my story revisited #213-its here now

MY STORY REVISITED #213-ITS HERE NOW

in the clinical trials i have been in over the last 14 years i have had several different alzheimers blood tests that would show whether i have alzheimers disease or not
like my amyloid pet scans and tau pet scans i had done i never got the results

well i did on my initial amyloid pet scan
they had to tell me the results since i got accepted into the biogen aduhelm clinical trial
you didnt get into that study unless you had a positive amyloid pet scan

then
after my 32 treatments i had a follow up or final amyloid pet scan that showed all the amyloid had cleared from my brain

you can measure amyloid and tau 3 ways

a spinal tap for amyloid and tau levels
ouch 
i had two of these in my clinical trials
mine was positive

an amyloid pet scan
i lost count of how many of these i had 
i had probably about 6 of them over the last 14 years

a tau pet scan
i probably had about 3 or 4 of these
i never got any of these results

i got the result of the spinal tap since i had it done at a private lab
so i know it was abnormal

i had several different alzheimers blood tests over the last 14 years as they progressed in accuracy over that time

today
the alzheimers blood test the good ones are over 90% accurate
there are some on the market available outside of research but the most accurate ones arent quite available yet in the private world
but
they will be real soon

__________
10-30-2015

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-A TEST SOON?

strewn across our family tree are lots of folks who died
from heart attacks and strokes
and
dementia probably alzheimers disease

when i reached 40 i had my first cholesterol level done
since it had been shown that an elevated cholesterol
especially the ldl cholesterol
the bad i always called it
was associated with an increased risk for heart attack and
later stroke was added to this warning

so because of my family history
my dad died of a heart attack my older brother had his
first one at 60 my mother had multiple strokes
interesting all three also had or probably have alzheimers disease
i decided to have my cholesterol labs or lipid profile done

whoa omg
is what i said when i got mine back
my total cholesterol was over 325 with normal less than 200
my ldl bad one cholesterol was over 240 with normal less than 100
my triglycerides were well over 500

so knowing what lay ahead for me
i did a lot of life style changes
diet
exercise
later a few years later i added the statins to my regimen
so
my lipids now are
total cholesterol less than 200
ldl cholesterol less than 90
my triglycerides less than 100

so having that blood test at 40
probably kept me from having a heart attack or stroke by now
both my dad and older brother had heart disease at my age

as it turns out
knowing now what we now know
it also probably slowed down the progression of alzheimers in
my brain
but at the time i didnt know that

remember whats good for the heart is good for the brain


now researchers have found a way to predict if you will get
alzheimers disease years before you develop it

now i am in a study at ut southwestern using an alzheimers blood test
that according to recent tests seems to be about 90% accurate
in predicting if you have alzheimers disease
years before symptoms start

yes folks that test or one like it will be in your doctors
before this decade is over

yes you can go to your doctor soon
get a blood test
yes you have alzheimers disease you will be told

so if i have alzheimers disease now
when i was 40 the disease process was starting to pick up
so that the bad beta amyloid and tau levels up there would
have been abnormal
my alzheimers blood test would have been positive

do you want to know
is society ready for this test
can you handle this back to the future test

i say yes i can
i sort of did 5 years ago when i got diagnosed
i made even more life style changes
like stricter diet exercise increased mental activity and
social activity more aggressive blood pressure and
cholesterol and weight control use of some
recommended vitamins and supplements that might help
etc etc

now also coming soon this decade
if the phase 3 tests show they work
new treatment and prevention medication can be used
to slow down or prevent this disease

so like the cholesterol test
the alzheimers blood test
can potentially add years and years of good health
alzheimers free

would you have it done
i know i would have
_________

so maybe this next year you will be able to get an accurate alzheimers blood test in your primary care office
if you do one make sure its the good one 

the amyloid pet scan is the gold standard for identifying amyloid and diagnosing alzheimers
the alzheimers blood test will probably be the silver standard 

if the blood test is negative you probably dont have alzheimers
if the blood test is positive you might have it but will need an amyloid pet scan to verify the results
the amyloid pet scan costs around $5000-$8000
the blood test will probably cost around $1000

so when do you get this blood test when its available
remember just because the blood test is positive doesnt mean you have alzheimers
it means you are at risk for it and if you have symptoms it helps make the diagnosis

eg
a high cholesterol like i had doesnt mean i have heart disease
it just means i am at real high risk for having one or a stroke or alzheimers disease

an abnormal alzheimers blood test doesnt mean you have it
just that you are at a high risk for getting it

plan your life accordingly 

like with a high cholesterol you can make life style changes earlier in your life that may slow down the disease

you might start on aricept real early or start on the monoclonal antibody treatments real early if you develop symptoms

the secret to success is going to be early preventative measures and early treatment

they are doing this now in clinical trials 

now if you go in to your primary care doctor or specialist for memory loss and your alzheimers blood test is positive
they will tell you that you may have alzheimers disease

here is a good discussion of this from being patient.com

then
you have to answer the question 
do i want to know 

will it affect my life insurance disability insurance long term care insurance health insurance or maybe a job

will you emotionally be able to handle the results

i can tell you from personal experience its like getting a cancer diagnosis thats not curable
its a fatal disease

if you are thinking about getting this test read this interview from being patent before you do it

this test is here now
think long and hard before you get the test

the organicgreen doctor