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, September 11, 2020

alzheimers news-plasma exchange may help

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-PLASMA EXCHANGE MAY HELP 
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by now many of us know what plasma exchange means since it is used to treat covid 19 patients that are hospitalized
basically they take blood from folks then remove the liquid part from the blood then send the cell part of the blood that has red cells and white cells back to the donor

inside that plasma or liquid part is a lot of goodies
proteins like antibodies albumin etc
coagulation chemicals or clotting factors
water salts enzymes
hormones
nutrients
etc

its those antibodies that is utilized in covid 19 treatment
if the donor had covid 19 they may have a high level of antibodies against covid 19 which theoretically will help the ill covid 19 patient get better

the right research needs to be done to tell us if this really works

some companies are actually taking those antibodies and making them in the lab to give to covid 19 patients

a few years ago a study was done where dementia patients were given blood from young adults then had their memory tested and it was found their memory got better
so
there is something in that plasma thats in that unit of blood that seems to help
finding what that is is what a lot of research is being done on 

two tests that are done frequently in dementia research to see how a person is doing over time are
the activities of daily living scale ie eating dressing clothing communicating social interaction etc
the alzheimers disease assessment scale-cognitive subscale or adas-cog which measures cognitive dysfunction in alzheimers disease

eg when i was in the biogen aducanumab study these two tests were done on me on a regular basis over the two years i was in the study
they were also used for the 5 years i was in the alzheimers disease adni2 study 

so there is something in the plasma that seems to slow the disease down
what that is we dont yet

for the aducanuab study they isolated a protein antibody that older folks who didnt get alzheimers disease made
they then made that in the lab and gave to us
it may actually help to slow down the disease

so recently a study was presented at the alzheimers association international conference where they gave alzheimers folks other peoples plasma 
they removed albumin in the plasma which is the protein antibodies bind to 
they removed the albumin +amyloid protein from the alzheimers patients and gave them the healthy donors fresh albumin+amyloid protein 
they removed the old stuff and put in new stuff

they did this for a year
they did a treatment group and a control group that didnt get real plasma

here is what they found
the treatment group had a 52% less decline than the control group on the activities of daily living scale
the treatment group had a 64% less decline than the control group on the adas-cog or cognitive scale

so
there is something in the plasma that slows down the disease
we just need to find out what that it is and start making it for folks to take so we can slow alzheimers down some

when they find that it then we should be able to treat folks and slow the disease down


consider getting involved with your local alzheimers walks

here is the information on my team organicgreendoctor that will walk in this years santa barbara walk to end alzheimers
the opening ceremony and closing ceremony will be virtual
so anyone can watch it online
then
each individual member will walk in their neighborhood or favorite hiking trail wearing their purple alzheimers shirts for the 2-3 mile walk 
this is the safest way to do the walk this year
please wear your mask and keep a good social distance from others
hopefully next year we can all be live

join us wherever you live for our walk this year


you can donate and or join our team organicgreendoctor 
at this link
then walk in your own neighborhood the morning of the walk to honor those lost in our families to this disease and to those who are affected now by this disease


the organicgreen doctor

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