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, October 31, 2014

crispy walk, flavanols, nilvadipine,

CRISPY WALK, FLAVANOLS, NILVADIPINE
for those of you who get the austin american statesman
this sunday look on page two of the metro section
for the patrick beach column
whatever happened to
its an article on an interview he did with me this week
ill post the link next week

also if you look at the top of this blog you can read
the article done on my story 3 years ago by mary ann roser
the medical writer for the statesman
or click here to read that article

tomorrows
walk to end alzheimers in temple texas at the pepper creek trails
starting at 1000am
will be a crispy walk in cool weather with a beauitiful clear skies

so i guess the warmup to be done by team member km will be
an important one for this walk
need to get those juices flowing blood circulating

we cant wait to enjoy this walk with those hoping to find a cure
or treatment for this awful fatal disease

donate and or join my team at
organicgreendoctor

here is the link to the walk
bell county walk to end alzheimers

so remember
this is a no charge event
donation is optional
you can show up and sign up at the registration desk

see you there

reminder
walk to end alzheimers in little rock next weekend at
the clinton library starting at 930am
we will walk with the team
#joe nash

this is my brother joes team
he died last year in the final stages of alzheimers
struck at such a young age in his early 50s
we need a few more donations to reach the teams goal
for this walk
help if you are able to


flavanols
these are found in certain foods but can be in high concentration in
cocoa
yep thats chocolate
the good stuff

that took cocoa and removed the flavanols
mars the candy company developed the method
it takes a lot of cocoa to get the flavanols for studying

so they took a lot of flavanols and gave it to older folks
then followed them over time
it was a 6 year long study
done in a reputable scientific method

what they found that basically folks who took these high
levels of flavanols went from a 60+ year old memory to
a 40 year old memory
documenting it with memory tests and with brain scans

problem is that eating just chocolate by itself would
require a huge amount to be eaten each day
sorry side effects would occur
it would be fun trying though

these flavanols seem to increase the blood supply to
a certain part of the brain that can be affected by
alzheimers disease early on
called the dentate gyrus

maybe one day we will take flavanols in a pill to help
our memory
add to that the resveratrol thats found in grapes and wine
take that in a pill also to help lower the bad stuff
beta amyloid

its chocolate and vino without all the pleasure associated
with its consumption


nilvadipine
this is a blood pressure medicine available in europe and
other countries but not in the us
it is in a class of drugs called calcium channel blockers
like verapamil amlodipine diltizem nifedipine etc
its used for blood pressure control angina control and
to improve circulation to the brain after strokes
its about to go generic
it has been around for years

now there is an enzyme called syk or spleen tyrosine kinase
which regulates inflammation the bad stuff beta amyloid
and tau protein
all three are implicated in alzheimers disease

research shows that it appears that nilvadipine may
block this enzyme and by doing so
reduces inflammation beta amyloid and tau
and by doing this may help slow down progression of
alzheimers disease

i think if this pill was available in the us
i could get it from mexico or europe
its is the one that i would take for my high blood pressure

kill four birds with one stone is what i would do
blood pressure
inflammation
beta amyloid
tau protein

its too bad its not available in the us
and
since its generic there is no big drug company
promoting its use here either
no big profit to be made i guess

so little things keep adding up in this fight for an answer
to ending alzheimers disease

we are getting closer it seems every month

help and join us in this fight

the organicgreen doctor

Thursday, October 30, 2014

beware privatization

BEWARE PRIVATIZATION

that word
privatization of social security
has been gingerly thrown around this year in the preelection campaigns
they have to be careful those politicians
dont make the gray hairs mad at you

whenever i hear the politicians use the word
privatization
two things come to mind
one
their friends ie their big donors are going to get richer
two
you the taxpayer are going to get screwed


george bush pushed this once but luckily it was defeated
but its out their brewing still

you know if it happens
i can just see bad things happening to our money
you and i and your kids and parents and grandparents

think mortgage debacle
think the financial crisis of the last part of the last decade
who won out in the end
yep the ones that screwed us
the banks and the financial folks
and
the politicians
and
yep you got it we all lost
just look at your paycheck

social security is the safety net that folks have when they
get old to get them out of absolute poverty
although try to live off just social security and see how far
you can make it

now congress has to do something
proposals such as

increasing the percentage from the 6.2% we
pay now
ok we all have to pay our share
no problem there

maybe increasing the max income taxed to a higher limit
say $200,000
no problem there
nay that aint going to happen those income levels have too much
influence

changing the cola
no not the brand you drink
the percentage increase the social security is changed each year
no problem there

taxing social security more
now im sorry i never really liked this proposal much
unless you raise the threshold for taxing it to an amount
way above the poverty threshold
this year since i was paid 4 years of social security for my
disability i will have to pay close to $8000 in taxes for it
all the social security checks went to my long term disability
company but i got the tax bill


eg warren buffet should be taxed on his social security
surely he doesnt accept his anyway
while my parents if they were alive today should not
be taxed since that was their main source of income

so something has to be done for social security to survive
without social security the elderly will be poverty stricken

i propose the above changes
then if they want to
privatize something else

eg make a mandatory 1% contribution to a long term ira product
like the federal employees are able to do
do not allow the government to touch that money
no paper shuffling tricks
at retirement the taxpayer can start drawing off the money
at an annuitized rate
seem fair to me

so privatization of social security
means to me
the same as always

the rich get richer the poor get poorer
and
nothing ever changes

the organicgreen doctor