hope for the future

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

these kids and their generation and the generation
just above them
are the hope for the future
for everything but especially for
a cure or preventative treatment for
alzheimers disease

i can see it like way over there in the horizon
like when you travel in the dessert in the early evening
or early dawn
way off in the distant you see those glittering lights
and those areas of green

hope is out there but its way out there

the cure and treatment will probably come too late
for my generation
but
it will be there for these little guys and their soul mates

a new study i read about this morning was done on women
who took multivitamins with minerals long term
they had a 35% decrease in their risk of dying from
heart disease

now i know from all my reading on alzheimers disease
that generally whats good for the heart is good for the brain

there right now are so many exciting potentially game changing
studies with different new drugs and treatments


the A4 study
folks will be given the new alzheimers vaccine  who
have positive scans that show they will probably get
alzheimers disease but have no symptoms
the vaccine will remove beta amyloid from the brain
thats the bad stuff that is thought to be the culprit in
alzheimers disease
if it works they wont get the disease or will slow down its
progression


the apoe4 studies
folks who have the double apoe4 gene like i have
which puts them at high risk for developing alzheimers disease
will be given the alzheimers vaccine

other folks will be  be given a bace inhibitor which stops
the brain from producing the bad stuff beta amyloid


colombian studies
folks who have the dominant gene for alzheimers disease
and all yes all of them will get it in their 30s to late 40s
and die from it
they will get the vaccine also

so using the vaccine and the bace inhibitor will be thoroughly
tested and we will know in 3-5 years if this approach will
work
if it does we will see this form of treatment get fast tracked
to folks who are early like me or who are at high risk
like
eg my siblings who arent affected yet
they can be screened with scans and spinal fluid analysis
if they are positive
then they could be started on a lifetime of treatment

so maybe this is the hope for the future we are looking for

of course if it doesnt work we are knocked back to ground zero
but
there are lots of other studies being done


the noble t-817ma study just got fast tracked some because of some
promising new studies showing it may help
basically this chemical promotes the new growth of new nerve cells
and
inhibits brain cell death


the sniff study just started one that i might get involved with
basically insulin is sprayed up the nose
goes up the smeller nerve thats the olfactory nerve to the
part of the brain where alzheimers disease starts
it increases glucose to the brain cells some damaged and some not
preliminary studies shows that folks who use this
have an improvement in memory

i expect this will work some and will become part of a
treatment regimen for folks

so these studies above are ongoing now
in humans
and will be available in 5-10 years if they help

some hope for the future

there are lots and lots of studies in animals usually rats or mice
that seem promising
like the stanford study studies on multiple older meds like
citalopram bexarotene etc


then
there is the reversal of cognitive study from ucla that was published
last year that use 36 points
half were healthy things like blood pressure cholesterol diabetes control
exercise diet sleep mental activity meditation for me thats gardening
and making sure your numbers are ok like thyroid b12 homocysteine
vitamin d hormones
then the rest was supplements based on human and animal studies
that showed promising results

he had 9 of 10 people with memory loss get better
the one that didnt had more advanced alzheimers disease
most had memory loss documented on memory tests
some had abnormal scans
when they went off the regimen they got worse again
so
theres something in what is in that 36 point study

maybe some it will be related to the new study referenced above in
women with lower heart disease rates who took multivitamins with minerals

so
in summary
there is hope for the future
for
we always have to have hope dont we


fyi
there are only 12 tickets left for the special showing of still alice
they are along the back row of the auditorium
thats actually where we always like to sit at the alamo drafthouse

the organicgreen doctor