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 6, 2023

alzheimers news-thats what i said

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THAT WHAT I SAID

in my alzheimers talks and on my blog and via email i have given advice to folks about alzheimers for the last 13 years
that advice is scattered through the over 2000 blogs i have written since 2010

the dementia website called being patient just posted an interview with a neurologist from the banner institute in phoenix

if you are in the alzheimers world you should sign up to get the being patient newsletter
it usually comes out each week
on their website is an hour interview i did a couple of years ago

the neurologist marwan sabbagh does an excellent job 

here is some of the things he said that i have said

dont let the doctors dismiss your concerns

the earlier you can get diagnosed the better

he uses the alzheimers questionnaire linked here for informants like spouses to fill out

an early diagnosis is important

a misdiagnosis is bad

a complete workup is important

you have to have amyloid plaque in the brain to accurately get a diagnosis of alzheimers
that requires a spinal tap or amyloid pet scan or soon an alzheimers blood test
in my experience not many folks go this far
i have had all 3 more than once

medications as well as alcohol and drug abuse and depression can cause dementia
i had someone contact me this last year who i recommended they get a complete workup
his memory loss was due to depression
once it was treated his memory improved

a thorough workup is worth it

you need a good memory test like a moca or maybe mmse or the gold standard a neuropsychological exam
i have had lots of these

so for me my diagnosis is pretty firm based on all these testings
when i die my brain will be looked at so they will know 100% that was my diagnosis

he also mentions clinical trials
thats where i got all my testing and my treatment with aduhelm
also where i made a lot of good contacts in the alzheimers world
most of my interviews were from these contacts as well as being on alzheimers panels 

there are a lot of benefit of doing clinical trials

so finally all i have to say is 
what he said


join me for our santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday october 14th
join us and or donate to our organicgreendoctor team 
or do your own local walk

the organicgreen doctor

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