alzheimers news-when i was 55 i would have volunteered for this study

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHEN I WAS 55 I WOULD HAVE
VOLUNTEERED FOR THIS STUDY

when i turned 55 my mother was in the final stages of alzheimers disease and my younger brother was about to be diagnosed with alzheimers disease

i had decided that if i ever developed any memory issues i would stop practicing medicine
5 years later i entered the adni alzheimers study in the normal control group so i would be monitored on a regular basis so i could detect any memory issues early on
if they showed up i would stop practicing medicine

memory issues showed up on my first memory evaluation
a month later i was officially diagnosed with mci or mild cognitive impairment that has turned out to be due to alzheimers disease
i stopped practicing medicine the day i was diagnosed

if i hadnt volunteered for that study would i have had more memory issues that could have harmed someone
ill never know

i did what i thought was the right thing to do
im ok with my decision

however
knowing all i know now about alzheimers disease and knowing how it helps to be proactive
had this study below and others like it had been available to me 
i would have been the first in line to sign up and would have traveled to wherever in the us it was being offered

these studies are taking folks between 55-80 who are cognitively normal ie have normal memory testing but have positive biomarkers for alzheimers diseases 
ie positive amyloid and tau levels in the blood
positive amyloid pet scans and tau pet scans

this means they are highly likely to have prealzheimers or prodromal alzheimers disease and will most likely progress over time in a few years to full blown alzheimers disease

when i was 55 and knowing what i know now
my memory testing would have been normal but my biomarkers would have been positive
in fact at 57 i had normal memory testing for my long term care insurance
that memory testing turned abnormal 3 years later when i volunteered for the adni alzheimers study

since then my memory as i described in this blog last wednesday is now normal

a question i got asked a lot this week was it the medicine aduhelm or aducanumab thats making the difference
my answer
i think its making some difference
i do feel sharper as i wrote this week than before

yes 
17 years ago if  this study below was available i would again be the first in line to get this medicine

just think if i had been treated 17 years with this stuff 
how my life would be different
i would not have retired at 60 but probably would have retired at 65 but even then i would most likely would still be doing volunteer medicine

now i cant do volunteer medicine because of my diagnosis

this disease alzheimers will likely be my cause of death on my death certificate one day
had i had access to this drug below at 55 its possible my diagnosis would be
he died of old age

this medicine and others like it and even more that will be available soon can be available to many of you
especially those who are at risk for alzheimers disease

get diagnosed early get treatment early before symptoms start

that time is now for many of you

oh how i wish i could have been on one of these meds when my mother and brother were suffering with it

i couldnt and they couldnt 
but
many of you can

lillys new drug called donanemab is looking for patients who are prealzheimers 
but dont know it
they have to have normal memory and be willing to know that they have it
but
get to receive treatment for it before that memory loss starts

the name of the study is called trailblazer alz 3
here is the link to more information on the study 
here is the clinicaltrials.gov link to the study

in mci and early alzheimers patients this drug slows memory lost close to 30%
it works similar  to my drug aducanumab which slows memory loss close to 20%
hopefully by starting the drug at 55 years old before symptoms start that slow down percentage will be even better

if i could go back to when i was 55 i would again be the first in line to get this drug

my drug aduhelm or aducanumab and biogens drug lecanemab and other similar drugs are starting similar studies 

it takes a commitment to be in a study
you have to realize you may get the placebo
but
the potential rewards can be great

i think about the recent study in rectal cancer patients who received the new experimental antibody treatment for rectal cancer 
all of them a year later have no evidence of rectal cancer

thats what a clinical trial can do

heres hoping that this trailblazer alz 3 study and the other prealzheimers studies will have similar results

wouldnt that be great

just do it i say

the organicgreen doctor