alzheimers news-any ideas

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-ANY IDEAS



recently i contacted the neurologist i see at university of texas southwestern
i said
im ready
i want my amyvid pet scan
why
the amyvid pet scan will show if i have accumulated in my brain
any beta amyloid
the bad stuff seen in alzheimers disease

if it is negative
i dont have alzheimers disease
i plan to stop my aricept (donepezil)
and
move happily forward

if it is positive
well thats what i expect it to be
based on
my family history of alzheimers
my abnormal memory tests
although they are back to normal
my abnormal spinal fluids level of beta amyloid
my positive apoe4 apoe4 gene

im better
maybe from the aricept (donepezil)
maybe from my healthy living
then
i will move forward with a more aggressive plan for
the near future
ie
my window just got smaller

so
as i called the radiology center to schedule the amyvid scan
they said could you wait
we will call you back

then
i got a phone call
the alzheimers disease center at the university of texas southwestern
is about to get approval in the next month or two
to start the
ideas study
sponsored by medicare the alzheimers association the american college
of radiology and the two drug companies that make the scan stuff they
shut up your veins to highlight the bad beta amyoid

so
for right now i am on hold
waiting to see if the study gets going
if it doesnt
i will do it privately before the year is up

i like doing it as part of the study since others can benefit
from my results
plus
it will save me $5,000

so the ideas study 
a $100 million dollar study
will pay for about 20,000 scans
referring physicians have to be study certified
neurologists psychiatrists gerontologists
the centers that do it are usually at major research centers

my neurologist will be a participant
the alzheimers center at utsw will be a participate
now im just waiting

the purpose of the study is to see if using the amyvid pet scan
in clinical practice can be helpful in managing someones care

eg
my scan will be used to decide if i continue aricept (donepezil)
it has side effects
if the scan is positive i need to stay on it
if the scan is negative i can stop it

my older brother may have alzheimers disease
he got better like i did
on aricept and healthy living
does he have alzheimers
the scan would more definitively answer that question

my younger brother early on when he had symptoms
does he have alzheimers or is it something else
a scan might have told the family early on
yes he does
plans could be made

of course
whatcha gonna do about if its positive
if you have it

well
do all those healthy thing we all should be doing
take aricept (donepezil)
i know the side effects like leg cramps are a pain in the
calf

then
thanks for all the emails and messages about the article that was
on the news feeds about the aducanamab study
where people got better taking it
their amyvid pet scans showed improvement
when they took it

thats the study i want to also get in
it also soon will be starting up at the alzheimers disease center
at utsw
click on the link theres a video story on my wife and me

its
a new potentially life changing drug treatment for those of us
who have or soon will have
alzheimers disease

help us in the fight
for a cure and treatment
for education about alzheimers disease



lets put a boot to alzheimers
www.txalz.org/walk

donate and or join my team organicgreendoctor
for the alzheimers texas williamson county walk on september 24th
in georgetown texas

donate and or join our team austin regional clinic
for the alzheimers texas travis county walk on october 8th
in austin texas

to join the team you will need to register first
to only donate just hit the donate button

the organicgreen doctor

hope for the future

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

these kids and their generation and the generation
just above them
are the hope for the future
for everything but especially for
a cure or preventative treatment for
alzheimers disease

i can see it like way over there in the horizon
like when you travel in the dessert in the early evening
or early dawn
way off in the distant you see those glittering lights
and those areas of green

hope is out there but its way out there

the cure and treatment will probably come too late
for my generation
but
it will be there for these little guys and their soul mates

a new study i read about this morning was done on women
who took multivitamins with minerals long term
they had a 35% decrease in their risk of dying from
heart disease

now i know from all my reading on alzheimers disease
that generally whats good for the heart is good for the brain

there right now are so many exciting potentially game changing
studies with different new drugs and treatments


the A4 study
folks will be given the new alzheimers vaccine  who
have positive scans that show they will probably get
alzheimers disease but have no symptoms
the vaccine will remove beta amyloid from the brain
thats the bad stuff that is thought to be the culprit in
alzheimers disease
if it works they wont get the disease or will slow down its
progression


the apoe4 studies
folks who have the double apoe4 gene like i have
which puts them at high risk for developing alzheimers disease
will be given the alzheimers vaccine

other folks will be  be given a bace inhibitor which stops
the brain from producing the bad stuff beta amyloid


colombian studies
folks who have the dominant gene for alzheimers disease
and all yes all of them will get it in their 30s to late 40s
and die from it
they will get the vaccine also

so using the vaccine and the bace inhibitor will be thoroughly
tested and we will know in 3-5 years if this approach will
work
if it does we will see this form of treatment get fast tracked
to folks who are early like me or who are at high risk
like
eg my siblings who arent affected yet
they can be screened with scans and spinal fluid analysis
if they are positive
then they could be started on a lifetime of treatment

so maybe this is the hope for the future we are looking for

of course if it doesnt work we are knocked back to ground zero
but
there are lots of other studies being done


the noble t-817ma study just got fast tracked some because of some
promising new studies showing it may help
basically this chemical promotes the new growth of new nerve cells
and
inhibits brain cell death


the sniff study just started one that i might get involved with
basically insulin is sprayed up the nose
goes up the smeller nerve thats the olfactory nerve to the
part of the brain where alzheimers disease starts
it increases glucose to the brain cells some damaged and some not
preliminary studies shows that folks who use this
have an improvement in memory

i expect this will work some and will become part of a
treatment regimen for folks

so these studies above are ongoing now
in humans
and will be available in 5-10 years if they help

some hope for the future

there are lots and lots of studies in animals usually rats or mice
that seem promising
like the stanford study studies on multiple older meds like
citalopram bexarotene etc


then
there is the reversal of cognitive study from ucla that was published
last year that use 36 points
half were healthy things like blood pressure cholesterol diabetes control
exercise diet sleep mental activity meditation for me thats gardening
and making sure your numbers are ok like thyroid b12 homocysteine
vitamin d hormones
then the rest was supplements based on human and animal studies
that showed promising results

he had 9 of 10 people with memory loss get better
the one that didnt had more advanced alzheimers disease
most had memory loss documented on memory tests
some had abnormal scans
when they went off the regimen they got worse again
so
theres something in what is in that 36 point study

maybe some it will be related to the new study referenced above in
women with lower heart disease rates who took multivitamins with minerals

so
in summary
there is hope for the future
for
we always have to have hope dont we


fyi
there are only 12 tickets left for the special showing of still alice
they are along the back row of the auditorium
thats actually where we always like to sit at the alamo drafthouse

the organicgreen doctor

gene

GENE

one of my best friends name is gene
one of those forever friends
i could write a lot about him and things we did
but then he would have to write about things i did
then i would write about things he did
then
well you can see where thats going
nothing good might come of that
so

im writing about another gene
thats the apoe4 gene and i guess this all could apply to
other genes like eg huntingtons disease

first the apoe4 gene
if you have a double version or
a homozygous version ie the apoe4/apoe4 version
you have an increased chance of developing alzheimers
disease
a 30 times chance of developing the disease the late onset
version of alzheimers disease
10% of us have this combo
up to 60% of you have the singe version of apoe4

so theres a lot of you 6 of the 10 of you who read this have
this apoe4 gene
fairly common gene wouldnt you say

some of you with the apoe4/apoe4 gene will not get alzheimers

so its not one of those 100% genes
like huntingtons disease
like the dominant genes for alzheimers that some get
you get the gene you get the disease
100% guaranteed
(see the colombian alzheimers study)

with eg cystic fibrosis if both parents have a cystic fibrosis gene
then the child has a 25% chance of getting the gene
if the child gets the double gene they have a 100% chance of getting the disease
1 in 30 white folks carry this gene

with the apoe4 gene the double gene apoe4/apoe4 you have a
30% chance of maybe getting late onset alzheimers disease

why am i writing about this

i had a lengthy conversation with someone a young someone in
their thirties who got tested you know those things you see on tv
where they swab your cheek and its sent in and then
back comes results that has no real good accompanying explanation
of what that means what it really really means for that particular person

i felt ready when i was tested
i was mentally ready to be tested
i was 60 and had just been told i had mild cognitive impairment amnestic
type that could turn out to be alzhiemers disease
based on changes on mental status evaluation over a 3-5 year time period
things i had noticed in my daily life
a strong strong family history of alzheimers disease
so i wanted as much information as possible to help me make decisions
on my personal situation moving forward

i was ready so i was tested
it was though one of those surreal moments when i opened that
letter and read the results
even then i didnt understand what it really all meant like i do now

positive test with the history above is not a good thing

now move to this person i had the talk with

thirty some family history in grandparents and uncles
now i was tested by a real reputable lab that my neurologists used
this person was tested by that lab that advertises on tv that the fda
is trying to shut down

but i dont doubt though that this persons apoe4 test wasnt correct
what was missing was what does it really really mean
the lab where i was tested will not test cause you want it tested
it has to be ordered by someone who feels its necessary and can
appropriately counsel you on what it really really means

so what does this mean for this thirty year old
it means that this person has a 70% chance that this person will not get
alzheimers disease
but im sure this person is locked in on the 30% risk the person was given

the odds are
1 in 1 you will die of something
1 in 7 you will die of heart disease
1in 7 cancer
1 in 28 chronic lower respiratory disease
1 in 108 moving vehicle accident
1 in 340 assault by firearm

1 in 5 is the lifetime risk of developing alzheimers disease in women
1 in 10 for men
(women live much longer than men so they are more likely to get it)

so in summary for this person
i wouldnt have been tested without counseling first
this person could have a 1 in 5 chance of getting alzheimers without the
apoe4 gene
the apoe4/apoe4 gene increases this some
that xx gene a female has increases the chance almost as much as the apoe4 gene

there are so many things that factor in to someone getting this disease
it appears that for the apoe4/apoe4 gene combo it may not be
as important eg as

controlling ones blood pressure
cholesterol
diabetes
weight
getting exercise
not smoking
having moderate alcohol intake
sleeping normal
controlling anxiety and depression
being happy
staying mentally active
eating a mediterranean diet of less red meat  eat fish fruits nuts veggies
olive oil and whole cereal foods

so be careful of being tested for these different diseases
make sure you are ready if you are going to be tested
make sure you get the appropriate counseling
if you are positive for things like huntingtons or the dominant gene
for alzheimers eg
make sure you have your life planned out
with life insurance disability insruance and maybe long term care insurance
thanks to obamacare health insurance wont be an issue

you wont be able to get any of these after these diagnoses are on
your official medical records
that includes the apoe4/apoe4 gene results

so testing for those gene things should  not be taken lightly
do genetic counseling first
so
the only gene i want to have to be associated with in the future
is my old friend
gene

the organicgreen doctor