Hope: Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program

[ehrnst]

From Aging Journal:

"Abstract:

This report describes a novel, comprehensive, and personalized therapeutic program that is based on the underlying pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, and which involves multiple modalities designed to achieve metabolic enhancement for neurodegeneration (MEND).
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Patient one: history

A 67-year-old woman presented with two years of progressive memory loss. She held a demanding job that involved preparing analytical reports and traveling widely, but found herself no longer able to analyze data or prepare the reports, and therefore was forced to consider quitting her job. She noted that when she would read, by the time she reached the bottom of a page she would have to start at the top once again, since she was unable to remember the material she had just read. She was no longer able to remember numbers, and had to write down even 4-digit numbers to remember them. She also began to have trouble navigating on the road: even on familiar roads, she would become lost trying to figure out where to enter or exit the road. She also noticed that she would mix up the names of her pets, and forget where the light switches were in her home of years.

Her mother had developed similar progressive cognitive decline beginning in her early 60s, had become severely demented, entered a nursing home, and died at approximately 80 years of age. When the patient consulted her physician about her problems, she was told that she had the same problem her mother had had, and that there was nothing he could do about it. He wrote "memory problems" in her chart, and therefore the patient was turned down in her application for long-term care.

After being informed that she had the same problem as her mother had had, she recalled the many years of her mother's decline in a nursing home. Knowing that there was still no effective treatment and subsequently losing the ability to purchase long-term care, she decided to commit suicide. She called a friend to commiserate, who suggested that she get on a plane and visit, and then referred her for evaluation.

She began System 1.0 (Table 1), and was able to adhere to some but not all of the protocol components. Nonetheless, after three months she noted that all of her symptoms had abated: she was able to navigate without problems, remember telephone numbers without difficulty, prepare reports and do all of her work without difficulty, read and retain information, and, overall, she became asymptomatic. She noted that her memory was now better than it had been in many years. On one occasion, she developed an acute viral illness, discontinued the program, and noticed a decline, which reversed when she reinstated the program. Two and one-half years later, now age 70, she remains asymptomatic and continues to work full-time. "


http://impactaging.com/papers/v6/n9/full/100690.html

[Trillo]

1. Very interesting.

As I read through it, I wonder about the need to spend personal money for the medicines or nutrients and treatment in order to continue employment to make money. Spend money to make money? That's more like self-employment, without the benefits of expense deductions.

[Avalux]

2. Are you discounting this publicaton?

I think the need to work is what motivated the patients in the case studies because memory loss became an urgent problem. However - the program is more about lifestyle changes and balancing the body's chemistry overall; there is some medication involved, as well as diet, stress-relieving activities (yoga, meditation), and sleep. Makes a lot of sense to me.

It would be well-worth giving it a try to improve memory and quality of life, whether employed or not.

[Trillo]

4. No, I don't think so, but maybe so. My view is more philosophical and political than technical.

I made a comment about the viewpoint of the article. It simply seems wrong that if you require expenses to be employed, that you are not able to deduct those expenses, in their entirety. Corporations can, and they're considered "persons", but humans can't, unless they're self-employed. Does that mean humans aren't "persons"?

I do find myself wondering if folks who have PTSD, such as some veterans, want to remember more, or less? If its the latter, then why do we have an economic system that nudges and persuades the opposite?

[Avalux]

5. Oh I understand what you're saying now.

It is a bit ironic and I agree - money spent to 'improve' health in order to remain employed should be tax-deductible.

[WinkyDink]

10. Start a blog.

[WinkyDink]

3. Spend money---to keep one's mind! I should say that would be money well-spent!

[Trillo]

6. I'm not sure that's "always" the case.

If all one can remember is traumas, then wouldn't the passing of the ability to remember be a kindness?

[bettyellen]

7. as one who watched two parents loose their minds- you seem to have no clue how horrible it is.

both for the sick person, and for all that love them.

[Trillo]

9. I think you hit an important point. "love"

" for all that love them. " It's not about the person who's growing older themselves, but how hard it is on second parties. What's convenient for the people around them.

It's curious this argument is rarely applied to infants, parents have to wipe and wash their fannies, keep constant watch on them to keep them out of danger, etc. It's so much easier if you're a wealthy son or daughter, you can just drop the parent(s) off at the local old folks home and only send greeting cards during holidays to remind them of your "deep love" for them.

Thus, if you have to shove a few pills down an elder's throat and get them on an exercise program, it's so much easier for those others "that love them."

[bettyellen]

13. you missed the part on how traumatic + confusing it is for the patient also- it is a horrible thing

for them to experience. It is painful to the survivors to witness loved ones in pain- it is not selfish to want to help them- as you seem to be implying.

The patients know they are losing their identity, and are very frightened by the people and places that should be comforting suddenly become very scary and unfamiliar. For a very long time they struggle greatly to retain what they can of their selves, and it is petrifying. It is not "cute" or romantic like it is in movies like The Notebook, nor is it any kind of "relief" to the patients to lose their former selves. Those notions are ridiculous, and harmful.

Alzheimer's sufferers have horrible fits of fear and confusion you would not wish on anyone. Parkinson's related dementia as well as AD results in a loss of "muscle memory" as well, where the most basic physical functions - from walking to digestion degrade sharply because the body doesn't know how anymore. If you think this is more about the family, you are sadly mistaken. The big reason family is involved in these cases is because their loved ones cannot advocate for themselves, so their families must. It is a role thrust on them by these horrible diseases, and your attempts to characterize their motivation as self interest is totally ignorant and well as cruel.

[Trillo]

15. No, it is not cruel to possess an opposing opinion.

Have you ever heard of elder abuse? There was a time not so long ago that advocates asserted it was an epidemic.

The elder's body is failing, nature has removed memories and apparent awareness. Is that not a great kindness? Would you care to have surgery while awake and conscious, or asleep? We have no choice about the fact our bodies will one day die. Why would we care more about people having surgery than elderly folks?

“Are you bored?” her mother asked.

“Yes,” Wendy said.

Her mother’s response: a slap across the face, not for the first time nor for the last. She hit Wendy when she was a teenager who stumbled at night and awakened her. She hit Wendy when she was a bride-to-be trying on wedding gowns.

...

And she has decided that when her mother becomes disabled, as about two-thirds of older Americans do, “she’s going to have to find a facility that will take care of her,” Wendy said. “I will drive her around” to visit and choose a new home, “but I’m not going to contribute to it.” Her mother is financially secure and can afford assisted living on her own.

Perhaps the reason we want our elders awake and conscious in their last years is that we care less about our elders. Perhaps we might realize that this is yet another attempt of an authoritarian culture to inflict its last cruelty,

Many dying cancer patients, and many more people dying from the end-result of multiple pathology in old age, have symptoms other than pain—such as delirium, urinary and faecal incontinence, sores and discharges. These can be successfully managed in fit elderly people but become less controllable as the body disintegrates.

[bettyellen]

16. I truly feel sorry for whatever caused this sad POV that goes to abuse and pain- and thinks

that losing your mind is great option for many people at all. Pretty fucked up option, and one that very very few would choose no matter what they have experienced. You seem to know nothing about the progression of the disease and instead focus on a small percentage of chronically unhappy people. That is a twisted POV.

From the bizarre quotes you have pulled, it is obvious you have not had actual real life experience with watching anyone suffer from cognitive decline. You have not the first fucking clue what it is like to witness, or you would never post such tangentially related clap trap.

[Trillo]

18. Please answer the question

I'll repeat it: Would you prefer surgery awake and conscious, or asleep?

[bettyellen]

21. Silly. Surgery is nothing like day to day living. No, it is NOT a great kindness to allow someone's

mind to rot away- and part of the reason is they ARE AWARE their mind is rotting. It scares the fuck out of them, and if they could get their memeories back, they would pay anything to do so.

You can stick to these fantasy ideas about what it's like to go through severe cognitive decline. But it is not the blissful cake walk you imagine it to be.

[Trillo]

23. Ah, you had a moment of brilliance,

" they would pay anything to do so. "

That's what this is all about, "money."

[bettyellen]

24. That is some nasty twisted interpretation of what I said. Perhaps someday you will actually KNOW

what it means to cope with these kinds of cognitive illnesses, but until then perhaps spare the rest of us with your asinine theories about the reality of it. You clearly have no idea at all.

[WinkyDink]

8. Try reading the linked article, okay? Because your "traumas" remark is out of an orifice.

[Trillo]

11. I did. And not "an orifice", from my fingers typing on a keyboard.

Here's another article for you,

Symptoms of avoidance can be described as an emotional numbness or coldness towards people who are close to us. Survivors shut people out, or push them away. This in turn affects their relationships with those who are often the ones who are trying hardest to help. When survivors are coping with flashbacks it takes a lot of energy to try and suppress the flood of emotions that threaten to overwhelm them. They find that they have no real emotion left for anyone else, and often feel emotionless or numb towards everyone else. Inability to recall important aspects of the trauma is another of the ways avoidance and numbing may work. This means the person cannot remember exactly what happened. Many trauma survivors forget in order to survive.

[RobertEarl]

19. I get what you are saying

I know someone who lost it. It was hard on them for awhile, but now they are just blissfully ignorant. And living a peaceful life, finally.

I think the poster above is just lashing out at you because you make an easy target. Good on you to just let it slide.

[bettyellen]

25. Alzheimers disease is anything BUT blissful. Most people, including the person you are responding

to are ignorant to the suffering and panic that those sick with it increasingly experience.

[RobertEarl]

26. Don't blame any of us

Which is what you seem to be doing.

And don't blame yourself, either.

[bettyellen]

27. the poster I responded to is quite clearly taking swipes at family member for trying to help their

loved ones. He is the one who is blaming family for acting selfish- only because he is completely ignorant about how much suffering is involved.

[Trillo]

29. The idea family members are often selfish is apparently resonant to you.

it's an interesting argument technique to object to an observation family members may be acting selfish, and then admit the family members are suffering because they're selfish.

I learn new things on DU everyday, but I think this is an argument and argument technique I should try to wipe from memory.

[bettyellen]

30. that you completely ignore the suffering of those afflicted is disgusting-just repulsive.

You pretend it is only about the families, even though you know better. I have never seen anyone twist words in order to try and insult others. Disgusted with you. Completely. You KNOW better.

[Trillo]

31. You're projecting. NT

[bettyellen]

33. you are so completely ignorant on what Alzheimer's patients go through, I am embarrassed for you...

spewing off as if it's some blissful cake walk and curing it would be bad. Total fucking idiocy.

But you don't want to think about the ill person suffering, god forbid you acknowledge it. That says it all.

[littlemissmartypants]

34. Like patients who cannot speak are assumed better off?

Like declaring someone brain dead because of a neurological impairment which prevents interactions with persons in the environment that are not sensitive to subtle changes in their facial expressions like family members that are able to "read" them?
Let's just cast the sick and old aside mentality is not a surprise to me anymore. I have seen it plenty.
Love, Peace and Shelter.
~ littlemissmartypants🙇

[bettyellen]

36. there are a lot of rationalizations people employ to neglect loved ones when they hit a bad patch

loads of fatalistic head in the ground bullshit. And the same people would trample you to get a fix for themselves should they need it.
That's how it works.

[littlemissmartypants]

38. An let us not forget the narcissist.

People who are diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder are characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance. They have a sense of entitlement and demonstrate grandiosity in their beliefs and behavior. They have a strong need for admiration, but lack feelings of empathy.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder

Love, Peace and Shelter.
~ littlemissmartypants 🙆

[Trillo]

37. You're the one who wrote, "they would pay anything to do so."

it's quite revealing you didn't write, "I would pay anything to do so."

You have displayed a repeating pattern of presumption regarding what others would do when challenged by this natural aging process. Something kills every last one of us in the end.

Besides the OP, I'm the only one who provided links to others saying similar things to what I was asserting. You seem to have trouble controlling your own emotions, while simultaneously asserting your desire to control others through projection, as well as the use of second person, nor do you seem to be able to control others in a fashion which creates a positive atmosphere.

You might desire to meditate on the difference between authoritarian and liberal.

[littlemissmartypants]

39. After years in the medical field I can tell you "death by dementia"

Is slow and painful. Most patients with advanced stage dementia die from pneumonia. Drowning in their own secretions. And I do not recommend tube feeding for them at any level or stage of the diagnosis. Now how would you prefer to die?

[bettyellen]

40. yep, most people are ignorant of the torture people suffering from dementia endure. In the media

there is a tendency to "cute it up" and as a result, many have no clue. Doesn't stop them from offering opinions though.

[Trillo]

45. It's my understanding that pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death.

I read it a long time ago, but looked at wikipedia, and nosocomial pneumonia is the second leading cause of death of all hospital acquired infections.

HAP is the second most common nosocomial infection (after urinary tract infections ) and accounts for 15–20% of the total.[1][2][3] It is the most common cause of death among nosocomial infections and is the primary cause of death in intensive care units.[1][3]

Because I'm generally a nice person, I'll answer your question. I hope to die in my sleep.

[bettyellen]

41. Alzheimer's disease is not a "natural againg process" it is a horrible disease that destroys healthy

people way before their time. We are tlking about preventing a disease that no one would wish on their worst enemy.
For fuck sake, it is not about ME- you need to educate yourself and stop spewing this bullshit about blissful ignorance or bad intentions- nothing could be further from the truth. Projection, my ass.

[Trillo]

43. I'm tired of your personal insults.

"spewing this bullshit." I have a different opinion than you. I have refrained from insulting you personally, you don't seem to have any sense of positive etiquette.

[bettyellen]

44. calling these diseases "part of a natural aging process" is complete bullshit

and your with your nasty and very personal accusations - and twisting of words- crying etiquette? Don't make me laugh.
You want respect? Earn it. Educate yourself about the diseases we are discussing, and knock off the personal shit.

[Trillo]

46. The medical industrial complex has been accused of inventing diseases for quite some time.

8 Invented Diseases Big Pharma Is Banking on

Alzheimers is not listed in that article, but the pattern has been noted by many.

[bettyellen]

47. Yeah, and that has nothing to do with Alzheimers or any of your pet issues.

Could not see past your nose here, could you?

[pnwmom]

20. Nobody wants Alzheimers, whether or not they're working. n/t

[bettyellen]

42. now its a "natural aging process" that should be ignored.

I wonder if most neglectful kids tell themselves this kind of bullshit.

[politicat]

12. Looking at Table 1 in the doc: the non-supplement stuff is probably doing the bulk of the benefit.

Low inflammation, low glycemic diet with 12 hour fasting at night to combat insulin resistance and blood sugar spikes and troughs. That should control quite a lot of the symptoms of short-term memory issues because a brain that is working on the right fuel will fire correctly.

Rule out sleep apnea or treat. Get sufficient sleep and medicate if needed. Yes. Insomnia and poor quality sleep contribute significantly to depression, anxiety, and poor concentration. Chronic sleep deprivation exacerbates depression and anxiety, as well as short term memory deficit. Fix the poor quality sleep and the brain function improves.

Exercise and meditate. Natural sources of neurotransmitters and better systemic function.

The test would be to compare a group that did nothing at all to a group that did only the diet/sleep/exercise/meditation to the group that took the supplements. My statistical bet (having been in neuropsych stats for a decade) is that there would be little difference between group 2 and 3, and that latter difference would be either statistically insignificant, or a result of placebo. (If you believe that taking 2 dozen capsules a day is doing you good, you probably will do better.)

Of course, the regimen itself has a lot of mindfulness training built in to it, and any sort of mindfulness training helps handle cognitive decline.

[Paula Sims]

14. That explains a great deal in my life. . .

I have noticed the plethora of "memory resident facilities" and was wondering what is going on. In addition to children not being able to keep their parents around (in my case, husband and I have to work and my mother and mother-in-law are too much to handle), I had a feeling environmental factors were also involved in the increase demand.

As a person whose memory has also declined (I'm only 49), I've attributed it to great stress and crappy eating. I KNEW there wasn't one magic pill but it's too early to tell if the stuff mentioned (which I've been doing on my own for about 2 weeks) is helping. Also, my mother's and mother-in-law's memories have declined in the past couple of years and I see the lack of sleep and crappy eating in their life too.

That said, we can't minimize the impact of outside relationships. My mother has NO outside relationships other than me, her brother, and my brother. NONE. That definitely has had an effect. Of course she won't hear of anything that's wrong or that it's "old age" and her doctors are useless. My mother-in-law was fine until her best friend died and then POOF, truly, overnight, she started declining.

As stated in the article, it's a mix of a lot of little factors, but at least there's hope.

[bettyellen]

17. i would recommend a geriatric psychiatrist for Mom to check her out-

and recomend life style changes- hook ups with social services to keep her active and engaged, check interactions with her meds etc.
They are wonderful for any elderly who is out of sorts for any reason.

[pnwmom]

22. Thank you for posting this!

For other reasons, I'm on a controlled carb diet now. If it helps me avoid my mother's dementia, so much the better.

[Hekate]

28. Bookmarking. One person here seems to have no ability to grasp the severity of impact ...

... that Alzheimer's or other types of dementia have on the afflicted person and their families and friends. However, as far as I can tell from scanning replies to this thread, everyone else does, so I'm not going to belabor the point except to say this looks like a real ray of hope. I'm printing out the whole article plus one of the more cogent comments from this thread.

Thank you, ehrnst, for posting it.

Hekate

[KittyWampus]

32. This person in study went from 4-5 hrs sleep per night to 7-8. Frankly, I think that was the part

that seems most significant.

[littlemissmartypants]

35. Agreed. nt