purple challenge

PURPLE CHALLENGE
the ice bucket challenge has been a huge success for als
a disease thats underfunded

interesting is there is an overlap of research with alzheimers
and als
treatment in the future for one my help the other

so
here is the

RULES FOR THE PURPLE CHALLENGE

1  wear a purple shirt post it on facebook and wear it for a day
2  donate at least $5 or join a walk to end alzheimers team at www.alz.org/walk
3  nominate three of your friends to do the same

the organicgreen doctor

caregiving 101

CAREGIVING 101
you just got the word or maybe it has already happened
this new role called
caregiving
sorry to tell you but it is probably going to suck big time
its not going to get better
it only gets worse
thats the reality of being a caregiver

so how do you make the best of it
its called preparation

the number one source of information about alzheimers disease and about
caregiving is
www.alz.org 
which is the alzheimers associations website

now go there
click on the alzheimers and dementia label
go read about dementia and pick out your loved ones diagnosis
eg
alzheimers disease and read about it

now
there is a section called
the caregiver stress check
http://www.alz.org/care/alzheimers-dementia-stress-check.asp

click on it and answer the questions and follow through as it gives you
advice
just do it please

then
there is a section called
the alzheimers navigator
click here to get an action plan to meet your specific needs
then click get started to answer questions
it only takes a few minutes

you will be glad that you did this
and
please oh please follow their suggestions

do this even especially even if the diagnosis is new and early
the earlier you start the better things are for you

then there is a section called
we can help
which by the way they can
click here to access that area

dont please dont do this by yourself
your family and friends and neighbors want to help and support you
it will take a village to do this


now
take this purple challenge
no it doesnt involve an ice bucket or anything like that

go to
www.alz.org/walk
type in your zip code and select the nearest walk to end alzheimers
donate or join a team or form you own
the cost to walk is zero nada $0
get involved
take the purple challenge

now
my purple challenge involves you
consider donating or joining my
organicgreendoctor team that will walk in the
williamson county walk to end alzheimers in georgetown tx september 27th
just click here or my teams name
or do your own team

now
our team has a online silent auction that will continue until september 21st
click on the link below to view and make a bid

www.32auctions.com/ogd

other items will be added soon

accept the challenge
these people did

the organicgreen doctor

i am a texas gardener

I AM A TEXAS GARDENER
fan that is

the magazine called
texas gardener

gardening in texas can be harsh at times
also there is such varying climates since the state is so
big in size

we live here at the country n 40 miles north of austin
how we garden here is different than how you garden
in austin

the difference is the winters since we get colder climates
than austin eg we may have single digit weather here and
austin may not get into the teens

now the summers are the same
just hotter and drier than hades

so finding a source that can be helpful is hard to find
to cover all this diversity
but
there it is the
texas gardener

there are always articles that are helpful
eg ive learned how to properly plant potatoes tomatoes garlic
onions beans peppers squash egg plant okra spinach lettuce
etc etc etc from the special articles they have from good ole
timey gardeners

but the best section is the activity checklist
since its an every two month magazine it gives advise for two months
with advice for each area based on the climate zones

there is a section on veggies and herbs
i skim it each month making sure im planting what will grow
in my area at this time of year
eg if you want to plant fall tomatoes you need to wait until
next year in this area since its too late for them to grow
you would be 2 months late on the planting
you really have to nurse the plants along during this time
learned all this from this section of the magazine and its
articles on tomato growing

there is a september section and an october section

then there is a perennial and annual section
then a trees shrubs and vines section
then a fruits and nuts section
then a lawns and groundcovers section
then a timely tips section

everything you need to know to be a successful gardener
in this big ole state

we get several magazines here at the country n
more than we should i guess
but
if i had to choose only one to get on a regular basis
it would be the
texas gardener

the organicgreen doctor

its not dirty

ITS NOT DIRTY
when i was working full time i never really thought too much
about doing the house work
i helped some but was not the primary house care giver

then i retired and it all changed
what a shock to the system it was
my wife she was working full time so i became  the house husband
thank goodness since ive been doing this for awhile
that its just the two of us

furniturebydovetail.com

how in the heck can the two of us do this to a house in a week
i can only imagine what it would be like if our two sons were
kids and still at home
i probably wouldnt make it im afraid

i think maybe that y chromosome i have that my wife
she doesnt have
makes a difference when it comes to house cleaning
i think the difference is a coping dna that may not be in the y
chromosome

i probably would not be fun to be around if i had to watch my
house cleaning get destroyed every day

i read an article this morning about people who never have to
clean their house
it seemed im afraid a little too ocd to me
and
they must not have kids and a messy husband

some of the things though kinda make sense
some we sort of follow
sort of

put away clothes every night
well i do have my piles i like to keep in the chairs

dont have extras
since i retired i dont
i have 3 types of socks
work outside ones  dress ones which i rarely wear
then those ones that you cant see when you wear them
each group is the same brand and color
the rest were thrown away or donated

wipe down after every use
that i do since i do the cleaning
sure makes it easier
before i wasnt as good about doing it

dont pile your beds with all that stuff
we have 4 pillows we use and a light napping blanket for me
works great

put shoes and coats away
we have a tray by the door and a tray under our jacket rack
we have a jacket rack in our hallway
this sure helps a lot
however thats where my old blue jacket was when it disappeared
a black hole for jackets sometimes

dont let dishes pile up
my rule is when my wife she texts me she is on the way home
i have 30 minute to get the dishes done
when she is out of town my rule is do the dishes at least two hours
before her plane lands

put things back where they came from
well this one is a problem
my work area is a do not touch area

dust and vacuum regularly
this one i got covered
my system involves a daily schedule of just a few minutes
in each room on its assigned day
lets see today is vacuum upstairs day

so this system works well for me
but
if there were kids involved here i wouldnt make it
how do you mommas do this

thanks kja for the article

the organicgreen doctor

dreams

DREAMS

dreamstime.com

since i have been taking aricept (donepezil) for possibly having
alzheimers
my dreams are much more vivid than before
its like the difference between a facebook video you post
and a full length oscar winning movie

it seems they are happening more often and always seem to
incorporate something ive experienced in the last two days
what these dreams mean i dont know
but im sure i could just google it and mr google would
give me an answer

yesterday i worked outside in the heat cutting trees down at
our new habitat house
almost fell a tree on a house but i didnt
i was gassed when i finished
but i kept hydrated while i was working
following my 2 pee rules
if you dont have to go pee twice in the morning while working
outside then you are not staying hydrated
i usually start hydrating as soon as i wake up on the days
like yesterday then continue it aggressively while working
no heat stroke for me

then
i went to another house we are doing a rehab on for
this little poor lady
i finished putting down a yard of mulch on her yard after
trimming out all the brush from her crepe myrtle and roses
i was sure that was years of growth in there
they even found her ac was blowing cold air into her attic
thatll make you electric bill high want it

so by the time i went home i was hot and exhausted
ate my lunch
then off to sleep for my afternoon nap to make up for the
few hours that aricept stole from me the night before

my oldest son who was two years old and i were staying at
some big hotel somewhere big
like a big casino or a big convention place
my wife she was out of town
he woke up from his nap and even though he was no longer
on the breast or the bottle
there was a baby bottle in the frig with milk or formula in it
he wanted it to drink
so i gave it to him you know do the im not going to argue with
him thing
we had to go outside somewhere to do something
since i didnt finish that part i didnt know what it was

out the room we go down the hall to the elevator
with him following me sucking on his bottle
he seemed quite content and happy following me down the hall
onto the elevator we went
kinda cute he was

he was behind me in the elevator looking up at the other folks
on the elevator
asmiling he was
they were asmiling at him also

then the door opened i stepped out a few steps
turned around and he wasnt there
the doors closed
i ran around looking both ways to see if he got loose in the hall
then went back on the elevator to where we came from
frantically asking folks if they saw this 2 year old with a bottle
anywhere
went downstairs to the desk
looked everywhere
then i woke up with no answer to my dream

thanks a lot aricept for this one
it may be one of the most worst ones yet
and
thanks for invading my noon time naps with these dreams

i googled the dream and it wasnt of any help
except it said something about fertility and the birth of a new child

the organicgreen doctor

how sweet it is

HOW SWEET IT ISi
for years i never ate breakfast
and would only have a cup of coffee for breakfast
well ok several cups of coffee every morning
of course
aricept (donepezil) put a stop to that one
and
my blood pressure

ok so thats a picture of my wifes tea in our anasazi coffee cup
but it does have caffeine in it

i had to decide between caffeine and sleeping at night
since combining that with aricept made me wide awake
at night and made me wake up early
way to early
then my blood pressure rise was directly related to
the amount of caffeine i was drinking
way too much it seemed
so i compromised and dropped the amount i drink by
2/3 which decreased my dose of blood pressure meds
by 2/3
which then
added a couple of hours of sleep to my regimen each day

then later on especially after retiring and getting on aricept
i began to eat a good breakfast since keeping my stomach
full in the morning keeps the aricept from making me sick
at my stomach

so each morning i eat
a country n free range organic egg on two pieces of bread
then
i eat two handfuls of dried fruit and nuts-cashews almonds
with no salt or sugar added
then
i eat a banana
then
i eat an apple or peach or fig or plum

no sugar or salt is added to this food i eat
lots of protein good fat good cholesterol some carbs

so i start my day in a good way each morning

so this week i saw this article about the 10 worst cereals
i guess this is what we are feeding our kids
i guess you do add milk which is good
and maybe some fruit
maybe
or maybe some juice which for many is really just sugar syrup
with flavored water

heres the lists from not the worse but bad to the worst
with the percentage of sugar in them

remember its the sugars we eat in our food that are probably
the cause of our health problems in the united states
obesity diabetes heart disease alzheimers

so here they are the top ten

kelloggs fruit loops 41.4%
quaker oats capn crunch berries 42.3%
kelloggs apple jacks 42.9%
kelloggs smorz 43.3%
now the smorz one isnt right that is only meant to be made
over a fireplace or a firepit or a grill
quaker oats ohs 44.4%
i think the ohs stands for oh sugar
quaker oats capn crunch originals 44.4%
quaker oats capn oops all berries 46.9%
kelloggs furit loops marshmallows 48.3%
post golden crisp 51.9%

then finally the sweetest of them all
the one most likely to fatten up your kids
the one that will really wire your kids up for those teachers
and hook them on eating this crack breakfast cereal
with more sugar than a hostess twinkie
the winner is

kellogs honey smacks 55.6%

sorry we can do better than that for our kids
and their future health

the organicgreen doctor

is it, whats the difference

IS IT, WHATS THE DIFFERENCE
to those who were at my alzheimers presentation yesterday
here are the links to the online quizes i mentioned

21 question questionnaire

five best online quizzes




i got asked this question twice yesterday
is alzheimers disease dementia
or
is dementia alzheimers disease

the answer is yes and no

dementia is a general term that is loss of memory that interfers
with your daily life
it has several causes

one of them is alzhiemers disease
the most common type of dementia
it makes up 60-80% of all cases of dementia
inside the brain beta amyloid and tau protein accumulation occurs
that results in brain cell damage and death

vascular dementia
is the second most common cause of dementia
it represents 10% of all cases
commonly its caused by strokes or ministrokes
also on brain imaging vascular changes can be seen
sometimes these are silent changes
the symptoms can vary based on the area of the brain affected

dementia with lewy bodies
not as common as the other two above
its is caused by an accumulation of proteins in the cortex of the brain
called alphasynuclein
the diagnosis is made  by an experienced doctor like a neurologist
who puts the patients history together to make the diagnosis
final true diagnosis can only be made by autopsy

mixed dementia
it represents a mixture of more than one type of dementia
usually a mixture of alzheimers disease and vascular dementia
lewy body dementia can also be mixed with alzheimers disease
and or vascular dementia
mixed is more common than we realized before

parkinsons disease
it can lead to a progressive dementia
there can be changes caused by the protein alphasynuclein
like in lewy body dementia

frontotemporal dementia
the front lobes and temporal lobes are affected
think front of brain and over temples
they get changes in personality and behavior at a earlier age
they tend to progress faster than alzheimers disease
theres not the microscopic changes you see in the dementias above

creuztfeldt jakobs disease cjd
a very rare disease
a variant found in cattle called mad cow disease can be transferred
to humans
its a rapid progressive disease

normal pressure hydrocephalus
a rare one but its an important one since if its diagnosed
and treated with shunting a person might show marked improvement
there is increased fluid buildup in the brain which can be relieved for
some by removing the fluid by placing a shunt to the brain to drain
the fluid or ny removing the fluid by spinal tap

huntingtons disease
a genetic progressive disease

wernicke-korksakoff syndrome
is caused by a severe lack of vitamin b12 or thiamine
commonly caused by alcohol abuse
thiamine is needed by the nerve cells to provide sugar for energy
no thiamine no energy production so brain cells dont work

so in summary
yes alzheimers is the most common cause of dementia
but a patients dementia can be caused by many causes as above

an excellent online reference on dementia is
the alzheimers associations website
www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp

also
the organicgreendoctor team in the williamson county walk to end alzheimers
has its
online silent auction in progress now and will end on september 21th
www.32auctions.com/ogd

click here to donate or join
our team organicgreendoctor at the williamson county walk on september 27th

the organicgreen doctor