welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

important day

IMPORTANT DAY
this is an important day today for me
in my fight against the possibility of having alzheimers disease

this morning i leave at 500am to make the 3 1/2 hr drive to
the alzheimers research center at ut southwestern in dallas
for my first of several appointments today


the first one is a follow up on my annual visit for the
adni study or alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative study
where i have several annual tests done
i had mentioned two months ago that funding was delayed or
discontinued for this study long term
this is the largest and most important study thats ever been done
on alzheimers disease
hundreds of research articles have be published from the data
yes some of my data is in there from this adni study

so today i get to repeat a lot of what was done in august
lots of questions especially memory questions
lots of blood drawn for rna and dna analysis chemistry lab tests
alzheimers blood test etc
an examination by a neurologist
then
i am so lucky
i get to repeat the much dreaded torture test
the neuropsych test
the examiner and i have become friends she has given
me this test so often

then
on another date next month i get an mri scan of the brain to see
if any brain shrinkage has occurred or especially if the area
where alzheimers starts the hippocampus has shrunken at all


then sometime this morning i do an interview for a new research
study called the A4 study
AntiAmyloid in Asymptomatic Alzheimers study

basically they are looking for folks 65-85 yrs old
normal mental status
with positive biomarkers-abnormal pet scan for beta amyloid
(they do this scan on all volunteers)

then the selected folks will receive what i call the alzheimers
vaccine solanezumab as an infusion for 36 months
or a placebo
no placebo for me please

if it works it will remove beta amyloid from the brain and the
disease process will be slowed down or stopped
several other studies are going on similar to this all over the world

you would think folks would be jumping in line for this study
a potential game changer in alzheimers treatment and prevention
but
no they are having trouble finding folks to join the study

me im el numero uno in line for this study
up front i am

if you are even remotely kin to me you probably are a candidate
for this study

please if you know someone who may qualify
click on this link for more information on how to volunteer
we cannt find an answer unless you volunteer
in texas its ut southwestern and baylor college of medicine houston
in california its ucd, uci, ucla usc, ucsd, ucsf etal
in okla its tulsa university
look your state up for the nearest locale
ark its ut southwestern in dallas or tulsa university in okla


then after lunch today i meet with the neurologist that sees me
at ut southwestern for my annual followup visit
this is not a research visit
its the real deal like when you see your doctor
i chose to be followed there instead of in austin since it has
worked out better for me coordinating my care

i mainly go to get my refill for my aricept (donepezil) which
may be slowing down my symptoms i hope


examiner.com

then
i plant to discuss a new study from ucla
i mentioned it in last fridays blog
its called
reversal of cognitive decline a novel therapeutic regimen
by dr dale bredesen
i plan to do a longer more involved blog on this on friday

basically its using life style changes ive written about before
then based on evaluation and labs using vitamins and supplements
i counted 16 of them total

his results
9 out of 10 folks studied got better
the one that didnt was a more advanced alzheimers patient in a later
stage of the disease
the other folks were early like me or more advanced then i am

so i think it may be beneficial and worth trying
whats to lose right

i will discuss my getting on this regimen with her
even i think if it means i cant do the A4 study or the adni study
thats how important this may be

so today is an important day for me
a crossroads maybe
a cure probably not but more of a way to slow down
and delay things

the organicgreen doctor




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