thanks

THANKS

thanks to the hundreds of you who read this article from the
austin american statesman yesterday
doctor keeps alzheimers at bay
and
responded with your kind words

why i may have alzheimers
i had a normal mental status evaluation that changed in 3 years to
being abnormal
i personally noticed those changes
my parents and younger brother had alzheimers disease
i carry the apoe4/apoe4 gene that carries up to a 20x increased risk
of getting alzheimers disease
the levels of beta amyloid and tau protein in my spinal fluid are
abnormal
the pet scan for beta amyloid or amyvid will be done soon


for those who asked
here are the studies i am in

the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative or adni study
the largest most important alzheimers study ever done
i get lots of blood drawn neuropsych tests mri scans pet scans for
glucose metabolism pet scans for beta amyloid or amyvid and
spinal taps for beta amyloid and tau protein

a study of the new alzheimers blood test which may be 90%
accurate in predicting if you will get alzheimers disease
itprobably will be available in 5 years

then hopefully in december
a study of solanezumab an alzheimers vaccine infusion that may
remove beta amyloid from the brain


first
i am not doing anything different really than thousands
of americans who volunteer to help other folks every day
i know at the habitat builds and the meals on wheels there are
those dedicated folks who are always there doing their part

there are many ways to volunteer
even helping an older neighbor or friend
a disabled one
or
someone temporarily in need

do volunteer
i can speak from experience now after 4 years
the one that benefits the most from volunteering
is that person in the mirror
you

what i am doing to ward off alzheimers disease is not some
secret treatment
its been researched and documented and written about
for years
its mainstream medicine

now one thing to remember is that
in my opinion this doesnt really stop alzheimers disease
once it get rolling
its going to win eventually
but
it slows it down a lot and hopefully makes the symptoms
that you see in people less severe
kinda like
a snowball going down a hill that hits against obstructions
along the way to slow it down
but
eventually it will get to the bottom of the hill
but
it will not be as big

i do think that if a person can start all this preventative stuff
when they are young
even when they are babies and infants and toddlers and
little kiddos and teenagers and young adults
they can maybe prevent themselves from getting alzheimers disease
or
slow it down so much that they will die from something else
when they get real old

eat a heart healthy diet or mediterranean diet
or
if you  are so inclined a gluten free diet sorry i cant do that one
or be a vegetarian or vegan

dont do excesses in your life like eat too much gain weight
drink too much smoke at all use drugs

exercise

get an adequate sleep each day
this one is turning out to be important

control diabetes blood pressure cholesterol

be happy stay mentally active stay socially active

do this and we are talking about a lot of disease prevention
besides alzheimers disease

i have also got a lot of questions about this vitamin and supplement
thing im doing

if you arent going to do this stuff above then dont worry about the
supplement and vitamin thing

i first read the article on the research that was done
here is the full article
then
i discussed this with my primary care doctor and my neurologist
then i had screening labs done looking for problems

i found a low vit d and low b12 which i wasnt expecting
and am taking replacements for them
had my levels not been low i wouldnt have taken those supplements

my homocysteine level was quite elevated
it may be associated with an increased risk of alzheimers disease
its not definitely proven but i as i have said before i dont have
time to wait for it to be proven
so im taking folate  b12 vit b6 each day to lower that number

since i know that i have abnormal levels of beta amyloid in my
spinal fluid and will soon know if my amyloid pet scan is positive
i have elected to take stuff that may lower beta amyloid levels

remember this isnt proven these supplements do this yet
but in animal studies they do

one resveratrol was used in a big study whose results will be out
later this year or next year which will say yes or now if this works
this is the stuff from grapes
it takes tons of grapes to get enough for a daily dose so  thats why
its been put in a pill
if its disproved with this study i will probably stop taking it

some of the supplements i cant tolerate like melatonin
and ashwaganda which may lower beta amyloid and help
some with sleep
i got these god awful disturbing dreams with it

there are 7 things to do that we all should be doing anyway
like those mentioned earlier

so i didnt just start taking this stuff without looking at each
one individually as to whether it fit my circumstance
i look at the side effects and interactions with my medications
like my blood pressure medication or cholesterol medication

if i could access nilvadipine for my blood pressure i would
change to that drug
see last fridays blog

plus
remember there are not many options right now for me
except to do these things
if im wrong this may help then i havent lost much
if im right this may help then ive done myself and my family
some good

please do not just start taking this stuff without looking
at each one closely discussing it with your medical providers
remember these are as much medicines as those prescriptions
you are taking

and also remember this is not a cure for alzheimers disease
its like aricept (donepezil) it slows down the symptoms
but probably doesnt stop the disease

so what do i notice
i feel better
i feel more alert
i have gained more sleep
i dont get leg cramps like i did ( a side effect from the aricept)
i dont feel as tired later in the day
i have less morning nausea

so something is helping in this regimen
im not sure what it is
but its enough i plan to keep on taking it

so again i say
thanks for the interest
dont worry if a cure comes i will be overposting about it


vote tomorrow even if you dont vote like i do

the oganicgreen doctor

this may help

THIS MAY HELP

examiner.com

alzheimers disease is a progressive fatal disease for which
there is no treatment or cure

so when you look at treatments and side effects eg
the medicine aricept (donepezil) which doesnt treat the disease
it just treats the symptoms
just slows them down some
if it was used for angina or diabetes or high blood pressure
then doctors and patients would not use it since it has so
many side effects

but
since we are talking about a progressive fatal disease for which
the only real treatment right now is aricept (donepezil)
then we use it for the alzheimers diagnosis since its our only
choice

so thats the view i use when i look at treatments for alzheimers
experimental and other ones
there are no choices as of yet
if something looks promising then ill do it
as the choices otherwise are what
thats right there arent any

now before i proceed forward
vitamins and supplements are like medicines they have side effects
and they interact with each other and other medicines
eg vitamin e interfers with coumadin

if you read this and you have memory loss that has not been
completely evaluated
dont do any of the things recommended in
the article unless you have had a complete evaluation with
a doctors exam and good medicial history labs mental status testing
scans medicine reviews etc

remember some memory loss causes are treatable and reversible

now
last week in the press there were articles on using vitamins and supplements
to reverse memory loss from an ucla research study
here are two links to two of those articles
abc news
ucla news

the second link is a more in depth article

now here is the link to the research article that was published in Aging
the title is
reversal of cognitive decline a novel therapeutic program
by dr dale bredesen from the department of neurology ucla

this study may have the only recommendations that are available
right now in medicine for ways to slow down
or reverse memory loss

yes i wrote reverse memory loss

in this study he took 10 people who had memory loss and treated
and followed them for two years
there were patients with sci or subjective memory impairment which
means you think you have memory loss but it doesnt show up on
memory tests
studies have shown that these folks many of them develop eventual
dementia or impairment

there were patients with the diagnosis of amnestic mild cognitive
impairment
that is what my diagnosis is
these patients have abnormalities on memory tests and some have
abnormal scans of the brain

then there were patients with early stage alzheimers disease

there was one patient with later stage alzheimers disease

this regimen on these 10 patients had 9 of the 10 improve
on their memory
many of them were able to return back to work

the only one who did not get better was the patient who
had the more advanced disease

now i know this was on a small number of patients
but the findings seem quite significant
there will be more studies done on a larger number of patients
who will be followed for several years
then we will definitely know

sorry but i dont have time to wait for that study
for me this seems like evidence enough to proceed

so i will use myself as an example as to how this study will be
used to treat me

first i have had a very thorough evaluation for memory loss over
the last 4 years
as good an evaluation as you can have
neuropsych tests labs mri scans spinal taps pet scans
so i feel like my diagnosis is accurate

i am also followed by my family doctor and by my neurologist
and by the alzheimers research center at ut southwestern
on a regular basis

i have sat  down with my family doctor and my neurologist and
have discussed my trying this new treatment regimen
i have their blessings

there are 36 points to the treatment regimen
many i was already doing

exercising

eating a mostly vegetarian diet
i only occasionally eat meat
i rarely eat simple carbohydrates and dont eat a lot of grains
i usually eat at 6pm and dont eat again until 6am so i have a fast
during that time and have 3 hours fasting before bedtime
this fasting or ketogenesis may be helpful in providing ketones
as a source of food for the brain cells

getting adequate sleep by taking an afternoon nap to compensate for
my two hours of sleep i lose at night

i try to meditate or stare i dont do yoga
i use my walking and my gardening as my meditation times

i stay active physically and mentally
eg for this blog today i have spent over 4 hours reading and writing it

i maximize my health as much as possible controlling my weight
my blood pressure my cholesterol
i stay happy and content and dont really feel stressed out

in the article there are references for each recommendation
these are based on research articles that are referenced
not much of this is anecdotal but is based on research

as baseline labs i did
vitamin b12   25-oh vit d3  
homocysteine level   crp c reactive protein  these two measure
inflammation in the body
my levels of these two were elevated in the past

thyroid level    testosterone level
my wife she said for me not to do that one but i did anyway

these are not back yet but i expect them to be normal except
for the homocysteine level and the crp
for that i will take folic acid to lower the homocysteine level
for the elevated crp i will use things that help inflammation
vit e  omega 3 fish oil curcumin or tumeric acid and will
be good about dental hygiene
and take vitamin b6

for sleep i tried the low dose melatonin but felt drugged all day
so i will utilize the nap system to get my 7-8 hrs sleep
dont plan things with me after lunch please

for mediation which lowers beta amyloid i will do the walking
and gardening version

for gi health i couldnt do the gluten free diet which i dont get much
of anyway
i will add probiotics to my regimen

for reduction of beta amyloid i will take curcumin and
will try the indian herb ashwaganda
when i tried it the first time i got 8 hrs very restful sleep
but i had the most god awful disturbing violent dreams ever
and have not taken it again
it also lowers blood pressure so i have to monitor  my blood
pressure closely
i plan to try half the dose again when i can get the courage to do it

for cognitive enhancement i will take bacopa monniera

to increase nerve growth factor i will take alcar or acetyl-l-carnitine

to provide synaptic structural components-thats where the nerve
endings meet-i will take citicoline and fish oil

to optimize antioxidants i will take omega 3 fish oil and eat antioxidant
foods in my diet and take alpha-lipoic acid

to optimize mitochondral function the batteries of the brain cells
i will take co q   alpha-lipoic acid   alcar   and drink a glass of red wine
ok maybe two glasses sometimes

to increase focus i will take pantothenic acid (vitamin b5)

to get median chain triglycerides i will be taking coconut oil twice a day
i chose not to take the prescription food axona even though i have some
as its expensive and is a hassle to mix up and take each day

so there it is
my treatment plan for reversal of cognitive decline

ive looked at patient number two in this study as he seems closer
to my history
his ten year decline seems to have been halted in its tracks
thats what im after

so
i take or will be taking 17 supplements each morning along with
my regular medicines
a handful for sure
i started yesterday and have noticed no side effects so far
i was worried about nausea but that didnt happen

i plan to add ashwaganda again at a lower dose but will stop it if
those dreams still occur
it was shown in studies to lower the bad stuff beta amyloid

if my labs are abnormal i will start replacements if they are needed
like vit b12 or vit d3 or thyroid or testosterone

since i have regular neuropsych tests done and moca tests and mmse tests done
at the research center i will know if im better
plus i will know myself

so in summary
make sure your memory loss has been thoroughly evaluated before
trying this
talk with your doctor before you start it
remember these things are like medicines they have side effects and
can interact with prescriptions
look up the supplements also on this link on webmd
its one of the best ive found

www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/

do not do this without doing all my recommendations

then
donate and or join us this weekend for the
travis county walk to end alzheimers at camp mabry at 1100am
on sunday october 12
our team is austin regional clinic

the organicgreen doctor