my story revisited

MY STORY REVISITED
because of the increased viewers of this blog will
revist my story

i am a family physician

one year ago while buying long term care insurance i had
a normal neuropsychological evaluation

a year and a half later i underwent an evaluation to be in an
alzheimers research study as a control subject

i wanted to be monitored annually so that if i developed any
symptoms of alzheimers that i would know and would
know to stop practicing medicine

a neuropsychological evaluation done for that
showed changes in short term memory that was abnormal
for my age and occupation

looking back i had noted some changes but no one
else had

my mother had alzheimers disease and a close relative has
azheimers disease

my diagnosis was made as early mild cognitive impairment
amnesic type
it is thought to be a precursor to alzheimers disease

a normal evaluation, then a year later an abnormal test  plus
the changes i had noted plus my strong family history made
this clincal diagnosis

there is not a definite test for alzheimers -it is made as a
clinical diagnosis early into the disease

my decision and along with my neurologists decision was that
i start aricept (donepezil)-my mother was on it and my relative
is on it-to slow down the progression of the symptoms which
progress slow or fast

however nothing slows down the disease
(see blog on napa 1-6-10)

i elected to stop practicing medicine as i always had
concerns this would happen and
i did not want to cause any harm to my patients if this
process progresses

where is my future
i will continue to be in a study at the alzheimers research
center at the university of texas southwestern medical center
i will now be in the study group and not in the control group

i will continue to blog about my involvement in that study
and with my treatments and evaluations as they are done

i want to give a doctors view of all this while also being
a patient

i have had normal lab work and a normal mri
these were looking  for treatable diseases that can cause
these sympotms

i will have genetic studies, more blood tests, a lumbar
puncture, and a pet scan soon     these are looking for
some of the changes that occurs in alzhiemers

i will either
1   stay the same forever or
2   completely clear up or
3   slowly progress to alzheimers or
4   rapidly progress to alzheimers

a bad thing can be a good thing
i know now
my wife she and i can plan for the future
i can be involved in educating people about this disease
my involvement in the study is my small part in finding
treatments and cures for this disease

www.alz.org

the organicgreen doctor