BrightStar Care Salt Lake City Director of Nursing - Deborah Parker - Update on Alzheimer's
Did you know...that the United States is expecting an avalanche of new Alzheimer's cases in the next 20 years as baby
boomers head into their 70's and 80's. This will make jobs like ours at BrightStar Care in high demand as older Americans with dementia require more and more care. To thwart that possibility, doctors and scientists are working feverishly to try and provide a cure for Alzheimer's disease. But since the disease destroys brain cells, a cure in later stages will not be possible. So doctors are looking at prevention and early stage treatments that can prevent progression. Hot off the press!! Just out is a new treatment for Alzheimer's in early stages that has shown success and reversal of symptoms in 9 out of 10 patients who have tried it. It is called the Bredesen Protocol and it is in the early stages of testing but it is proving very promising. What is this protocol? It is a series of behaviors that patients need to follow to help their brains heal so that the amyloid proteins are processed properly instead of building up in the brain causing plaques and tangles which destroy memory. Here are some of the changes one of the patients on the Bredesen Protocol made to reverse her Alzheimer's Disease: (1) eliminated all simple carbohydrates, leading to a weight loss of 20 pounds; (2) eliminated gluten and processed food from her diet, with increased vegetables, fruits, and non-farmed fish; (3) reduced stress, she began yoga and meditation for 20 minutes twice per day; (4) took melatonin each night; (5) increased her sleep from 4-5 hours per night to 7-8 hours per night; (6) took methylcobalamin-B12, vitamin D3, fish oil and CoQ10 each day; (7) optimized her oral hygiene using an electric flosser and electric toothbrush; (8) reinstated hormone replacement therapy that had been discontinued (following discussion with her primary care provider); (9) fasted for a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for a minimum of three hours between dinner and bedtime; (10) exercised for a minimum of 30 minutes, 4-6 days per week. This was a customized program for this particular patient but the other patients in the study employed similar therapeutic regimens. What has all of the above got to do with Alzheimer's disease? The increase in the amyloid peptide that occurs in Alzheimer’s diseaseshifts the memory-making vs. memory-breaking balance in favor of memory loss. Dr. Bredesen's hypothesis is that shifts in lifestyle can reverse the amyloid build up in brain cells. This approach gives assistance to the brain to heal itself by decreasing stress, improving nutrition, increasing blood flow to the brain through exercise, improving metabolism, increasing sleep time which is when the brainheals itself and calling for a 12 hour fast daily which also promotes brain healing. The results, though preliminary, are none the less remarkable. More testing is needed. Stay tuned for more about Bredesen in the near future. Let's all hope that one day his name will be even more famous than the Alzheimer name he is trying to help us forget.
Did you know...that the United States is expecting an avalanche of new Alzheimer's cases in the next 20 years as baby
boomers head into their 70's and 80's. This will make jobs like ours at BrightStar Care in high demand as older Americans with dementia require more and more care. To thwart that possibility, doctors and scientists are working feverishly to try and provide a cure for Alzheimer's disease. But since the disease destroys brain cells, a cure in later stages will not be possible. So doctors are looking at prevention and early stage treatments that can prevent progression. Hot off the press!! Just out is a new treatment for Alzheimer's in early stages that has shown success and reversal of symptoms in 9 out of 10 patients who have tried it. It is called the Bredesen Protocol and it is in the early stages of testing but it is proving very promising. What is this protocol? It is a series of behaviors that patients need to follow to help their brains heal so that the amyloid proteins are processed properly instead of building up in the brain causing plaques and tangles which destroy memory. Here are some of the changes one of the patients on the Bredesen Protocol made to reverse her Alzheimer's Disease: (1) eliminated all simple carbohydrates, leading to a weight loss of 20 pounds; (2) eliminated gluten and processed food from her diet, with increased vegetables, fruits, and non-farmed fish; (3) reduced stress, she began yoga and meditation for 20 minutes twice per day; (4) took melatonin each night; (5) increased her sleep from 4-5 hours per night to 7-8 hours per night; (6) took methylcobalamin-B12, vitamin D3, fish oil and CoQ10 each day; (7) optimized her oral hygiene using an electric flosser and electric toothbrush; (8) reinstated hormone replacement therapy that had been discontinued (following discussion with her primary care provider); (9) fasted for a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for a minimum of three hours between dinner and bedtime; (10) exercised for a minimum of 30 minutes, 4-6 days per week. This was a customized program for this particular patient but the other patients in the study employed similar therapeutic regimens. What has all of the above got to do with Alzheimer's disease? The increase in the amyloid peptide that occurs in Alzheimer’s diseaseshifts the memory-making vs. memory-breaking balance in favor of memory loss. Dr. Bredesen's hypothesis is that shifts in lifestyle can reverse the amyloid build up in brain cells. This approach gives assistance to the brain to heal itself by decreasing stress, improving nutrition, increasing blood flow to the brain through exercise, improving metabolism, increasing sleep time which is when the brainheals itself and calling for a 12 hour fast daily which also promotes brain healing. The results, though preliminary, are none the less remarkable. More testing is needed. Stay tuned for more about Bredesen in the near future. Let's all hope that one day his name will be even more famous than the Alzheimer name he is trying to help us forget.