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

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

my story revisited #168-hope this helps

MY STORY REVISITED #168-HOPE THIS HELPS

in this old blog i mentioned some things that might help

one was coffee 
drinking 3-5 cups a day
now they say maybe just 1-2 cups a day is better
i seem to be sensitive to coffee so if i drink caffeinated coffee my blood pressure goes up
so
i drink one cup of decaffeinated coffee once a day and that seems to not bother my blood pressure
if you are having trouble controlling your blood pressure think about the caffeine in coffee affecting your readings

i didnt mention it but one glass of wine is ok but several may not be
i dont drink any alcohol anymore and i dont drink caffeinated coffee and i now weigh about 15 lbs less than i did 3 years ago

end result my blood pressure is normal off meds and off these things caffeine wine weight

cholesterol
i take atorvastatin to control my cholesterol
i eat the mind diet

milk
i dont know about this one 
for a lot of things moderation is the answer

lifestyle changes
this one is probably the best way to slow down the chances of developing alzheimers
diet exercise sleep stress anxiety depression social interactions staying active mentally 

i mentioned the bace inhibitors for alzheimers
they did not seem to work and in some cases made memory loss worse

then
i mentioned the aducanumab
i was just starting to read about this drug and was attempting to sign up for clinical trials 
it would be 3 years later in 2017 before i would get started on my aducanumab now called aduhelm in the clinical trial

the chances are is that this aduhelm will help some
how much we really dont know yet
give us a couple of years and we will know

yes its expensive at around $28000+- a year
i have had 18 placebo infusions and will receive #27 of the real drug aduhelm in two weeks
so far i have paid zero for my treatments
i have at least 18+ more months to go in this study i am in now called the embark study

i wrote 8 years ago that we should know if this drug works in 5 years 
well it will be 10 years before we will know when they read out the study i am in in 2 years

i have had at least one mri a year for the last 12 years sometimes more some years
my mri of the brain has not changed any since 2010
thats a good thing
in 2010 i really thought that in 2022 that if you looked at my mri of my brain that you would see significant changes
which you dont
__________
12-05-2014

THINGS THAT MAY HELP

a recent study showed that drinking 3-5 cups of coffee
a day
may reduce the chance of getting alzheimers disease
by 20%
could it be that easy
dont know
but
im bumping my coffee intake back up to 3 cups a day
after reading this one
even though the extra caffeine does interfere some with
my sleep
but
ill just learn how to deal with that


then i read about drinking milk every day may
decrease the chance of getting alzheimers disease
by 40%
maybe by supplying a lifetime of vitamin b12 and
vitamin d

so thats
60% so far

then there are studies especially in europe
since they keep better records than we do
that making life style changes
that ive written about here before
can lower your risk by as much
as 40%

so then if this is true
that makes me at
100% decreased risk of developing
alzheimers disease

say it aint so

well i dont like milk so that lowers down my
percentage some
to 60%
but ill take that


running more than 15 miles a week may reduce the risk
by 40%
running slightly less reduces the risk
by 25%


controlling your cholesterol with that statin
may lower the risk of dying from alzheimers
by 40%

i dont run but i walk so give me say
15%
then i control my cholesterol with statins
so give me back
that 40%
that not drinking milk took away from me

so now im back at
100% risk reduction



then new drug studies moving forward

there is a drug a bace inhhibitor thats in phase 3 studies
azd3393
sounds like something from star wars

it blocks an enzyme that is involved in making that bad sticky
stuff that accumulates in the brain in alzheimers disease
beta amyloid
by stopping the production of beta amyloid the levels
drop in the brain
thus slowing down or preventing alzheimers disease
its a pill
so we are closer to knowing if this stuff works
phase 1 studies imply it might

speed it up please
im awaiting

then
another alzheimers vaccine is closer 
aducanumab its called

it will enter phase 3 studies soon
it works by antibodies that bind the beta amyloid
and
removes them from the spinal fluid
thus slowing down or preventing alzheimers disease

so probably within 5 years we will know if these work

so in summary
drink coffee
get milk
run a lot or walk fast a lot
control cholesterol with a statin if indicated
do life style changes we have been recommending
control blood pressure diabetes cholesterol weight depression
anxiety stress be happy listen to music eat a mediterranean diet
sleep good

then

if you are at risk like i am
be saving your money to get those new alzheimers drugs
a pill and an infusion

(im sure they will be awfully expensive
but cheaper than a nursing home)

to slow down or prevent
alzheimers disease

yes
it wont be long before we will be able to say this
__________
as i have written before 
all these things i am doing plus taking my aricept or donepezil has made a difference

it helps to be proactive

the organicgreeen doctor

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