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

Thursday, April 21, 2022

alzheimers news-five myths about alzheimers

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-FIVE MYTHS ABOUT ALZHEIMERS

this morning in my alzheimers newsfeed i get every day on alzheimers there was this article from the denver post that mentioned the 5 myths of alzheimers disease

1 memory loss is a normal part of aging

no it isnt
now its ok to forget a name or forget a word occasionally or lose something and cant find it
thats normal
whats not normal is if you are misplacing things like putting your car keys in the freezer or putting your ice cream in the cupboard or getting lost driving where you usually drive or excessively forget appointments or forget to pay bills 

if you are doing things that disrupt your life then you might worry 
if the number of sticky notes increase in you home then you might have a problem

i know i worry if i forget a word or forget a name since i keep waiting for the shoe to fall on my head and the memory issues to start rolling down the hill like a big ole snowball

i keep waiting but so far so good all mine seems to be in the normal aging category 
if you get over 60 you will normally forget words and forget names

2 alzheimers is not a fatal disease

no that one is wrong
it is 100% fatal
you might die from something else first but if not you will die from alzheimers disease
im hoping for something like maybe a massive fatal heart attack while working in my garden
i tell my wife she if that happens to me just know i died happy

there is nothing right now to make that number not be 100%
hopefully maybe sometime in the future

my aduhelm infusions i take each month at ucla might slow memory decline by about 20%
all the healthy stuff i am doing plus taking the alzheimers drug aricept or donepezil helps to slow down the symptoms but it doesnt stop the disease

it the disease wins in the end

you eventually fall off the memory cliff in the final stages of the disease

3 alzheimers only affects the elderly

that one is wrong also
my younger brother developed symptoms in his early 50s and died in his early 60s from alzheimers
i was diagnosed at 60
there are about 6+ million folks with alzheimers disease and 200,000 of them are young
some as young as the 20s
many of these younger folks with alzheimers have early onset alzheimers a genetic version of alzheimers disease

4 the risk from alzheimers is the same for everyone

nope again
blacks and Hispanics have a greater incidence than whites
women more than men mainly because men die from other diseases at a younger age
if you get the early onset gene your risk is 100% that you will get alzheimers
if you get the late onset gene called the apoe 4 gene your risk may be increased 5-20 times
if you have certain diseases like diabetes obesity hypertension heart disease high cholesterol smoker then you are at increased risk of developing alzheimers disease

5 i can ignore the symptoms of alzheimers and get by 

nope again
you will only get worse
when symptoms start get help get evaluated 
be aggressive taking care of your health
seek clinical trials like i did and others did to get new treatments before symptoms worse
do your part to be involved in clinical trials
make sure sure you are ready for things to get worse 
have your living will done your will done your power of attorney for healthcare done your power of attorney to be done your long term plans done and reach out to family and friends seeking their help
dont hide your symptoms own them
start planning early so someone else wont have to plan for you

then
if you are young like in your 30s or 40s or 50s start taking care of your health
it is important at that age to have a normal weight a normal blood pressure ie 120/70 a normal cholesterol ie a normal hdl and ldl a normal blood pressure a normal blood sugar
dont smoke
dont drink too much 
get adequate sleep ie 7-8 hours a night
avoid stress
control anxiety and depression 
be active mentally and physically and socially

if you are in those young age groups do these things above and your brain and your heart will be in good shape as you get older
by the time you get my age then there will probably be a medication or two to add to your regimen that will slow down or prevent you from getting alzheimers disease

you dont want your brain all wore out when you reach 70

those things in the above last few paragraphs
they 
are 
not 
myths

the organicigreen doctor

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