here is some bad news and some good news
this week after suffering through a round of the gis and missing mr hudsons surgery for his gtube because of it and after having a relapse mid week i was pretty bummed
the worst was missing and not being there for his surgery and his postop time
ok i did show up the next day but i had to stay away from him even when he cried and vomited several times
it all made me cry
fyi mr hudson is eating ok now and getting his overnight infusions ok
he is scheduled for his transplant office visit on monday where the decision of when he will have his transplant surgery will be made
yesterday after an overnight bout of vertigo and nausea im sure set off by the viral gi stuff i was lying on my bed under the covers sipping on some ginger ale under the influence of nausea meds munching on some salty crackers and talking to my wife she who sat in my line of vision so i wouldnt have to turn my head to talk to her
well
my phone rang
may i speak to your wife
i looked at the number
it was the ucla alzheimers research center
i said
this is my phone can i help you since i didnt recognize the name knowing they had changed the research person who would be contacting me
i knew that many of the folks use their spouses as the contact person for the study
they usually contact me
heck i do all our financial stuff plant our vacations plan our meals and do the grocery shopping and drive when i want to etc
ie
im not there yet memory wise
so
she talked to me
she said
we will be activating the biogen aducanumab study in may
do you want to participate
we will be giving you the higher dose of 10 mgm per kgm dose of the aducanumab each month for two years
are you in
you betcha i said
she said we will be contacting you in a few weeks for more details
i almost instantly felt better
short review
biogen aducanumab is an antibody that binds to the beta amyloid in the brain and removes it
on follow up scans most folks after a year have all measurable amyloid on the amyvid amyloid pet scan removed
it also appears to also remove some of the tau protein from the brain
both proteins are implicated in alzheimers disease
amyloid first then tau later
it seems it also makes peoples memory decline slow down or get better
the same for their activities of daily living
they have applied for fda approval which may occur before i finish this two year treatment
there is no other drug out there yet that can do this
there is not another drug that will be available in time to help me
there will be others but not in time for me
will it cure alzheimers
no
will it or can it help slow down the symptoms
yes
so thats good enough for me
tbd
fyi that stands for to be determined if you arent familiar with social media abbrevs
below is a short video of what happens in the brain with alzheimers
pay attention to the amyloid plaques and the tau tangles that are in the video
thats what the aducanumab infusions i will be taking each month will remove from the brain
if your loved one has alzheimers disease this is what is happening in their brains
also
fyi in those nerve endings in the video is where the aricept (donnepezil) that i take to slow down symptoms has its efffect
in those endings an enzyme called acetyl cholinesterase breaks down a chemical called acetylcholine that makes the nerve cells fire
aricept (donepezil) stops that enzyme from breaking down the acetylcholine so the nerve cells in the brain work better
covid19 in dementia patients
if you have an elderly family member you should click the link above
in the final stages of alzheimers disease patient commonly die from infections
70-85% of deaths from the flu occur in folks over 65
the mortality rate is highest in the oldest folks for the covid19 at 15%
so far in the general population it is around 3+-%
in the sars epidemic it was 50% in the elderly patients
at least you can get them the flu shot so they wont die from the flu
if you are in a long term care facility laying in the bed with alzheimers your chances of survival from a case of this disease is not good its probably close to zero
besides the covid19 news we in our family are having a good end of the week
the organicgreen doctor
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