organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-another new treatment

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-another new treatment: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-ANOTHER NEW TREATMENT there have been 3 monoclonal antibodies cleared by the fda for treatment of early alzheimers disease a...

alzheimers news-another new treatment

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-ANOTHER NEW TREATMENT

there have been 3 monoclonal antibodies cleared by the fda for treatment of early alzheimers disease
all 3 bind to amyloid plaques or amyloid to remove them from the brain
by removing this amyloid plaque it is thought and hoped that this will slow down the disease
not stop it or prevent it but slow it down

there were a couple that were developed that didnt work at all

then my drug aduhelm came along
it got fda approval but had a stormy course so that now its off the market
it worked but its sister drug leqembi probably works better so biogen chose to drop aduhelm and keep leqembi

the aduhelm after 34 monthly infusions removed all my measurable amyloid plaque

leqembi was approved by the fda and is being given to folks all over the country for early alzheimers
its given as a twice a month infusion at infusions centers
studies are being done so it can be given as a shot at your home
if approved that may be the way to go is to get the shot at home

then there is kisunia which is given once a month and probably works better but also probably has more side effects
its given as an infusion for a shorter period of time less than a year maybe

no one seems to know yet what to do once the initial treatment is done
we will have thousands of folks like me who have no measurable amyloid plaque wondering what to do next

now a new drug called remternetug is in phase 3 clinical trials
it works slightly different than these 3 but similar
it removes the amyloid also but probably with slightly more side effects
im sure it will get fda early approval once this phase 3 study is done

then
we will have 3 drugs to chose from
im not sure which one i will chose but i will watch this new one as it moves through the clinical trials and the fda approval process

here is a review article of the 3 drugs from alzheimers weekly

i just dont want that stuff that amyloid to reaccumulate in my brain

my suggestion is if you are early diagnosed with mci due to alzheimers or early alzheimers that you consider using one of these drugs
they may slow down memory decline by up to 30%

the major risk is aria or amyloid related imaging abnormalities manifesting as edema or bleeds
the instance is low and most resolve and the meds can be continued
i had no aria
those with the apoe4/apoe4 gene are at highest risk for these bleeds
an mri an apoe4 genetic test and an amyloid pet scan or a spinal tap for amyloid or tau are required to be screened before receiving one of these drugs

also during treatment regular mris of the brain are done to rule out aria

the only other thing that can be offered to you is aricept to slow down symptoms and to do all the healthy things one needs to be doing
then
sit and wait

if you wait too long and let the disease progress then these 3 drugs dont work

for me i prefer to be proactive so i sought treatment

will it make a difference 
i may not ever know
but i have no regrets in doing it

if you are in the santa barbara area join us for our walk to end alzheimers at the link below
or
join a walk where you live
here is the link to our team organicgreendoctor to join or donate 
see you on saturday november 16th at chase palm park 

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #211-my essence revisited

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #211-my essence revisited: MY STORY REVISITED #211-MY ESSENCE REVISITED my essence hasnt changed much since i wrote this old blog in 2015 the interviewer caught my ess...

my story revisited #211-my essence revisited

MY STORY REVISITED #211-MY ESSENCE REVISITED

my essence hasnt changed much since i wrote this old blog in 2015
the interviewer caught my essence in the article she wrote
i would say it was one of the better interviews that i have had since i started my journey with the disease

you can always tell an experienced and skilled interview when its happening
the four interviews i have done where the interviewer was skilled was this one the one done by the austin american statesman not long after i was diagnosed the one done by the ny times about my involvement in the aduhelm clinical trial and one done not long after i moved to santa barbara by a now deceased reporter for the local santa barbara paper which has since closed

the article mentioned by the blog below was set up by a former patient who worked for the local independent newspaper
The reporter did a great job with the interview
here is the link to that article

__________
10-10-2024
ALZHEIMERS NEWS-MY ESSENCE

over the last 5 years since my diagnosis i have been
interviewed multiple times by newspapers and television
and radio reporters
but last week i was interviewed by a reporter from the
above newspaper

here is the link to their website
the article will be available online soon
its now available in paper form at local businesses
and at their office

when i got home i told my wife she
that was one of the best interviews ive had of all
that ive had done

the reporter seemed to know what questions to ask
she when i read the newspaper article
caught
my essence

maybe at my funeral one day
hopefully years from now
someone will read that article aloud to all who attend

this my friends i want them to say
is the essence of
the organicgreen doctor

he did good

for others

special thanks to ka for setting this all up

today i do another alzheimers talk in a town nearby
called burnet
it is to the local state agri extension clubs annual meeting
there will about 50+ folks attending today

i like doing these talks
like in the above article
i talk about how i was diagnosed
my family history my personal history
what testing should be done for memory loss
what new testing is available now and will be available soon
what a person can do to maybe slow things down
what new treatment studies are going on
what links for more information
then the best part
i answer questions from the audience to hopefully give them
answers they are not finding elsewhere

yes
thats my essence alright

here are some slides from my presentation for you
and those who attended it today


those above the question marked tests are the ones
that most need to have to have a complete memory loss workup
those who havent had those may not have had a complete
evaluation


these things above may slow down the development
of memory loss
some think in some cases they may even prevent
memory loss
you should be doing all this anyway
all your life
i attribute my improvement to doing all of these
aggressively
and
taking my aricept (donepezil)


these are treatment studies that are ongoing now
they are looking for study subjects
the top three are on folks who have no symptoms
the colombian study is on a family with the dominant alzheimers gene
who have no symptoms
all three are using one of the new alzheimers vaccine
the sniff study is using nasal insulin
the bace inhibitor is a pill that inhibits an enzyme that
produces the bad beta amyloid

folks they are looking for volunteers
go to www.alz.org  or click this link


the www.alz.org is the best website for finding out information
for patients families caregivers or medical providers
the texas capital website is the local chapters
they can provide a lot of information for whats available
locally
the clinical best practices is about what workup and treatment
is available
its from the texas health department website
the last is the research center where i go
which by the way is where i will be week from today


__________
the initial workup for memory loss is the same except now if needed an amyloid pet scan is done to confirm the diagnosis of alzheimers disease or a spinal tap for amyloid and tau or soon a screening alzheimers blood test will be done

for treatment
its doing all the healthy things one needs to be doing
adding aricept or donepezil early on in the disease
then
consider taking infusions of leqembi or kisunia that may slow down symptoms by about 25-30%
they work better if started early in the disease
there will be more treatments available in the future

these studies i mentioned are mostly done
the a4 study showed the drug they used didnt help
i am not sure about the apoe4 study
the colombian study showed the moncolonal antibodies didnt work in early onset genetic alzheimers disease
the sniff study wasnt done 
the bace inhibitor study showed the bace inhibitors didnt work but instead made it worse

the clinical trials for aduhelm leqembi and kisunia showed these monoclonal antibodies may help slow down symptoms
i am glad i did the aduhelm clinical trial study treatments 
having all the amyloid plaques removed makes me feel better knowing its all gone
i just hope it helps slow down this disease

the alzheimers association website www.alz.org is still the best website to get information on alzheimers

i still do a lot of volunteering doing the same number of hours per week
i mainly just volunteer in our community garden as the garden manager and as the chair of the garden committee

so when i die
i want folks to say 
he gave back
he educated us about alzheimers and gardening

makes my life complete

if you are in the santa barbara area join us for our walk to end alzheimers at the link below
or
join a walk where you live
here is the link to our team organicgreendoctor to join or donate 
see you on saturday november 16th at chase palm park 

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-control this risk factor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-control this risk factor: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-CONTROL THIS RISK FACTOR most if not all of us know what our blood pressures are look at your numbers if its not around 120/...

alzheimers news-control this risk factor

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-CONTROL THIS RISK FACTOR

most if not all of us know what our blood pressures are
look at your numbers
if its not around 120/70 your blood pressure may be putting you at risk for getting alzheimers as you age
if you are middle age or younger and your numbers are above that you are at a higher risk for getting alzheimers as you age

in a recent study those with untreated high blood pressure had a 36% increase risk of developing alzheimers as compared to those who who had normal blood pressures or were treated for high blood pressure

i cringe to remember that there was a time that we didnt treat folks blood pressure until it was 140/90
now its 120/70

high blood pressure also raises your risk for stroke and cerebrovascular disease
its easy and cheap to control
it can also lead to vascular dementia

nowadays its so easy to treat
there is really no reason for anyone to have high blood pressure at any age

so attack this risk factor
control your pressure
reduce your risk for alzheimers disease and for vascular dementia

so after you control this risk factor
its the easiest one to do
then start attacking the other risk factors one at a time

just dont wait years to do it

if you are in the santa barbara area join us for our walk to end alzheimers at the link below
or
join a walk where you live
here is the link to our team organicgreendoctor to join or donate 
see you on saturday november 16th at chase palm park 

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: garden news-christmas lima beans

organicgreendoctor: garden news-christmas lima beans: GARDEN NEWS-CHRISTMAS LIMA BEANS these are my most favorite beans to eat they are christmas lima beans they are called christmas lima beans ...

garden news-christmas lima beans

GARDEN NEWS-CHRISTMAS LIMA BEANS

these are my most favorite beans to eat
they are christmas lima beans
they are called christmas lima beans since you plant them in april and you harvest them near christmas
i have noticed here in santa barbara that they are usually ready for harvest in october or november
i guess that would make them halloween lima beans or thanksgiving lima beans

when we lived in texas it was usually late november or december when we harvested them depending on when it got cold

i had never heard of christmas lima beans until a former arkansas friend living in austin told me about them
i ordered some and planted them and also cooked them 
i have planted them every year since then probably around 15 years

the place i ordered the original seeds is linked below

rancho gordo heirloom beans

i ordered a pound of them and ate them cooking them similar to the recipe on the link above
the flavor to me is like it has a hammy flavor
i have cooked them with just water and nothing else and the flavor is still good

the beans in the picture above are from the original purchase from rancho gordo years ago
well the beans would be their great great great .... grandkids

i have planted them here in my garden in santa barbara for the last 7 years so they are getting acclimated to our community gardens environment

it was interesting during the pandemic that most of the beans including the christmas lima beans were all sold out on the rancho gordo website

we use these christmas lima beans along with other beans to sort out in our seed session of our fall harvest program
the kids say this is their favorite seed

here is how i cook them
you can cook them like you would any other bean like pintos

i soak them overnight in water
i place them the next morning in a crockpot with just enough water to cover them
later when the beans soften up i will add chicken broth or vegetable broth or chicken bone broth
i use whatever i have

then
i add things from the garden like kale malabar spinach purslane amaranth garlic onion leek tomatoes collards and herbs like oregano thyme rosemary
i seasoned it with salt pepper smoked paprika cumin and hickory or mesquite liquid smoke
i add either olive oil and or butter

i then let it slow cook until the beans are soft but not mushy

the christmas lima beans will lose that calico color and will puff up and turn brown or tan
the beans soup is also brown and it has a ham flavor to it

we i mean my wife she will cook a pan of iron skillet cornbread to go with this 

1 nice bowl of christmas lima beans with a piece of cornbread well maybe 2 or 3 pieces makes a fine meal

its well worth the 6-7 months it takes to grow them

heirloom christmas lima beans heirloom is definitely my favorite bean

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #210-more momentum

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #210-more momentum: MY STORY REVISITED #210-MORE MOMENTUM i did my first walk to end alzheimers in 2011 this next month i will be doing my 14th year of these wa...

my story revisited #210-more momentum

MY STORY REVISITED #210-MORE MOMENTUM

i did my first walk to end alzheimers in 2011
this next month i will be doing my 14th year of these walks
i skipped two years due to the pandemic
most of these events i have done a few minutes talk on my story for the audience
yes i cry every time and yes many in the audience cries also

this year if i talk at the walk i will be more positive
we have come a long way since 2011 and even since i wrote this blog below in 2015

the article linked in the old blog below is well written

i can feel even more momentum picking up now
_________
09-28-2015

MOMENTUM
i can feel it building
this momentum to find a cure and treatment
im bleeding purple this morning when i cut myself

i felt it last week when i did my presentation on
alzheimers to a large crowd
after talking for 30 minutes
i let them ask me questions that they wanted answered
my oh my
they asked a ton of questions
in fact i told them
ill stay here until they run us out
or
until there are no more questions asked

i noticed that people dont get their answers from
their medical providers
who are either too busy
or
may not know themselves

many of the questions should have been answered
by the providers

why dont they or why dont we provide those answers

in reviewing comments from the attendees
they felt like they got some needed answers that day

here is a newspaper article on the presentation

then this weekend
we did our first of our walk to end alzheimers in williamson county
quite a success it was

these walks mean a lot to people who have had family
with the disease
i always take a pause
thinking of
my mother my dad my younger brother and older brother
all affected by this disease
as i walk i usually will strike up a conversation with other walkers
sometimes ending in teary eyes as they remember their
loved ones

this walk just seems to feel good
its the fifth time we have done this walk
its getting bigger and bigger each year

this year there were 650+ walkers
raising over $65000 for alzheimers research and education
almost all this money goes to that cause

there is a lot of youth at this walk
which we need
an influx of youth
they are the silent ones in the alzheimers battle
they lose their parents grandparents aunts and uncles
to this terrible disease
you know it must bother them a lot
many dont understand why

there seemed to be a lot of energy at this walk
that makes that momentum move forward
on to the next one
on to a cure

a weekend well spent
_________
as i am getting ready to walk in the walk to end alzheimers here in santa barbara in about a month i was thinking about all the gains we have made in the alzheimers world since i was diagnosed in 2010

we now know that doing all the healthy things one should be doing well documented in my old blogs that one can slow the disease down or maybe even prevent it if done over a lifetime

taking aricept or donepezil early in the disease process may delay the progression of symptoms and maybe allow you to live longer

there are 3 new drugs called anti amyloid monoclonal antibodies that have been approved by the fda
aduhelm my drug is off the market but its cousin leqembi is available now for treatment in early alzheimers
kisunia another one is approved for use also

these drugs may slow down symptoms by as much as 30%

doctors can now more definitely diagnose alzheimers by using exam and history labs memory testing mri then amyloid pet scans and soon to be available alzheimers blood tests

so when you are told you have it they arent just guessing any more 

so they can accurately diagnose you
start treatment if its caught early enough
then
soon in the near future also treat your tau tangles that accumulate and the inflammation that occurs

hopefully all of this will slow the disease down

for me
i am waiting to see when i need to be retreated again
science doesnt know for sure when to retreat
when they decide i plan to retreat

if you are in the santa barbara area join us for our walk to end alzheimers at the link below
or
join a walk where you live

the alzheimers association is the reason we have made good progress on this disease through its research lobbying and education programs

here is the link to our team organicgreendoctor to donate 
see you on saturday november 16th at chase palm park 

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: garden news-lifebloods of the garden

organicgreendoctor: garden news-lifebloods of the garden: GARDEN NEWS-LIFEBLOODS OF THE GARDEN this is a 15 cubic yard pile of organic compost we ordered to use in our garden we were able to get a g...

garden news-lifebloods of the garden

GARDEN NEWS-LIFEBLOODS OF THE GARDEN

this is a 15 cubic yard pile of organic compost we ordered to use in our garden
we were able to get a grant to pay for this compost

compost is the lifeblood of the garden
it is what makes our soil so rich and is what makes our vegetable production go up


we have these 9 four foot compost bins that we use to make our own compost
but we have started the last few years to add more compost to our beds so we needed more compost than what we can produce

our soil is a clay soil so we need the extra compost to improve the quality of the soil

this will be our 3rd year to buy this extra compost to add to our garden
you can tell the difference it makes in how fluffier the soil has gotten over the last 3 years and how more and bigger produce we are producing

yes compost is the lifeblood of the garden


when we prep our beds we dont ever till or dig them up
we trench along side the bed throwing the soil onto the bed
we add 3-4 inches of compost on top the bed
add an organic fertilizer
fork this in with a large broadfork which is like a 3 foot wide fork with 10 inch tines
the bed is then raked out smooth


we try to do this a few weeks before we will plant
we add a covering of straw to keep it from drying out
then rake back the straw at planting time
this allows the soil to percolate and get even richer

we have 19 beds that are 30 foot long
we have 9 raised beds that are about10 foot long

we are producing over 5000 lbs of organic produce we donate to those in need

yes compost is the lifeblood of the garden

we also have events all year including a fall harvest program of over 500 elementary kids a pumpkin patch frequent garden tours an easter egg hunt plant sales a christmas tree lot sale and more

raising our vegetables in our organic gardens is the lifeblood of what makes this garden so attractive to visitors

so we have two lifebloods
compost 
the gardens

the organicgreen doctor 

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #210-it may not help

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #210-it may not help: MY STORY REVISITED #210-IT MAY NOT HELP when i was diagnosed 14 years ago i was looking for anything that may help to slow the disease down ...

my story revisited #210-it may not help

MY STORY REVISITED #210-IT MAY NOT HELP

when i was diagnosed 14 years ago i was looking for anything that may help to slow the disease down
i changed my diet to a mind diet
i aggressively controlled my blood pressure my cholesterol and my weight
i stayed active mentally physically and socially 
i started on aricept to slow down symptoms
starting aricept so early in the disease may have helped slow down the symptoms a lot
i added an afternoon nap to make sure i get 7-8 hours of sleep a day
then
i looked for new clinical trials of promising drugs
eventually 6 years after i was diagnosed i ended up in the biogen aduhelm study where i got 34 monthly infusions of aduhelm which has removed all the measurable amyloid from my brain
also
i looked for other things to help slow it down
i found dr bredesens protocol and started it 
most of the 30 plus things i was already doing
i took vitamin b12 because my b12 level was below normal
i took vitamin d3 because my level was below normal
i took folate since my homocysteine level was high
a high homocysteine level may be associated with heart disease and strokes and maybe alzheimers

he had other things i took for awhile but stopped them since the evidence wasnt good that they really helped
i was on about 20 plus pills a day 

today i take a cholesterol medicine a reflux medication a baby aspirin a probiotic vitamin b12 vitamin d3 folate and my aricept
i added citicoline since it may increase acetylcholine in my brain which is depleted in alzheimers
the use of citicoline is not proven yet to be useful 
when and if its proven for sure it doesnt help i will stop it

my cholesterol blood pressure weight vitamin d3 vitamin b12 and homocysteine are all normal

i was on the resveratrol mentioned below but i stopped it
see below

__________
09-18-2023
ALZHEIMERS NEWS-GRAPES FOR WRATH

for those of us who have seen alzheimers disease
up close and personal
we know what the wrath of alzheimers disease is like
weve lived it

so now if you drink a 1,000 bottles of red wine a day
you can get enough of a chemical called
reservatrol
to slow down the cognitive decline from alzheimers disease
dying of course not from alzheimers
but from alcohol poisoning along the way

so what the researchers did
is isolated resveratrol so it could be taken in a capsule form
eg

here is a bottle of the stuff

here is some of the pills that have 500 mg in them
horse pills are what they are

it seems that in this small study of slightly more than 100
people with mild to moderate alzheimers
excuse me
when will they learn
doing studies on folks who already have it
may not work as well
since the disease is so well established by the time you are
that far along

why not treat folks who are programmed to get the disease
to see if it can be slowed down or prevented
seems easy to me

so off my soap box
they found that these folks had an improvement in their
activities of daily living
like eating communicating walking around getting dressed
take care of their daily needs
and
that their was no increase in beta amyloid in the brain
and
the brain shrunk in those on the reservatrol

why
the thinking is that the inflammation in the brain
was decreased significantly by the reservatrol
thus the smaller brain volume

the same thing happened in patients given the new
antiamyloid alzheimers vaccines

so the brain got better
the patients got better

a+b=c

it seems reservatrol turns on a protein called sirtuians
which changes the ratio of the amyloid proteins in the brain
a 2/3 calorie restriction diet does the same thing
well thats not going to work
is it
in the us

several months ago when i read dr bredesens article on ways
to slow cognitive decline
one of the supplements he recommended for the patients
in the study was
reservatrol
ive been on it since i read the article

ive noticed my brain doesnt seem quite so tight up in my skull
no i made that up

now the researchers are looking to do a larger phase 3 study on
hundreds of patients to see if this really works

as i raise my hand
excuse me sir researcher
could you please do it on those destined to get alzheimers but
who have no symptoms
or
folks like me who are really early in the disease process
it seems to me that we would be helped the most by all of this

so
i plan to bump up my dose of reservatrol to that used in the study
to do my study of one person

of course ill keep drinking my glass of red wine each night
it relaxes me
relieves stress
another potential cause of cognitive decline
two birds with one stone
________
the reservatrol did not prove to be helpful in clinical trials
it didnt cause any harm
there will probably be more studies done on it

in the meantime
im not taking it
i dont drink wine or alcohol anymore because it affects my reflux
it might be good if i had a glass of wine at night
but for now i have none

so this reservatrol might not help at all

i found over the last 14 years a lot of things that dropped off the list of things that might help
i dont try them now unless they have better scientific evidence it helps

the real secret to controlling your risk for alzheimers is to start taking care of your health when you are a child and do so all your life

a treatment we all should be doing
right

the organicgreen doctor