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

Friday, June 1, 2018

alzheimers news-right to try

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-RIGHT TO TRY
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there is not much i agree with trump on
but this one i do
its the right to try legislation that basicallly
lets folks who have run out of options take
drugs that are in phase 1 trials

now phase 1 is the first start to a process
that can take up to 10 or more years before
the drug gets approved and out to the public

eg
my drug aducanumab in its phase 1 study
did fairly well
it removed the measurable amyloid on
pet scans and showed some improvement
in memory for folks who got the
real drug

under this law one could access this drug
now to get treated for this incurable diseease

an advanced cancer might be a better
example though
weve all read about terminal cancer patients
trying to get access to a new drug still in
research

what do they have to lose
right

now alzheimers disease might not be the best
example since when you are in the terminal
stage its too late since so much damage has
been done that the brain cant be fixed

if you were early in the disease process like i
am then you might benefit from these
experimental drugs since the earlier the disease
is treated the more likely it can be slowed
or one day treated

so looking at all the stuff in research for
stopping alzheimers thats in phase 1 2 or 3
my drug aducanumab would be the one i
would choose
it seems it might help slow things down

now
in about 3 months i will definitely get the
real drug so i wouldnt do anything different
than im doing now

but lets say it was 2010 when i was diagnosed
via positive pet scans and positive spinal fluid
and positive genetic tests and positive memory
tests
well in 2010 if this drug was available and this
law was the law i could apply to get this drug
under the right to try law

i wouldnt hesitate one iota to do it

this warning though for folks
you will really have to do your homework on
the right to try drug to be sure you are not
getting some rip off drug or some drug that
is more toxic than your disease

nope i woulnt blink an eye since doing
nothing has only one outcome
its not a good one

i looked at all the stuff im taking now to slow
down this disease and i have noticed that
almost every prescription pill im taking
and every supplement im taking is not
approved by the fda for treating alzheimers
disease

why then am i doing it
well
the options are
well
theres not any

most if not all the things i take are based
some on scientific research some which
is done on animals

heres my list

aricept  (donepezil) is approved for use in
folks with alzheimers but not my diagnosis
mild cognitive impariment
the fda says i shouldnt be on this stuff
yet
new and old research suggests that starting
aricept (donepezil) early may and very
likely helps to prevent the deposition of
amyloid in the brain so starting it early
may be important in slowing down the
disease and not just the symptoms

irbesartan i take for high blood pressure
its also in a class of drugs that may slow
down the disease
again not fda approved for this

atorvastatin thats lipitor for cholesterol
control
again in studies lowering your cholesterol
may slow down the development of
alzheimers
not fda approved

folic acid and vitamin b12 for a high
level of homocysteine which is associated
with a increased risk for alzheimers as
well as heart attack and stroke
not proven not fda approved

omega 3 ditto
vitamin a ditto
curcumin or turmeric acid ditto
coconut oil ditto
probiotics ditto
co q 10 ditto
vit b 100 with all the b vitamins again ditto
bacopa ditto
melatonin to improve sleep ditto
aspirin ditto
and others

so you can see there is this level that most
of these are at that they are not definitely
proven to slow down or prevent alzheimers
but there is trending evidence that they
do or might work against this awful
fatal disease

if i wait for fda approval it may not ever
happen
so i have the right to try them if i want
to but i am careful to read and be sure
that none of these are snake oil type
drugs

if they work then im glad i did take all of
them
if they dont work then what have i lost
just a few bucks each month

if you decide to do the  right to try thing
make sure you know a lot about the drug
and what good researchers think it may
do

ive read a lot of stuff about drugs that
are definitely snake oil worthy

i try
i have the right to
as of now
theres not much else to do

the organicgreen doctor

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