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 3, 2023

alzheimers news-the superfecta of prevention in middle age

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THE SUPERFECTA OF PREVENTION IN MIDDLE AGE

a superfecta is where you bet 4 horses and the order they win

a superfecta in the alzheimers world in middle age are
weight
blood pressure
cholesterol
diet

if you bet on these 4 and win there is a good change you can slowdown or prevent alzheimers disease as you get older
that chance may be as much as 50% that you may win
my drug aduhelm which i get at ucla in monthly infusions may only slow down memory loss by 22%
if i had done the superfecta and bet on it when i was 40 my chances of winning the alzheimers race may have been closer to 50% or probably higher

weight
you want your bmi normal
here is  a simple bmi calculator 
just put in your height and weight
eg my weight is 175 and my height is 6 ft giving me a bmi of 23.7
normal is less than 25

not long after my retirement my weight went to 205
my bmi was 27.8
thats overweight
not good

when i was sick 3 years ago my weight went down to 148
my bmi was 20.1
i looked worse than my bmi

obesity causes a thinning of the brain cortex like alzheimers does
plus obese folks tend to have elevated blood pressure and elevated lipids and diabetes
all risk factors for alzheimers disease

except for the last few years i always had a normal bmi

blood pressure
uncontrolled blood pressure in middle age can lead to changes in the brain like alzheimers disease
it also can lead to stroke and vascular dementia as one ages as well as alzheimers disease
it was found that folks in middle age need to keep their blood pressure under 120/80

generally my blood pressure was under controlled but there were times when it was not
back in my middle age years the normal blood pressure was under 140/90
now we know that its 120/80
i probably was around that amount part of my middle age years
i took blood pressure medications not long after i was diagnosed until i lost so much weight 
off meds my blood pressure was normal
recently as i regained my weight my blood pressure has become elevated
i am now back on blood pressure medications
so i have had a good run of 12 years of normal blood pressures

had i known what i know now i would have gotten on blood pressure medications in my 40s

cholesterol
your ldl cholesterol or the bad cholesterol should be under 100
mine never was
my intial ldl level when i turned 40 was around 240
diet changes and exercise brought that down to around 140-160

again knowing what i know now i would have gotten on statins aggressively when i was 40
they werent really around at that time
but a 20 years of taking a dose to make my ldl below 100 probably would have helped me 
my ldl has been below 100 now for 12 years
32 years would have been better

diet
when i turned 40 i altered my diet but it was several years before i got to my almost 90% vegetarian diet
now its closer to a mind diet linked here

i also would add these other things to a healthy lifestyle
exercise
control blood sugar
control stress and treat any anxiety or depression
get adequate sleep
meditate or do meditative activities
keep your brain active
socialize
dont smoke
limit alcohol intake

i firmly believe had at 40 years old i got on cholesterol medication got on blood pressure medication ate the mind diet maintained a normal weight and exercised regularly 
then
i probably would not have been diagnosed with mci at 60
i would have been able to work to 65 or longer
i would have been able to use my medical degree in a volunteer organization after retirement
i would be here longer being mentally intact 

so
if you are middle age
take a good look at your numbers
take your medications to correct them
do all the healthy things you need to be doing
then
the chances are you will be able to enjoy and know you are enjoying your kids graduations your grandkids graduations and maybe your great grandkids graduations

i realize i will probably miss those last two sets of graduations

if i had only knew then what i know now

you though know now

the organicgreen doctor

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