my story revisited #133-what alzheimers is

MY STORY REVISITED #133-WHAT ALZHEIMERS IS

there are a lot of folks walking around functioning ok who have the diagnosis of alzheimers disease like the guy in the picture above
most folks have no idea there is anything wrong with us

look at our amyvid or amyloid pet scans or our tau pet scans or our spinal tap results or our memory tests then you can see things are not quite right upstairs
my mmse and moca memory tests are normal but not the other tests above

early diagnosis is available now with these tests
now 
we just need early treatment to go along with this

they mention in the video below about the alzheimers vaccines that would be available to remove the amyloid
those are here today 
eg my aduhelm is an antibody given as an infusion 
it binds to the amyloid plaque in the brain and removes it

now they have tau antibody drugs that bind to tau and remove it

we are closer now then when i wrote this in 2014
hopefully when i look at this blog today in ten years
i can smile and say 
thank goodness we finally have a treatment

if you want to know whats happening in the brain this few minute video does a good job of explaining it
interesting is that a lot of this has been known now for over 100 years
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04-25-2014
WHAT IS ALZHEIMERS

or
click here for the link to the video

this is a question i get asked a lot
what is alzheimers disease

please watch
the video above as its is the best video ive seen on      
what this disease is

words to know
beta amyloid-the proteins that stick together to cause alzheimers disease
tau protein-the protein that gets destroyed as the process proceeds
hippocampus-the undersurface of the brain where this all starts
acetylcholine-the level drops in alzheimers patients
aricept (donepezil) increases that level and helps the symptoms
                for awhile
alzheimers vaccines-under study now in several large studies
           antibodies will bind up beta amyloid in the brain and remove it
                and if we are all lucky it will work to slow down the disease or
                prevent it

if i do have alzheimers which i think i do based on
changes in short term memory on serial memory tests
strong strong family history-mother father brother grandmothers
multiple aunts and uncles
apoe4 genotype double version that increases risk 10-20 times
positive or abnormal levels of the bad stuff beta amyloid and tau protein
in my spinal fluid
soon to be done beta amyloid pet scan of the brain called amyvid

then i hope to benefit from new treatment studies coming available
using the alzheimers vaccine and using nasal insulin
hoping not to get put in the placebo group

also if i have it i will already have those changes going on
in my hippocampus thats well described in this video
they just havent advanced far enough yet so that they can
be seen on regular mri but would on the amyvid pet scan

but
sorry to say even if i have those plaques forming there they cant
be undone
for you see
thats this cruelty of this disease
once the disease manifests itself early early it may be to far gone
to be treated
so
treatment when it becomes available will have to be started years and
years earlier
in those of you who read this blog who are in your 30s and 40s

lets find a cure please
do the walk to end alzheimers in your area to show your support
contact your congress persons-its election year and they do listen
support any caregiver that you know
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at least the aduhelm is removing my brain amyloid plaques
is it doing it in time though

my mris have been normal and unchanged for the last 12 years
i have had around 15 of them to document this no change
the amyvid tells the true story
oh what i would give just to see my amyvid pet scans
or
my tau pet scans
that would tell me a lot about where my disease is

so
get evaluated early 
look for clinical trials for research treatments
take good care of your health

the organicgreen doctor