organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-i should have been a hunter gatherer

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-i should have been a hunter gatherer: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-I SHOULD HAVE BEEN A HUNTER GATHERER after reading this article from the journal of the alzheimers association about two in...

alzheimers news-i should have been a hunter gatherer

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-I SHOULD HAVE BEEN A HUNTER GATHERER

after reading this article from the journal of the alzheimers association about two indigenous tribes in bolivia and their low rate of alzheimers disease i decided i should have been a hunter gatherer like those people are

the ucsb or university of california at santa barbara researchers found a rate of alzheimers in these two tribes to be around 1%
it is around 11% elsewhere

they did labs genetic testing memory testing ct scans etc on them

these folks live a simple of life mostly an agricultural sustenance 
eating whatever food they could harvest in their mostly isolated environments
they are physically active gathering their food
they have a low rate of diabetes hypertension obesity heart disease air pollution exposure

they do have more infections and more inflammatory conditions than we do 
think parasites and common infections we treat with medications

ive written several times about living a healthy life all your life to decrease your chances of getting heart disease or alzheimers disease

this study shows lifestyle does make a difference
like ive been writing for years now and like the alzheimers experts are telling us to do

maybe i should move to bolivia and live with these indigenous people

like i said recently lifestyle modification may be the most important thing one does during their life time to prevent alzheimers disease

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: if you ate all organic produce you wouldnt have to...

organicgreendoctor: if you ate all organic produce you wouldnt have to...: IF YOU ATE ALL ORGANIC PRODUCE YOU WOULDNT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE DIRTY DOZEN this is a picture of some sink peaches that were grown organi...

if you ate all organic produce you wouldnt have to worry about the dirty dozen

IF YOU ATE ALL ORGANIC PRODUCE YOU WOULDNT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE DIRTY DOZEN

this is a picture of some sink peaches that were grown organically at the coutnry n
these peaches would not be on the dirty dozen list ever
if you ate them you wouldnt worry about absorbing any pesticides or any other poisons introduced into the soil

these are sink peaches because they are so juicy and tasty you have to eat them over a sink to keep from making a mess

each year the dirty dozen of produce is published
its the ones with the highest amount of contamination from pesticides
contamination from other chemicals arent taken into account eg herbicides

the clean fifteen is also published
its the ones with the least amount or no contamination

always making the highest ratings each year are usually tomatoes strawberries and apples

these are all nonorganic produce on the list since the organic ones are all pesticide free

here is this years

the dirty dozen
the produce with the most pesticide residue

1 strawberries

2 spinach

3 kale collards mustard greens

4 nectarines

5 apples 

6 grapes

7 bell and hot peppers

8 cherries

9 peaches

10 pears

11 celery 

12 tomatoes

the clean fifteen
these have less residue or no residue

1 avocado

2 sweet corn

3 pineapple 

4 onions

5 papaya

6 frozen sweet peas

7 asparagus

8 honeydew melon

9 kiwi

10 cabbage

11 mushrooms

12 cantaloupe 

13 mangos

14 watermelon

15 sweet potatoes

now
here are 
in no particular order since they are all the same
pesticide and chemical free from my garden

the organicgreen doctors togd absolutely clean list

tomatoes
kale
zucchini squash
tatume squash
kale
swiss chard
malabar spinach
spinach
arugula
lettuce
strawberries
green beans
sweet peas 
chrsitmas lima beans
bell and hot peppers
egg plant
leeks
onions
garlic
broccoli
cabbage
cauliflower
beets
basil
cucumber
cilantro

eat my togd produce 
dont worry about chemical contamination
feed it to your babies and growing kids

another good reason to grow your own produce
and to buy organic foods

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #132-theres more than those fiv...

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #132-theres more than those fiv...: MY STORY REVISITED #132-THERES MORE THAN THOSE FIVE THINGS in this old blog i wrote about five things to notice about a person who might hav...

my story revisited #132-theres more than those five things

MY STORY REVISITED #132-THERES MORE THAN THOSE
FIVE THINGS

in this old blog i wrote about five things to notice about a person who might have alzheimers disease

none of this has changed much since i wrote the blog below about these five things that are clues to having alzheimers disease
except
the one about blood pressure has changed
now your blood pressure should be around 120/70 throughout your adult life
even slight increases in those blood pressure numbers in early middle age can harbor harm to your brain kidneys and heart


yesterday i got my 10th infusion of aduhelm or aducanumab in the biogen aduhelm clinical trial at ucla since it was reactivated last year
i got 7 infusions of the aduhelm or aducanumab in the trial before the pandemic shut it down
i got 18 infusions of a placebo prior to that
i would have preferred to have got the real drug instead of the placebos

had i got the real drug every time this would be my 35th infusion of aduhelm or aducanumab and my amyloid plaques that could be measured would be mostly not there now
instead i have to go about another year before i reach that point

i have been doing aggressively all the things mentioned below to stay healthy and to slow this down
im hoping all this works

look at these healthy things listed below and start doing them especially if you are middle age
thats when it really makes a difference
on
your brain
your kidneys
your heart
your cancer risk

i would add to that list of things to check is your blood biomarkers for amyloid and for tau
these biomarkers will soon be available in your primary care providers office
if yours is elevated then you need to get real busy to take care of your health since alzheimers is probably in your future

do the healthy things below
watch for clinical trials of new drugs to treat you to prevent or slow down the risk for alzheimers disease
__________
04-18-2014
FIVE THINGS
researchers have found 5 clues to risk factors for alzheimers disease

blood glucose not just diabetes
but a high normal blood sugar is associated with a increased risk of dementia
i have had slightly elevated blood sugars recently although they are normal now

high systolic blood pressure
middle age folks yes middle aged folks with a 10 pt elevation of systolic
blood pressure
thats the top number
>140-150

have an increased level of biomarkers for alzheimers in their spinal fluid
that would be tau protein
a protein that becomes elevated in the spinal fluid as beta amyloid
accumulates in the brain
causing cell destruction which leads to the release of these
tau proteins
scary huh

walking funny
folks with a shortened stride and slowed walking pace may have memory loss

depression
folks with depression have a 2 times increase chance of getting alzheimers

heart disease
eighty percent of alzheimers patients have heart disease

so
ive said this before
control your blood sugar with diet and exercise
keep your blood pressure under good control
control your depression
control your heart disease risk factors
ie blood pressure cholesterol diabetes weight not smoking

it seems that a lot of what we can do to control our risk of alzheimers
and dementia is in our hands

how many of these do you have

taking care of ourselves can make a difference
in our risk of getting this terrible disease
alzheimers disease
__________
so
control your blood pressure your glucose your weight
stay physically mentally socially active
control depression and anxiety
dont smoke
limit your alcohol intake
have your numbers checked regularly ie blood pressure glucose cholesterol
when available check your blood levels of amyloid and tau
then
do something to correct any abnormal numbers

remember
most risk factors for alzheimers disease can be controlled or treated

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-omicorns subvariant of the subvariant ......

organicgreendoctor: covid 19-omicorns subvariant of the subvariant ......: COVID 19-OMICRONS SUBVARIANT OF THE SUBVARIANTS... WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US there are now several generations of covid 19 mutations since th...

covid 19-omicorns subvariant of the subvariant ... what does it mean for us

COVID 19-OMICRONS SUBVARIANT OF THE SUBVARIANTS... WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US

there are now several generations of covid 19 mutations since the original one that hit us probably in late 2019
it went from wildtype to alpha to delta to omicorn to now all those subvariants with all those letters and numbers 
they havent named them yet just gave them numbers

each one it seems get more transmittable but it seems each one seems to cause less virulent or severe disease

add to that such that over 80% of us have at lest one vaxine 
you need at least two and three is probably best

add to that all those folks vaxxed and all those who got infected that now have immunity 
many vaxxed who got breakthrough infections probably have good immunity now against covid

we are in a better place now dealing with this pandemic

the only ones left out are the unvaxxed and those vulnerable folks who are immunosuppressed for some reason

these are the ones that we in our society need to protect

there are about 300 deaths a day from covid
those folks are mostly in the unvaxxed and the vulnerable but vaxxed category 

there are about 2000 deaths a day from heart disease
there are about 1600 deaths a day from cancer
there are about 100 deaths a day from car accidents
there are averaged out over a year about 55 deaths a day from the flu

so you can see covid is about number 3 in the deaths per day ranking
in 2021 it was number one
we should hit 1 million deaths total in about 6 weeks
it appears that 250,000 would have been saved by the vaxxines but folks didnt get them

that should put the covid in perspective now for april

if you are vaxxxed you will unlikely to get hospitalized and die
if you are immunosuppressed but vaxxxed you are vulnerable but may have some protection
if you are unvaxxed you are in that group that is in that 300 per day statistic from above

should that judge have ruled no masks on transportation like planes trains etc
no
that needs to remain with the cdc
ie the scientists need to make that decision

we arent there yet to safely unmask like that

would i fly right now
no

i heard two well know experts say the worst time for flying is boarding pre takeoff and post landing when the ventilation system is shut down 

this subvariant of the subvariant of the subvariant is much more infectious than the original wildtype but appears not to be more virulent

now if you are vaxxxed you wont die from covid you caught on a plane but you might get sick for several days to ruin a trip or vacation or miss several days or more from work
if you are unvaxxed and or immunocompromised you would be the group that would get the sickest or die from covid today

if i did fly which now i dont plan to do i would wear a mask maybe a double mask on a flight

when i was in practice i saw a lot of folks who traveled especially internationally
it was not uncommon for them to return from their trips to see me for an upper respiratory illness which i called kennel cough or airplane cough

kennel cough is what your dog gets when they are kenneled with other dogs for a period of time
its usually caused by a viral infection sometimes a bacterial infection

im 72 and im in good health with no significant risk factors except for my age
i dont want to get sick even if its just kennel cough
so
im wearing a mask when i get in a crowded situation
asian countries have been doing this for years especially during flu outbreaks
i will probably wear a n95 mask when i fly even when this pandemic is over
it might keep from getting that airplane kennel cough

i will get my 2nd booster in 11 days
i get my aduhelm infusion tomorrow at ucla
they require i wait 10 days after my infusion before i get my immunization

this booster should last me through the summer into the early fall
i expect this fall or winter is when there will be the start of the annual covid vaxxine 
hopefully they will mix it with the flu vaxxine
one shot i like

the under 5 covid shot will probably get decided on by the fda and cdc in early june so that folks like mr hudson who is vulnerable can start his series
since he is a transplant patient he will get 4 shots and they are looking at maybe doing a 5th one also 

dont forget if you are unvaxxed and especially if you are vulnerable to get sick with covid that there are antivirals available and anticovid antibodies available to prevent you from being hospitalized and possibly dying

we are in a much better place than we were last year and the year before

we arent there yet but we are real close

be safe
follow the science
not
the politicians and naysayers

the organicgreen doctor 

organicgreendoctor: today is earth day

organicgreendoctor: today is earth day: TODAY IS EARTH DAY here we are again  its earth day are we or should i say is the earth better off than it was last year i dont think so as ...

today is earth day

TODAY IS EARTH DAY

here we are again 
its earth day
are we or should i say is the earth better off than it was last year
i dont think so

as we drive to ucla each month early in the morning the 101 highway is merged with the pacific highway and off to the right in the early dawn light you can see this row of oil platforms with their lights on in the distance

one of these platforms leaked the thousands of gallons of oil that almost destroyed the economy of this area for several years and caused millions of dollars of damage

that santa barbara oil spill and the national and international outrage over its damage help lead to the observation of earth day

we are on the edge of a war in ukraine that if it were to go real bad and nuclear weapons were to be used the earth will not fare well

the ice caps are melting
google has a video of the ice caps melting over time
that cant be good
where does all that water go
well
places like low lying area like new orleans or miami
even worse in some poor foreign countries
so add flooding to the threat of nuclear war to whats going on on earth day

we here in california are having a severe drought 
we are having fires lots of fires they seem to get worse every year
so
add drought and fires and the lack of water to our earth day worries

during the pandemic since so many people were staying home the amount of air pollution dropped significantly
air pollution kills folks slowly 
now
the air pollution is making a come back
when we go to ucla each month you can see the change in the smog as we drive down off the mountains

add air pollution to our earth day woes

there is a big concern for plastic pollution
i sit sometimes and think about this plastic pollution
it cant be a good thing
i dont have a solution to this problem
but
we need to find one
microplastics are showing up in our food chains in our kids and in us
this cant be a good thing
then
there is the chemicals in the plastic im sure that leaks into the water and drinks and foods

add plastic pollution to our earth day problems

this week i read about contaminated produce the worst 15 to eat
top contaminated ones are apples strawberries tomatoes
more in a later blog
we and or kids are eating all this stuff
it cant be good for us
at least you can mainly go organic and avoid some of this contamination

add contaminated food to our earth day problems

i read about contaminated soil and water systems from old chemical sites and old pipes and other old stuff just left in the ground
i read about all those cases of brain tumors in folks from one high school
was that a chemical pollution problem

add that to our earth day problems

i looked at all those earth day problems
i can only do my part to make myself and my wife she safe
we try to do our part
to save this earth

i havent figured out how to avoid all of them though

we recycle as much as we can
we try to limit our over use of water
we eat a lot of our vegetables and fruits from our organic garden
we reuse plastic bags 
we use reusable shopping bags
we make our own compost from our food waste and use it to make our organic food grow
we avoid pesticides insecticides bad cleaning materials
if we buy another car it will be an all electric one

we can only do what we can do
we are doing our small part to help this earth 
if millions of us would do that the earth might start improving

if we dont do more to save this earth our future generations will be doomed

its up to us to make it better

take the day today to go outside and to enjoy and appreciate whats around you

its our earth
we only have one
there will not be another one

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-five myths about alzheimers

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-five myths about alzheimers: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-FIVE MYTHS ABOUT ALZHEIMERS this morning in my alzheimers newsfeed i get every day on alzheimers there was this article fro...

alzheimers news-five myths about alzheimers

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-FIVE MYTHS ABOUT ALZHEIMERS

this morning in my alzheimers newsfeed i get every day on alzheimers there was this article from the denver post that mentioned the 5 myths of alzheimers disease

1 memory loss is a normal part of aging

no it isnt
now its ok to forget a name or forget a word occasionally or lose something and cant find it
thats normal
whats not normal is if you are misplacing things like putting your car keys in the freezer or putting your ice cream in the cupboard or getting lost driving where you usually drive or excessively forget appointments or forget to pay bills 

if you are doing things that disrupt your life then you might worry 
if the number of sticky notes increase in you home then you might have a problem

i know i worry if i forget a word or forget a name since i keep waiting for the shoe to fall on my head and the memory issues to start rolling down the hill like a big ole snowball

i keep waiting but so far so good all mine seems to be in the normal aging category 
if you get over 60 you will normally forget words and forget names

2 alzheimers is not a fatal disease

no that one is wrong
it is 100% fatal
you might die from something else first but if not you will die from alzheimers disease
im hoping for something like maybe a massive fatal heart attack while working in my garden
i tell my wife she if that happens to me just know i died happy

there is nothing right now to make that number not be 100%
hopefully maybe sometime in the future

my aduhelm infusions i take each month at ucla might slow memory decline by about 20%
all the healthy stuff i am doing plus taking the alzheimers drug aricept or donepezil helps to slow down the symptoms but it doesnt stop the disease

it the disease wins in the end

you eventually fall off the memory cliff in the final stages of the disease

3 alzheimers only affects the elderly

that one is wrong also
my younger brother developed symptoms in his early 50s and died in his early 60s from alzheimers
i was diagnosed at 60
there are about 6+ million folks with alzheimers disease and 200,000 of them are young
some as young as the 20s
many of these younger folks with alzheimers have early onset alzheimers a genetic version of alzheimers disease

4 the risk from alzheimers is the same for everyone

nope again
blacks and Hispanics have a greater incidence than whites
women more than men mainly because men die from other diseases at a younger age
if you get the early onset gene your risk is 100% that you will get alzheimers
if you get the late onset gene called the apoe 4 gene your risk may be increased 5-20 times
if you have certain diseases like diabetes obesity hypertension heart disease high cholesterol smoker then you are at increased risk of developing alzheimers disease

5 i can ignore the symptoms of alzheimers and get by 

nope again
you will only get worse
when symptoms start get help get evaluated 
be aggressive taking care of your health
seek clinical trials like i did and others did to get new treatments before symptoms worse
do your part to be involved in clinical trials
make sure sure you are ready for things to get worse 
have your living will done your will done your power of attorney for healthcare done your power of attorney to be done your long term plans done and reach out to family and friends seeking their help
dont hide your symptoms own them
start planning early so someone else wont have to plan for you

then
if you are young like in your 30s or 40s or 50s start taking care of your health
it is important at that age to have a normal weight a normal blood pressure ie 120/70 a normal cholesterol ie a normal hdl and ldl a normal blood pressure a normal blood sugar
dont smoke
dont drink too much 
get adequate sleep ie 7-8 hours a night
avoid stress
control anxiety and depression 
be active mentally and physically and socially

if you are in those young age groups do these things above and your brain and your heart will be in good shape as you get older
by the time you get my age then there will probably be a medication or two to add to your regimen that will slow down or prevent you from getting alzheimers disease

you dont want your brain all wore out when you reach 70

those things in the above last few paragraphs
they 
are 
not 
myths

the organicigreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: 4/20 is willies day

organicgreendoctor: 4/20 is willies day: 4/20 IS WILLIES DAY today is willies day its the day we celebrate marijuana day why is this important more each year its now legal for recre...

4/20 is willies day

4/20 IS WILLIES DAY

today is willies day
its the day we celebrate marijuana day

why is this important more each year
its now legal for recreational use in 18 states plus one more tomorrow is being added new jersey
its also legal for medical use in 37 states
the states and local governments are now making millions and millions of dollars in tax revenue from its sales

its still illegal on the federal level
it marijuana or cannabis is still a schedule one drug
its in the ranking up there with heroin
it shouldnt be

now that good research is being done on the thc and cbd components of cannabis more accurate use of these components have been found

cbd has antiinflammatory properties that helps with inflammatory diseases like arthritis and pain
it may help with slowing down alzheimers disease
cannabis is used for nausea and appetite loss in cancer patients

all the research has been held back for years
but 
now that is becoming more legal the research is advancing faster

i tried cbd since it may help with the inflammatory part of alzheimers disease
it seemed to make my sleep problems worse
it may interact with my aricept or donepezil i take for alzheimers 

i also tried thc and cbd for sleep but it didnt help either 

some folks use it for anxiety and for many of them it controls their anxiety symptoms

here in santa barbara we have i think 3 dispensaries for recreational use and a few dispensaries for medicinal use
the city and county has made millions off the industry for taxes
i think these revenues helped a lot during the pandemic years when tax revenues dropped significantly from other revenue sources like restaurant taxes and hotel taxes etc 

it is now the number one agricultural product in our county

its well regulated maybe over regulated by the different government agencies

they employ a lot of workers

it is a cash business though since banking the money is hard to do
ways are being devised to get around some of the regulations

many of the growers have to pay for things in cash like taxes salaries equipment well for everything

its time
we need to make all of this work better
lift some of the stigma that exists mostly in older folks
the younger generations have lived with cannabis for a long time and accept its use 

so 
today 
i hope willie is singing his old songs somewhere
maybe with snoop dogg
smoking a blunt

now
i dont think he will get alzheimers if it works against that disease
he has been well treated

enjoy your day today willie

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: more rattlesnake stories

organicgreendoctor: more rattlesnake stories: MORE RATTLESNAKE STORIES phys.org article on mojave green rattlesnake after my blog yesterday on rattlesnakes my historian brother emailed m...

more rattlesnake stories

MORE RATTLESNAKE STORIES

phys.org article on mojave green rattlesnake

after my blog yesterday on rattlesnakes my historian brother emailed me a reminder of the time i caught a rattlesnake  and brought it home to our trailer and left it outside our door on the front porch

no i reminded him with a reply email
it was two rattlesnakes called mojave greens and i brought them inside the trailer and left them inside the living room by the front door
i also had them in a large gallon plastic jar like pickles come in with a plastic lid on top

he said he couldnt sleep at all that night knowing they were in our trailer

least did he know that these two mojave greens that looked more greener than the photo above from the phys.org article on mojave greens have the most deadliest of venom of any rattlesnakes

the venom has a neurotoxic venom and a hematoxic venom
this makes it more deadly 

the neurotoxic venom travels via the nerves
it may be more painful than the other one
it can travel up the nerve to the respiratory system and paralyse the respiratory muscles that allow you to breathe

there are stories of folks who have gotten bitten by a mojave green who thought it was a simple bite with no swelling like the hemotoxic venom bites
they were found dead in bed the next day having their respiratory system be paralyzed

the hemotoxic venom causes all the swelling and discooration and tissue destruction thats seen with the typical rattlsnake bite like the sidewinder or southern pacific or diamond back rattlesnakes

let me add here
the antivenom used today works against the mojave green venom
it as antivenom to the neurotoxic and the hematoxic portions of the venom

so
my historian brother didnt know this that night he spent sleeping in his bed a few feet from these two mojave greens
he would have had days of nightmares if he had known

now i majored in biology in college
i was at the local community college in the high desert in california in my early 20s
this was pre my wife she
if she had been in the picture at that time she would have left stage left for sure

our professor kept a collection of reptiles in our lab
he would give extra credit if you brought him reptiles he could use in the lab 
he used them just for show like a reptile museum
if you had a borderline upper b grade it might be bumped up to an a 
i must say i got an a in my two biology classes and my two zoology classes
those two mojave greens helped me in one of those classes for sure

so i would go out in the desert when it got dark
way out on the highway where there was no traffic
the road was paved
in the desert at night it would get cold so the pavement would be warm
the snakes would crawl on the pavement to lay on the warm pavement

i would drive real slow
when i saw a candidate i would get out my handy snake catcher as shown in yesterdays blog
snare the snake
lift it over the gallon jar
release the loop and the snake would drop in the jar
i then covered it up with the lid

yes i kept it in the trunk of my car

i usually went by myself
i could get no takers to go with me
definitely not my historian brother

i caught a lot of different snakes and rattlesnakes this way 
the mojave green and the sidewinder rattlesnake were my favorites

a few years ago there was a show i think on animal planet called venom er about the rattlesnake doctor dr sean bush who worked at loma linda emergency room in california
he became the go to doctor for severe snake bites in southern california

if i remember right most of the deaths he took care of were from the southern pacific rattlesnake
he had a few mojave green bite patients but they survived
some of these ended up on the ventilator as the neurotoxin attacked the lungs respiratory system
of course i liked the show

when i met my wife she i had two pet snakes i had caught this way
no they werent rattlesnakes
they were a rosy boa and a patch nose snake
when she came over she would let me take them out of their cage and she would hold them

when we got married they didnt make the move though

again my advice is
if you see a snake 
leave it along
turn and go the other way
dont mess with it
thats how you get bit

if you get bitten
stay calm
dont cut the bite
dont use a tourniquet
seek medical care 
take a picture of the snake or bring it with you but dont get bit again trying to kill it
a picture will suffice
eg
the story i wrote about yesterday of the little girl that got bitten by a snake on the foot and spent several day in the hospital
the family brought the snake with them
dead of course
and 
we were able to identify it and decide the proper treatment
dont crush the head if you can help it
photos are much better than risking a second bite

if you are in the desert
beware
the mojave green
it can suck your breath away

now
thats why my historian brother couldnt sleep that night

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: how to catch a rattlesnake

organicgreendoctor: how to catch a rattlesnake: HOW TO CATCH A RATTLESNAKE sidewinder rattlesnake i read about someone in texas recently that got bit by a rattlesnake and had to go to the ...

how to catch a rattlesnake

HOW TO CATCH A RATTLESNAKE

sidewinder rattlesnake

i read about someone in texas recently that got bit by a rattlesnake and had to go to the hospital
luckily in our century we have snake antivenom to use to counteract the snakes venom in the body
sometimes it takes a massive amount to counteract the venom

i remember once a baby crawled into the fireplace in the summer to play 
inside was a large cottonmouth snake
thats the one that you see in movies where they drop down from the trees into the boat
do you jump out or what do you do

this child receive a huge amount of antivenom in our emergency room until it could be helicoptered to a chidrens hospital a hundred miles away

i took care of only one snake bite in my medical career outside of my residency training
it was a 7 year running barefoot in the grass
she stepped on a copperhead snake that bit her
luckily they brought the snake with them
i consulted a snake bite expert at the childrens hospital who after taking the childs weight and the size of the snake calculated that the child would do ok without the antivenom

she had a rough 7 days with pain swelling low platelets a drop in her blood count and fever but she had a total recovery

my neighbors dog got bit by a rattlesnake once and had to receive the antivenom
i think the neighbors horse got spooked by that bone chilling rattle that sounds real loud when you are alone in the quiet woods

once when i lived in the country n i went to check on a cedar tree i had planted at the edge of my property
at the base was a hole that a varmint had dug at the base of the tree
i luckily had on gloves
i reached in slow to cover up that hole
suddenly i heard that bone chilling make you sweat and make your heart rate go real high sound
i slowwwwlllllyyyyy and caaaaaauuuuttttiously removed my hand
unbitten thank goodness

i left the rattlesnake alone letting it go on about its business


when we lived there i only saw them out around the edges of our property
usually in our walking paths shown in the picture above


i occasionally would use my snake catcher to relocate them off our property
usually our rattlesnakes were smaller ones
 
once our two dogs wouldnt go through a gate to our pastures where the walking path was
they always loved to run along that path 
that day though
they wouldnt move at all
so
i was summoned to check things out
there all coiled up on the other side of the wooden fence was a large ole rattlesnake all coiled up to strike

we left it along and let it crawl away
i figured to eat mice and other varmints we didnt like

yes we always wore boots out in the pastures
my wife she would wear her snake boots

our approach to rattlesnakes is what your approach should be
leave them alone and dont mess with them

now here in santa barbara i havent seen a rattlesnake or any snake since i moved here
thats ok with me
i know they have them in this area
the common one is the southern pacific rattlesnake
so far i havent any encounter with those guys

when i was in college i earned extra credit in my biology and zoology classes by going out and catching rattlesnakes
i would use the snake catcher like the one above using 1 inch pvc that was 8-10 ft long with a rope loop on the end to snare them behind the head
they could easily be relocated with this device
or 
easily dropped into a sack or large container for transport

yes i got an a in all by biology and zoology classes

so
how to catch a rattlesnake

my answer
dont

leave them alone and theyll leave you alone

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-there arent enough alzheimers spec...

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-there arent enough alzheimers spec...: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THERE ARENT ENOUGH ALZHEIMERS SPECIALISTS what are alzheimers specialists they are neurologists geriatricians geriatric psyc...

alzheimers news-there arent enough alzheimers specialists

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THERE ARENT ENOUGH ALZHEIMERS SPECIALISTS

what are alzheimers specialists

they are neurologists
geriatricians
geriatric psychiatrists

there is a limited supply of these alzheimers specialists in the united states
there are now over 6 million plus folks with alzheimers disease

that doesnt even count those folks who will be diagnosed earlier than ever before
many with mci or mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers with be diagnosed early with the emphasis now on early diagnosis

this will produce a lot of folks needing to see these alzheimers specialists

however
there arent enough of them 

i predict that soon there will be a lot of testing in the primary care doctors office and probably in those do it yourself testing sites that will be doing these new testings for biomarkers in the blood that will tell you if you have the positive biomarkers for alzheimers meaning you will likely develop full blown alzheimers one day

as a review
in the development of alzheimers as the amyloid accumulates and the tau tangles start forming and as inflammation starts you will soon be able to measure that in the blood

the stages as alzheimers develops are
prealzheimers or prodromal alzheimers where there is no memory loss but these blood biomarkers will be positive
there are millions of these folks that will be diagnosed

mci or mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease
these patients like me have mild memory issues with positive blood biomarkers

early alzheimers 
these patients have more advanced memory loss with the positive blood biomarkers

middle or mid alzheimers
these folks are early alzheimers patients who have developed worsening memory and other neurological problems

late alzheimers 
these alzheimers patients are advancing into the later and the downward course of the disease
the final step is death

who is going to diagnose and treat these patients
there arent enough alzheimers specialists

eg
i make my neurology appointments a year in advance and dont dare try to change it
they are hard to come by

the only solution i see
is
the primary care physician

i understand its hard to have a lot of dementia or alzheimers patients in your practice
a busy family practice

i think if i was in practice now i could accurately evaluate diagnose and treat most alzheimers patients
the secret is to make an accurate diagnosis
this is so much easier to do then it was a few years ago
add the new blood biomarkers and the pet scans for amyloid then its easier to diagnose these memory patients

you could save the alzheimers specialists for the more difficult patients

we do this  now with heart disease hard to control hypertension hard to control diabetes hard to control lung disease hard to control depression and anxiety hard to control cholesterol to name a few diseases

eg i use to take care of a lot of childhood asthmatics and think i did a good job of managing their asthma
but
sometimes these patients reached a point where they needed a pulmonary specialists to manage their asthma

however
when i was in practice i wasnt good at taking care of alzheimers patients
i tended to refer them to neurologists for evaluation and treatment
if they werent too complicated many times the patient would return to me for medication management
ie aricept or donepezil

i might do some lab work but didnt really do much else except for ruling out abnormal labs and maybe doing a quicky clock memory test

i really did not know as much as i do now about alzheimers disease and its management
i began to learn more when my mom was diagnosed and later when my younger brother was diagnosed
that happened in the last years of my practice

it was after i was diagnosed with mci due to alzheimers disease
i began reading a lot more about alzheimers disease got involved in clinical trials and began doing alzheimers talks to groups

i began following the research and will read several articles on alzheimers disease each day
eg 
i read 10 articles this morning on alzheimers disease and read through two new clinical trials that are starting up

so
today if i was in practice i would do like i did with my asthmatic patients
i would diagnose and manage most of them myself
seeking out alzheimers specialists whenever i needed help with diagnosing or management of a patient

i would be able to take care of the majority of these patents and diagnose them with a high degree of accuracy

thats the solution here
is to train primary care providers to do what i would do if i was in practice

it could be done with educational outreach programs to retrain primary care providers to do more of the work and do it accurately 

here is a link to an article i read about this today that sparked me writing this blog
its a review from the 2022 dementia fact figures report from the alzheimers associations 

the solution is not training more alzheimers specialists since that will take years to do
the solution is to educate our primary care providers

they need a cookbook of alzheimers management 
a simple straight forward easy to follow guide

there arent enough alzheimers specialists to take care of the millions that are going to be diagnosed in the future

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #131-its still one of the best ...

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #131-its still one of the best ...: MY STORY REVISITED #131-ITS STILL ONE OF THE BEST ALZHEIMERS QUESTIONNAIRES i discovered this alzheimers questionnaire not long after my di...

my story revisited #131-its still one of the best alzheimers questionnaires

MY STORY REVISITED #131-ITS STILL ONE OF THE BEST ALZHEIMERS QUESTIONNAIRES

i discovered this alzheimers questionnaire not long after my diagnosis was made
i have recommended it to a lot of folks who were worried about family members friends or other loved ones or themselves

spouses and children have filled them out on their loved ones and scored them
its a good screen for 
is there a memory problem with my loved ones

i remember scoring my younger brother who was diagnosed at an early age in his mid 50s
using what symptoms he was having when he was diagnosed
this questionnaire would have been helpful to his family to help them decide on getting him evaluated

today i did it on myself and i scored in the normal range ie all my answers were no
this matches with my memory testing i have done every 6 months
my moca memory tests scores usually 28-30

i scored my younger brother based on my being with him for one day 
after that day i recommended his family have him evaluated
he scored in the 5-14 level or memory loss may be an early warning of alzheimers
im sure his score was worse than what i scored him since some of the questions i couldnt answer

if you do one on a loved one 
make a copy and score it and take it with you for their memory evaluation
any doctor will look at that and know that there is a problem

also a good online memory test one takes themselves is the sage test
be honest dont cheat
you can score it yourself
it is similar to the moca test i take but probably not as accurate but close enough for screening someone
if there is a problem copy it and take it with you to a memory issue doctors appointment
ie make the appointment only for a memory problem and nothing else

below is a link to a blog i wrote about the 21 question alzheimers questionnaire

i have removed part of that blog since some links are now nonexistent

_________
04-11-2014
QUESTIONNAIRE, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, SYMPOSIUM

here is the link to
the 21 question questionnaire
yesterday when i did an q and a on alzheimers disease
i recommended folks use this as a way to evaluate
their family member or friend to help decide if they
had a problem with their memory
and
if it is needed then
a medical evaluation

here is how to use this form
answer the questions
score it
if they score high
they need evaluated
take a copy of the completed form to their doctors
you go with them
the doctor will accept the form and will usually act
on what it shows
it also gets entered in the medical record so it wont
usually be ignored by their doctor
ie
now their memory is ok wont be an answer
if you have documented a problem

doctors and medical systems get audited and will
usually act when provided this document


for yourself if you are concerned about your memory
go to
this link for the sage test

if the results are abnormal
further evaluation is warranted
it doesnt necessarily mean there is a problem
remember these are screening tests
and again
copy the test and take it with you to the doctors visit

yesterday i did a question and answer session on alzheimers disease
at a facility near my home for caregivers and representatives
of different home health agencies and long term care facilities

i enjoy these as i let the questions determine which direction the
session goes
although i have talking points of questions i want to answer
like politicians do
i try to let the audience get the questions out and hopefully
answers to things they want to know
about medications
side effects
how to get a workup for dementia
how to get your doctor to listen a real problem im afraid to say

i suggest the 21 question test and take it in with them to the visit

what new tests are becoming available

what a person can do if they are diagnosed
or
what a person can do to keep from getting dementia
the answer to that is the same
healthy stuff like control weight blood pressure diabetes
cholesterol depression anxiety decrease stress sleep well
exercise be happy etc
and
for those younger folks its important to do that also

whats new in alzheimers research
they are looking at diagnosing folks earlier and earlier
as the push is to begin treatment before symptoms occur
a lot of research is ongoing now starting new treatments that
if it works will slow down or prevent alzheimers disease

a lot of questions got answered yesterday
hope it helped
the caregivers the ones who feel the brunt of this disease
the most asked most of the questions
good questions
hope i answered them to their satisfaction
________
the financial times interviewed me a couple of weeks ago
recently they quoted me in the two paragraphs below in an article titled

us imposes strict curbs on contentious biogen alzheimers treatment

Dewayne Nash a retired family physician who was diagnosed with alzheimers said the fda should probably have waited for more conclusive data before approving aduhelm 
but he said now that the medicine is approved the cms should pay for it

alzheimers is like having terminal cancer
people are willing to take experimental drugs to slow things to gain some time with family to gain six months a year or two
said nash who is a participant in a clinical trial of aduhelm

you can read the full article by clicking here but there is a paywall
you can google the title and possibly access it that way

yesterday i had my mri of the brain looking for microbleeds and my prescan neurology visit
if its all clear then i will get my next infusion of aduhelm in two weeks

i was interviewed by bloomberg news on monday for about an hour via zoom
i will post that article when its published

the organicgreen doctor