigue two weeks after the infusions
that lasts about a week
i am in that time period now
just ask my relatives and friends i am visiting
as i fall a asleep mid day while visiting with them
ok ok
i do admit
that ive done that to them before over the years
not able to blame it on the aducanumab in the past
but
i can now

as i progress in the study
i count a total of 7 mris i will have over the course of the 18 month portion of the study
i count a total of 3 amyvid pet scans the pet scans for beta amyloid
i count approximately 20 infusions of the aducanumab

i would love to see that last amyvid scan thats done at the 18 month mark
if i got the real deal
the aducanumab
all that beta amyloid will be gone
if i didnt get the real deal
if i got the fake stuff the placebo
then that scan will still be positive like it was when it qualified me
for the study

at least next year
if this stuff is working for those who get it
and
not causing too much side effects
then the stuff i will be getting in my infusions
will be the real deal stuff
the aducanumab

so
thats why i get excited
when i have side effects
when my wife she is glad when i get a headache
when i fall asleep on everyone while i sit on the couch

weird huh

the organicgreen doctor

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