walk, what if

WALK

tomorrow will be an absolutely beautiful crisp fall
morning for the
bell county walk to end alzheimers 
at the pepper creek trails park
in temple texas

sign in starts at 800am and the walk at 900am

come walk with us to help support the fight
against this terrible disease

we are getting closer to new treatments for this
terrible fatal disease

remember this is a free walk
donations are accepted but not required

WHAT IF
what if you were told you had terminal cancer
get you ducks in a row
prepare for the downward path thats coming
then
later you are told it appears that you dont have terminal cancer

what if that happened to you

a physician who wrotes a blog that i follow
was told several months ago that he probably had
alzheimers disease as the cause of his
mild cognitive impairment which showed itself as
some short term memory problems

he had a good workup and also entered a research study
and his results were pointing to alzheimers as the cause
of his symptoms

now his tests are pointing towards this not being
alzheimers disease

in medicine we all forget sometimes that nothing except
for death is a 100%

now when it comes to doing a work up on patients with
memory loss you can come close real close to being sure
if it is alzheimers disease
by
taking a careful medical history looking for treatable causes
eg depression anxiety sleep disturbance drug or alcohol abuse
medications etc

doing a good complete physical examination looking for
clues for an explanation for the symptoms like poorly controlled
blood pressure

doing a neuropsychological exam which will verify that you do
or do not have memory issues

if indicated labs looking for treatable causes
uncontrolled cholesterol diabetes b12 levels folate levels
thyroid levels etc

if indicated an mri scan looking for treatable causes or
explanations for the memory loss like strokes increase fluid
etc

then there are other tests that can be done that may solidify
a diagnosis of alzheimers disease

the alzheimers blood test that for right now is only done in
research situations but may be close to 90% accurate in
diagnosing the disease

alzheimers genetic tests showing the rare cases of genes that
definitely mean you have alzheimers disease or that you will get it
and
a test for the apoe4 gene which means you  have an increased
chance of getting the disease but doesnt mean you will definitely
have it though
such is my case with the apoe4/4 genotype that i have

spinal fluid analysis for beta amyloid and tau protein which becomes
abnormal in alzheimers disease

an amyvid pet scan of the brain for beta amyloid which accumulates
in the brain of azheimers disease patients
so
if you have alzheimers disease it will be positive
granted if you are too early in the disease it may not be positive
granted you can have positive beta amyloid in the brain and it
not be alzheimers disease

add to that a glucose metabolism pet scan of the brain that shows
decreased uptake of glucose in the damaged areas of the brain

add to that a volumetric mri that shows shrinkage even subtle changes
in the hippocampal areas in the underneath part of the brain
where alzheimers disease starts

you can come close as close as a lot of diagnoses that are made every
day that this person has alzheimers disease

so yes we can diagnosis alzheimers disease with some degree of certainty
in 2013

hopefully his original diagnosis doesnt pan out

now those people who have been identified like me early in the
disease can be available for the new treatment studies that will
start this year and the next since the researchers will now have a
large pool of people that can used to tests these new treatments
without having to search the country for them

thats my what if

the organicgreen doctor