alzheimers news-im sleepy

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-IM SLEEPY

i seem to say that to my wife she twice a day
once after lunch
the other
after supper

i do notice its worse in regards the after lunch sleepiness
a week after my infusions i get monthly in the
aducanumab study at ucla

whether or not its really that im not sure
i guess one day if i find out im getting the placebo
then ill know those infusions didnt do it
it maybe was
a placebo effect

sleep is important in regards to developing alzheimers disease
as you are sleeping there are garbage cells that are
programmed to go into the brain and clean up any debris
that has accumulated
this seems to happen during your deep sleep
this usually requires a good 7-8 hours of sleep for
all this to happen

part of this debris that accumulates is the bad beta amyloid
that is produced and builds up in the brain
its that bad beta amyloid that kills brain cells as it forms
plaques of amyloid
this is what is thought to be the cause of alzheimers disease
the accumulation of amyloid
the lack of adequate sleep exacerbates this
it may not be the only cause but it makes it worse

so a good restful adequate sleep is important

now researchers in a recent article found that this excessive
daytime sleepiness may indicate an individuals risk for
alzheimers disease
man am i in trouble

in this mayo clinic study following 70 year olds with excessive
daytime sleepiness for seven years with amyloid brain scans
they found 22% of them accumulated the amyloid
in places where alzheimers disease usually starts in the brain

so does the excessive sleepiness cause the accumulation
or
does the accumulation cause the excessive sleepiness
the chicken or the egg theory

so
get adequate sleep please
the early in life you start the better

i wonder what is going to happen in all those young folks
who dont get enough sleep due to cell phones computers
excessive lights working etc
just ask any high school or middle school teacher about this

they are doing a long term experiment on themselves that will give us
an answer in 40-50 years

im hoping it wont happen to them

the organicgreen doctor

grapes of wrath, fyi

GRAPES OF WRATH
alzheimers disease reeks a wrath of destruction inside
the brain
it starts years and years
20-30 years before symptoms start

a lot of effort and money is being spent to find things
that can slow down or stop that wrath from occurring

one of those things is a compound called
resveratrol
its found in red grapes

now at night each night i have a glass of red wine
inside that glass there is that compound
resveratrol

now part of the way that the red wine helps is
that it simply relaxes you some
something that has been shown to slow down or
maybe when added to other things could stop
alzheimers disease

now in that red wine im taking each night
its the relaxing part that helps me

too much though makes things worse

now if i wanted to drink enough red wine to get all
the resveratrol i would need to help slow down
alzheimers disease
well i couldnt drink that much wine in a days time
nor could anyone else

so they have taken the resveratrol from the grapes
concentrated it a lot
and
use it as a potential drug

recently at texas am a researcher
took old rats many who we destined to have a decline
in memory
they gave them resveratrol
those who got it had no decline in memory
measured by spatial memory tests
but
those who didnt take the resveratrol
failed the memory tests

so the thinking is that the resveratrol from red grapes
does something in the brain to slow down the process

it appears it decreases inflammation in the brain
remember me writing about the beta amyloid and tau
accumulation with it plaques and tangles
and
all the inflammatory reactions that occurs

well resveratrol decreases that inflammatory reaction also

plus
in patients like me who carry the double apoe 4 gene
there is a ratio of enzymes that are involved in the production
of the beta amyloid
the thing that probably starts accumulating and cause all
this mess up there in the brain
since this ratio gets flipped
the brain makes too much bad stuff
beta amyloid so it starts accumulating leading to the
destruction we call alzheimers disease

it appears that in the lab the resveratrol flips back that ratio
to where it should be
so the production of beta amyloid goes down

so thats how resveratrol from red grapes helps to prevent
or slow down alzheimers disease

there is a large study that is finishing up at mulitple well known
alzheimers research centers across the us
called the resveratrol study
the results should be out soon
so
we will know if taking large doses of this resveratrol
will work

so for now im drinking my red wine
and
i actually take a large dose of resveratrol each day

there will be no wrath at my house



FYI

next saturday at 100 pm
at the alamo drafthouse on south lamar
the alzheimers association is sponsoring a special showing of

still alice

the oscar nominated film with the oscar nominated best actress
julianne moore
the film is about a linguistic professor who develops
early onset alzheimers disease
a version of the disease that took my younger brother

afterwards
a local neurologist and i will be doing a q&a
on alzheimers disease

come join us

i will post the link next week on how to  buy tickets

the organicgreen doctor

what is alzheimers

WHAT IS ALZHEIMERS

or
click here for the link to the video

this is a question i get asked a lot
what is alzheimers disease

please watch
the video above as its is the best video ive seen on      what this disease is

words to know
beta amyloid-the proteins that stick together to cause alzheimers disease
tau protein-the protein that gets destroyed as the process proceeds
hippocampus-the undersurface of the brain where this all starts
acetylcholine-the level drops in alzheimers patients
           aricept (donnepezil) increases that level and helps the symptoms
                for awhile
alzheimers vaccines-under study now in several large studies
           antibodies will bind up beta amyloid in the brain and remove it
                and if we are all lucky it will work to slow down the disease or
                prevent it

if i do have alzheimers which i think i do based on
changes in short term memory on serial memory tests
strong strong family history-mother father brother grandmothers
multiple aunts and uncles
apoe4 gentoype double version that increases risk 10-20 times
positive or abnormal levels of the bad stuff beta amyloid and tau protein
in my spinal fluid
soon to be done beta amyloid pet scan of the brain called amyvid

then i hope to benefit from new treatment studies coming available
using the alzheimers vaccine and using nasal insulin
hoping not to get put in the placebo group

also if i have it i will already have those changes going on
in my hippocampus thats well described in this video
they just havent advanced far enough yet so that they can
be seen on regular mri but would on the amyvid pet scan

but
sorry to say even if i have those plaques forming there they cant
be undone
for you see
thats this cruelty of this disease
once the disease manifests itself early early it may be to far gone
to be treated
so
treatment when it becomes available will have to be started years and
years earlier
in those of you who read this blog who are in your 30s and 40s

lets find a cure please
do the walk to end alzheimers in your area to show your support
contact your congress persons-its election year and they do listen
support any caregiver that you know

the organicgreen doctor