organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #189-well maybe not

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #189-well maybe not:   MY STORY REVISITED #189-WELL MAYBE NOT the old article about gamers being at an increased risk for alzheimers disease is not available onl...

my story revisited #189-well maybe not

 MY STORY REVISITED #189-WELL MAYBE NOT

the old article about gamers being at an increased risk for alzheimers disease is not available online 
i linked it in the blog below that i wrote in 2015

so 
i did a google ai search asking this computer brain this question
does video games cause alzheimers

 and its answer is below

Some research suggests that playing video games may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. 

 Playing games can improve memory and cognition, and may reduce the risk of diseases like Alzheimer's. 

 One study found that playing games on a regular basis can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's by almost 50%. 

 Another study found that playing video games for 30 minutes a day can be effective against dementia in older adults. 

Playing video games can exercise a gamer's memory, especially short-term memory. Playing even occasionally can help seniors remember things like names, addresses, phone numbers, dates, and times. 

However, one meta-analysis found that brain games had “no superior effect” on critical cognitive domains like memory, executive function, visuospatial skills, and language. 

the blog below i wrote suggested in the article that i linked that playing video games like call of duty
could lead to alzheimers as one aged

maybe the problem was that the area affected is the area for addiction
its like with alcohol
drink a little its good for you
drink a lot its real bad for you

moderation may be the key 
_________
05-22-15
ALZHEIMERS NEWS-GAMERS BEWARE
gamers gonna game
if they can remember how when they get older

parents if your kiddos are big video game players
maybe you should read this blog today
and
maybe this article


when alzheimers disease starts years and years before
symptoms show up
a process starts in the hypothalamus etal where beta amyloid
accumulation occurs then unraveling of tau proteins occurs
then plaques and tangles form
which leads to brain destruction
what  is seen eventually
is shrinkage of this area
underneath the brain
the hypothalamus
easily seen on mri scans
and
areas called the caudate nucleus and the hypothalamus
and the hippocampus
are greatly affected early on

so alzheimers disease affects the caudate nucleus and leads to
shrinkage in there and in the hypothalamus and the hippocampus

got it

now enter gaming
the research was done on people who play the game
call of duty

it seems when compared to folks who dont game
that gamers used the caudate nucleus twice as much
as nongamers

the caudate nucleus is an area associated with drug and
alcohol addiction also
its also affected by alzheimers disease

they found that gamers had decreased grey matter and
decreased functional brain activity in the hippocampus
where alzheimers really starts
its the area that controls memory emotions and learning

what this means that this decreased function puts gamers
at increased risk for neurological diseases
like alzheimers disease

so the question is does gaming lead to an increased risk
of alzheimers disease
or does it make the onset come on sooner in life

it seems if you are affecting the alzheimers starting place
in the brain early in life that you are priming that area
to more easily be overtaken by
alzheimers disease

more long term studies using brain scans and other research
studies are planned

in the meantime
im glad i was never a gamer
i stopped when i felt myself get addicted to atari games

maybe that helped slow down the process some
and
maybe thats why you dont see a lot of old old gamers
as
maybe they are all in long term memory centers
__________
i guess the bottom line is
moderation
anything like gaming and video games stimulate the brain which is important in slowing down alzheimers
so
game away  
just do it moderate amount of hours

maybe they should put video games in memory centers


join me for our santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday october 14th
join us and or donate to our organicgreendoctor team 
or do your own local walk

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: how a teacher becomes a millionaire

organicgreendoctor: how a teacher becomes a millionaire: HOW A TEACHER BECOMES A MILLIONAIRE millionaire teacher now i havent read this book above or read or heard any interviews by the author. i d...

how a teacher becomes a millionaire

HOW A TEACHER BECOMES A MILLIONAIRE

millionaire teacher
now i havent read this book above or read or heard any interviews by the author. i dont know if i agree with what he says but i intend to read his book to find out what he says

here is what i know
i know more than one millionaire teacher actually i know several

if a 25 year old teacher just out of school and who has a 30 year teaching career were to invest about $850 a month in their 403 b plan and invested it at a 7% return for 30 years
then
they will be a millionaire at retirement

a 403b is what a teachers 401k is called

first the student should consider going to a community college for two yeas then transfer to a public university to get their degree thus lowering their cost of college
the goal is little college debt at graduation

remember what do you call someone who graduates from a public university and someone who graduates from an expensive university like say harvard
your kids call them both teachers

so they enter their career with little or no debt

then when they start teaching they start putting back $850 a month into their 403b investing it based on their age 
dont buy a new car buy an old one
remember the purpose of a car is to get you from point a to point b

make sure they teach at a school that pays into social security 
failing to do so can cost you around $1800+- a month in lost social security later in life
the government offsets your retirement from any social security leaving most teachers with zero social security 
eg my wife she gets $500 a month instead of about $1800 she would get if she wasnt a teacher
when i die she will get around $1000 a month

dont ever tap into your teacher retirement 
never ever

live within your means
dont get into credit card debt or other debt except maybe a home mortgage
dont overbuy on your home

doing this above will leave you a millionaire + when you retire

also 
a $20,000 a year social security check is like having $500,000 in your 403b
a $30,000 a year teacher retirement is like having $750,000 in your 403b

thats like having a million in the bank
then
add that extra million they accumulate in their 403b over their teaching career
then
thats how a teacher becomes a millionaire

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-will a skin biopsy tell you

organicgreendoctor: alzheimers news-will a skin biopsy tell you: ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WILL A BIOPSY TELL YOU no not a biopsy of the brain that doesnt sound good it seems ripe for something to go wrong like infe...

alzheimers news-will a skin biopsy tell you

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WILL A BIOPSY TELL YOU

no not a biopsy of the brain
that doesnt sound good
it seems ripe for something to go wrong
like infection nicking a blood vessel hitting the wrong spot eg
 
now i had two spinal taps as part of the first alzheimers study i did called the adni 2 study
i had no problem but on the second one he did stick my nerve and i felt a bolt of lightning go down to my big toe but it quickly went away
i did say a four letter word when it happened
i had no problems afterwards

well my wife she did
she fainted and she wasnt even in the room when i got my spinal tap
she was in the waiting room
she required care not me
i even had to drive to the pet scanner since she was too woozy to drive

this last week i went to the dermatologist
i had a mole he wanted to biopsy so he removed it with a simple biopsy

i use to do them all the time
i used a punch biopsy
for this one you would use one the size of an ink pen opening
you know where the ink pen pokes through
my guess thats about 3 mm in diameter

now it may be possible to do a skin biopsy to tell if you have alzheimers disease

you just do a local injection to numb the area
use a punch to take out say a 3 mm piece of skin
then put a bandaid over it
done

the specimen would be sent to be read to see if you have alzheimers disease or parkinsons
your primary care doctor could easily do the biopsy
takes about 5 minutes to do

here is a review of the discern test by the american academy of neurology
they did skin biopsies on patients who had brain biopsies at autopsy
they found the discern skin biopsy was 95% accurate sensitivity and specificity

those with alzheimers have a 7 times increase in tau proteins in the skin biopsy
those with parkinisons have an 8 times increase in alpha synuclein proteins

now you still need a good neurological history and exam
some labs
memory testing
maybe an mri

then to definitively diagnose alzheimers you can do 
a blood test thats available in research but eventually will be available in private practice
a spinal tap checking for amyloid and tau levels in the spinal fluid-ouch
an amyloid pet scan to check for amyloid plaques and or a tau pet scan for tau tangles
or
maybe 
just just get a punch biopsy for a discern test 

the skin test sounds so easy 
the blood test is really a screen test for now
the spinal tap is accurate but many folks wont or cant get one
just dont bring your spouse

the amyloid pet scan is the definitive gold standard test and also gives you more information

then
the discern skin biopsy test will give you the answer also
plus medicare pays for it

last week i thought about this as the dermatologist was biopsying my mole
hey 
add an alzheimers skin test to that study i started to say to double check all my testing i have had done 
but 
no i didnt

physicians may use this test to decide if someone with memory issues really has alzheimers disease so they can decide if eg aricept or donepezil is needed
or
if my drug aduhelm or the new one leqembi or soon to be here donanemab would be administered
right now an amyloid pet scan is required first 

who would have thought a skin biopsy could verify you have alzheimers or parkinsons



join me for our santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday october 14th
join us and or donate to our organicgreendoctor team 
or do your own local walk

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: garden news-putting a faucet on a rainwater barrell

organicgreendoctor: garden news-putting a faucet on a rainwater barrell: GARDEN NEWS-PUTTING A FAUCET ON A RAINWATER BARELL this is a rainwater tank donated to the garden by my daughter in law she gave us two of t...

garden news-putting a faucet on a rainwater barrell

GARDEN NEWS-PUTTING A FAUCET ON A RAINWATER BARELL

this is a rainwater tank donated to the garden by my daughter in law
she gave us two of them

the problem was the faucets were missing
the holes for the faucets were predrilled
the problem was that the holes dont fit the faucet spigots commonly used for these tanks

i needed a hole drilled 1 1/4 inches

we now have 4 tanks that hold 60 gallons of water 
do the math that gives us 240 gallons
we catch the water off our two chicken coops off approximately 160 square feet of roof space
again doing the math a 1 inch rain will give us about 80 gallons of water each
it would take 3 inches of rain to fill up all four tanks

just think about all the water we are letting run out onto the street down the drain and out to the ocean

we use the water to mainly water new seedlings or new plantings or when we mix our fish emulsion for foliar feeding our veggies
 

now this tank has a narrow lid so i couldnt reach down and bolt down the spigot from the inside
at the coutnry n i use to use these large bulkhead parts
i was able to find this kit online with the spigot and bulkhead connection made for smaller tanks


it includes a string pipe tape spigot the bulkhead connection
the bolt that tightens it is a reverse one
its lefty tighty and righty loosy instead of righty tighty lefty loosy


the hole needed to be enlarged to a 1 1/4 inch hole so i used this bit attachment


i carefully drilled the hole since i was only enlarging the diameter by 1/4 inch


then i dropped the string down from the top of the tank then pulled through the string from the hole i had just drilled 
see that yellow string with one end on the ground and the other end hanging down from the top

then i reached in with my finger after dropping down the bulkhead piece over the string and pulled it through the hole


then i screwed on the bulkhead nut making sure i went lefty tighty not righty tighty
yes i did it wrong several times
its hard to break old righty tighty habits

then i removed the string

 i use to have to do this on my 3000 gallon tanks at the country n
so this one was easy peasy 


this what the end result is
hopefully its a leak free connection

this tank will be connected to the blue y connector to its neighboring tank
these two tanks are connected to tanks under the downspouts of the chicken coop
now all we need is more rain
sitting next to these two tanks is a 60 gallon tank that captures any overflow if the tanks fill up

we also have two  60 gallon tanks that we will connect to guttering off a shed in our front area
so
we will have 420 gallon capacity for rainwater collection eventually
yes i am infecting the garden with the rainwater collection virus or rwc virus for short

my rainwater brother who also was infected with the rwc virus would be proud of this
im sure he is looking down smiling at us


below is the flyer for our annual fundraiser for the garden


it is renaissance themed but not a fair
food and drinks and music will be scattered throughout the garden
plus you get to enjoy the beauty of our garden at sunset and dusk

please donate and or join us for the event

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #188-it was much adu about some...

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #188-it was much adu about some...: MY STORY REVISITED #188-IT WAS MUCH ADU ABOUT SOMETHING thats one of my former patients wearing our walk t shirt for our walk to end alzheim...

my story revisited #188-it was much adu about something

MY STORY REVISITED #188-IT WAS MUCH ADU ABOUT SOMETHING

thats one of my former patients wearing our walk t shirt for our walk to end alzheimers that year
it was i think the first walk we did after i was diagnosed 

some of my kid patients called me dr duck thus the i walk for dr duck t shirt

this patient is now in college sadly at texas am
i always encouraged him to go to the university of texas
he didnt listen to me

in 2015 when i wrote the blog about aducanumab or now called aduhelm or as i called it the adu drug
i had read an article in a medical magazine about aducanumab 

i wrote maybe it would be out in 2018 for use 
it turned out to be 2022 slowed by the pandemic and by a poor attempt to get it approved by biogen that delayed it and probably permanently stained this drug for use
more than likely leqembi and donanemab will be used in place of aducanumab

when i wrote that blog i had just finished 5 years of the adni 2 study and was waiting for a treatment study
i had my eye on the aducanumab study
it would be a year later when i would be accepted in the study then two years later when i started treatment with aducanumab or as it turned out the first 18 infusions were placebo 
i have had 34 infusions of aducanumab or aduhelm

thsi blog below gives some of the history of where the drug came from
 __________
05-29-2015
ALZHEIMERS NEWS-MUCH ADU
this is much adu about something
that may be a game changer in alzheimers treatment
if we are lucky it will available in 2018

my wife she handed me this magazine
i still get all these free magazines from when i
was in practice
i rarely read them
we just recycle them

i opened to this article on a new potential treatment
for alzheimers
now i briefly wrote about it once before but this
article went into more depths on its history and its
potential

if you have an interest in alzheimers treatment you
should take the time to read this article

previous treatment studies with antibodies didnt show good results
why
they treated people who were later in the disease process
many were way too late
they also when they went back and rescanned folks
they realized many didnt have the disease at all

now you can accurately predict who has the disease by
taking a good history
doing memory tests
doing mri scans
doing glucose utilization pet scans of the brain
(alzheimers patients lose the ability to absorb glucose
and it shows as blank areas on the pet scan)
doing spinal tap for beta amyloid and tau protein in the
spinal fluid
(beta amyloid decreases and tau increases in the spinal fluid
as the disease progresses )
then
a beta amyloid pet scan called amyvid can be done to show if it has
accumulated
it starts 15-20 years before symptoms start

now i have had all these tests so thats why im more certain
about my diagnosis of possible alzheimers disease

these werent all done in the other companies studies that failed

a company called biogen entered the picture

an european researcher isolated an antibody from healthy
older folks who were very mentally alert
that antibody was eventually called
aducanumab
adu for short

so in phase 1 studies they take a small number of volunteers
to try different doses on them and to look mainly for
side effects
if things look promising they go to phase 2
then
if that goes well to phase 3
phase 3 is more expensive to do as it uses more folks
in the studies
its the phase right before the fda approves the new drug

what they found in the phase 1 study of adu
was that the antibody seemed to work
folks got better on memory tests and scans showed
the bad stuff beta amyloid was being removed from the
brain
a+b=c

why was this working
they screened folks better so that they were more sure that
they were dealing with alzheimers patients
they treated folks who had not developed full blown disease
but had positive scans
this is called preclinical alzheimers
they also treated folks with early disease  who had mild symptoms
i am in between these two
which has prevented me from being in some of these treatment studies

now adu is on to phase 3 studies
these results should be out in a couple of years
if things go well
then adu may be on the market for you and me
in
2018

so this is much adu about something
a game changer
for me and others if it works
__________ 

now in 2023 folks are screened first with a blood test that fairly accurately tells you if you have alzheimers
then if you pass that screen test they do a amyloid pet scan to be sure
then treatment can began if there are no contraindications to treatment
there is no reason to do a spinal tap
the glucose metabolism pet scan isnt generally done any more since the amyloid pet scan is readily available and gives you more information

so in 2015 that article was much adu about something important in the alzheimers world


join me for our santa barbara walk to end alzheimers on saturday october 14th
join us and or donate to our organicgreendoctor team 
or do your own local walk

the organicgreen doctor