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

Friday, December 30, 2016

alzheimers news-what would they say

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHAT WOULD THEY SAY
Dewayne
recently i ran across this article on
what would an alzheimers patient say to you
if you were caring for them as we approach the new year

for some reason as i read it it resonated with me

recently for multiple reasons i went off my aricept (donepezil)
one was a severe case of nausea that lasted for several days
i just couldnt tolerate taking the donepezil
it just made it worse

i know i know
ive written and have said so in my talks
dont let your loved ones go off their aricept (donepezil)
why
if they stay off too long
the benefit you gain from taking it gets lost
restarting it again
they dont return to the level of memory they were at
ie
they are worse

that warning rang in my head for two weeks
until i restarted it

so what did i notice

i started noticing subtle things that got a little worse
after a couple of weeks
i definitely was noticing i was missing things
not recalling conversations
it was a little disconcerting to me

what i wonder would i be like right now if i wasnt
ever put on the aricept (donepezil) 6 years ago
would i be worse off
i think i would

then
i returned back on the aricept (donepezil)
there they were again
just like 6 years ago
all those side effects
the vertigo like feeling all day
the blurred vision with movements of the head
trouble focusing
nausea much worse than usual
leg cramps
fatigue
sleep disturbances worse than usual
more vivid dreams

then
all of this got better
it took about 2 more weeks for this to happen
now
i seem to be leveled off in regards to the side effects
back to where i was a month ago
my memory seems slightly better than it was a few weeks
ago
but
as documented on memory tests
its below where it should be for my age

so
for me this transition off the meds
then back on
well
it was a scary one sort of
i realize what may be under all the effects of this medicine
that it is making a difference
and
im not ever going to stop it again
no matter what

so i realize that for me
this study i am trying to get on
the aducanumab study
its almost imperative i get on it
since there is not a better option for me and others like me
out there
that we can access right now

now there are a lot of potential things in the works
but
i am afraid like others that our train has left the tracks
for getting benefit from those

our hope lies in this one

i should know soon whether i get to move forward
if accepted i should receive my first of 48 monthly infusions
within six weeks

now back to that article
here is the link

if you are caring for someone with memory loss
or
will be in the future
then
read this
and
remember what they want you to know
as you care for them

the organicgreen doctor

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