my story revisited #144-the olfactory and ocular tests

MY STORY REVISITED #144-THE OLFACTORY AND OCULAR TESTS 

today while i started writing my blog i developed an ocular migraine
first i notice a spot like an enlarged blind spot so i have to move my head to read part of the sentence then a silvery waviness occurs in my lateral visual field that makes it hard for me to read or write my blog
i had a mild headache develop a few minutes before the visual stuff develops
the headaches intensifies as the visual changes occur

i had my first one in 2010 a few months before i was diagnosed
it was much worse than this one
my second one was last year a month or so after i had restarted my ahuhelm study
i had this dose 2 years ago with no symptoms
that second one was the worst i have had
i almost went to the emergency room for an evaluation since an ocular migraine can also be caused by a tia or small stroke 
but it resolved eventually 
i have had around 5-6 mris since that second one and they are normal
the last one was normal two weeks ago

now i know to go ahead and take a couple of acetaminophens to control the headache
i was given some new meds to take under my tongue to make it go away
since im by myself i decided to wait until my wife is around the first time i take it

today i decided to just continue on through it to see how i did
after about 30+ minutes im mostly through it
granted i had a lot of typos  i had to correct
i have some residual headache i think the acetaminophen is kicking in
the visual stuff is about 80% resolved

i am able to now move forward with my blog

there is a question is these ocular migraine events being casued by my aduhelm infusions
the researchers arent sure but right now i dont want to lose any momentum from my infusions
if they intensify i might have to pause my infusions to see if they go away
then
i will have to decide to i want to just tolerate the ocular migraines and keep taking the aduhelm
thats what i want to do

i look at this if its caused by the aduhelm infusions to be a side effect like you would see with a chemotherapy drug side effect
you tolerate it knowing what the end game is

my gut feelings is its the aduhelm causing these ocular migraines

dang where is that autocorrect when i really need it

now an ophthalmologists cant look in the back of my eye and see anything since whats going on is somewhere else in my brain
they might see some amyloid deposits though

i did the smell test once
im not convinced of its accuracy though

i do know the olfactory or smeller nerve is the first to go in alzheimers disease
its also a way to get medicine directly into the brain via the olfactory nerve
the alzheimers nasal insulin uses this pathway
other new treatments will be using it also

biogen aduhelm or aducanumab update
i have another infusion in 3 weeks thats #20
i have an extra mri in september and in december
__________
07-18-2014

EYE SMELL
no im not odoriferous

well sometimes i am after a good dose of beans
heck
i read the other day that those who have to smell foul
flatulence may actually live longer

so there is hope for some of you wives

last year when i went in for my annual alzheimers center visit
for the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative
they asked me
would you like to do another study today
we need volunteers
so
i said yes
i always do

it was a scratch and sniff test
like those things in the magazines you scratch them smell the
perfume or cologne
they never smell good to me thats what i think

but this had all kinds of smells
like cedar coffee pine some stinky stuff flowers  licorice etc
it went on for a long time
some i would have to identify or say yes or no to

why the smell test
well it seems that thats the first to go in alzheimers disease is the
sense of smell since
the olfactory nerve goes to the under surface of the brain
to the area in the brain where alzheimers starts

i wrote about the peanut butter smell test
this new scratch and sniff test works the same way
a defect in the ability to identify the odors or even smell them
means there could be memory problems down the road
it could be one of those screening tests
flunk it
maybe your need to get testing done


then the eye test
in alzheimers disease you get amyloid plaques that form in the brain
its thought to be the cause of alzheimers disease
several companies have developed retinal screens that use some
type of fluorescence to highlight the amyloid plaque that can be seen
in the back of the eye with these scans

the back of the eye is how doctors can sometimes peek into the brain

one company uses curcumin a product of turmeric acid which is
known for it use in indian food
its also taken by some people in hopes it may slow alzheimers disease
but
in this case its only staining the amyloid plaques in the retina


if you have beta amyloid accumulating in the back of your eye
then you are probably accumulating it in the brain
remember this accumulation starts years and years before
alzheimers disease symptoms show up

as we get closer to finding a treatment or cure
the earlier you know you may get alzheimers disease
the better your chance for treatment

this test appears to be extremely accurate
95-100% in the studies

so in the future maybe as soon as late 2015 you can go to
your eye doctor
get the scan
if its positive
get more definitive tests like memory tests
the biomarkers beta amyloid and tau in the spinal fluid
and
the amyvid pet scan which highlights amyloid in the brain
also coming soon will be the new alzheimers blood tests to add to
these tests
then treatment when it becomes available

because of the increased healthy living that folks are doing now
by eating correctly exercise controlling blood pressure cholesterol diabetes
their weight etc
the rate of alzheimers is actually declining finally
but
because of so many numbers of folks getting old the numbers
are increasing annually

these are exciting screening tests
after doing the smell test study i would think that the eye test
will be much more accurate and easier to do
my nose and smeller nerve were wore out
and
heck i see the ophthalmologist annually anyway

yep again
theres
hope for the future
__________
as im writing the ending of this blog my ocular symptoms are about 95% clear
it took about 45 minutes from start to finish to clear it
i have a residual milder headache that will probably linger 2-3 days then resolve
they are occuring every two weeks

i dont think the smelling test for alzheimers will ever pan out
there are too many variables in doing the test

i dont think the ocular screening test will either
it might be good for an eye doctor to say hey you might have some build up of amyloid so you might see your pcp for an evaluation

the test that will be used is one of the new blood tests that will be available at our pcp in the near future
if its positive you might have alzheimers and should get an evaluation done
that is 
if you want to know

the organicgreen doctor

the organicgreen doctor