alzheimers news-an old drug may help

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-AN OLD DRUG MAY HELP

scientists are always looking to repurpose older medication approved for other uses to be tried in slowing down alzheimers disease
many of these are older cancer treating drugs
one observation has been that these patients tended not to get alzheimers disease
subsequent studies on many of them has shown they didnt help in alzheimers disease

the apoe 4 gene is known as the late onset alzheimers gene
its involved in lipid metabolism in the body
it is probably involved in the deposition of amyloid plaques associated with alzheimers disease

if you have the apoe 4 your chances are increased that you will get late onset alzheimers disease
how healthy you live your live determines usually what effect it has on you getting the disease

the old drug researchers looked at is called bumex or bumetanide
a potent diuretic as strong if not stronger than lasix or furosemide

its usually used in congestive heart failure liver failure or kidney failure to unload the excess fluid from the body as the heart fails to circulate the blood and fluid around the body 
most patients i saw who took bumetanide had heart failure

researchers have found that the bumetanide can flip apoe 4 to the less damaging apoe 3
apoe 3 carries a reduced chance of getting late onset alzheimers disease

to read about the scientific more complicated effects read this article about how bumetanide affects the brain in research
bumetanide crosses the blood brain barrier so it reach the brain cells
in the mice study described in the above article it caused biochemical changes so the apoe 4 lost its effects

could this same thing happen in humans

scientists looked at a large group of folks treated with bumetanide and found that they tended to not get alzheimers disease

so maybe it will work in humans

they plan a large clinical trial starting next year where folks will be given bumetanide to see if it will work like it did in mice

some scientists think that if it works the drug may have to be altered so it loses some of its powerful diuretic effects

i cant imagine taking it without have heart failure or kidney failure or liver failure since it so powerful
maybe
altering those effects will make it more tolerable

but
hey 
if it were to work i would take it

i plan to keep my eye on the bumetanide clinical trials to see if it works
it will be a few years before we know for sure

a one month cost of bumetanide is $10-15
that would be a cheap treatment if it works

of course if they go and change its effects so it looses its powerful diuretic effects to lessen side effects that will then be a new drug that will get a new patent
it then will not be cheap

but you know alzheimers disease is a very very expensive disease that costs the health care system millions and millions of dollars a year 
that price tag continues to climb each year

so 
if we could slow down the disease or stop it then the price tag would be worth it

i have set up my team for the walk to end alzheimers in santa barbara named
organicgreendoctor at this link

because of the pandemic we will not be walking at the walk site but will walk a route up to the santa barbara mission by ourselves wearing our alzheimers walk shirts and carrying our alzheimers flags

we will be thinking of our lived ones who had alzheimers 
mom nell
brother joe
probably dad charles
and
me

i seem to be the lucky one to have gotten a temporary reprieve

please feel free to donate to and or join our team to help raise funds to fight this awful disease

the organicgreen doctor