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, February 3, 2012

those gamers, testing, super bowl

THOSE GAMERS
exergaming is where you do some form of exercising at the same
time you use a monitor or tv to interact with whats happening
on the screen
wii fit or playstation move are examples

a recent study was done in patients with mild cognitive impairment
who did exergaming and then were followed for a period of time
they rode recumbent bikes while looking at a virtual reality display
using a 3d landscape and rode against a ghost rider based on their
last  performance
controls rode bikes without the screen

the study found a 23% relative risk reduction compared to the
control group and showed a significant cognitive benefit also

its thought the added mental exericise to navigate the 3d image
aniticipate turns, and competing against others required more
mental atuneness (i made that word up but i think everyone
understands what it means)

one scientist predicts that if such behavioral interventions such
as exercising and diet could trim 1 million off the 8 million cases
diagnosed in future years

so again
for your heart and your brain
exercise
eat right
ditto ditto ditto
maybe start with your kids

TESTING
if you are genetically related to me then you should be reading
this blog and doing all these things that are recommended
although most cases of alzheimers are not genetic ours in our
family may be

yes im talking to all my nephews and nieces and their kids
and of course their parents and cousins

multiple aunts and uncles had some type of dementia as well as
at least 2 grandparents and at least one great grandparent
and a 1st cousin of mine developed it under the age of 60
both my parents had it and my younger brother has it

because of this a close relative decided to get evaluated
they took the article that was written about my case and
showed it to their primary care doctor and to a neurologist

the labs were all done and were normal
the history and examination was normal
the lengthy neuropsychological test was done recently and
although described as a torture test like i describe it
the test was normal adjusted for age and degree of education

(my test showed and still does a deficit of short term memory loss
that is below what is expected for my age and degree of education
when compared to a shorter version which was normal two
years before)

they feel a sense of relief that everything was ok
its like getting a brain scan for severe headaches
and there not being any brain cancer or tumors
it doesnt mean it wont happen but its not showing up
as being there at the present
for me my last test shows that it has not progressed
which is like getting a scan and showing that a mass
has not changed in size

we all worry about getting the big a or the big c
the sense of relief from this work up is unmeasurable

the only part missing of course is some testing that is
not available yet to the general public-blood biomarkers,
spinal fluid biomarkers (beta amyloid and tau protein),
and a pet scan for beta amyloid
when these are available and done then an even more
reassurance can be given to patients

SUPER BOWL
its happening on sunday
the super bowl
think the giants will win
they seem to have all the momentum
and like green bay last year they are a surprise team this year

eli vs tom
although tom is a tough competitor
still predict eli will come through

lets see if im correct on monday
dont forget the commercials and ?watch madonna at
half time

the organicgreen doctor

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