MY STORY REVISITED#176-SPREADING THE WORD
two of the specialists i see always ask me alzheimers questions when i go in to see them
one was quite interested in my story again and how we are now treating alzheimers early with these new drugs the anti amyloid drugs like aduhelm or leqembi and soon to be donanemab
i explained to him that i would be getting an amyloid pet scan in a few weeks
it should report out that my amyloid is below the cut off level for folks with alzheimers disease
what that means is that the aduhelm after about 30 infusions should have removed most of the amyloid plaques from the brain
doing so lowers the effects of tau tangle proteins and inflammation that occurs in the brain with alzheimers
hopefully slowing down the disease
i explained that in the near future these drugs will be used in patients who do not have symptoms but who are willing to find out if they have alzheimers or not
soon they can be screened with a blood test which they are using in research studies now
right now outside of research you would have to have an amyloid pet scan or a spinal fluid analysis
then if you have amyloid in the brain you can start one of these new anti amyloid drugs to remove the amyloid plaques
doing this early may prevent the tau tangle accumulation and the inflammation in the brain
these clinical studies are ongoing now and are available to many of you
not far behind are medications to remove the tau tangles and medication to treat the inflammation
i will probably miss those drugs
we are close to having treatments that will significantly slow this disease down and hopefully prevent it
yes we are close
__________
02-6-2015
TALKING AND MORE ON THE STUDY
i enjoy doing talks on alzheimers disease
especially doing q and a ones
this week i did a two hour talk to a small group
as part of a two day seminar for cmes for
memory care facilities
so many of the facilities now are using techniques to
handle the residents that have been proven to work so much
better than the old methods of
sitting them in a chair all day
over medicating them
not keeping them active mentally and physically
its really changed a lot in the last few years
the best ones ive visited have incorporated these techniques
in their facilities
i spoke of the common dementias
talking the most of course about alzheimers disease
since thats what i know best
besides alzheimers disease
there is
dementia of lewy bodies caused by the deposition of a protein
in the brain called lewy bodies
the comedian robin williams had this
its probably the worst to get
it strikes younger folks in their 50-70s
it hits fast goes fast
and is devastating to the families
its like what i call alzheimers on steroids
vascular dementia caused from strokes or minstrokes
commonly seen along with alzheimers disease
the symptoms are variable based on where the stroke is
parkinsons dementia that comes usually several years after
the movement disorder of parkinsons starts
its symptoms when it happens is like dementia of lewy body
it can be a difficult one for families also
frontotemporal dementia patients have shrinkage of the front
and side of the brain
symptoms are based on the damage done to these areas
behavior is an issue
they lose all inhibitions
another bad one
then i talked about alzheimers research
which i know more about
and
spent time talking about
dr bredesens article on reversal of cognitive decline
i found a good article from webmd about the study
here is the link
click here
until this 36 point plan is proven not to work i will
continue to be a believer in it
and will be following it myself
half of it is stuff we all should be doing
the good thing about dr bredesen is that he is a well respected
alzheimers researcher
he just received a multimillion dollar grant to further his other
research in his lab
so
hes not some off the wall researcher that is spouting some
weird recommendations
he just is thinking outside the box
sometimes those folks make the best researchers
he does say that there are a lot of pills to take
i have added now close to 20 a day to my regimen
it can be expensive
however its about half the cost of a prescription of namenda
or exelon
he also says and i understand that myself that this is not a cure
for alzheimers disease
its not going to stop the disease
hopefully it slows things down for me
so
if i gain a few years its worth it to me
if you have a group like a club or church group that would
like to have me do a q and a or a talk for them on
alzheimers disease i would be glad to do it
_________
as it turns out dr bredesens regimen is mostly made up of things we should all be doing plus the workup he recommended is mostly things one should have done if you have memory loss
i would say about of third of his 36 recommendations are not based on proven science
i chose to go with the about 24 proven science things
i have done a lot of alzheimers seminars and given alzheimers talks and done q and a sessions
my favorite to do is the q and a sessions since folks can get the answers they want from a patient a family member of a relative who had the disease a family doctor and someone who has been in alzheimers studies now for 13 years
that would be me
it makes for a different insight than most folks
the organicgreen doctor
