welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

my story revisited #201-we are there now

MY STORY REVISITED #201-WE ARE THERE NOW

when i wrote this blog in 2015 i predicted that by 2018 i would be starting infusions of aduhelm or aducanumab which binds amyloid plaques and removes them from the brain
i was off by a year
i got my first infusion in 2017 and my last one last year in 2023
18 placebos then 34 monthly infusions of the real drug
the result is no amyloid plaques are left in my brain
will it make a difference
well
ask me in 10 years
if i give you a coherent answer or if i can answer at all then i would say yes it made a difference
until the next 10 years pass by we wont know

this was really on my mind that month in 2015 since i wrote several blogs about it
it still is 

during this time i also was on several walk to end alzheimers committees and gave a short talk at each of them
i also was doing several alzheimers talks or conferences as i mentioned above

if you are in the alzheimers world i recommend you keep up with the research since a lot will be happening over the next 5 years
_________
07-31-2015

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WE ARE CLOSE NOW
by 2018 i might be able to start treatment with monthly infusions
of a new alzheimers drug
if
studies continue to show positive results
that will slow down the progression of alzheimers in my brain

if it had been available 10-20 years ago
i could have started then
when i was at the peak of my career as a doctor
or
even when i first started full time private practice at the age of 40

the time may be now when we can do something to
really slow down and prevent this disease

so what can you do
exercise may be the best prescription for right now
as well as
controlling your weight blood pressure cholesterol diabetes
then
do the other healthy things like diet sleep stress control
anxiety depression control stay mentally active socialize
and
watch the news for whats on the horizon

and

we need your help
consider donating or walking with us at the walks in your area
this is where the alzheimers association gets its funds
for
research
education of family patients and health providers

my team
organicgreendoctor
will be walking in the
williamson county walk to end alzheimers on
saturday september 26 2015 at san gabriel park in
georgetown
here is the link for my team organicgreendoctor
donate and or join us for the walk

we also will be walking in the
bell county walk to end alzheimers on
saturday november 7 2015 at pepper creek trails in
temple
here is the link for my team organicgreendoctor
donate and or join us for the walk 

i will be the honorary chair for the bell county walk
and will say a few words before the walk starts

Image result for senior expo at bell county expo center
on tuesday september 22 2015 i will be a guest speaker
at the senior expo at the belton expo center
talking on alzheimers disease and answering questions
from the audience
my talk starts at 1030 am

on friday october 9 2015 i will be the guest speaker
starting at 1130 am for the burnet county extension club
at the first lutheran church fellowship hall in burnet texas

if you have a club or group who would like for me to speak
on alzheimers disease please contact me
__________
there are 4 parts to attacking alzheimers disease
first and the most important is
prevention which should start the day you are born
if you are middle age you should look closely at your health
it may determine whether you get alzheimers or not

second
reduce or remove amyloid
in the near future folks will be screened before symptoms start and will be started on treatment like the infusions i was on
soon these will be given as injections you can do yourself
soon there will be pills to take to prevent amyloid accumulation

third
remove tau tangles
there are drugs now in clinical trials that do this
they should be finished in 2-3 years

fourth
treat or prevent inflammation in the brain
there are drugs now in clinical trials treating this neuroinflammation

my guess these treatments will be eventually started on patients before they develop symptoms
sort of like we do now by controlling our blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes with medication o we wont have a stroke or heart attack
now add alzheimers to that list

if you or a loved one has mild cognitive impairment due to alzheimers disease or mild alzheimers then you may qualify to receive the drug leqembi and soon donanemab as infusions to remove the amyloid plaques
medicare covers the testing and most of the cost of receiving the drug
the problem is finding a place that gives it

so 
yes
i would say we are there now
treatments and better diagnostic tests will be here soon

im glad we are finally getting there

the organicgreen doctor

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