alzheimers news-should i get tested

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-SHOULD I GET TESTED

every time i do an alzheimers presentation i get asked this question

this week i spoke to about 20 folks who live at the valle verde retirement community here in santa barbara
my talk was on my story using it as a vehicle to talk about what workup needs to be done for memory loss and what research is ongoing that may lead to a treatment or cure
of course focusing on my study as a vehicle to talk about what its like to be in the study

i always mention my apoe 4 status since i am apoe 4/ apoe 4 this being the risk gene for late onset alzheimers disease
notice i wrote risk gene
it just means i represent 3% of you and that i have a 10-20 times increased risk for developing the disease

compare that to the early onset risk gene which is 100% sure if you have that gene you will 100% get alzheimers disease

yesterday i wrote this blog on preexisting conditions
a former young patient messaged me about whether she should be tested for the alzheimers genes

i wrote her my answer but i thought more about it later after i also ran across this excellent article and this podcast on getting tested for the alzheimers genes

so my answer for her would be
i understand why she is asking
its in her family
like many of you

yes
and
no

yes
once you know it really stimulates you to maximize your health
now while you are young
if you can max your health while young many people including myself feel like you can defeat the alzheimers or at least delay it enough so you will die from something else

however
as this article talks about and this podcast talks about you should know what the test results mean before you go having the test done

no
some folks cant handle the answer
they dont understand what it means
if it gets on their preexisting list of diagnoses it is there forever for all to see like health insurance disability insurance life insurance maybe some employers the feds the military eg

so my suggestion to her before she gets tested is read this article to understand what the testing means
and
listen to this podcast of a young person who was tested before she really understood what it meant

which answer should you be given
read this article and watch this podcast then decide for yourself



here is the information on our team for the walk to end alzheimers next month

my team in the santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday november 3rd is called
organicgreendoctor

click the link above and donate and or walk with us

 the organicgreendoctor