eye smell

EYE SMELL
no im not odoriferous

well sometimes i am after a good dose of beans
heck
i read the other day that those who have to smell foul
flatulence may actually live longer

so there is hope for some of you wives

last year when i went in for my annual alzheimers center visit
for the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative
they asked me
would you like to do another study today
we need volunteers
so
i said yes
i always do


it was a scratch and sniff test
like those things in the magazines you scratch them smell the
perfume or cologne
they never smell good to me thats what i think

but this had all kinds of smells
like cedar coffee pine some stinky stuff flowers  licorice etc
it went on for a long time
some i would have to identify or say yes or no to

why the smell test
well it seems that thats the first to go in alzhiemers disease is the
sense of smell since
the olfactory nerve goes to the under surface of the brain
to the area in the brain where alzheimers starts


i wrote about the peanut butter smell test
this new scratch and sniff test works the same way
a defect in the ability to identify the odors or even smell them
means there could be memory problems down the road
it could be one of those screening tests
flunk it
maybe your need to get testing done


then the eye test
in alzheimers disease you get amyloid plaques that form in the brain
its thought to be the cause of alzheimers disease
several companies have developed retinal screens that use some
type of fluorescence to highlight the amyloid plaque that can be seen
in the back of the eye with these scans

the back of the eye is how doctors can sometimes peek into the brain

one company uses curcumin a product of turmeric acid which is
known for it use in indian food
its also taken by some people in hopes it may slow alzheimers disease
but
in this case its only staining the amyloid plaques in the retina


if you have beta amyloid accumulating in the back of your eye
then you are probably accumulating it in the brain
remember this accumulation starts years and years before
alzheimers disease symptoms show up

as we get closer to finding a treatment or cure
the earlier you know you may get alzheimers disease
the better your chance for treatment

this test appears to be extremely accurate
95-100% in the studies

so in the future maybe as soon as late 2015 you can go to
your eye doctor
get the scan
if its positive
get more definitive tests like memory tests
the biomarkers beta amyloid and tau in the spinal fluid
and
the amyvid pet scan which highlights amyloid in the brain
also coming soon will be the new alzheimers blood tests to add to
these tests
then treatment when it becomes available

because of the increased healthy living that folks are doing now
by eating correctly exercise controlling blood pressure cholesterol diabetes
their weight etc
the rate of alzheimers is actually declining finally
but
because of so many numbers of folks getting old the numbers
are increasing annually

these are exciting screening tests
after doing the smell test study i would think that the eye test
will be much more accurate and easier to do
my nose and smeller nerve were wore out
and
heck i see the ophthalmologist annually anyway

yep again
theres
hope for the future

the organicgreen doctor