my story revisited #169-theyre on the top of your head

MY STORY REVISITED #169-THEYRE ON THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD

when i read this old blog and saw the picture at the end
i said out loud 
theyre on the top of your head

most of my life i have had bad vision
i cant legally drive without glasses nor should i even try without them

a few years ago i had cataract surgery on my right eye
i have 20/20 vision in that right eye and have like 20/400 in my left eye
i do wear glasses that correct for some astigmatism in the right eye and to correct my vision in the left eye to 20/15

so sometimes i will put my glasses on the top of my head and forget i had them up there since my vision is normal in my right eye

my vision was so bad growing up that in school i couldnt read the backboard
playing baseball i couldnt read the catchers or umpires hand signals
the ump and catcher and batter were one big blur
my coach would send me signals on what to pitch but i couldnt see his fingers well enough
even with that i was the best pitcher in the league and batted over 300
i got glasses when i was fourteen but didnt like to wear them
my baseball coach wouldnt let me pitch unless i wore my glasses

i played quarterback up to the 9th grade
i didnt play football after that since i moved to a school that only did basketball
i never played with my glasses
i couldnt read the scoreboard when i played
i always had trouble throwing passes to my receivers since they blurred together with the defenders

i played basketball all through junior high and high school
until the 11th grade i  played without glasses
i couldnt see the clock and scoreboard when i played
i was always the 1 or 2nd scorer on the team
my last two years in high school i played with glasses
my stats improved once i could see the basket better 

the two things i remember the most when i got my glasses was that the moon wasnt as big as i thought it was 
and
that car lights were not huge like the moon

my life changed when i got my glasses
i am amazed at how i coped for 14 years without seeing 

sorry i digressed some
back to losing things

in this old blog below i wrote about the ucla study by dr bredesen on reversal of cognitive decline

i went all in in what he recommended
more than half of it i was already doing

over time i weeded out some supplements that bothered me like bacopa valerian root ashwanghada melatonin 
some supplements were shown to not be effective in research studies so i stopped them
i also stopped the vit e and omega 3 and other supplements 

i was left with taking
aspirin 81 mg a day because of ocular migraines that could be tias
folic acid and vitamin b12 to lower my elevated homocysteine
vitamin b12 for my lower than normal b12
vitamin d3 for my lower than normal d3
probiotics 
plus my prescription meds for aricept or donepezil and atorvastatin

then i did all those healthy things i list below we all should be doing

again the majority of his 36 point recommendation is things we should be doing anyway


my next infusion #27 of aduhelm or aducanumab is next week

its cousin leqembi or lecanemab should get full approval later this year
many think that cms or medicare and medicaid will approve payment for its use
i expect if my drug aduhelm shows good results when my study is read out that cms may approve it for payment if its results are similar to lecanemab
__________
12-12-2014

NOW WHERE DID I PUT THAT...
if this is a problem thats getting worse
then read my blog today
and
the accompanying article from cnn

now i do lose things
i lost my keys to my car once
never did find them
sold the car
then years later found them
where else
but in the garden under a layer of mulch
a little rusty but still recognizable as clicker keys

we all lose things
but there is a point where it becomes abnormal

so if you are having memory issues
or a loved one is
or if a loved one is in the beginning of their decline
read on

first if you or a loved one have memory issues
they you should be evaluated
looking for easily treatable causes
like low thyroid low b12 depression sleep issues etc etc

then
take the time to read this

in the ucla study 
of only 10 folks
by dr bredesen director of the alzheimers research center at ucla
no fly by night researcher

he found 36 points to look at each patient that they could
do to maybe help out

so i put myself in that list

i have low b12 low vit d too high homocysteine
have sleep issues
have high blood pressure high cholesterol
have the apoe4 double gene that increases my chance of
having alzheimers disease
have low beta amyloid and rising tau levels in my spinal fluid

so using these things
i set up a regimen

reminder these were discussed with my family doctor
and my neurologist first

so i take 16 supplements a day
for inflammation
omega 3 vit e

to help decrease beta amyloid in the brain
some of these are anecdotal uses based on animal studies
i take bacopa turmeric acid

for sleep the stuff he recommends for me i have side effects
to and cant take

for gi health i eat a mediterranean diet and take probiotics
but dont follow his strict diet
i dont do a lot of simple sugars
i do the 12 hour fast which i was doing anyway

for possibly building better nerve connections
and
for more alertness i take several of the recommended supplements

since i have apoe4/apoe4 i take resveratrol every day
it will soon be proven or not if it works in a study to be released
next year
if it doesnt work i will stop it

i am taking vit b12 to replace my low levels
vitaming d for my low levels
folic acid for my elevated homocysteine levels

i exercise regularly by working on our country n property
volunteering doing habitat for humanity builds
and walk and hike

i maintain a normal blood pressure and cholesterol and weight
i stay happy
i meditate here at the country n
i stay active mentally

so of the 36 points he writes about in the original article
i am doing most of them
well i was doing most of them anyway

so
like 9 of the 10 folks in this study
after almost 3 months on this regimen
i notice a difference
more alertness
less fatigue in the afternoon and evening
i have noticed i have very few leg cramps now

my dreams occasionally get disturbing since
i stared this regimen
like last night a group of folks from one of those
apocalyptic movies was attacking me with swords and
knives
but i tricked them i yelled real loud and woke up
and they all went away
woke my wife she up also

my memory does seem better
adjusted some for my age
i am looking forward to doing my next neuropsych test to
see if it continues to improve
i think so

my guess is this stuff helps more early on in the process
than it does as things get worse
my guess is it doesnt stop the disease completely
just sort of dams it up a little but it bursts through
eventually

maybe it can slow it down enough until treatments get
developed that may be real close
maybe in this decade

heres hoping

so read the ucla article
on reversal of cognitive decline
and
read the cnn article
on we may be able to reverse signs of early alzheimers disease
also
look at the beginning of the article at
7 ways to fight alzheimers disease
and
click through the 7 pictures and read the captions

to get an idea on what may be done to help you/them

my view is
this stuff does not seem harmful to me
there are some side effects
its not all proven to be effective
but
you cant deny that 9 out of 10 got better on the regimen
for me
the alternative is to do nothing
which
im not willing to do
neither should you

good luck

now where did i put my glasses
__________
if you are having memory issues be sure and get a good evaluation by your medical provider before you just start taking supplements
i got tired of taking two handfuls of pills a day
i stuck with the ones based on abnormal labs or good scientific evidence that they may help

my wife she is always losing her keys and her glasses and her phone
she now has glasses everywhere so she can usually find a pair to use
her iphone has a locator she can use to find it
her keys now have an apple tag on it
now
i cant blame those lost keys in that picture above on her
i think they just fell out of my pocket while i was in the garden

also
losing my glasses is rarely a problem

follow me on twitter
follow my blog facebook page

the organicgreen doctor