alzheimers news-i think he had it

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-I THINK HE HAD IT

i know an author who wrote several books about him
says he didnt have alzheimers disease when he was president

reaganlibrary

well
i think
ronald reagan was in the early stages of the disease when
he was president
he had to have been

i read that his doctors back then in the 80s said he showed
no evidence of alzheimers
did he have memory tests like trump had earlier this year
the one i have had several times over the last 8 years
the moca test
no reagan didnt have that since it was developed in 1997
the other one used commonly is the mmse
it was developed in 1975
it could have been given to reagan but i doubt that it was

if you are early in the disease the mmse misses the diagnosis
the moca test usually doesnt

so my guess he was never ever really tested while in office
even by his private doctors

i was a primary care doctor having graduated in 1982
and finishing my residency in 1985
starting private practice in 1985
i will admit i never recall actually diagnosing alzheimers
disease in my career
it was something like cancer you didnt talk about with
patients
it sort of got ignored

my guess is that his symptoms were ignored
and not tested for

ive watched reagan on tv clips since i was diagnosed
and now knowing a lot more about the disease

you can hear it in his speech
you can see it in his face
the stare
if you have had a loved one with this disease
you recognize that stare
you know what im talking about

there are three stages in alzheimers
prealzheimers with normal memory tests and abnormal spinal fluid and a positive amyvid scan
mild cognitive impairment with slightly abnormal memory tests and abnormal spinal fluid and a positive anyvid scan
alzheimers with abnormal memory tests and abnormal spinal fluid and a positive amyvid scan

if trump will develop alzheimers as he ages he would be prealzheimers now
he would be in the white area
i have mild cognitive impairment
i am in the pink area
reagan at the end of his second term probably had early alzheimers disease
he would have been in the grey area




this is the alzheimers graph
the graph of the typical late onset alzheimers patient
it shows the development of symptoms and testing that we
now have available

this graph was developed from data from the large research
study that i was in called the adni 2 study

he died at 93
he quit the presidency at 77
plot those points on the graph
he was first president at 70 years old
plot that point on the graph

if this was his path which it probably comes close to
at 70 he probably had early mci or mild cognitive impairment
if you had done the moca test on him it might have been abnormal
not like the good score trump had

he probably noticed things himself
maybe his wife
probably not others unless they knew him real well
if he had had a full neuropsychological test it would
have been there
its the gold standard memory test
his spinal tap analysis for the bad amyloid and the tau
would have been abnormal
his amyvid pet scan the one for the bad beta anyloid
the hallmark of alzheimers disease would have been
positive
maybe early changes would even been seen on a mri scan

so i think when he was first inaugurated as president
these would have been positive

i have been exposed in the last eight years to a lot
of folks who have mci and real early alzheimers
they function quite well
they work they write they give lectures they drive
they travel they do all their financial stuff
most folks dont even know

when he was first inaugurated
my guess he would have qualified to be
in the aducanumab study that i am in now

wouldnt that have been interesting
if a sitting president was undergoing a novel treatment
for alzheimers disease

it probably would have been the best thing that
could have happened to the alzheimers movement

but none of this was available

my guess is he functioned quite well in his first term
my guess is that he started to have issues in the end
of his last term
issues he noted
his wife nancy noted
his close white house staff really noticed
and
they were able to protect him
he did a good job at the end
but
had his disease been a faster progresser
it might not have been a good ending on that second term

so
i believe
knowing all i know now
that he could have been diagnosed while in office
alzheimers just doesnt pop up one day
its a usually slow gradual process that can take
like in him
30 years to fully develop and cause death

lets dont be ashamed if he did have it while in office

the organicgreen doctor

bbb bace

BBB BACE

faculty.washington.edu

bbb for those not in the medical field
means blood brain barrier
its a protective barrier that keeps drugs medicines
viruses bacteria parasites and chemicals from reaching
the brain and causing havoc

a protective mechanism that has evolved to protect the brain

it also prevents however medicines sometimes from reaching
the brain that may be helpful eg in preventing and treating
alzheimers disease

in a study at the university of pennsylvania they used ctb (cholera toxin b)
that easily goes across the bbb
they then attached mbp (myelin basic protein) to the ctb
mbp degrades beta amyloid

they then attached fluorescence to the ctb-mbp and the
mbp appeared in the brain as seen by the fluorescence in the brain
and the level of that awful beta amyloid that is thought to be the
cause of alzheimers as it accumulates or the end result of
whatever the process is that causes alzheimers
went down as the mbp degraded the beta amyloid

so you could take a chemical that treats alzheimers and
attach it to ctb
give it to a patient by mouth
the drug would then cross the bbb and slow down the production
of the amyloid that may cause alzheimers disease

this was done in rats of course
next stop hopefully is humans


bace is the abbreviation for beta site app cleaving enzyme
the bace enzyme breaks off the protein that may be the culprit
in alzheimers disease
the beta amyloid protein
people who have a defect or mutation in the gene that makes
bace
have a lower instance of alzheimers disease

in comes the drug companies
they have made eg merk a compound called mk-8931
that inhibits this bace enzyme

its an oral drug that has already gone through phase 1 studies
and is now entering phase 2 and phase 3 studies in patients
with mild to moderate alzheimers disease
the drug will lower the levels of beta amyloid in the brain and hopefully
by doing this will slow down or prevent alzheimers disease
thats the theory

now the mk-8931 will be used in prodromal or prealzheimers or
amnestic mild cognitive impairment in patients who may have
a positive beta amyloid pet scan and abnormal levels of beta
amyloid in the spinal fluids
two positive tests that are seen in alzheimers disease

hum that sounds familiar
oh wait thats me
i have all those things except i dont have my beta amyloid pet scan
yet but i will soon
the thinking is to attack this early on in the  process before
things get worse

if i qualify for this study then i would take this mk-8931 for a
period of time and they would follow cognitive tests and spinal
fluid levels of beta amyloid and pet scans of the brain for
beta amyloid
or
i would be in the placebo group
that would suck wouldnt it to be in the placebo group


there is progress being made it seems
there is this light in the end of the tunnel that is faint
but its starting to get a little brighter




the organicgreen doctor