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, October 25, 2023

my story revisited #191-the facts arent better

MY STORY REVISITED #192-THE FACTS ARENT BETTER

thats me talking at the 2023 walk to end alzheimers in santa barbara
in 2015 i did the similar talk at the austin alzheimers walk
in my old blog below i mentioned all the stats on alzheimers from 2015

the numbers havent gotten better
here is a link to the alzheimers facts and figures for 2023


here is a short video on the numbers

we are making progress in the treatment of the disease and probably more important is educating the public on how to slow down the disease with healthy lifestyles
the younger the better
_________
04-02-2015
ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THE NEW FACTS
the 2015 new facts are out from the alzheimers association

here they are

its the only cause of death in america in the top 10 that cannot
be prevented cured or slowed

almost 2/3 of americans with alzheimers are women

1 in 3 seniors die from alzheimers or related dementias

alzheimers is the 6th leading cause of death in the united states

only 45% of the alzheimers patients or their caregivers report
being told of their diagnosis
while 90% of the patients with the 4 most common cancers
have been told of their diagnosis

in 2015 alzheimers and related dementias will cost the us
226 billion dollars
$226,000,000,000
by 2050 those cost could rise to $1.1 trillion
$1,100,000,000,000

every 67 seconds someone develops alzheimers in the us

my thoughts
some researchers think when they look at the data
that alzheimers is really the 3rd leading cause of death

there are 5.1 million in the us with alzheimers over 65
by 2025 the number will be 7.1 million
by 2050 the number will be 13.8 million

from 2000 to 2013 the number of deaths from alzheimers
increased 71%

there is some hope that we may be able to delay its onset
by taking care of our national health
with
the mind diet
control of blood pressure cholesterol diabetes weight
exercise
adequate sleep
etc

its interesting that if we cured alzheimers disease
that the national debt each year is the same as what
we will be spending on alzheimers if we dont get a cure

i as a physician cannot imagine not telling a family or
a patient that they have alzheimers disease
like a cancer diagnosis they have a right to know

i have a sign in my front yard
that says every 69 seconds someone is diagnosed with the
disease
its two years old
time is ticking away for us
now its 67 seconds
we need to stop time in its tracks

we need help from congress
we need help from you and me
________
in 2015 i was one year away from being accepted in the biogen aduhelm clinical trial and 2 years before i started receiving monthly infusions in the study
my first 18 were placebo and my last 35 were the real drug aduhelm

next week i do my exit visit for the study to include a full neurological evaluation and memory testing for several hours and blood tests
then
i will have a final amyloid pet scan and a tau pet scan next month 
then
i am done except for maybe a final exit interview in march of 2024

this morning at the clinical trials on alzheimers disease conference in boston the result of my study will be presented at a presentation
hopefully those results will be available online also

the neurologist who directs the study at ucla will be there and will give us a report next week at our visit

how good the results are will be important in deciding what i do next

my prediction is that it will show most if not all the measurable amyloid plaque is removed and most likely there is some lowering of the tau tangle levels in the brain

this is where our 8 year journey we have been on ends

the organicgreen doctor

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