organicgreendoctor: garden news-lifebloods of the garden

organicgreendoctor: garden news-lifebloods of the garden: GARDEN NEWS-LIFEBLOODS OF THE GARDEN this is a 15 cubic yard pile of organic compost we ordered to use in our garden we were able to get a g...

garden news-lifebloods of the garden

GARDEN NEWS-LIFEBLOODS OF THE GARDEN

this is a 15 cubic yard pile of organic compost we ordered to use in our garden
we were able to get a grant to pay for this compost

compost is the lifeblood of the garden
it is what makes our soil so rich and is what makes our vegetable production go up


we have these 9 four foot compost bins that we use to make our own compost
but we have started the last few years to add more compost to our beds so we needed more compost than what we can produce

our soil is a clay soil so we need the extra compost to improve the quality of the soil

this will be our 3rd year to buy this extra compost to add to our garden
you can tell the difference it makes in how fluffier the soil has gotten over the last 3 years and how more and bigger produce we are producing

yes compost is the lifeblood of the garden


when we prep our beds we dont ever till or dig them up
we trench along side the bed throwing the soil onto the bed
we add 3-4 inches of compost on top the bed
add an organic fertilizer
fork this in with a large broadfork which is like a 3 foot wide fork with 10 inch tines
the bed is then raked out smooth


we try to do this a few weeks before we will plant
we add a covering of straw to keep it from drying out
then rake back the straw at planting time
this allows the soil to percolate and get even richer

we have 19 beds that are 30 foot long
we have 9 raised beds that are about10 foot long

we are producing over 5000 lbs of organic produce we donate to those in need

yes compost is the lifeblood of the garden

we also have events all year including a fall harvest program of over 500 elementary kids a pumpkin patch frequent garden tours an easter egg hunt plant sales a christmas tree lot sale and more

raising our vegetables in our organic gardens is the lifeblood of what makes this garden so attractive to visitors

so we have two lifebloods
compost 
the gardens

the organicgreen doctor 

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #210-it may not help

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #210-it may not help: MY STORY REVISITED #210-IT MAY NOT HELP when i was diagnosed 14 years ago i was looking for anything that may help to slow the disease down ...

my story revisited #210-it may not help

MY STORY REVISITED #210-IT MAY NOT HELP

when i was diagnosed 14 years ago i was looking for anything that may help to slow the disease down
i changed my diet to a mind diet
i aggressively controlled my blood pressure my cholesterol and my weight
i stayed active mentally physically and socially 
i started on aricept to slow down symptoms
starting aricept so early in the disease may have helped slow down the symptoms a lot
i added an afternoon nap to make sure i get 7-8 hours of sleep a day
then
i looked for new clinical trials of promising drugs
eventually 6 years after i was diagnosed i ended up in the biogen aduhelm study where i got 34 monthly infusions of aduhelm which has removed all the measurable amyloid from my brain
also
i looked for other things to help slow it down
i found dr bredesens protocol and started it 
most of the 30 plus things i was already doing
i took vitamin b12 because my b12 level was below normal
i took vitamin d3 because my level was below normal
i took folate since my homocysteine level was high
a high homocysteine level may be associated with heart disease and strokes and maybe alzheimers

he had other things i took for awhile but stopped them since the evidence wasnt good that they really helped
i was on about 20 plus pills a day 

today i take a cholesterol medicine a reflux medication a baby aspirin a probiotic vitamin b12 vitamin d3 folate and my aricept
i added citicoline since it may increase acetylcholine in my brain which is depleted in alzheimers
the use of citicoline is not proven yet to be useful 
when and if its proven for sure it doesnt help i will stop it

my cholesterol blood pressure weight vitamin d3 vitamin b12 and homocysteine are all normal

i was on the resveratrol mentioned below but i stopped it
see below

__________
09-18-2023
ALZHEIMERS NEWS-GRAPES FOR WRATH

for those of us who have seen alzheimers disease
up close and personal
we know what the wrath of alzheimers disease is like
weve lived it

so now if you drink a 1,000 bottles of red wine a day
you can get enough of a chemical called
reservatrol
to slow down the cognitive decline from alzheimers disease
dying of course not from alzheimers
but from alcohol poisoning along the way

so what the researchers did
is isolated resveratrol so it could be taken in a capsule form
eg

here is a bottle of the stuff

here is some of the pills that have 500 mg in them
horse pills are what they are

it seems that in this small study of slightly more than 100
people with mild to moderate alzheimers
excuse me
when will they learn
doing studies on folks who already have it
may not work as well
since the disease is so well established by the time you are
that far along

why not treat folks who are programmed to get the disease
to see if it can be slowed down or prevented
seems easy to me

so off my soap box
they found that these folks had an improvement in their
activities of daily living
like eating communicating walking around getting dressed
take care of their daily needs
and
that their was no increase in beta amyloid in the brain
and
the brain shrunk in those on the reservatrol

why
the thinking is that the inflammation in the brain
was decreased significantly by the reservatrol
thus the smaller brain volume

the same thing happened in patients given the new
antiamyloid alzheimers vaccines

so the brain got better
the patients got better

a+b=c

it seems reservatrol turns on a protein called sirtuians
which changes the ratio of the amyloid proteins in the brain
a 2/3 calorie restriction diet does the same thing
well thats not going to work
is it
in the us

several months ago when i read dr bredesens article on ways
to slow cognitive decline
one of the supplements he recommended for the patients
in the study was
reservatrol
ive been on it since i read the article

ive noticed my brain doesnt seem quite so tight up in my skull
no i made that up

now the researchers are looking to do a larger phase 3 study on
hundreds of patients to see if this really works

as i raise my hand
excuse me sir researcher
could you please do it on those destined to get alzheimers but
who have no symptoms
or
folks like me who are really early in the disease process
it seems to me that we would be helped the most by all of this

so
i plan to bump up my dose of reservatrol to that used in the study
to do my study of one person

of course ill keep drinking my glass of red wine each night
it relaxes me
relieves stress
another potential cause of cognitive decline
two birds with one stone
________
the reservatrol did not prove to be helpful in clinical trials
it didnt cause any harm
there will probably be more studies done on it

in the meantime
im not taking it
i dont drink wine or alcohol anymore because it affects my reflux
it might be good if i had a glass of wine at night
but for now i have none

so this reservatrol might not help at all

i found over the last 14 years a lot of things that dropped off the list of things that might help
i dont try them now unless they have better scientific evidence it helps

the real secret to controlling your risk for alzheimers is to start taking care of your health when you are a child and do so all your life

a treatment we all should be doing
right

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #209-apoe 4 then and now

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #209-apoe 4 then and now: MY STORY REVISITED #209-APOE 4 THEN AND NOW tomorrow morning i will do an hour zoom interview with being patient.com about my having the apo...

my story revisited #209-apoe 4 then and now

MY STORY REVISITED #209-APOE 4 THEN AND NOW

tomorrow morning i will do an hour zoom interview with being patient.com about my having the apoe4 apoe4 gene
its called the late onset alzheimers gene
some recent researchers think that if you have the homozygous apoe4 apoe4 that you will get alzheimers later in life
not everyone believes that
it does increases your risk significantly 

the article below is about maybe why we evolved to have the apoe 4 gene
it in this article provided a evolutionary advantage against intestinal worms
read the below article

being patient is interviewing a group of us with the apoe4 gene to get our thoughts about our having it

they would like you to take a survey on the apoe4 gene
here is the link
i did the survey today

my story is i volunteered in 2010 to be in the adni alzheimers research study 
i was to be in the normal control group
when i had my memory testing it showed i had memory loss thought to be mci or mild cognitive impairment that has turned out to be due to alzheimers disease
i stopped my medical practice and was started on aricept to slow down symptoms

as part of my work up i did my apoe4 genetic test
it showed i have homozygous or double version of the apoe4 gene

i got one from my mom and one from my dad

that gene affects cholesterol metabolism
it is associated with an increased risk for late onset alzheimers
and
high cholesterol
and
because of the high cholesterol
an increased incidence of heart disease and strokes

not a good thing to have this apoe 4 gene
unless
you are in a primitive tribe who dies young it protects your brain
see blog below
__________
01-13-2017

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-IT FIGHTS WORMS
 
the apoe 4 gene
if you have it increases your chance of developing
late onset alzheimers disease
what that means is that
you tend to get the disease later in life
in your late 60s or 70s or sometimes in your 80s

if you get the single variant apoe 4
your chances are doubled or some say increased 5 times
same as someone who has diabetes they dont control

if you get the double variant apoe 4/apoe 4
your chances are increased from 5-20 times
based on which source you read

i have the double variant apoe 4/apoe 4 gene
putting me for high risk of developing late onset
alzheimers disease

those with the apoe 4 gene also have
elevated cholesterol levels
leading to more heart disease and strokes

the percentage of the apoe 4 gene is about 25%
in the white us population

the percentage of the apoe 4 gene is about 33%
in norway

so
why did evolution have this gene be so prevalent
in our population

usually bad genes kill you off early
so
its prevalence stays low

so why evolution did you create this damn
apoe 4 gene to cause us and our families such misery
why
was it naturally selected to be here now

now years and years and years ago
well
folks didnt live to be 70 and 80
they died in their 20s and 30s
so
the apoe 4 gene causing alzheimers disease
well
it was a non factor

so
scientists have found in the amazon
no not the drone people
the amazon river place in brazil
there is a population of folks
isolated from the world
that go about their business as they have for
hundreds or thousands of years

they get intestinal parasites or worms real bad
it seems that those with the apoe 4 gene
for some reason
seem to have better memory as they age
the apoe 4 gene provides some protective measure
to these individuals brain

scientists think that the apoe 4 carries the cholesterol
to the brain but keeps the worms from getting any of it

so
isnt fate strange
a gene protects folks in a primitive tribe
but
kills folks in a more advanced society
where there is sanitation clean water and refrigeration

now the natural selection is going the other way
there is less advantage to have the apoe 4 gene
i say none
there is now more advantage to have the milder gene apoe 2 or apoe3

makes you wonder huh

here is an article that discusses this 

__________
some people who have their apoe4 done get terrified
it ruins their lives

i have a different perspective
it makes you or it should refocus you on maintaining a healthy life style
controlling your weight your blood pressure your cholesterol your blood sugar
not smoking
not drinking or limiting alcohol
staying active socially mentally physically
eating the mind diet or similar diet
controlling stress anxiety depression
getting adequate sleep

these are things that we all should be doing anyway
many think you can counter the apoe4 gene effects by doing all these during your lifetime

it will be interesting to see what questions the interviewers ask me tomorrow

my view of apoe4 then and now have changed

back in 2011 when i had my apoe4 test done and i got my results i was quite melancholic after i got the results

today i dont feel that way 
i am glad i know
like i am glad i know i have alzheimers so i can deal with it and maintain my health 
it does incentivize you some well a lot actually to know you have apoe4 apoe4

then it scared me
now not so much

post interview entry
i had a good interview with the being patient director 
it lasted over an hour
we spoke a lot about my journey over the last 14 years
and 
discussed how i felt to have done my apoe4 status
i said what i wrote above
i was melancholic for awhile 
it took me several weeks to months to really understand the apoe4 gene and what affects it can have on your health

many folks dont want to know 
i am glad i did mine and know

she also would like me to write a couple of articles on my story and my thoughts on having the apoe4 gene for her website
ill post those when they are printed

being patients would like for you to fill out a survey that is anonymous on the apoe4 gene

here again is the link to take the survey
it takes only a few minutes

i am glad i have had my apoe4 status done
plus i have had an amyloid pet scan and lots of memory tests so i know where i am at in the disease process
now i just wait for science to tell me when to get treated again

there are now a lot of people who have been treated like me to remove all our amyloid plaque
we are just waiting to find out what to do next

the organicgreen doctor

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #208-the future is now

organicgreendoctor: my story revisited #208-the future is now: MY STORY REVISITED #208-THE FUTURE IS NOW it is always interesting for me to go back and read my old blogs the one below from 2015 was writt...

my story revisited #208-the future is now

MY STORY REVISITED #208-THE FUTURE IS NOW

it is always interesting for me to go back and read my old blogs
the one below from 2015 was written about a year before i was accepted into the biogen aduhelm clinical trial where i eventually received 18 monthly placebo infusions and 34 monthly aduhelm infusions that removed all the measurable amyloid plaques from my brain

What a difference 8 years can make 
in 2015 i wrote the future was brighter than it was 5 years ago
in 2024 its even brighter
_________
09-04-2015
ALZHEIMERS NEWS-A BRIGHTER FUTURE
i think thats true
the future is brighter than it was 5 years ago
progress has been made

as i am preparing for two large presentations on alzheimers disease
i stopped
and
contemplated how much things have changed in the
last 5 years
and
how much potential there is for the future
for
those with memory loss due to alzheimers disease

when i was diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment
that may be due to alzheimers disease five years ago
it was sort of overwhelming
i could only think of what it was like as my mother and
younger brother were at my stage
they probably werent as aware like i am of the problem
and
what the future held for them
an awful one

all i could think was what course they had
and
how bad it was for the family and friends and
for themselves

i worried a lot about my future
my wife she and i our future
what it would be like

now as i look back and can look forward
i feel more hope
and
thats important
hope

personally i feel better both physically and mentally
my cholesterol and blood pressure are under good control
my weight and physical conditioning is under good control
my diet is the best its ever been
i take a boatload of supplements that have been implied
to help slow things down but not definitely proven to help
yet
i stay very active socially mentally and physically
i drink red wine each night and 2-3 cups of coffee each morning
both may help
i dont sleep well at night 5-6 hours of sleep is all i get
but
luckily since im retired i am able to do an afternoon nap
which helps immensely
maybe we all should be doing this
im happy and contented
i still take aricept (donepezil) and plan to continue it long term
and
i am afraid to stop it as i might deteriorate some with my memory
if do

then
looking forward
for myself and others

memory issue folks can now get a very thorough evaluation
done
so that they will know why they have memory loss
and
if its alzheimers disease
by
a good history and physical
labs for anemia chemistry abnormalities like electrolytes kidney
and liver functions and glucose vitamin b12 vitamin d folate
homocysteine levels which are associated with an increased
risk of alzheimers stroke and heart attacks
thyroid levels
these lab abnormalities are all treatable

bloomberg.com

memory tests easily done in the office and online
mri scans
genetic tests for dominant alzheimers and for apoe 4 gene


spinal fluid analysis for the bad beta amyloid and tau protein


amyvid pet scan of the brain for the presence of beta amyloid
if yours is positive there is a good chance you will get or now have
alzheimers disease

coming soon within maybe 2 years a blood test that may be
90-100% accurate in telling you if you got it or not

so soon
like now you can find out if you have it if you have symptoms
but
some of the tests arent covered by insurance

then once diagnosed
if not sooner
get your self motivated to do those things to stay healthy
get on medicine like aricept as it may slow down symptoms
but at times the side effects suck big time
then
look into the future
as
real soon
there may be a pill called a bace inhibitor that you take
and or
a vaccine given as a regular infusion
both if  they are proven to help
will prevent or slow down the disease
you will be able to take them long term

so
i see hope in the future for myself my siblings
and
those of you affected now or soon to be
__________

the evaluation for memory issues hasnt changed much in the last eight years
 
history and exam
labs
memory testing
mri of the brain

now amyloid pet scans are more readily used instead of spinal taps to help diagnose alzheimers disease

soon the blood tests i mentioned 8 years ago will be available in your doctors offices
they are being used in clinical trials now to screen patients for the studies
they the good ones are as accurate as the spinal taps and amyloid pet scan
commonly if your blood test is positive they will do an amyloid pet scan to verify the finding

the bace inhibitors i mentioned didnt work 
in fact it made things worse

now the moncolonal antibodies are approved to remove the amyloid plaque
my drug aduhelm was approved and later taken off the market since it didnt work as well as the other two that were approved
for me the aduhelm worked by removing all the amyloid plaque seen on my amyloid pet scans

the two now available are leqembi and kisunia
they both work faster and remove the amyloid plaque
they provide about 30% slowing in memory loss

studies are being done to treat patient with no symptoms but who have amyloid plaque
so called prealzheimers or prodromal alzheimers
this recommendation to treat these prealzheimers patients will be coming soon

for me i would have received these drugs in my mid 50s if they had been available

other drugs are being studied now to treat amyloid plague and tau tangles and inflammation

eventually its thought folks will be given at least 3 drugs to treat alzheimers
an anti amyloid drug like leqembi or kisunia
an anti tau drug in studies now
an anti inflammatory drug in studies now

maybe these will do the job in really slowing down the disease

adding of course
healthy living
eating a mind diet or similar one
staying active mentally physically and socially
avoiding excessive alcohol
not smoking
getting adequate sleep
treating any mental health issues like anxiety and depression
meditating someway 
maintaining a normal weight blood pressure cholesterol and blood sugar

I still take the aricept or donepezil
i no longer take all those supplements
i do all those healthy things mentioned above
sleep is still an issue but i program in an early afternoon nap

some things didnt change over the last 8 years
but some new things are added or will be added in the future

yes the future is now

the organicgrreen doctor