alzheimers news- what would i say to my 40 year old self

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHAT WOULD I SAY TO MY 40 YEAR OLD SELF

when i turned 40 years old i had just finished a 2 year stint doing full time emergency room doctoring and switched to a full family practice 
it was at that time i did my first cholesterol check
it was sobering 
knowing what i know now and what medicine knows now i should have been more aggressive in keeping those cholesterol numbers at a normal level

why
heart disease
stroke
alzheimers

those are the main reasons 

my initial total cholesterol was over 300 and my ldl cholesterol was well over 250
normal is less than 200 and less then 100 respectively

it would be almost 20 years before i got on a statin to lower those levels
luckily i changed my diet increased my exercise and kept my ldl in the 130-150 range with diet changes

not good enough as we know now

i wander how much crude build up occurred in my arteries and in my brain
luckily studies of my carotids and heart have been normal so far
multiple brain mris have been normal
my brain well maybe not so good since i was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease at 60

would controlling my lipids for another 20 years made a difference

probably 

i have been on statins now for 15 years and keep my ldl less than 100.

my blood pressure was always borderline
in 1990 when i first had my lipids checked the accepted level of blood pressure was 140/90
now it is 120/70

my blood pressure is now below that 120/80 level

what if it had been maintained at that level for those 20 extra years

what if

luckily for me i changed my diet exercised regularly playing sports running and riding bikes
i changed my diet

i usually got adequate sleep unless i was doing an overnighter in the emergency room or was on call and was up all night

the job was stressful at times but i think i handled it ok
i never was a heavy drinker and i quit smoking at 24

so some of what i did and changed when i turned 40 probably helped some
things might have been worse
a early stroke an early heart attack or alzheimers in my early 50s

so i would tell my 40 year old self
control your blood pressure and cholesterol with medications
keep doing all the healthy things you are doing

now 35 years later and looking at what i know today
what would i tell myself in 2026 if i just turned 40

get on statins and get your ldl below 100 if not lower
get on blood pressure meds to get your blood pressure to less than 120/80

get on the mind diet

get 7-8 hours of sleep a day

control stress

get regular exercise

check your apoe4 status
if its positive for apoe4 or apoe4/apoe4 then get really aggressive with all your prevention methods

the abnormal lipids ie cholesterol i have are related to my apoe4 gene
it controls lipid metabolism

they are looking at research that will change the apoe4 to apoe2 which be a game changer
however that is probably years away
those who are lucky enough to have apoe2 gene tend not to get alzheimers

i must add that checking your apoe4 can be sobering if it is positive
dont do it unless you really understand what it means
and if you cant handle the positive result

remember that about 25% of you will be positive for the apoe4 gene

the good thing is that a lifetime of good healthy living doing all the things one needs to do to slow down the disease can counter having the apoe4 gene

i just wished i had got started sooner like maybe when i was born
that is when your kids should start

if you share genetic dna with me you are at risk
start today even if you arent 40

avoid alcohol and tobacco

if you apoe4 is positive consider getting the new blood test done for alzheimers when it becomes available this year
if its positive seek out a new clinical trial for treating patients with positive tests and no symptoms
i really believe this is the point where treating patients will make a real difference
like i was at 40 and 50

for me i think when  i was accidently diagnosed at 60 i was in the early early stages of the disease process and this is why i am still doing ok well better than i was 15 years ago

starting aricept or donepezil and getting my amyloid plaques removed from my brain  with aduhelm infusions and doing all the other healthy things 
that's why im better

soon that is the way folks will be doing is treating themselves long before symptoms start with these new alzheimers medications

you can do that now by doing all these healthy things now to slow down the disease which can take years to cause symptoms

yep thats what i would say to myself then and now
be
proactive

the organicgreen doctor