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, May 6, 2016

alzheimers news-i am not sure

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-I AM NOT SURE

after doing several talks on alzheimers and on treatment trials
for alzheimers
some folks have gotten the impression that i somehow cured
my alzheimers disease
i didnt

i dont know if i have alzheimers disease
i think i do 
you can only diagnose this disease 100% when you die 
and they autopsy your brain
yes they can tell your family he had alzheimers disease

now you can look at the downfall of a persons memory 
and
his physical condition that is typical for alzheimers 
to say with some degree of accuracy that
yes he or she had alzheimers

so i can say with some degree of certainty that my mom 
and my younger brother had alzheimers disease
not many things cause the course they took

did my dad have it 
i think so
he was starting down that path when he died 

does my older brother have it 
i think so based on some of his testing
time will only tell if thats the case

do i have alzheimers disease
i think so 
but time will only tell if thats true

did i cure my alzheimers disease
no
if its whats wrong with me
i have only pushed the symptoms of the disease down the road some
but
it will i said it will raise its head again and strike again 
and take over
unless there is a new treatment that becomes available soon
real soon that stops it 
right now that does not exists

so whats my explanation as to why my memory is now normal

my memory loss may not be due to alzheimers disease but may 
have been due to something else
like stress not well controlled blood pressure not well controlled cholesterol
maybe a super ministroke in the wrong place
that caused my memory loss that over time healed itself 
and now my memory is normal 
see i dont know

or
what may have happened
now this is what i think happened
i developed subtle memory loss real subtle not detectable to anyone
but me
it was well documented to be normal then three years later it was abnormal
then five years after that back to normal again 

i think i do have alzheimers disease and am either in that
category called preclinical alzheimers 
or 
in early mild cognitive impairment

here is why i think so 
i have normal lab workups except for low vitamin b12 and 
low vitamin d and high homocysteine
those are risk factors for memory loss but are not the cause
of my memory loss
i have corrected all three of those

i have normal mris of the brain except for things two of them called
white mater hyperintensities that are like tiny tiny tiny tiny strokes
if you have 7 or more you may be at risk for alzheimers or stroke
but 2 doesnt mean you have either one
they have not changed over the last 5 years 

i do carry the apoe4 gene a double version or homozygous that puts
me at higher risk for developing alzheimers disease
but it doesnt mean it causes the disease
how i take care of my health determines if it has an effect
the risk is 5-20 times increased according to which researcher
you read

i have had two normal glucose metabolism pet scans which if you
are far enough along with the disease it will be positive
it could be if i am just real real early that the test is not positive yet
since not enough damage has been done

i have had a spinal tap for the bad beta amyloid and the tau protein 
which are implicated in the present theory of what causes alzheimers
my levels are indeterminate
they are not normal but they are not in the dementia level
this correlates with my diagnosis of early mild cognitive impairment
that stage right before you get alzheimers disease
the stage right after preclinical alzheimers where you have
some abnormal testing but no symptoms

whats missing from my workup is the new beta amyloid pet scan
called amyvid pet scan 
it will show if the beta amyloid has accumulated in the brain 
if you have alzheimers it will be positive
however
like most medical tests it is not 100% accurate
as a normal person can have a positive test as can other diseases
cause a positive test

but
when added together with the history spinal tap family history 
if my amyvid pet scan is positive
i like possibly maybe could have alzheimers disease

im sorry but that is as close to making the diagnosis for me
that i can get

if my amyvid scan is positive i plan on moving forward with 
the likelihood that i have the disease
and 
will plan my life accordingly 

so if i have alzheimers disease
no i didnt cure it 
i only delayed its symptoms by 

taking aricept (donepezil) which works for awhile but eventually
doesnt work well 
not all neurologists agree in using in the diagnosis of 
mild cognitive impairment
my neurologist does believe in it 
so do i 
thats why i suffered through with its side effects
if my amyvid scan is negative i plan on discontinuing it 

by correcting my abnormal labs
low b12 low vitamin d high homocysteine high cholesterol high blood pressure

by doing all the healthy things that are recommended you do for your
memory 
avoid stress avoid meds that affect the memory treat depression 
and anxiety get adequate sleep treating sleep apnea restless legs etc
stay very active socially mentally physically 
meditating or yoga something to make you pause and reflect inside

then i used the protocol from the article by dr bredesen called
reversal of cognitive decline
you can google it if you want to read about it
i very carefully looked at it 
matched the vitamins and supplement against my medical history 
and my medication
some i could take many i could not 
i got the approval of my family doctor and my neurologist before
i took any of them 
there are side effects from them i could not tolerate
some interfere with heart medicine and blood thinners
so dont just read this article and start taking stuff
i looked at each closely

i personally think if what i am doing has helped it is 
the aricept (donepezil)
aggressively doing the healthy things i mentioned above
correcting my abnormal labs
maybe the supplements have helped some
that i cant be sure of 

so 
do i have alzheimers disease
i am not sure
but
i hope to know soon as close as you can know 

i hope this is useful to those who have contacted me hoping for a cure
im sorry 
but
there is not one
yet

the organicgreen doctor

4 comments:

  1. Dr are statin pills for high cholesterol good for a person who has dementia, or do they cause dementia he has been on them for a very long time. An article I read suggest that statin pills can be the cause of dementia. My husband is 64 and has dementia neurologist removed Ebixa and gave him Apo-Quetiapine for his anxiety issues. This is a terrible disease and no one in his family has dementia. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. there probably are some people that have memory issues from statins but the majority of those who take them like me benefit from the use of statins to control our cholesterol. control of cholesterol is one of the healthy things people do that may help prevent dementia.
      one doesnt have to have a family history to get dementia.
      yes it is a terrible disease.
      togd

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  2. Dr what other Meds affect memory? What about Paxil? Does it effect memory! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. paxil is used for anxiety and depression. both have been associated with increased risk for memory loss if not treated.
      all antidepressants can cause confusion but the incidence of it is very small.
      recent news states that the antihistamines and some bladder medications may cause memory loss.
      togd

      Delete