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

Saturday, July 2, 2016

alzheimers news-mend the mind

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-MEND THE MIND

Alzheimer's Texas

i was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
the precursor stage to alzheimers disease
in 2010
i was placed on aricept (donepezil) at that time
i stopped practicing medicine
i decided i would do anything and everything i could to slow
this down

when someone is diagnosed with memory loss
they most of us undergo a good evaluation
of
good history and physical seeking causes of the memory loss
labs
memory tests some end up getting a full lengthy neuropsychological exam
to better delineate their type of memory loss
for me it was short term memory loss
then a mri is done looking for things like masses brain shrinkage strokes etc

all of this usually defines your diagnosis

my workup also included
a positive genetic test for apoe 4 showing apoe 4 apoe4 double gene
making me at increased risk for alzheimers disease
a normal memory test followed in 3 years with an abnormal one
a spinal tap that shows abnormal levels of the thought to be causes of
alzheimers disease beta amyloid and tau

missing although as part of the study ive had one
but cant get the result though is the beta amyloid pet scan called amyvid
that shows if beta amyloid is accumulated in the brain
if you have alzheimers it should be positive

so i am waiting for a treatment study which i may not qualify for
im falling between the cracks
i have a mci amnestic type diagnosis
however my memory is now normal
so
i dont really fit into one of their treatment study groups

so my plan
get the amyvid pet scan this summer to know if its positive
if its negative
i got a reprieve
if its positive i just hope i can make it until the new treatment drugs arrive
in about 5 years or so

so
two years ago after becoming aggressive in taking care of my health
i saw this article called reversal of cognitive decline
a 36 point regimen from uclas dr bredesen that was used on ten folks
with memory issues of different stages
9 of the 10 got better on it
the one that didnt had moderate alzheimers
what we are finding if you get advanced far enough you have gone over
the cliff and things dont help you much

so
when i looked at it the vast majority of the stuff i was doing anyway
most folks diagnosed with memory loss get most of these tests done
and start on much of this recommended regimen

i would say i was on over 24 of them myself
i now am on all 36 of them

so
is it helping
something is
i as of last october had normal memory
my moca test was 28 which is as good if  not better than some of
my relatives with normal memory

i feel like it is the mend protocol i am on from ucla
now picked up by muse labs who does an online protocol with
your primary care doctor using your medical history your labs your scans
your memory tests to set up a regimen based on the ucla study using
your unique information

this is what they did in the original study also

the muse labs will then follow folks for two years
collecting information from the patients doctors memory test etc
on a regular basis
it looks like every 3 months

the research at the university level is not being done on this
its to complicated to get all of this protocol through the research system
which can be long and cumbersome

so
private enterprise is doing it in conjunction with dr bredesen

somewhere in here someone must pay for this and someone has to make
money off it
i cant quite figure out how thats happening

its possible that if this study shows its working then it may be then
sold to the medical community
but
im not sure how it will work after this is all done

so
i last week signed up for the mend protocol from muse labs
i signed a waiver
i filled out a lengthy medical history form
i completed a several page well known memory test
my wife she filled out her part answering questions about me
then it was faxed in to muse labs

if i am accepted
i will involve my neurologist or pcp to order what labs and studies that
i have not had
i think though that i have had them all
they will then look at what i am doing and based on all the data they have
upgrade a recommendation for me to follow
my guess is that i am already doing all of them now
but
i would like another person or organization to follow me also

i must say though that medical researchers form universities dont like
this type of research
my thoughts are
then suck it up and do it yourself then

something has made my mind memory get mended some way
i feel like its this mend regimen and the aricept (donepezil)
if i get off it and the supplements i must say that i can tell a difference
the best way i can explain it is
if you have ever gone without adequate sleep
several nights in a row and you notice your memory is not as good
you arent as sharp as you should be
thats the way i feel if i get off the mend regimen and especially if
i add missing my aricept (donepezil)

so my recommendation to you
if you have a memory loss diagnosis
you consider the muses labs mend protocol

now
as a physician and as a knowledgeable alzheimers research person
i was able to on my own weave my way through all the information
to do my regimen

here is a link to an article on the mend regimen from alzheimers weekly
or
click here

i am doing all 25 of the categories listed

reminder and warning
dont do this without the approval of your doctor
remember i have had all the testing done that is recommended
and have analyzed each of the points and supplement to make sure
they cause me no harm
some i couldnt tolerate eg coconut oil and omega 3 made me to sick
at my stomach to tolerate them
ashwaganda made me have these god awful violent dreams

i do feel someway this regimen is why i got better

another warning
if i have alzheimers which i will probably know for sure soon
as sure as you can be in 2016
i realize that this only slows things down it doesnt stop the disease
unless maybe you take good care of your health all your life

eg pat summitt did many of these things
probably not as much as i did
did they help her
maybe slow things down some
or
was she to far gone when she was diagnosed

it didnt stop the disease from winning in the end

also
get involved with your local alzheimers walks

here is the major one i am involved in
donate and or join us for our walk



lets put a boot to alzheimers
www.txalz.org/walk

donate and or join my team organicgreendoctor
for the alzheimers texas williamson county walk on september 24th

to join the team you will need to register first
to only donate just hit the donate button

the organicgreen doctor

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for keeping us abreast of the latest developments!

    ReplyDelete