alzheimers news-why i am better

WHY I AM BETTER

getting aduhelm infusion at ucla

this fall i was interviewed via zoom by deborah kahn from being patient.com
she was interviewing me about my finding out my apoe4 apoe4 status
if you are in the alzheimers world i suggest you follow her website

apoe 4 is called the late onset alzheimers gene
if you have the single apoe4 ie heterozygous your risk of getting alzheimers is about 5 times increased
if you get the double version apoe4 apoe4 or homozygous your risk of getting alzheimers is about 12-20 times

you can partially overcome that gene by living a healthy life doing those things mentioned below

after we talked about my homozygous apoe4 status she asked me a lot about my story 
the more we talked the more she was interested
she asked if i would write two articles to submit for possible posting on their site 

one i wrote about here in this blog called why i did it

the second one she wanted me to write was

what finding out my genetic status meant to me

several things happened at the same time
i find out i had mci that has turned out to be due to alzheimers disease while taking a neuropsychological exam as part of the normal control group of an alzheimers research study called adni 2 or alzheimers disease neuroimaging imitative 2 it was found i had memory loss greater than it should be for my age and degree of education
i was advised to see a neurologist who gave me my diagnosis and also put me on aricept or donepezil

at the same time i had a spinal tap for amyloid and tau plus i had my apoe4 gene status checked
my spinal tap was compatible with alzheimers disease and my apoe4 was homozygous

my reaction to all of this was overwhelming at first
i was sad i cried a lot 
i always knew i would get alzheimers and knew when i did have any symptoms i would retire from practicing medicine
i got chills and got sweaty when i took my memory test
i cried and i wanted to be alone for a while
each of these results just piled on top of each other

i didnt really understand what the apoe4 gene meant then but now i do
i felt it getting the results was another nail in my coffin

here i am 14 years later cognitive normal
my moca test and mmse tests are normal and have been so for the last few years.

knowing what i know now i would not have been surprised since i have such a strong family history of alzheimers and have a terribly high cholesterol level well controlled on meds now

now i know i could have overcame this apoe4 gene if i had been even more aggressive with my health when i was younger

specific lifestyle changes i made in response to knowing i had apoe4 homozygous

after my diagnosis of mci and getting my amyloid and tau results and getting my apoe4 results i got more aggressive with my health
i was borderline hypertensive so i started blood pressure meds
i got on a more aggressive statin regimen to keep my ldl cholesterol below 100
i changed my diet to a mind diet 
i say i am a 90% vegetarian
i take aricept which interferes with my sleep at night so i take a daily afternoon nap or 1-2 hours
i stay active mentally socially and physically
i dont smoke and i dont drink alcohol

why i believe i am cognitively healthy 14 years after my mci diagnosis

i started aricept or donepezil early in my diagnosis probably earlier than most people do
aricept slows down symptoms but also folks who take it early on tend to do better with their symptoms over time and also live longer
i follow all those healthy things i listed above

in 2016 i was accepted into the biogen aduhelm study where i received 18 months of placebo then 34 months of aduhelm infusions
aduhelm is a monoclonal antibody against amyloid and given as an infusion it removes amyloid plaques from the brain

at the beginning of the study i had amyloid plaques on my amyloid pet scan
after completion of the treatments the measurable amyloid plaques were not present on my final amyloid pet scan

all these things added up are why i feel like am doing well 14 years after my diagnosis
i am glad i was diagnosed early and am aggressive at taking care of my health and was able to access clinical trials early for treatment

i am waiting now to find out what to do next

the organicgreen doctor