Early Onset Alzhiemers

I have thought for a couple of years now that I was just slow at recovering from a mini stroke

Now I find that I may have something much worse at my age. I am only 55.

Blood work, .M.R. I., testing is all very tiresome.

They say it runs in families. I have no knowledge of mother or her kin, so I don't know.

Start taking virgin coconut oil. Read up about how it may reverse and/or prevent alzheimers. Do all the reading you can. And it certainly won't hurt you. Virgin coconut oil is amazing stuff for every part of your body. And the good fats go directly to feed your brain. Our brains feed off huge amounts of good fats. Just start off gently, and built up a daily amount, as some people's stomach's have to build up to it (huge intakes of coconut oil can result in diarrhea).

Dr. Mary Newport discusses ketone bodies, an alternative fuel for your brain which your body makes when digesting coconut oil, and how coconut oil may offer profound benefits in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.

This is truly remarkable news, and I urge you to watch Dr. Newport's video in its entirety to get her full story. If her theory is accurate, this could be one of the greatest natural health discoveries in a long time. Backing up her claims is the remarkable recovery of her own husband.

Bear in mind however that contrary to Dr. Newport, I personally do NOT support using drugs to treat Alzheimer's, and based on his condition believe enrolling him in a vaccine study is completely contraindicated and ill advised.

That said, I believe Dr. Newport may have stumbled upon a powerful natural strategy to help prevent and treat Alzheimer's, and that's what I want to address here.

"Brain Starvation" is a Hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease

One of the primary fuels your brain needs is glucose, which is converted into energy.

The mechanism for glucose uptake in your brain has only recently begun to be studied, and what has been learned is that your brain actually manufactures its own insulin to convert glucose in your blood stream into the food it needs to survive.

As you may already know, diabetes is the condition where your body's response to insulin is weakened until your body eventually stops producing the insulin necessary to regulate blood sugar, and your body's ability to regulate (or process) blood sugar into energy becomes essentially broken.

Now, when your brain's production of insulin decreases, your brain literally begins to starve, as it's deprived of the glucose-converted energy it needs to function normally.

This is what happens to Alzheimer's patients -- portions of their brain start to atrophy, or starve, leading to impaired functioning and eventual loss of memory, speech, movement and personality.

In effect, your brain can begin to atrophy from starvation if it becomes insulin resistant and loses its ability to convert glucose into energy.

It is now also known that diabetics have a 65 percent increased risk of also being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and there appears to be a potent link between the two diseases, even though the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined.

It seems quite clear however that both are related to insulin resistance – in your body, and in your brain.

Alternate Brain Food Can Stop Brain Atrophy in its Tracks

Fortunately, your brain is able to run on more than one type of energy supply, and this is where coconut oil enters the picture.

There's another substance that can feed your brain and prevent brain atrophy. It may even restore and renew neuron and nerve function in your brain after damage has set in.

The substance in question is called ketone bodies, or ketoacids.

Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. And a primary source of ketone bodies are the medium chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil!

Coconut oil contains about 66 percent MCTs.

The benefits of ketone bodies may also extend to a number of other health conditions, according to Dr. Newport:

"Further, this is a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclero­sis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), drug resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type II, where there is insulin resistance.

Ketone bodies may help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in newborns through adults, may help the heart re­cover after an acute attack, and may shrink cancer­ous tumors."

Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats that are not processed by your body in the same manner as long chain triglycerides. Normally, a fat taken into your body must be mixed with bile released from your gallbladder before it can be broken down in your digestive system.

But medium chain triglycerides go directly to your liver, which naturally converts the oil into ketones, bypassing the bile entirely. Your liver then immediately releases the ketones into your bloodstream where they are transported to your brain to be used as fuel.

In fact, ketones appear to be the preferred source of brain food in patients affected by diabetes or Alzheimer's.

"In Alzheimer's disease, the neurons in certain areas of the brain are un­able to take in glucose due to insulin resistance and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen one or more decades before the symptoms become apparent," Dr. Newport states in her article.

"If these cells had access to ketone bod­ies, they could potentially stay alive and continue to function."

The Ketonic Diet – Why Avoiding Grains Also Protects against Neurodegeneration

Another way to increase ketone production in your body is by restricting carbohydrates.

This is what happens when you go on a high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate diet: Your body begins to run on fats instead of carbohydrates, and the name for this is ketosis.

This is also why you don't starve to death when you restrict food for weeks at a time, because your body is able to convert stored fat into ketones that are used as fuel instead of glucose.

Consuming medium chain triglycerides such as coconut oil is a better option, however, because the ketones produced by ketosis are not concentrated in your bloodstream, but are instead mostly excreted in your urine.

MCTs and Alzheimer's Research

The mechanism of this MCT-ketone metabolism appears to be that your body treats MCTs as a carbohydrate and not a fat. This allows the ketone energy to hit your blood stream without the normal insulin spike associated with carbohydrates entering your bloodstream.

So in effect coconut oil is a fat that acts like a carbohydrate when it comes to brain fuel.

Therapeutic levels of MCTs have been studied at 20 grams per day. According to Dr. Newport's calculations, just over two tablespoons of coconut oil (about 35 ml or 7 level teaspoons) would supply you with the equivalent of 20 grams of MCT, which is indicated as either a preventative measure against degenerative neurological diseases, or as a treatment for an already established case.

Remember though that people tolerate coconut oil differently, and you may have to start slowly and build up to these therapeutic levels. My recommendation is to start with one teaspoon, taken with food in the mornings. Gradually add more coconut oil every few days until you are able to tolerate four tablespoons.

Coconut oil is best taken with food, to avoid upsetting your stomach.

You Also Need Dietary B12 for Optimal Brain Health

According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology, people who consume foods rich in B12 may also reduce their risk of Alzheimer's in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin) the risk of developing Alzheimer's was reduced by 2 percent.

However, I strongly disagree with the dietary advice published by CNN Health on this topic, which included fish and fortified cereals.

Fortified cereals are most definitely NOT a good source of dietary B vitamins. They also have inorganic iron added. This is the worst type of iron to use as a supplement and it will raise already elevated iron in those that don't need it, like most adult men and postmenopausal women.

Elevated iron levels will actually increase your risk of Alzheimer's

Additionally, most fish are today so contaminated, I cannot recommend increasing consumption of fish either. One exception would be sardines, which are high in B12 and small enough to typically be less contaminated, compared to larger fish.

Instead, your ideal dietary sources of B12 vitamins would include:

•Liver from organic calf
•Wild caught salmon
•Organic, grass-fed beef
•Lamb (which are typically grass-fed even if not specified as organic)
•Organic, free-range eggs
Vitamin B12 is present in natural form only in animal sources of food, which is one of the reasons I advise against a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs. An analog is a substance that blocks the uptake of true B12, so your body's need for the nutrient actually increases.

There are many well-documented cases of brain abnormalities in strict vegetarians, resulting from vitamin B12 deficiency.

Foods to AVOID to Keep Your Mind Sharp

Meanwhile, besides incorporating ketone therapy (coconut oil), as either a preventative step or as a treatment, there are other steps you can take to help minimize your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease decades from now.

For instance, it's important to know what foods to avoid, in order to protect the health of your brain.

These four foods in particular can be pinpointed as enemies of optimal brain health:

1.Sugars, especially fructose -- Excessive sugar and grain consumption are the driving factors behind insulin resistance, and the strategies that protect your brain are very similar to those for avoiding diabetes.

There is simply no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage, as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain.

Ideally, you’ll want to restrict your total fructose consumption to below 25 grams a day. This includes refraining from eating too many fruits, if you normally eat a lot of them. If you consume more than 25 grams a day of fructose you can damage your cells by creating insulin and leptin resistance and raising your uric acid levels.

Berries tend to be lower in fructose, and wild blueberries, for example, are also high in anthocyanin and antioxidants, and are well known for being beneficial against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

2.Grains – Even whole, organic grains will convert to sugar in your body and spike your insulin levels. Ideally you’ll want to devise a nutritional plan geared to your specific nutritional type to maximize your health benefits, as grain carbs are far more detrimental to some than others. I believe this is essential to everyone’s health, and I’m very pleased to now be able to offer the full online nutritional typing program for free. We’ve previously charged $29 for this test, so please do take advantage of this free offer.

3.Artificial sweeteners – Aspartame, for example, is an excitotoxin that can literally destroy your brain cells. There are many studies showing the dangers of aspartame. For example, one study published in 2000 found that aspartame shortens the memory response, impairs memory retention and damages hypothalamic neurons in mice.

And the results from a 2002 study published in the journal Nature suggest that aspartame may cause mental retardation, although the mechanism by which it does that is still unknown.

Other animal studies have linked aspartame to brain damage and brain tumors, even in low doses. I believe aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are dangerous to your health in so many ways, I even wrote an entire book on this topic called Sweet Deception.

4.Soy -- Unfermented soy products are another common food that should be avoided if you want to maintain healthy brain function. One well-designed epidemiological study linked tofu consumption with exaggerated brain aging. Men who ate tofu at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd, and their cognitive test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older than their current age.

What's more, higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight. Shrinkage does occur naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu showed an exaggeration of the usual patterns you typically see in aging.

Dr. Kaayla Daniel has written an excellent book, The Whole Soy Story, which covers the health dangers of soy in great depth and I highly recommend it to anyone still under the illusion that soy is a health food.

Additional Guidelines to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease While Combating Diabetes at the Same Time

Clearly, the best-known "treatment" for Alzheimer's disease is prevention, not drugs.

There is no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain -- just as it destroys the rest of your body and contributes to degenerative and chronic diseases of all kinds.

As a general rule for optimal physical and mental health, you'll want to keep your fasting insulin levels below 3.

Interestingly, normalizing your body's insulin and leptin levels will typically help raise your production of brain insulin, which is a good thing.

In addition to the dietary recommendations already discussed above, the following seven guidelines can further help you prevent Alzheimer's disease and keep your mind sharp as you age:

1.Optimize your vitamin D levels through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed and/or vitamin D3 supplements.

2.Take a high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat. I recommend consuming high quality krill oil to meet the optimal amount of omega-3 fats needed to achieve good health and fight Alzheimer's. I recently did an interview with Dr. Rudi Moerck, an industry expert, which goes into great detail as to why I am strongly recommending krill.

3.Exercise. You probably know that exercise is good for your cardiovascular system, but studies have found that exercise can also protect your brain, thereby warding off Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

According to one study, the odds of developing Alzheimer's were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60, compared with their peers.

Similar to a healthy diet, regular physical activity is one of those actions that can significantly improve many aspects of your physical and emotional health. For the elderly, simple activities such as walking and lightweight training would likely provide benefits. For those who are younger, more strenuous exercise will radically improve the benefits.

4.Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Even trace amounts of mercury can cause the type of damage to nerves that is characteristic of the damage found in Alzheimer's disease.

Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to your improved diet, you can follow my mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.

Other sources of mercury include most seafood, thimerosal-containing vaccinations and flu shots, which contain both mercury and aluminum.

5.Avoid aluminum. Aluminum has been widely associated with Alzheimer's disease. Your main sources of exposure are likely through drinking water and antiperspirants.

Aluminum cookware may also be a source of exposure. Although aluminum pots are probably less problematic than the sources mentioned above, I personally would not use aluminum cookware.

6.Challenge your mind. Mental stimulation, such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.

7.Avoid anticholinergic drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain night-time pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.

A recent study found that those who took one drug classified as a 'definite anticholinergics' had a four times higher incidence of cognitive impairment. Regularly taking two of these drugs further increased the risk of cognitive impairment.

Final Thoughts on Combating Alzheimer's with Coconut Oil

The damage done to your brain from the wrong foods and from unbalanced insulin and leptin levels actually begins decades before you show any of the telltale signs of Alzheimer's. So it's vitally important to make healthy decisions now, before you unwittingly do decades of damage to your brain and nerves that you may not be able to reverse.

If you undertake a coconut oil or MCTs therapy protocol, be sure to start slow with the oil, and always take it with food to minimize stomach discomfort. If it takes you a few weeks to work up to the four tablespoons of coconut oil required for a therapeutic dose, that's normal. Not everyone can tolerate so much coconut oil in a single dose right from the start.

The coconut oil or MCTs should also be taken in the morning, as it takes a minimum of three hours for the oil to convert to ketones and reach your brain. Repeating the dose of four tablespoons of coconut oil twice a day may be beneficial for those already suffering from pre-Alzheimer's or Alzheimer's conditions.

With 15 million cases of Alzheimer's predicted in the United States by the year 2050, you can help ensure you are not one of the victims of this tragic disease by taking steps now to take charge of your health.


Dr. Mercola - mercola.com

My uncle had FTD. Frontal Temporal Dementia. Not Alz, but like it. Became symptomatic around 58 yrs old, but not diagnosed till 60ish. It is aggressive and progressive. My mother is 77 and is experiencing slow onset dementia. The coconut oil as a supplement information online is biased. I researched it, most search results, ie. 80%, are directed back to the Dr. in Fl. So finding useful information to support its use has to be meeted out of the results. Dr.s said Aricept was generally only affective for 6-8 months, and come to find out was conflicting with bp med. So both were removed and bp normalized, go figure. Her CAT scans show no significant brain atrophy. But a significant contributor is B 12 deficiency. Have those levels examined, she now self injects her own. And does so expertly, but the filling the syringe she doesn't do accurately. She takes Namenda, and truely haven't seen improvement with using it. Now some weirdness, she fell and had to take pain med, and she actually gained some clarity. The brain is a complex instrument. She has trouble doing tasks that require sequential steps. Or anything remotely technical. Also personality changed. She covers in conversations to others near perfectly so convincing her dr and friends there was a problem was initially difficult, so I would ask her infront of them basic things like what year is it, what do you put in the car to make it go, stuff like that, then I was able to get her diagnosed. The tests etc are exhausting and truely no new exams are going to be scheduled. U2U me if you want more details of our experiences. I wish you peace, love, and light. This ain't an easy road, but if you'd like to talk I can

I can only imagine that as frightening news, but don't let that fear consume you and dictate the direction of your life...I was going to suggest Virgin Coconut oil and link some articles on how it has been showing remarkable results in Alzheimers patients but it seems ccseagull beat me to it! The human body/mind is an incredible device and if a disease like this can be shown to have improvements, you just have to hang in there and try what ever you can. At least that's what I'd do.

I also have a thread on Turmeric and some studies that have shown it to benefit Alzheimers patients.

Originally posted by RooskiZombi
I can only imagine that as frightening news, but don't let that fear consume you and dictate the direction of your life...I was going to suggest Virgin Coconut oil and link some articles on how it has been showing remarkable results in Alzheimers patients but it seems ccseagull beat me to it! The human body/mind is an incredible device and if a disease like this can be shown to have improvements, you just have to hang in there and try what ever you can. At least that's what I'd do.

I also have a thread on Turmeric and some studies that have shown it to benefit Alzheimers patients.

Ha, ha, oh RooskiZombi! BUT now that you've mentioned tumeric, YES you are right. I have read that too.
Tumeric is soooo good for so many issues. And again, it's all natural so it cannot hurt to try. Our brain is such an unknown unit and our soils are depleted, our foods irradiated and awash in chemicals, so many people rely on processed foods - and so if taking some simple supplements helps then there is every reason to hope.

Both vitamin D and curcumin, the pigment that gives spicy turmeric its yellow-orange color, have been shown to help fight Alzheimer's disease independently, and it appears they may provide even more powerful punch when applied together.

Curcumin prevents the spread of amyloid protein plaques, which are thought to cause dementia. Amyloid plaques, along with tangles of nerve fibers, contribute to the degradation of the wiring in brain cells. This study revealed that vitamin D3 together with curcumin may help stimulate your immune system to clear your brain of amyloid beta, thereby helping to prevent Alzheimer's.

How Does Curcumin Stimulate Your Immune System and Fight Alzheimer's?
The compelling research is really coming together showing just how important both vitamin D and curcumin can be for your brain health. A general immune system booster due to its high antioxidant capacity, turmeric is 5 to 8 times stronger than vitamins C and E, and even strong enough to scavenge the hydroxyl radical, which is considered by some to be the most reactive of all oxidants.

Recent research has shown that curcumin acts by inserting itself into your cells' membranes where it changes the physical properties of the membrane itself, making it more orderly. Past research has also shown that curcumin may help inhibit the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids -- a component of the neurofibrillary tangles and plaques attributed to Alzheimer's disease -- in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, as well as break up existing plaques.

Researchers determined:

•Curcumin is more effective in inhibiting the formation of the protein fragments than many other potential Alzheimer's treatments
•The low molecular weight and polar structure of curcumin allows it to penetrate the blood-brain barrier effectively and bind to beta amyloid
•Alzheimer's symptoms caused by inflammation and oxidation are eased by curcumin's powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties
People with Alzheimer's tend to have higher levels of inflammation in their brains, and curcumin is most known for its potent anti-inflammatory properties. The compound has been shown to influence more than 700 genes, and it can inhibit both the activity and the synthesis of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and 5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX), as well as other enzymes that have been implicated in inflammation.

Further, when UCLA researchers tested the effect of curcumin on isolated cells called macrophages (part of your body's immune system that eliminates waste products like the disease-causing amyloid beta) in blood samples taken from Alzheimer's patients, the blood samples improved dramatically, improving the digestion of the amyloid beta cells by the macrophages, present from birth in your body's innate immune system.

The Vitamin D Connection
There is no shortage of research linking vitamin D to brain health. One such study was actually launched after family members of Alzheimer's patients who were treated with large doses of prescription vitamin D reported that they were acting and performing better than before.

Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer's patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests were revealed. Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells. Like curcumin, vitamin D may also exert some of its beneficial effects on Alzheimer's through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Sufficient vitamin D is imperative for proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation.

It's important to note that most people are not getting enough of this crucial nutrient.

In the United States, the late winter average vitamin D is only about 15-18 ng/ml, which is considered a very serious deficiency state. In fact, it's estimated that over 95 percent of U.S. senior citizens may be deficient, along with 85 percent of the American public. So if you are simply assuming that your levels are fine, you could be putting your health at risk.

reply to post by ccseagull

What testing is involved in determining if a family member has this?

My fathers side has had it. Is it genetic?

His symptoms of forgetfulness are just appearing. He is xtra heath conscious (all his life) and 85 years old.

Thanks for any information you might have...

reply to post by ccseagull


Very good response. The body can burn fats very well. The brain only needs a little glucose. Half of the problems in our society came from one size fits all. Some people burn ketones better than sugar. I read an article back a little while ago saying just what you are saying. The people who inappropriately decided to make people think fat was bad for us a while back spread a bunch of info that messed a lot of people up. People need energy so they upped the sugar which burns faster.

The government chose to follow this and made a big mess. The problem with fats is that the diet fed to the livestock makes the fat full of toxins. We need to start grass feeding the cows and letting the pigs dig in a pig pen again and start fixing this big mess. Chickens need to run loose and eat bugs once in a while. We can't keep them penned up by the thousands in a dark building and feed them antibiotics or high levels of natural antibiotic containing foods.

This is a big mess and hard to fix, everyone needs saturated fats also, coconut oil is a very good saturated fat. Coffee is also good to slow Alzheimer progression I've also read.

Cucumbers and celery contain curcumin and eating these can help plus curcumin lowers blood pressure.

I'm not much on vitamin D supplementation, I'd rather eat potatoes with butter myself. I wonder what potatoes with coconut oil taste like? Mysterica oil in butter also..

just got diagnosed last friday with a lacunar infarct ( silent stroke ) im 37, they also saw on the MRI 4-5 small white spots that shouldn't be there its damm scary.

Originally posted by truthseeker10
just got diagnosed last friday with a lacunar infarct ( silent stroke ) im 37, they also saw on the MRI 4-5 small white spots that shouldn't be there its damm scary.

If They Don't put you on blood thinners than eat more onions. They can keep the blood from sticking together because of their type of sulfur. A baby aspirin works also. Onions can help to keep blood pressure down also, this can help. An occlusion can also be caused by swelling in the brain sometimes, onions can help make you pee. If you drink alcohol all this changes, I haven't studied enough to give the combinations serious thinking yet. Ask your doctor about this after everything gets better, for now you need to get treatment. It is nice to have options.

Eat more fish for a while, a couple of things in it helps to repair the brain.

Stop taking Statin Drugs & start eating Eggs.

Originally posted by rickymouse

Originally posted by truthseeker10
just got diagnosed last friday with a lacunar infarct ( silent stroke ) im 37, they also saw on the MRI 4-5 small white spots that shouldn't be there its damm scary.

If They Don't put you on blood thinners than eat more onions. They can keep the blood from sticking together because of their type of sulfur. A baby aspirin works also. Onions can help to keep blood pressure down also, this can help. An occlusion can also be caused by swelling in the brain sometimes, onions can help make you pee. If you drink alcohol all this changes, I haven't studied enough to give the combinations serious thinking yet. Ask your doctor about this after everything gets better, for now you need to get treatment. It is nice to have options.

Eat more fish for a while, a couple of things in it helps to repair the brain.

thanks ricky

i think the neurologist was gonna put me on blood thinners but he's waiting on a neurosurgeon to look at the MRI to see what the spots are.

Originally posted by intrptr
reply to post by ccseagull

 

What testing is involved in determining if a family member has this?

My fathers side has had it. Is it genetic?

His symptoms of forgetfulness are just appearing. He is xtra heath conscious (all his life) and 85 years old.

Thanks for any information you might have...

Hi Intrptr - oh I wish I could give you great answers. However I only research as much as I can. I have found some info that may be helpful to you (just pulled it off the web). My dad has the start of dementia brought about by uncontrolled diabetes. He is 74 and has never looked after his health, eats horribly and doesn't take any of the doctors' advice. He is rebellious and will not let anyone tell him how to live his life and of course he doesn't want to give up any freedoms. However due to seizures he was having he had an mri and they found "dead spots" in his brain which were as a result of having multiple mini strokes brought about by smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure. Diabetes is extremely dangerous to one's brain - scary dangerous. So if you're a smoker (and my dad was an excessive smoker) then you're playing with fire, if you don't eat right then you're causing high blood pressure (as does lack of exercise) but if you combine all three - you're playing russian roulette. Usually high blood pressure goes hand in hand with multiple health issues. With my dad we could see the case occuring: he'd forget what he was talking about while he was talking about the subject, he'd get distracted very easily, he changes the subject on a dime if he's not getting what you're talking about or he thinks he's playing along with the conversation when really he's so confused that when he tries to give input he makes no sense cause he has no clue what the subject is anymore. Or he will say something inappropriate. Loves to talk about the old days which is clearest at times in his mind and he feels in control of talking about something that made a huge impression on him and of course people who weren't there can't comment. He disorients very easily and is often like a child. If there is anything I can give advice on it's to, if at all possible, be his advocate when it comes to acting on his behalf, ie: housing or medical treatment, making sure he attends appointments. Because my dad felt that he was being railroaded and/or was just plain confused there were times he wouldn't show up for follow up appointments, or he'd deliberately not be taking his meds. So depending on the situation and person you may have to make him go to the appts/go with him, absolutely have a list of all his doctors and ensure you make follow up conversations with doctors (if you were unable to attend a doct. appt with him) so you have the correct information and can act on it if need be. Also go to the pharmacy and get to know the pharmacist and have them make the prepackaged pill bubble packages where the pills are counted out and then if the parent has a hard time remembering what time or which med to take they take the right one/right dosage at right time of day. Keep tabs on how many pills a bottle will last and that they aren't being stashed and ignored. Make sure you are aware of any drug interactions. I've ended up finding out my Mom is on two diff. blood pressure meds at the same time due to incompetent doctor (for her issue). And check into becoming power of attorney for them while you have the ability to put that into place. I am power of attorney for my dad which means he is functioning at mental capacity right now but if the day comes where he can't then I can make decisions for him based on his health/lifestyle/finances. I hope that helps. Hugs my dear. Here is the info I found online:

Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staff

Alzheimer's Caregiving
Subscribe to our Alzheimer's Caregiving e-newsletter to stay up to date on Alzheimer's topics.

Sign up now There's no specific test today that confirms you have Alzheimer's disease. Your doctor will make a judgment about whether Alzheimer's is the most likely cause of your symptoms based on the information you provide and results of various tests that can help clarify the diagnosis.

Doctors can nearly always determine whether you have dementia, and they can often identify whether your dementia is due to Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease can be diagnosed with complete accuracy only after death, when microscopic examination of the brain reveals the characteristic plaques and tangles.

To help distinguish Alzheimer's disease from other causes of memory loss, doctors now typically rely on the following types of tests.

Physical and neurological exam
Your doctor will perform a physical exam, and is likely to check your overall neurological health by testing your:

Reflexes
Muscle tone and strength
Ability to get up from a chair and walk across the room
Sense of sight and hearing
Coordination
Balance
Lab tests
Blood tests may help your doctor rule out other potential causes of memory loss and confusion, such as thyroid disorders or vitamin deficiencies.

Mental status testing
Your doctor may conduct a brief mental status test to assess your memory and other thinking skills. Short forms of mental status testing can be done in about 10 minutes.

Neuropsychological testing
Your doctor may recommend a more extensive assessment of your thinking and memory. Longer forms of neuropsychological testing, which can take several hours to complete, may provide additional details about your mental function compared with others' of a similar age and education level. This type of testing may be especially helpful if your doctor thinks you may have a very early stage of Alzheimer's disease or another dementia. These tests may also help identify patterns of change associated with different types of dementia and can help doctors estimate your ability to safely manage important activities, such as financial and medical decision making.

Brain imaging
Images of the brain are now used chiefly to pinpoint visible abnormalities related to conditions other than Alzheimer's disease — such as strokes, trauma or tumors — that may cause cognitive change. New imaging applications — currently used primarily in major medical centers or in clinical trials — may enable doctors to detect specific brain changes caused by Alzheimer's.

Brain-imaging technologies include:

Computerized tomography (CT). For a CT scan, you'll lie on a narrow table that slides into a small chamber. X-rays pass through your body from various angles, and a computer uses this information to create cross-sectional images (slices) of your brain. It's currently used chiefly to rule out tumors, strokes and head injuries.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An MRI uses radio waves and a strong magnetic field to produce detailed images of your brain. You lie on a narrow table that slides into a tube-shaped MRI machine, which makes loud banging noises while it produces images. MRIs are painless, but some people feel claustrophobic inside the machine and are disturbed by the noise. MRIs are currently used primarily to rule out other conditions that may account for cognitive symptoms. In the future, they may be used to measure the volume of your brain tissue and whether shrinkage in brain regions implicated in Alzheimer's disease has occurred.Positron emission tomography (PET). During a PET scan, you'll be injected in a vein with a low-level radioactive tracer. You'll lie on a table while an overhead scanner tracks the tracer's flow through your brain. The tracer may be a special form of glucose (sugar) that shows overall activity in various brain regions. This can show which parts of your brain aren't functioning well. New PET techniques may be able to detect your brain level of plaques — one hallmark abnormality linked to Alzheimer's.Future diagnostic tests
Researchers are working with doctors to develop new diagnostic tools to help definitively diagnose Alzheimer's. Another important goal is to detect the disease before it causes the symptoms targeted by current diagnostic techniques — at the stage when Alzheimer's may be most treatable as new drugs are discovered. This stage is called preclinical Alzheimer's disease. New tools under investigation include:

Additional approaches to brain imaging
More-sensitive tests of mental abilities
Measurement of key proteins or protein patterns in blood or spinal fluid (biomarkers)
In addition to helping diagnose Alzheimer's at an earlier stage, biomarkers and new imaging techniques may also be helpful for monitoring how effective future treatments are.

Originally posted by rickymouse
reply to post by ccseagull

 

Very good response. The body can burn fats very well. The brain only needs a little glucose. Half of the problems in our society came from one size fits all. Some people burn ketones better than sugar. I read an article back a little while ago saying just what you are saying. The people who inappropriately decided to make people think fat was bad for us a while back spread a bunch of info that messed a lot of people up. People need energy so they upped the sugar which burns faster.

The government chose to follow this and made a big mess. The problem with fats is that the diet fed to the livestock makes the fat full of toxins. We need to start grass feeding the cows and letting the pigs dig in a pig pen again and start fixing this big mess. Chickens need to run loose and eat bugs once in a while. We can't keep them penned up by the thousands in a dark building and feed them antibiotics or high levels of natural antibiotic containing foods.

This is a big mess and hard to fix, everyone needs saturated fats also, coconut oil is a very good saturated fat. Coffee is also good to slow Alzheimer progression I've also read.

Cucumbers and celery contain curcumin and eating these can help plus curcumin lowers blood pressure.

I'm not much on vitamin D supplementation, I'd rather eat potatoes with butter myself. I wonder what potatoes with coconut oil taste like? Mysterica oil in butter also..

edit on 2-3-2013 by rickymouse because: (no reason given)

Thx rickymouse - I started doing some investigation into coconut oil for myself. I have never been able to lose weight. I'll keep this brief. I have IBS and can have all day long diarrhea (tmi, sorry) for 6 days of the week and eat a good diet and never lose weight. I am approx 100 pounds overweight. It all started with my thyroid, hypothyroid. Goiter kept getting bigger and bigger and trouble swallowing and breathing and after 12 years finally found a surgeon that said it should be removed. Had it removed and now am vitamin D deficient. Also still hypothyroid. So after trying years of good diet, good exercise, extreme exercise, all sorts of diets, trying weight watchers, diet pills - nothing would help lose the weight. However if I looked at anything calorie ridden I'd instantly put on weight. I know people use that excuse all the time and whine they can't lose weight. But I am being honest here. I have seen several doctors and have been told, quote: "I have people like you in here all the time and you need to eat less, and exercise more." Quote: "When you get older your metabolism slows down, you have to exercise more." I was on the treadmill 3 hours a day for half a year and didn't lose anything. So I found coconut oil. It hasn't done anything for me. Anyway to make a long story short: I have been doing reading on all the corn they put into our foods, and corn fructose and how they add wheat to everything (been reading about Wheat Belly - WOW), and most importantly how we have been brainwashed into thinking fats are bad. Yeah I've been living on fat free, low fat this and that and our bodies need fats - good fats. So I am in the process of rethinking my trained brain and to turn it all around and am now eating good fats which is HARD to do and feels so wrong and to change to grass fed meats and to lay off high glycemic foods. I am getting off wheat entirely. This is hard to do as it means relearning everything but I am sure this is where the problems of obesity and health issues are stemming from: our diet and what misinformation has been given to us. It is up to us to inform ourselves as much as possible, research, research and then more. We are being treated like cattle to be fattened up and I am furious about it. It's all about making us crave the things that go into our mouths so companies can make more money and I wouldn't doubt it's to keep us reaching for more pills, etc.
P.S. I have enjoyed reading your posts on various topics.

reply to post by ccseagull


The hard part is that your thyroid is removed. I'm not sure if tyramine containing food would work. Tyramine food is aged food, the chemicals that are precursers of adrenaline, neoadrenaline, dopamine, and saratonan. If the adrenal gland can process them than you can still get energy. If you lower your copper levels with a small dose of molybdenum it could help also so it helps to stop the breakdown of adrenaline. MAO inhibitors like black pepper or Turmeric can slow the breakdown of these chemicals. Increasing the adrenaline levels can cause hypertension though, this is something you need to watch. When something is removed, it makes it hard to figure out what to do I can only tell you what these things do, you have to adjust your diet a little and see how it makes you feel. Some of the chemicals in aged food, like carraggenan in Yogurts, suppress the immune system. Milk also can suppress energy by being a natural beta blocker. Do you have to take Thyroid replacement hormones?

I'll have to think about this one a little and do some research on thyroid removal. I think the thyroid needed to be removed if it was swollen for a long time. Mine was all swollen when I was taking meds for my epilepsy but it recovered after I quit. I'm still trying to recover more of my liver but it's hard. Taking milk thistle helped but it started jumping around and gave me a sore area in the back. My kidneys are doing better also, probably quit the meds just in time. I pee out all my salt though so I have to eat lots. Trying to fix that yet. Five years of meds sure screwed things up with the liver and kidneys and a section of my small intestine..

reply to post by ccseagull

Thanks so much for your input. My dad is currently beginning to show some symptoms like you are relating in you wonderful informative post. I want to try and convince him at some point to seek a specialists help. I will book mark this and may I U2U you for more info in the future?
thank you so much....

regards,

intrptr

reply to post by truthseeker10


My wife was having migrains so she had a couple of MRI's done and they found lesions on her brain. After some research, I found that MSG, something she consumed lots of, was known to cause lesions on the brain. Also found stuff on aspartame and how bad that is as well at causing migrains and neurological issues.

Are you on statins? You can control cholesterol with vitamin C. There is a thread on making your own liposomal vitamin C at home, I am just making my second batch, there are so many benefits to it. Here is the thread (click).

reply to post by bourbon2nite


Get your vitamin D3, recommended daily for optimal health is 1500iu/25lbs of body weight. There are some reports on vitamin D deficiency being the cause of alzheimer's and a host of other ailments.

Originally posted by toastyr
reply to post by truthseeker10

 

My wife was having migrains so she had a couple of MRI's done and they found lesions on her brain. After some research, I found that MSG, something she consumed lots of, was known to cause lesions on the brain. Also found stuff on aspartame and how bad that is as well at causing migrains and neurological issues.

Are you on statins? You can control cholesterol with vitamin C. There is a thread on making your own liposomal vitamin C at home, I am just making my second batch, there are so many benefits to it. Here is the thread (click).

no ive been given nothing yet, i must try that id rather use natural treatments