bobmjohnson update and Alzheimer's discussion

Bob has slowed way down from years past..........he's got a touch of the "old timers" syndrome if you catch my drift.

I am posting this as information that may interest some of you regarding dementia and Alzheimers. It is meant with good intent and covers my experience with my wife over the past two years. If you believe the statistics, with the general American diet and increasing longevity, there will be more and more people affected in the future. There are studies that show Alzheimers and other dementia diseases will be the straw that breaks Medicare, not cancer and heart disease.

Two years ago, my wife was diagnosed with early onset dementia. The diagnosis was that there was nothing that could be done. After two years of hope, I started doing research on my own based on the wide distribution of incidence of the disease across the world. Why would some countries have a very low incidence and others very high? It is generally recognized that there is a hereditary element in the disease, but the "cause" is not really known. 

In the course of my research, I found that there were people out there that claimed success in stopping the decline and some success in actually reversing the problem. Being a geezer and skeptical by nature, I decided to check them out. If you go on YouTube you can find several people who claim to be able to treat the problem. The Dr. I researched the most is a fellow named Bredesen. He has published in peer reviewed medical journals and claims some success. There are other people as well who may be as good or better.
Bredesen's position is that there are at least 36 and maybe as many as 50 things that can cause Alzheimers. His position is that there is not now and is unlikely to be one pill that will treat all these issues. His theory is that you must treat many of them simultaneously to be able to treat the problem. The major problem is diet. The brain will work on sugar fuel or ketone fuel. In short, sugar fuel causes inflammation that leads to brain cell shutdown starting with short term memory first. This is the body's survival mode. The ketone system on the other hand, is a healing repair and replace brain cell system that has shown the ability to repair the brain.

Other factors include sleep quality (particularly people with sleep apnea (which is under diagnosed)), stress, heavy metal ratios, general nutrition, exercise and several others such as molds and chemical exposure.

We decided to try to do something on the basis that we had nothing to lose. We associated with a doctor who follows the program. We have been on it for a short time and it is not possible to draw a conclusion yet. The doctor we chose has treated her own mother who was at a state where she could not clothe herself, bathe, eat, cook or much of anything else. The mother can now do all those things, so we are hopeful.

We have talked to the Alzheimers Association. They are very helpful in a lot of ways, but they still are reluctant to endorse any of the "wholistic" approaches to the disease.

If anyone would like to discuss the situation, I would he happy to share more. Just leave a contact and I will tell you what I know. 

Bredesen has a book, "The End of Alzheimers" which is an interesting book in its own right and is probably available in your library system if you want to take a look.

GZR

Thanks 'dude. Alzheimers is a rough road to travel

A simple way to add keytones to the diet... coconut oil. My wife is a clinical pharmacist and was going through some continuing education and watched a lecture by a guy from one of the universities in California. He works with Alzheimer's patients and had heard of the limited studies on coconut oil and started trying it on his patients and said he saw patients who couldn't live on their own, such as make it to the bathroom, reverse their symptoms enough to have much more normalized lives. Unfortunate there are only a few small studies on coconut oil for Alzheimer's so the evidence is considered "anecdotal". Bottom line, he's in his 50's and takes a couple teaspoons of coconut oil a day because it also appears to help greatly with everyday aging issues such as lethologica (searching for words). I've noticed huge improvements in my lack of searching for words when I get on coconut oil for about 10 days. It'll clear up until I get off it for a week, then the word searching comes back.

Here's a simple explanation of coconut oil and keytones. 

Yes, everyone is welcome to pass along to anyone they think it can help. Just to add a point, there are support groups out there for people who are caregivers. I can tell you it is not a small job.

Thank you, Baseballll---Sorry to hear your father had the problem. One of the interesting things about the program we are on is that it is almost the complete opposite of everything you have learned about nutrition. Fats (the right kind) are good, carbs are detrimental and are severely limited. Protein is good. Butter is good. Avocado oil and olive oil are good, almost all other oils, corn, soybean etc are bad. Lard is good, bacon in small quantities are good eggs are good. Chicken legs and thighs are better than chicken breasts. Meat is ok as long as it is grass fed, not grain fed. Sugary fruits are to be avoided. We are heavy on the green vegetable such as broccoli and brussels sprouts and cabbage. Some people have an aversion to those foods, but we have an aversion to sitting in a chair for years not recognizing our family members.You get the idea. It is a complete change.

Another point is that it is important to start early before the symptoms start. If you buy into the logic of the ketone system, a walk through the normal supermarket will make you sick. Almost every product is a brain bomb waiting to happen. We are living without rice, pasta, potatoes(my lifetime staff of life), bread, oatmeal, and especially any sugar in any form. It is a complete upset and takes some effort. 

One post mentions coconut oil. Coconut oil has its place. We have not started it yet. I think it is a piece, but not the whole picture. There are lot of claims that it is the answer, but I don't think it is the one "magic bullet". But, I am still learning and hoping so it remains to be seen.

GZR

You are welcome, Dude. Thank you Glove for making this a separate thread. I know it was impacting the other thread, but it is an important subject that others may benefit from discussing.

At the risk of prattling on, I have met Bob M. Johnson and had meals with him at least a couple times. I am sorry to hear he is having problems and glad that Dude is in touch with him.  

Some information that may be of interest from our experience--The last couple days, my wife showed interest in cooking again. She had completely lost the ability to schedule the various steps of putting a meal together.

A couple other factoids--I have been on the program since Thanksgiving--almost three months. My weight has gone from 203 to 173. I am six feet tall so I was not morbidly obese, but definitely overweight. That is with practically no exercise because of other health problems that prevent me from doing stressful cardio. During that time, I have not been hungry--literally. My ankle swelling has reduced at least 95%, I no longer feel cold in the house. The conclusion here is that there are health benefits to the diet.

GZR