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, October 7, 2022

alzheimers news-getting ahead of the disease

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-GETTING AHEAD OF THE DISEASE 

last week i wrote a blog about lecanemab 
it removes amyloid plaques from the brain when given as an infusion
like my drug aduhelm it is a monoclonal antibody that binds to parts of amyloid
this removes the amyloid plaques and helps prevent them from forming

it in its phase 3 study it showed a 27% slowing of memory loss
it has created excitement again in the alzheimers world

now the companies biogen and eisai are doing a study on folks who have amyloid plaques in their brains but who have no symptoms of memory loss

they plan to identify these folks with a blood test not available yet in the private world
these new blood tests can identify amyloid and tau and other things in the blood which says that amyloid is accumulating in the brain

this amyloid accumulation starts years before symptoms start

they think that if they can remove and prevent this amyloid accumulation in the brain that they may be able to prevent or delay the onset of alzheimers disease

i can tell you that if i wasnt on the aduhelm study i would try to join this study without hesitation

what would my life be like if i had been able to join a study like this in my mid 50s
the amyloid would have been removed from my brain by the lecanemab
i might not have been diagnosed at 60
i might have been able to work as a physician for another 5 years or more
retiring only when i was ready to retire

just wishful thinking on my part
but
this is available to some of you now

the age range is 55-80
your memory has to be in the normal range using several memory tests
here is a link to clinicaltrials.gov site for the ahead 3-45  criteria for acceptance in the study

there is a chance that you will be put in the placebo part of the study where you receive saline instead of the drug
thats what happened to me in the aduhelm study
i got 18 months of placebo infusions then i got the real drug after that
i dont see that the real drug will be given to placebo patients like they did in my study

so these patients that get in this study will have preclinical alzheimers disease
that means
they have amyloid plaques in the brain and have normal memory

that would have been me when i was 55
my amyloid pet scan would be positive as would my amyloid blood test

man would i have jumped through hoops to have gotten in a study like this

here is the link to the clinical trails info on the ahead 3-45 study

here is the link to the companys website aheadstudy.org with more information on the 3-45 study

so
lecanemab made by biogen and eisai will be applying for it use in early alzheimers and mci in the first part of 2023
it may slow cognitive decline by 27%

in the ahead 3-45 study lecanemab will be given to preclinical alzheimers patients to see if it will slow down the disease in these patients with no memory loss

there are over 100 sites where its being done in the us
they are listed on the links above

not everyone wants to know that they have it
it sort of takes your breath away when you find out
if you have been in the alzheimers world before with family and friends then you know whats going to happen to you and your family

i wanted to know 
others dont want to know
i would not want to have to just wonder if i have it
i would want to know
then
deal with what it shows

i did that
im glad i did

think about it
recommend it to friends or family who might qualify for the study



you can join and or donate to our 
organicgreendoctor walk team for the santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday november 5th

the organicgreen doctor

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