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, January 18, 2013

control this, amyvid

CONTROL THIS

its been known for a long time that controlling your
blood pressure is important in preventing dementia
and from worsening the effects of alzheimers disease
vascular dementia is a type of dementia that can be caused from
high blood pressure

many alzheimers patients have an overlay of vascular dementia
that makes their dementia worse

beta blockers have been around for a long time
so long in fact that they are almost as cheap as aspirin
propanalol (inderal) 40 mg for 100 pills is $8.22
atenolol (tenormin) 50 mg for 100 pills is $7.11
metoprolol (lopressor) 50 mg for 100 pills is $7.18

these beta blockers are used for high blood pressure
angina migraine headaches in thyroid disease to control
the heart rate and in some heart arrhythmias to control
the heart rate

so theyve been around a long time and have a good track record
and have several medical uses

a study recently looked at patients who were on beta blockers
for their blood pressure
when they died their brains were autopsied
they found that those treated with beta blockers had much fewer
brain abnormalities than those treated with other blood pressure
medications

these included lesions associated with alzheimers disease
and small microinfarcts associated with small unrecognizable strokes

if beta blockers were used with other blood pressure medications then
the lesions were reduced to an intermediate level but not as much as
with beta blockers by themselves

there was also less shrinkage of the brain
which occurs in alzheimers disease as the disease progresses

guess when i have to get on blood pressure medications ill want
to be placed on beta blockers

wonder if they could be used preventatively

more research is needed

AMYVID

the amvid pet scan is the pet scan that will highlight beta amyloid
in the brain
beta amyloid is the end product that shows up in the brain of
alzheimers patients
if you have alzheimers you will have a positive scan

early on in the process it may not be very positive though

this scan is commercially available
according to a blog friend medicare will be reviewing whether or
not it will pay for these scans later this month
if they decide they will pay for it then the private insurances will
follow suit

this scan will probably become part of the workup that will be done
on patients with dementia or memory loss to determine if their
symptoms are due to alzheimers disease

i plan on having it done soon myself whether insurance pays
for it or not
as i want to know if mine is positive

ive had one scan already and will have another one in april of
this year as part of the adni study
i dont get those results though

the organicgreen doctor

2 comments:

  1. Beta blockers have also been used to alleviate stage fright. They have worked for many performers since they were first tried in the late 1970's; this effect was serendipitous. They are great for anxiety.

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    Replies
    1. i use to order them for a university of texas professor
      he would take them prior to giving his lectures
      ive also given to them for some people for other anxiety issues
      togd

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