organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-for christchurch sakes

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-for christchurch sakes: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-FOR GOODNESS SAKES   there was a patient from colombia who was found to have the presenelin early onset alzheimers gene she ...

alzheimers news-for christchurch sakes

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-FOR CHRISTCHURCH SAKES 

there was a patient from colombia who was found to have the presenelin early onset alzheimers gene
she died at 77 from metastatic melanoma
she should have died 20-30 years earlier from her early onset alzheimers 

here is an article on her story

folks who inherit this early onset alzheimers gene always develop alzheimers symptoms in their 30s 40s or early 50s and die soon after they are diagnosed from alzheimers disease
it usually runs in families
they call it la bombero

why didnt she die from alzheimers in her 40s or 50s 

there is a gene called the apoe gene that controls lipid transport in the body

if you get the apoe 2 gene you are mostly protected from getting late onset alzheimers 

if you get the apoe 3 gene you are somewhat protected from getting late onset alzheimers

if you get the apoe 4 gene you have an increased chance of getting late onset alzheimers 
so the apoe 4 gene is called the late onset alzheimers gene

if you get the homozygous or double gene apoe 4/apoe 4 then the chances are greatly increased that you will get this late version of the disease

i have the late onset alzheimers gene apoe 4/apoe 4

this patient had a mutation that gave her a apoe 3 christchurch/apoe 3 christchurch mutation that protected her from getting late onset alzheimers and somehow protected her from dying early in her life from early onset alzheimers 

there is intense study of her genes and her case since somewhere in her brain and genetic makeup was/is a treatment or cure for alzheimers disease

remember having presenelin is a fatal gene to have
her mutation on her apoe 3 gene somehow protected her

the answer it there for the scientists to find

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: garden news-mulch is a good thing

organicgreendoctor: garden news-mulch is a good thing: GARDEN NEWS-MULCH IS A GOOD THING the last time it rained here was in february i think it wont rain again until probably october plus we did...

garden news-mulch is a good thing

GARDEN NEWS-MULCH IS A GOOD THING

the last time it rained here was in february i think
it wont rain again until probably october
plus
we didnt get much rain last year either
so
the soil around here is real real dry

one way to hold moisture in the soil is to mulch it
plus when it does rain the mulch will acts as a sponge to soak up the moisture and to keep the rain from running away out of your garden

at the country n i used to get a mulch called the texas native hardwood mulch
it was all from local hardwood that had been cut down for clearing land or right of ways on the highways etc

it is the best mulch ive ever used
it was dark and had this earthy composty smell
over time it would eventually all breakdown to enrich the soil

so 
why mulch
well
it
holds moisture in soil
keeps rainwater from running off
suppresses weeds
keeps the soil warm in the winter and cooler in the summer
breaks down to fed the soil
makes the soil look better in the yard or garden
reduces water use
prevents mud splash on plants

for some reason folks here dont use mulch as much as we did in texas
im not sure why 
unless its easier for gardeners

im a big advocate for mulch

eg i mulch my walkways heavy real heavy with mulch 
then
use pine straw mulch on my veggie beds
since the pine straw lets air and moisture through and adds acidity to my soil

for some reason its a struggle getting mulch donations to our community garden
we are picky they dont put stuff in their mulch like treated wood or painted wood or palm fronds etc

recently our new garden manager located a local company that agreed to donate us this big ole 20 yds of compost yesterday

after it was all piled off the truck it looked like and smelled like the texas mulch i used at the country n and in the habitat of humanity landscape

my old black f150 truck would hold 1 cubic yard
so 
this load would be 20 loads of my old truck

i lost no time in mulching my walkways in my garden and the new chicken coop yard

later we will mulch all our walkways in the community garden since its starting to thin out there now

it will hold moisture between our beds and prevent the rain runoff that would flow through our garden if it wasnt heavily mulched

so
mulch your garden
save that moisture
prevent weeds
keep your soil cool in the summer nad warm in the winter
feed your soil as it breaks down

yes 
mulch is a good thing

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #144-the olfactory and ocular t...

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #144-the olfactory and ocular t...: MY STORY REVISITED #144-THE OLFACTORY AND OCULAR TESTS   today while i started writing my blog i developed an ocular migraine first i notice...

my story revisited #144-the olfactory and ocular tests

MY STORY REVISITED #144-THE OLFACTORY AND OCULAR TESTS 

today while i started writing my blog i developed an ocular migraine
first i notice a spot like an enlarged blind spot so i have to move my head to read part of the sentence then a silvery waviness occurs in my lateral visual field that makes it hard for me to read or write my blog
i had a mild headache develop a few minutes before the visual stuff develops
the headaches intensifies as the visual changes occur

i had my first one in 2010 a few months before i was diagnosed
it was much worse than this one
my second one was last year a month or so after i had restarted my ahuhelm study
i had this dose 2 years ago with no symptoms
that second one was the worst i have had
i almost went to the emergency room for an evaluation since an ocular migraine can also be caused by a tia or small stroke 
but it resolved eventually 
i have had around 5-6 mris since that second one and they are normal
the last one was normal two weeks ago

now i know to go ahead and take a couple of acetaminophens to control the headache
i was given some new meds to take under my tongue to make it go away
since im by myself i decided to wait until my wife is around the first time i take it

today i decided to just continue on through it to see how i did
after about 30+ minutes im mostly through it
granted i had a lot of typos  i had to correct
i have some residual headache i think the acetaminophen is kicking in
the visual stuff is about 80% resolved

i am able to now move forward with my blog

there is a question is these ocular migraine events being casued by my aduhelm infusions
the researchers arent sure but right now i dont want to lose any momentum from my infusions
if they intensify i might have to pause my infusions to see if they go away
then
i will have to decide to i want to just tolerate the ocular migraines and keep taking the aduhelm
thats what i want to do

i look at this if its caused by the aduhelm infusions to be a side effect like you would see with a chemotherapy drug side effect
you tolerate it knowing what the end game is

my gut feelings is its the aduhelm causing these ocular migraines

dang where is that autocorrect when i really need it

now an ophthalmologists cant look in the back of my eye and see anything since whats going on is somewhere else in my brain
they might see some amyloid deposits though

i did the smell test once
im not convinced of its accuracy though

i do know the olfactory or smeller nerve is the first to go in alzheimers disease
its also a way to get medicine directly into the brain via the olfactory nerve
the alzheimers nasal insulin uses this pathway
other new treatments will be using it also

biogen aduhelm or aducanumab update
i have another infusion in 3 weeks thats #20
i have an extra mri in september and in december
__________
07-18-2014

EYE SMELL
no im not odoriferous

well sometimes i am after a good dose of beans
heck
i read the other day that those who have to smell foul
flatulence may actually live longer

so there is hope for some of you wives

last year when i went in for my annual alzheimers center visit
for the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative
they asked me
would you like to do another study today
we need volunteers
so
i said yes
i always do

it was a scratch and sniff test
like those things in the magazines you scratch them smell the
perfume or cologne
they never smell good to me thats what i think

but this had all kinds of smells
like cedar coffee pine some stinky stuff flowers  licorice etc
it went on for a long time
some i would have to identify or say yes or no to

why the smell test
well it seems that thats the first to go in alzheimers disease is the
sense of smell since
the olfactory nerve goes to the under surface of the brain
to the area in the brain where alzheimers starts

i wrote about the peanut butter smell test
this new scratch and sniff test works the same way
a defect in the ability to identify the odors or even smell them
means there could be memory problems down the road
it could be one of those screening tests
flunk it
maybe your need to get testing done


then the eye test
in alzheimers disease you get amyloid plaques that form in the brain
its thought to be the cause of alzheimers disease
several companies have developed retinal screens that use some
type of fluorescence to highlight the amyloid plaque that can be seen
in the back of the eye with these scans

the back of the eye is how doctors can sometimes peek into the brain

one company uses curcumin a product of turmeric acid which is
known for it use in indian food
its also taken by some people in hopes it may slow alzheimers disease
but
in this case its only staining the amyloid plaques in the retina


if you have beta amyloid accumulating in the back of your eye
then you are probably accumulating it in the brain
remember this accumulation starts years and years before
alzheimers disease symptoms show up

as we get closer to finding a treatment or cure
the earlier you know you may get alzheimers disease
the better your chance for treatment

this test appears to be extremely accurate
95-100% in the studies

so in the future maybe as soon as late 2015 you can go to
your eye doctor
get the scan
if its positive
get more definitive tests like memory tests
the biomarkers beta amyloid and tau in the spinal fluid
and
the amyvid pet scan which highlights amyloid in the brain
also coming soon will be the new alzheimers blood tests to add to
these tests
then treatment when it becomes available

because of the increased healthy living that folks are doing now
by eating correctly exercise controlling blood pressure cholesterol diabetes
their weight etc
the rate of alzheimers is actually declining finally
but
because of so many numbers of folks getting old the numbers
are increasing annually

these are exciting screening tests
after doing the smell test study i would think that the eye test
will be much more accurate and easier to do
my nose and smeller nerve were wore out
and
heck i see the ophthalmologist annually anyway

yep again
theres
hope for the future
__________
as im writing the ending of this blog my ocular symptoms are about 95% clear
it took about 45 minutes from start to finish to clear it
i have a residual milder headache that will probably linger 2-3 days then resolve
they are occuring every two weeks

i dont think the smelling test for alzheimers will ever pan out
there are too many variables in doing the test

i dont think the ocular screening test will either
it might be good for an eye doctor to say hey you might have some build up of amyloid so you might see your pcp for an evaluation

the test that will be used is one of the new blood tests that will be available at our pcp in the near future
if its positive you might have alzheimers and should get an evaluation done
that is 
if you want to know

the organicgreen doctor

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: is this in your sample

organicgreendoctor: is this in your sample: IS THIS IN YOUR SAMPLE you have probably heard the ads on tv or online or in newsprint about all the lawsuits about roundup or glyphosate ca...

is this in your sample

IS THIS IN YOUR SAMPLE

you have probably heard the ads on tv or online or in newsprint about all the lawsuits about roundup or glyphosate causing cancer especially lymphoma

have i ever used it before 
yes
i used it more frequently before i became organic
have i used it since i became organic
yes
i would paint it on a weed with a small paintbrush to kill it
i painted the tree stump or brush stump with a paintbrush after cutting down a tree

i never used it more than that at the country n

i instead use a hoe or a hand trowel or a shovel on weeds
or
i just pull them up by hand

i sometimes use an organic weed killer mix of 10-20% vinegar plus orange oil plus dish detergent
this kills the weeds
it doesnt kill the roots though

i also use sheet mulching or covering weeds with black plastic and leaving it for weeks

using the organic method of weed killing wont give me cancer
roundup or glyphosate will

a cdc study discussed in this article took over 2310 urine samples representing a cross section of america
1885 of them were positive for roundup or glyphosate in the urine
thats a 80% positive rate
a third of those studied were children

its thought most of the kids got the roundup or glyphosate from eating food
yes its found in baby food
i guess buying organic baby foods for your baby may be important
or
grow your own organic veggies and produce

farmers plant glyphosate resistant soybeans and corn then spray the fields with the roundup or glycophosphates to kill the weeds
wait wont those weeds eventually become resistant to roundup or glyphosate
probably 
thats called  natural selection

some who raise wheat spray it at the end of the growing season to get it to dry out
this year its so hot and dry maybe they wont have to use the stuff this year

now the makers of glyphosate claims it doesnt cause health problems but they are about to pay out millions and millions of claims that it does at least cause lymphoma

i know when i give my grandkids a banana or a orange or a strawberry or a blackberry or a squash or a tomato or a bean or a pea or an egg or a piece of kale or chard or carrot from my garden or our community garden that they are getting a glyphosate free vegetable that cant poison them

an aside here someone i was talking to recently farmed in eastern arkansas a few years ago said that after agent orange was taken off the market they were allowed to use the generic version for several years on their soybeans
i sure hope i didnt eat any of their soybeans but i bet we all did

now they probably use glyphosate or roundup

so i guess if you use this stuff and have kids you might get their urine tested to see how much they have in their sample
if its positive which it probably will be then quit using it

most but not all of the veggies we eat are from my garden but not all
if i buy organic veggies and fruit then im still probably safe

man i dont wont to deal with lymphoma
so
i wont use that stuff
and
ill just stay organic

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-now there are these 5 infections to deal ...

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-now there are these 5 infections to deal ...: COVID 19-NOW THERE ARE THESE 5 INFECTIONS TO DEAL WITH   we just thought we were finished with covid 19 wrong its still here and will probab...

covid 19-now there are these 5 infections to deal with

COVID 19-NOW THERE ARE THESE 5 INFECTIONS TO DEAL WITH 

we just thought we were finished with covid 19
wrong
its still here and will probably be here forever it seems

now there are these other infections that are cropping up for us to deal with
some are preventable with vaxxines

covid 19 subvariant subvariants ie ba.5 and one thats in india now    
monkeypox
meningococcal meningitis
polio
marburg virus

covid 19
it is said that we will all this year catch covid ie the ba.5 or other subvariants
if you are vaxxed and double boosted you will fair well
those who dont do well are usually unvaxxed or immunosuppressed
there will probably be an omicron variant vaxxine this fall
i plan to get it
if you are 50+ or are immunocompromised you will qualify for a prescription for paxlovid which helps slow down the symptoms
most healthy younger folks do ok if they catch it 
you can feel bad for 1-2 weeks and will miss work school etc
also
wear a mask if you are in a high risk environment

monkeypox
we have had over 2800+ cases in the us
most victims are gay men
reading reports of people who get it
they dont die
but they are real real miserable for 1-2 weeks with fever sores that drain and hurt real real real bad
some folks have had to be admitted for pain control 
these oozing sores can cover all over the body
there have been two kids who caught it
the kids are being treated with an antiviral called tecovirimat
its hard to get for adults
there is a vaxxine that may be hard to access
its believed it will get out into the heterosexual community eventually
its spread by close skin to skin contact and from clothes and linens and via air droplets
sounds like handwashing and masking may help protect you some

meningococcal meningitis is a bacterial infection that can cause meningitis 
it is totally preventable by being immunized
most folks get the vaxxine around 10-12 and again around 18
before immunizations most cases were in colleges and the military
this recent outbreak in florida was in 26 adults mostly gay men leaving 7 of them to die
they were not vaxxinated

polio was an issue in the us up until the late 1950s
the sugar cube vaxxine many of us my age took prevent us from getting it
now kids get a series of the dead polio virus
the original was an attenuated live virus which isnt used in the us anymore but is in some foreign countries
a young man 20 years old caught polio which has left him paralyzed
why did he get it
he was not vaxxinated against polio
if you were vaxxinated against polio you are safe but there is a growing number of folks thanks to the antivax movement that dont get immunized
they are vulnerable

marburg virus causes an ebola like infection where folks hemorrhage to death 
its named marburg since there was an outbreak in marborg france several years ago
now marborg is showing up again
i dont think there is a vaxxine or real treatment for the marburg virus

of these the one we need to be watching is the monkeypox as it grows in numbers especially if it moves more to kids and the heterosexual community
if you are a gay male at risk you might consider getting vaxxinated when its available especially if you get an exposure

as our us society has become less vigilant we will see  more of these infections below we thought were undercontrol
many doctors have never seen cases of some of these
like
tetanus
diphtheria
polio
haemophilus influenza meningitis and pneumonia
measles
mumps 
rubella
chicken pox

other diseases some doctors have seen but may start being more prominent
like
pneumococcal pneumonia and meningitis
pertussis or whooping cough
hepatitis b
hepatitis a
hpv which can cause cervical cancer and penile cancer and oral cancer
the flu

of all those above 
only the marburg varines doesnt have a vaxxine

vaxxines saves lives
and
saves us a lot of misery

get yours when they are due

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-there are 12 things to do to lower...

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-there are 12 things to do to lower...: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THERE ARE 12 THINGS TO DO TO LOWER RISK BY 41% one of the sources of alzheimers news i receive regularly is alzforum this we...

alzheimers news-there are 12 things to do to lower risk by 41%

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THERE ARE 12 THINGS TO DO TO LOWER RISK BY 41%

one of the sources of alzheimers news i receive regularly is alzforum
this week they reviewed an article from the july 6 jama 

similar findings in the article has been duplicated by several other studies

they looked at 12 modifiable things a person could do in middle age to lower their alzheimers risk by 41%
that is much better than any drug thats being tested now even my drug biogens aduhelm or aducanumab or any of those that will be on the market in the next 5 years

all these things below are available to all of you now to control yourselves

they are
obesity
hypertension
lack of physical activity
smoking 
excessive alcohol intake
diabetes
depression
traumatic brain injury
hearing loss
fewer years of education
social isolation
air pollution

many of you go in for a physical and many of these things are addressed now
one thats missing is high cholesterol it seems it should be on there also
its also easily treated with diet and medication

i dont understand the hearing loss one

the thinking behind the fewer years of education is that when you go to school a long time like i did or my rainwater brother or my historian brother you build up a lot of extra brain cells over time because your education and your job overworks your brain

the trifecta i call controlling hypertension diabetes cholesterol are important
these two are tied into physical activity and obesity

the air pollution one many folks cant do anything about since they may live in an area or city that stays polluted
i guess if you wanted to be complete and control all dozen of these you could move to a less polluted area
the only time i have lived in a heavily polluted area is when i spent 2 years in california in college in a town where in the summer the buildings a few blocks away were fuzzy from all the smog
i have hypertension but its now controlled without meds mainly because ive lost weight and i no longer drink alcohol or caffeinated coffee
i have never been obese
i have always been active
i have never drank alcohol heavily in fact i havent drank anything in over 2 years
i quit smoking in my early 20s
i have never been depressed
i have never been socially isolated
i have had at least 3 concussions in my lifetime
i have 12 years of education and 4 years of college and 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency
i am not a diabetic my blood glucose is always normal

these 12 things above i more aggressively started to control around the time i turned 40
thats probably why i am doing as well as i am now in regards to my memory
its also probably why i havent died from a heart attack or stroke by now

take a close look at these things now especially if you are middle age
doing so may allow you to see your grandkids grow up and if you are lucky your great grandkids
plus
if you do you will be able to remember them growing up also

i am glad i made the changes i did 32 years ago
i am benefiting from those decisions today

i am sure my alzheimers disease would have progressed much farther along than it is now

41% is a large number when it comes to alzheimers disease

ill call these the dirty dozen

organicgreendoctor: garden news-rehoming new chickens

organicgreendoctor: garden news-rehoming new chickens: GARDEN NEWS-REHOMING NEW CHICKENS from left to right here are their names apricot vanilla oreo peaches ninja hershey ms b says oreo is her c...

garden news-rehoming new chickens

GARDEN NEWS-REHOMING NEW CHICKENS

from left to right here are their names
apricot vanilla oreo peaches ninja hershey
ms b says oreo is her chicken
mr hudson likes vanilla as his chicken

the previous owners named them 
i estimate the owners age at about 10 and 13

heres our new chicken story

5 years ago when i arrived we had about 4 or 5 chickens in our community garden
over these 5 years through attrition sometimes tragic we were down to 1 chicken
how old she is i dont know but she is at least 5 years + old

the chicken coop is where folks especially kids gravitate to after they enter our garden
lucky the remaining chicken namd poppy loves humans and love handouts

we have debated now for months about getting new chickens in the garden
but no decision could be made on what to do
so
this below happened

ms b and mr hudson will be moving to a new home 
this new home came with these beautiful healthy although a little skittish chickens

a momma chicken named ninja who is 3 years old and her 5 1 year old adopted chicken kids

it seems a fox removed all but one of the original owners chickens
that one left was mommy ninja
she went broody which means she sat on eggs unfertilized eggs all day long
they hardly eat or drink when they go broody
so
the owner went to the feed store and bought 5 one day old chickens
shown in the picture above with mom ninja
they put the new chicks under mom and she happily raised them to where they are
today

mr hudson a kidney transplant patient is on immunosuppressant drugs which can make him susceptible to infections
when he saw his pediatric nephrologist and consulted the infectious disease doctor they said he couldnt be caring for chickens in his new home

so
do you want these chickens 
you betcha
i said
knowing ms b and mr hudson could always visit them without having to care for them
so
one night just after the sun went down right before it got pitch dark and the chickens were all snuggled up on their roosts in their coop
i stealthy like a racoon went in and scooped them off the roost without traumatizing  them too much

if you have ever tried to catch chickens during the daytime you know how hard that can be for the catcher and the chickens

i caught them with the help and supervision of ms b and mr hudson and the assistance of my wife she and the careful eye of the previous owners
we moved them to their new coop at our community garden

they were skittish for several days but now after being fed crack chicken scratch and bushels of fresh veggies they kinda of like their new digs
i heard them talking the other day 
they said its not bad here is it

they are now producing about an egg a day per chicken

i get a few eggs a week since i provide the feed and care for them
the rest around 30 eggs get donated 

the chicken waste will be composted on a regular basis to provide fertilizer for our community garden

from the time the poop leaves the chicken to the time it gets used in our garden will be well over 6 months if not longer

they also provide an attraction for our garden
they provide chicken exposure with less risk for mr hudson

its turning out so far to be a win win for everyone

they seem happy and content in their new home

theres nothing like fresh organic grown eggs

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #143-the advice hasnt changed much

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #143-the advice hasnt changed much: MY STORY REVISITED #143-THE ADVICE HASNT CHANGED MUCH i have folks reach out to me about themselves or family or friends about their memory ...

my story revisited #143-the advice hasnt changed much

MY STORY REVISITED #143-THE ADVICE HASNT CHANGED MUCH

i have folks reach out to me about themselves or family or friends about their memory loss
my advice hasnt changed much since i was diagnosed

science has advanced some 
the usual labs to do are about the same but i would add a vitamin d3 to the lab below
most folks dont do a glucose metabolism pet scan
if they do a pet scan they do an amyloid pet scan but insurance doesnt pay for it
they usually dont do a spinal tap 
soon to be available in the private world are lab tests that will be used to screen for alzheimers 
these will be cheaper than the scans and less invasive than he spinal tap
i think most neurologists ive seen uses the moca in house test for the initial evaluation for memory loss

the main advice i give folks is to get evaluated if there is a question of memory issues


when i wrote this blog 8 years ago i was in the final year of my adni alzheimers study and was actively looking for a treatment study
which
i found soon afterwards
biogens aducanumab or aduhelm alzheimers study
as of yesterday 
i have received 19 doses of the real drug aduhelm or aducanumab and 18 doses of placebo or normal saline

it helps to be proactive with your health
___________
07-11-2014
SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE
i got a message recently from a friend wanting to know if
i had suggestions for her and her family
as they thought her husbands father may be in the early stages
of alzheimers disease

first my qualifications for speaking on this subject

i am a family member whose mother and younger brother died
from the disease and whose dad probably had the disease
i am a family doctor who treated alzheimers patients
then
i am a patient
i have early mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
thats short term memory loss the one that you see in alzheimers disease
all testing i have done points to alzheimers disease as the cause of this
i am in the largest alzheimers disease study ever done
i give talks to groups on alzheimers disease
i take the alzheimers medicine aricept (donepezil)
i read several articles on alzheimers every day

thus i feel qualified to make recommendations to folks


if he hasnt been to a doctor yet
go to this link fill out this questionnaire 
21 question questionnaire
print it out
take it to his doctor
dont let him go alone
someone like a wife or close relative should go to every appointment
and i mean in the room with him

also make a written list of what the patient and the family have noticed
i guarantee that the patient has noticed things a long long time before
you have

caveat denial by the family and the patient and i might add the doctor
are the biggest hindrances to getting an early diagnosis

when you make the appointment make it only for memory issues
and nothing else

heres the evaluation that should be done
not all at the same time but done in a stepwise manner

a good history and physical looking for something that explains the
memory loss
like
eg uncontrolled blood pressure strokes depression sleep disturbances
anxiety low thyroid low vitamin b12 drug abuse medication side effects
alcohol abuse head trauma

these things can be treated and the memory may improve

caveat remember there is no treatment or cure for alzheimers disease
its progressive and fatal
the speed of the disease varies from patient to patient
i have friends who gave me condolences when i was diagnosed
but they are no longer with us but i am

then if the history and exam doesnt point the doctor in a certain
direction
a good mental status exam is done
common ones are minicog mmse moca and based on these results
the gold standard test is the neuropsychological exam
usually done by a psychologist or neuropsychologist and takes
1-2 hours
it will tell you definitely if there is memory loss and what kind it is
remember with alzheimers its usually short term memory loss

then
labs are done looking for treatable causes
cbc metabolic profile for electrolytes kidney test liver tests
tsh for thyroid function
vitamin b12
hiv hepatitis c syphilis
urinalysis
some will do folate and homocysteine level
some of these if abnormal are treatable


then
an mri scan is done to rule out again an explanation or treatable causes
like stoke head trauma masses tumor aneurysm excessive brain fluid
white spots called wmh that are associated with high blood pressure
high cholesterol and or diabetes and can mean an increased risk of
dementia
also brain shrinkage may show up initially on the undersurface of the
brain called the hypothalamus

these are the tests that are commonly done on someone with memory loss
i would question the workup if they arent done
unless things are advanced to later stages which sounds like isnt the case
with this patient

new studies to consider and usually not covered by insurance and medicare
are


glucose metablism pet scan of the brain-it looks at areas in the brain that
uses glucose
with alzheimers there are lots of areas where the glucose isnt used
because of the damaged brain cells


amyvid pet scan of the brain-it highlights beta amyloid the culprit that is
thought to cause alzheimers
if you have alzheimers disease it will usually be positive remembering
that other things can make it positive

spinal tap for beta amyloid and tau in the spinal fluid
early on in alzheimers the levels become abnormal

as of 2014 this is the best that can be done to diagnosis alzheimers
how far you go in the diagnosis is different for each patient

i have had all these done since i wanted to know exactly where i am
with this disease


there is a new pdf pamphlet on line called clinical best practices for 
the early detection diagnosis .... in alzheimers disease
its written as a guide for doctors
look at it also and use it as a guide to make sure the workup has
been complete

now presuming the diagnosis is early alzheimers


he will probably be offered aricept (donepezil)
i highly recommend he take it
its the only medicine that may help
it will not treat the disease itself but it may slow down the symptoms
some
the earlier in the disease he takes it the longer it lasts
1/3 get better 1/3 stay the same 1/3 get worse
the side effects are many
the worst is nausea
they are all worse the first 4-6 weeks but over time they get better
ive been on it for 4 years now and am able to tolerate its side effects
the nausea can be handled by taking it like i do one hour after eating
breakfast then taking a small snack of dried fruits and nuts immediately
after taking it
i usually will take a piece of fruit an hour after that
this gets me through the morning and controls the nausea
taking it at bedtime may interfere with sleep
the other side effects of leg cramps blurry vision mild vertigo vivid
dreams and sleep disturbances get better over time
i compensate for the sleep loss at night by napping in the early afternoon

so there are side effects but looking at the options these side effects look
pretty dang minor

warning dont suddenly quit the aricept without discussing it with your
doctor as the level of memory will drop to where it would be if you
had not been on the medicine
restarting it will not get you back
to the same memory level you were at

then look at his overall health
these best practices need to be done

control blood pressure cholesterol and diabetes
maintain a normal weight
stay active physically mentally and socially
all three can improve memory
eat a proper diet the mediterranean diet is recommended
control depression anxiety
live a non stressful life
dont smoke
dont drink excessively
listen to music
be happy

then the family and the patient need to get help
they cant do this alone
the best source of information is the alzheimers association website
www.alz.org
go there and spend time reading about whats available
find the location of you local chapter also
they are extremely helpful
there is also an online discussion group there


look at your
will
power of attorney for finances
power of attorney for health care
living will
dnr
if he already has these update them now if its not too late

doing it after things advance gets harder to do


a good book is the 36 hour day

a good blog to follow is the alzheimers reading room
if it happens in the alzheimers world it will show up there

i do a blog here every friday on an alzheimers topic
i also write about my journey as it progresses
which for now is fairly stable

i am due my annual study evaluation in 2 weeks and
am trying to get involved in some new treatment studies

look forward 5-10 years ahead and be ready for what comes you way
it will be a long arduous journey

if you want to do the fringe things like take coconut oil vitamins etc
thats ok but make sure those things i mentioned above are done first

remember if something really is going to help with alzheimers disease
we will all find out quickly
no one is going to hide it from us

get involved get involved
do the walk to end alzheimers in your area
this is how the alzheimers association raises money
they are the ones that are making the difference in alzheimers
providing education family support and funding research

consider having him enter a study
or have family members enter a study
they need volunteers desperately
see clinical trials on the www.alz.org

i am just one email or text or comment away
also follow me on facebook
or
my new facebook page
___________
im sure my advice then and now will be true in another 8 years except then i hope i can say get on that new drug that treats alzheimers disease

we arent there yet but we are closer

stay tuned

the organicgreen doctor