alzheimers news-today is a big day in the alzheimers world

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-TODAY IS A BIG DAY IN THE
ALZHEIMERS WORLD

today is the day that the fda votes on whether to approve aducanumab for the treatment of early alzheimers disease
whether it gets approved is a real big deal in the alzheimers world
if you have a loved one who is just starting up with this disease this drug may be available soon to possibly slow down the disease
there is nothing else that can be prescribed as a drug that can really help at this stage

the controversy is 
does the drug really work

my blog titled the alzheimers day of reckoning from last friday explains my view on the drugs approval
my vote is approve it with some reservations

here is a pdf of the front page of the new york times yesterday with my photo on  it


Retired family physician and trial participant Dewayne Nash, who received a placebo for 18 months before getting the experimental Alzheimer's drug aducanumab for seven months, at his home in Santa Barbara Calif., May 26, 2021. (Daniel Dreifuss/The New York Times)
new york times june 6 2020

here is the full new york times article that you can read with about 3-4 paragraphs of my interview

almost two weeks ago the author of this linked new york times article below called me and did an almost hour interview on my thoughts in regards the drug and its approval
i also did an hour and half photo shoot at the community garden and at our condo
what was included in the article was about 3-4 good paragraphs on my thoughts on the aducanumab

if you read the article you can see that she interviewed a lot of people for the article
if you keep up with the alzheimers world you recognized some of the well known researchers that were interviewed

the article gives you both sides of the story including my views

when reading the article some of my responses were kept short
eg
when asked why i was better i said that i think it was from maintaining good control of my cholesterol and my blood pressure and my weight and maintaining myself active socially physically and mentally and maintaining my sleep and eating the mind diet and also taking aricept (donepezil) from the beginning of my diagnosis
so it wasnt just the cholesterol control that made my symptoms better

then
the question of did i notice an improvement while on the infusions
the first 18 months of infusions were all placebo as it turned out
that was a real bummer and let down when i found that out

the last 7 months was an increasing tapering up of the dose of aducanumab
the max dose i probably only got from 1-3 months of it

around 2-3 years after i was diagnosed my memory testing gradually returned to a normal level
in fact my almost normal memory testing almost kept me from being in the study

my memory continued to improve on the placebo and on through getting the real drug
by the time i got the real drug my memory was well into the normal range and has remained there
to have it still normal after 10 years is significant
my guess its those other healthy things im doing plus the aricept that is doing it

that said though i know i will fall off the cliff one day down the alzheimers cliff
hopefully the aducanumab infusions will be what delays that fall by a few months or a few years

maybe enough to see mr hudson to reach his 10 year old birthday or mr h to reach his 8 year old birthday or ms b to graduate from middle school
ask me then when this happens 
was it worth taking those aducanumab infusions for all those months
my answer
you betcha

like many of those in the study most including me are not worried about any side effects from the drug
the concerns of side effects mentioned in the article is and was not a concern to most of us in the study
to me those side effects are overblown
nothing as compared to whats waiting for all of us in the future

so 
like in the article
i am for the fda to temporarily approve the use of aducanaumb in early alzheimers
plus
then
they should require the proper lengthy study to revaluate if its working for sure

if not approved many of us will have our hopes for the future dashed
there is not another drug that will come along in time to help us
sorry 
but this is the one we need now

they vote in a few hours
they have our future and some of your loved ones futures in their hands

the organicgreen doctor