if they cant agree

IF THEY CANT AGREE
thats what i was thinking as i listened to several state
neurologists discuss alzheimers this week at an
alzheimers conference sponsored by the
texas health department

i am also on a subcommittee thats working on an algorithm
for evaluating someone with memory loss
based mainly on the pdf file and booklet
listed here
clinical best practices for early detection...

i am on the committee as a family doctor and as a patient
to give my view from these two perspectives
ive noticed without me there im afraid these two views
might not be looked at as closely as they should
after all
its the patient that we are talking about here
right

by the way if you have memory loss or have a loved one
who has it
this booklet will give you a good guide
for whether or not you or they are being or have been
worked up properly
its the standard for the workup of memory loss

its always sad to find someone with a treatable disease
months or years later
when earlier treatment would have cured them or improved
their memory
like thyroid issues poor control of diabetes
blood pressure cholesterol depression sleep problems
etc etc

on this committee and those who are making suggestions for
the committee its interesting that even the experts dont agree
on what to do
now the core part we all agree on
eg
some would not have treated me at the beginning while others
would have
now i knew the statistics and research that was used to base
my treatment
i understood and was willing to accept the limitations of treatment
and its side effects
my choices were not good otherwise
so
i went with treatment
maybe in 10 years they will say
yes you should begin treatment it seems to help to delay things
for several years
or
no it doesnt make no difference
so
i went with the yeses
i and others of us cant wait for answers to be found
i say definitely prove this doesnt work and ill not do it

the main speaker was from ucla and he mainly does research on
preventative stuff
now this stuff he discussed has been shown to help slow down
that decline graph as the disease progresses
eg
eating healthy controlling blood pressure and cholesterol
getting adequate sleep etc
may shift the graph so that the decline may not happen
for 2 years or 4 years
or
if one is lucky 10 years later

now i know and understand these things dont make alzheimers go away
since its  going to win its battle with us in the end
but
man on man wouldnt it be nice
to see a grandchild start kindergarten or graduate from high school
or
if we are lucky graduate from college get married have kids

thats what this is all about
extracting all we can so we can enjoy these things when they happen

i sat there watching these experts talk and discuss how  they manage
patients
and
i thought
they some of them really dont understand do they

we are willing to accept side effects extra costs even on things
that may later prove not to work
eg
do the study on coconut oil using placebo groups and treatment
groups on patients destined to get alzheimers disease
on patients with mci
on patients with early alzheimers disease
follow them long term
do the tests that need to be done like memory test scans to document
whether this works or not
if it doesnt then publish it so we can all quit taking it
this should have been done years ago
that folks is simple straight forward science

another example
is turmeric acid or curcumin the spice
many of us take it every day
again just do the dam study that shows definitely that it works
or doesnt
again this should have been done years ago
yes or no just give us the answer
its again simple to do

now resveratrol has been studied like this
the results will be out soon
i take it every day at a high dose based on the dose that
was used in the study
if it is shown to not have an effect on the progression of memory loss
then ill stop using it
and
will move on

now its been shown and research supports these
theyve done the studies
that
controlling blood pressure diabetes cholesterol obesity
eating a well balanced diet like the mediterranean diet
controlling anxiety and depression and sleep issues
meditating reducing stress
stop smoking
drinking in moderation
exercising your body and your mind and your spirit
maintaining normal vitamin b12 folate vitamin d homocysteine

these have all been scientifically been proven to make a difference
no doubt about it

now can you please start doing the studies on all the vitamin
and supplements that seem to maybe possibly could be helpful
just do the studies please
either they do or they dont
its not that hard to do the studies that need to be done

quit working on rats and mice
us humans are willing to be the guinea pigs for proving if
these things work
thousands are doing it anyway

so thats what i was thinking as i sat and listen to all those
folks
agree and not agree on what needs to be done

so
i am not changing what i am doing until its shown that the things
i do dont work

until they agree

the organicgreen doctor