welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Friday, January 21, 2011

know the 10 signs # 5, riders not ryders, apoe gene, ask not

KNOW THE 10 SIGNS # 5
5     trouble understanding visual and spatial relationships

for some people having visual problems is a sign of
alzheimers     they may have difficulty reading, judging
distance and determining color or contrast     in terms of
perception they may pass a mirror and think someone
else is in the room
they may not recognize their own reflection

whats typical
vision changes related to cataracts

as i read these and write these signs each day i reflect
back on my moms journey with this disease and see
things that we did not recognize as a problem early on

later on in her disease these were very obvious to everyone

RIDERS NOT RYDERS
from yahoo.com
a high school whose mascot is the rough riders bought
new jerseys for their high school basketball team
the company that made the jerseys misspelled the name
of the team      they spelled it ryders instead of riders

the company admitted the mistake
problem is the school has to send the jerseys back first
then the company will send the corrected jerseys

the problem is the team is in the district basketball play
and cant send in the jerseys      besides they are the best
team in the district

one    know where those jerseys were printed
two    maybe they could get ryders to sponsor the team
three  dont change the jerseys while they are winning
          would be bad karma

 APOE GENE
the gene called apoe produces a protein called apolipoprotein e
it occurs on chromosone 19 and has been associated with
alzheimers
there are several forms(alleles)
apoe 2, apoe 3, apoe 4

apoe 2 is rare and may protect against the disease

apoe 3 is the  most common  it has a neutral role in the disease
           maybe it affects it or maybe it doesnt
           if lucky it doesnt

apoe 4 is the sucky one     am afraid thats the one i have and
           my mom had and my close relative has
           40% of people with this gene gets alzheimers
           more people with alzheimers have this form than
           people without the disease
           1/3 of the people with alzheimers do not have the
           apoe 4 form

next month i will be tested for this gene and will let you
know what the results are

the final diagnosis of alzheimers can only definitely be made
at autopsy
at my death i will  agree to have my brain donated to
ut soutwestern alzheimers research so they can compare
what was found clinically with the final pathology of my brain
this is how research scientists can definitely know their diagnosis
was correct

ASK NOT 
fifty years ago yesterday jfk gave his inaugural address that
launched the new frontier
it included the famous phrase

ask not what your country can do for you
-ask what you can do for your country


remember its a good football weekend

the organicgreen doctor

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