alzheimers news-theres is more of it now

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THERE IS MORE OF IT NOW

i read this article
well several articles in fact
about how alzheimers disease is increasing in numbers
its starting to steamroll its self to the top of the charts
not a good thing

this week
on wednesday

i boarded a plan in los angeles to fly to dallas
to get my infusion #4 of aducanumab or placebo
in the promising biogen aducanumab study
i have 14 more to go before a decision is made to continue
the study for another 42 months
i hoping for good results in 18 months and that we all in the study
can get the real stuff for the last 42 months

well
so
i had a lot of time to think about alzheimers disease
about those articles
about my family tree
about what this all means for all of us
my family and yours in the future

i thought about my family tree
i have tried to piece our history our dementia history
from talking to siblings and cousins who remember stories
of our family
some i remember

what
for our family
both parents definitely my mom and maybe my dad had alzheimers disease
my younger brother had it
my older brother has it now
i am early in the process
so far
no other sibling has shown any signs or symptoms
i will say they are all doing the aggressive stuff you need to do
to slow it all down
take care of your health
eat healthy

then i moved to my moms family
all 5 of her siblings had some type of memory loss
her mother had dementia in her 60s
her grandfather had dementia
thats as much as i know of her familys medical history

my fathers family had some dementia
his sister died from it
his mother had dementia when she died
i dont know more than that
his dad died from other causes in his 60s

so why would our family have all this in our medical family tree
well
i thought about it
what would make this happen

first i know that i have the double apoe 4 gene
so i got one from my mom and one from my dad
so both sides of the tree carry this gene
double it and the risks go up 20x
single it and the risks go up 5x

high cholesterol is rampant in both sides of the family
i call it the heart attack stroke kind of cholesterol
now
we know that also it may be the alzheimers kind
whats bad for the heart is bad for the brain

our family tends to have high bad ldl cholesterol
and
high triglcerides
diet places a part in this as some of my siblings on a
plant based diet have reduced their numbers to normal

i have come close but require a statin to get them down
to where they need to be

high blood pressure is also rampant on both sides of the family
both parents had it
many siblings have it

having not well controlled blood pressure
the way i think of it
is
you know how you have a big roll of bubble wrap
the kind you can pop
well thats the brain or the heart
well
not controlling your blood pressure or cholesterol
just gradually pops those little bubble wrap cells
gradually making the whole wrap unusable

well
in my mind
thats how i visualize the brain when you dont take control
of your lipids and your blood pressure

obesity and diet
both parents were overweight
some relatives are and some arent

diet a typical southern diet is not a good one
now for a lot of our life we commonly ate a lot of
vegetables etc but its what we cooked them with
lard etc was not necessarily good for you
eating off the farm is usually a good way to eat
though

so
all these factors
genetics well we cant change that
high cholesterol
high blood pressure
obesity
diet
maybe environmental factors
these all contribute to this high incidence
in our family

if you notice
the only risk factor that our family cant change
is the genetic one
the rest
is totally under our control

so i thought about all this this week
as i read how the incidence in the us and the world
is starting to skyrocket
as we start defunding research on this disease that
will be the number one killer in the us soon

we and all of us
can do something to slow it down

bug your congress person
help raise money
take good care of your health

support
our alzheimers walks to help raise money to fight this disease

we will be doing the
alzheimers texas walk in georgetown texas
on saturday september 23rd
team name is organicgreendoctor

i also will have a team in the
santa barbara walk to end alzheimers 
on saturday october 28th
team name is organicgreendoctor.com

join us

the organicgreen doctor