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, February 26, 2021

alzheimers news-can explosives cause alzheimers

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-CAN EXPLOSIVES CAUSE ALZHEIMERS

the answer to that question in the title of this blog is 
maybe

now i wasnt ever in war where explosives were going off
but
i did sustain at least 3 concussions and another traumatic facial injury from a car wreck
all 4 of these can contribute to the process that starts alzheimers 
maybe somehow the trauma or force can stimulate these changes

my first was when a pole broke while pole vaulting as a 7th grader landing on the back of my head
my second was playing quarterback in the 9th grade when i was hit hard while being tackled
i ended up in the opponents locker room at halftime and my coach had to come in and bring me back to our locker room
i played the second half
my third was playing softball when after sliding into third base the opponents pitcher jumped over me and hit my head with his knee
i ended up in the hospital overnight because i was talking all crazy
i had post concussive symptoms for over a month 
one symptom ii had was i was having trouble thinking as my brain seemed to be on slowmo 
then
when i was 18 i was involved in a car wreck and took the bite out of the steering wheel
the injury eventually over time led to the loss of my six front upper teeth
i had facial bruising and facial lacerations
i cant remember if i had a concussion or not but the degree of force applied to my face was great enough to have caused one

these four head injuries have a cumulative effect so that they might be one of the causes that have contributed to my present diagnosis
mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease

not proven but possible

i thought about this when i read this article on explosives during war that may cause or aggravate things that could lead to alzheimers and other neurological diseases and symptoms 

this is one of the questions you get asked when being worked up for memory loss
have you ever had a concussion

now maybe they will add 
have you been in war where explosives went off

the study discussed in this article shows how those exposed to shockwaves from military explosives may be at a higher risk of developing alzheimers disease

the research was done by the university of north carolina at pembroke and dvids the army research lab and the nih or national institutes of health 

when alzheimers starts in the brain it affects the hippocampus first then spreads throughout the brain 
the hippocampus is where early memory is formed and processed

these researchers took slices of the hippocampus and grew its brain cells in petri dishes
they then exposed these hippocampus brain cells to controlled shockwaves from military explosives

they found it disrupted the nerve endings of these brain cells so that these blasts decreased the components of the brain connections called synapses needed for memory and decreased the electrical activity from these nerve connections

this is the subtle changes that you see in the hippocampus during early alzheimers

this may also explain some of the other neurological symptoms you see in military folks coming back from war
depression
headaches
irritability 
memory problems

think of our loved ones from ww1 ww2 korean war viet nam war the middle east wars that have come home with these issues

were they and are they at an increased risk for developing alzheimers disease
and or
is it like the head injury concussions that seem to increase that risk

wars do have great consequences

the organicgreen doctor 

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