take your vitamin

TAKE YOUR VITAMIN
we are always being told that by folks
arent we

when my mom was diagnosed with alzheimers disease
one of the meds she took besides aricept (donepezil)
was vitamin e at 1000 units a day

at that time it was thought that since vitamin e had
antioxidant properties and since there is a lot of inflammation
that occurs in alzheimers disease as the beta amyloid and the
tau protein accumulates that it may slow down the disease

further studies said no it wont
it may do more harm than good
you know the same for those of us who took it for possible help
with heart disease took it
most of us then stopped taking it

activities of daily living are those things most of us do every
day of our lives as we go about living our lives
they are simple things we dont even think about
until you cant do them

when i go in for my studies at the alzheimers research study i and
my wife she gets asked about my activities of daily living
if they followed me around every day or read my blog.......
which many of them do
they are always worried about what i may say
i have even cleared things with them before i write about them
eg new research thats not published yet or new studies that are
about to happen
sometimes i dont write about them sometimes i do

these adls they are called are things like
getting dressed
feedings yourself
walking by yourself
going to the bathroom by yourself
grooming yourself-my wife she will know when i cant use my
flobee anymore-youll have to google that one if you dont
know what it is

when people cant do these adls that are usually more advanced

enter a new study that gave these folks vitamin e doses i think may
have been at 2000 units a day
they showed these folks had a 20% improvement in their adls
which to a caretaker can mean a lot
it seemed to delay this decline for 6 months

however so far it didnt seem to make a difference in their memory
and no evidence yet that it slows down the disease itself any
but
when you as a caregiver are in the trenches of that day to day
grind of caring for a demented family member
that 20% is significant

if you have been there you know

it does not seem to make a difference in patients like me with
mild cognitive impairment or patients with early mild alzheimers
disease

my opinion if i was at this stage of more advanced disease i would
want my wife she to give it to me so maybe it would make
things better for her and others as they provide care for me

my thoughts would be so what if i had side effects
look whats going to happen anyway if nothing is done

that said a caution-dont give this to your loved one unless you discuss
it with their doctor as it can interfere with some meds
and
there is a potential for blood thinning and other problems that could make
things worse

so take your vitamin
maybe

the organicgreen doctor