I've had a reversal of cognitive decline...and want to share what I've learned...

[SarahAnne]

Wow colorful, what a story; even your name makes me happy. I'm 3/4 and my mom is 4/4 (currently battling AD). My 13 yr old daughter is the rare 2/4 like you. But you know what jumped out at me that I had no idea about before...that's the 4pm fatigue. I've been telling my husband that I can't explain why I'm nearly nodding off to sleep during the afternoon commute to my daughters' school. It's a new development for me, yikes. Your post is meaningful because I needed a kick in the pants to get going on this protocol. I've been circling around it for a year. So thank you and wishing you continued success, energy and clarity.

[Kit]

Hi, Colorful,

Great story, thanks for sharing it with us!

Can I ask you how much you were sleeping prior to starting Bredesen's protocol? I also had a lot of brain fog and had trouble with recognizing faces and found that sleep deprivation was a huge part of this. I think I tolerated it better when I was younger but in the last decade or two, I was sleeping less than six hours a night, sometimes four or five, never more than six, and had more and more trouble recognizing people that I didn't know very well in stores. I was never very good at remembering faces, but it got to the point that I could not pick my waitress out of a group, even if she had been to my table five times, even if the last time was ten minutes ago. For me also, my customary glass or two of wine with dinner only exacerbated the problem. Not only did it interfere with my sleep but it made me much more forgetful the next day. For me, even a little alcohol had terrible effects on my memory and cognition.

So getting seven or eight hours of sleep is still a struggle for me but it makes a huge difference in the 4 pm exhaustion and the facial recognition, the wondering why am I in this room, remembering names, appointments, etc. I am not sure if that is just typical for people who are chronically exhausted or if that is something that we E-4's exhibit as a warning sign of possible future dementia. Certainly our brains are more vulnerable when sleep deprived.

I just got through reading Adrianna Huffington's "The Sleep Revolution." So many of the things she describes in sleep deprived individuals sound like things I was experiencing. Don't get me wrong, I had and still have other issues besides sleep that were/are risk factors for Alzheimer's, such as stubborn insulin resistance, high stress, etc, some weird labs, and I am also following a full protocol prescribed by Dr. Bredesen, with exercise, supplements, diet, meditation, etc. but I do find the sleep issue for me to have been a huge factor.

[Kit]

I wanted to clarify, after re-reading my post, that in no way did I mean to imply that you were not experiencing cognitive decline, did not want to make light of your journey or take away from your amazing story.

I though it was interesting to read the Arianna Huffington book on sleep and see that many of the symptoms that some of us experience are similar to those who are sleep deprived experience; I can imagine that in an E4 affected person that these symptoms are much more apparent as our brains are more fragile. That is what I think happened to me. Chronic lack of sleep, lack of exercise, inflammation, nutritional and metabolic imbalances and stress have contributed to my cognitive issues, and are exacerbated by my 3/4 status, but I think they also contribute to a lesser extent to cognitive issues in people who are not on the road to dementia too, so it does get confusing.

[circular]

I agree kit. I'm confused too. Loads of brain fog lately but from what? It seems there are many pathways to present and future dementia, maybe all of which e4s are more susceptible to. KatieS has great things to say about the benefits of treating sleep apnea. I'm still working on this dang, new CPAP to get even one good night's sleep from it. Meanwhile there are so many triggers to consider in this tightly woven biochemical tapestry. Thus the multipronged approach.

[KatieS]

If you are looking to rid that 4PM sleepiness, do rule out apnea.The adjustment can be challenging, but I find all the supplements and dietary tweaking to be much harder and with less immediate pay-off. It saddens me how complicated the medical system has made apnea treatment.

[circular]

I think KatieS is on to something here, that if someone has sleep apnea the other interventions will bring limited results. At least I hope so because I think that's why I'm not doing better than I am after about three years in this group. This can be true for other major health situations too, so some of us have to work especially hard to get at the kingpin(s) of our health issues that converge in a bad way on the brain.

[KiwiJack]

Here you go Kiwi

http://www.impactaging.com/papers/v6/n9 ... 00690.html

Thanks ....!

[facu0001]

Thank you very much for your history colorful. I translated your history and he read it and got very enthusiastic to follow your example. What a impact your history has!!!! I am writing you from Patagonia. I have just two questions,

1. How much legumes do you eat daily?
2. Do you know a book to recommend me with example of menues for a vegan ketogenic diet or just a practical book on ketogenic diet even if is not for vegans?

Thank you very much!!!

Facundo

[CAngelS]

So encouraging to read...thank you!! I hope you’re continuing to thrive:)

[ShirleyP]

What an inspiring story! Truly hopeful.

Responding to a couple of the later posts - I just want to share something that happened to me about 5 years re: brain fog. I was suffering through regular bouts of waking up in the night (usually around 3 am for 2 hours). A friend of mine told me to try taking calcium about a half hour before bedtime and it really helped me to sleep. I did this for 2 months straight and did find I was sleeping better. I also started to develop some brain fog and began doing things that were really out of character like overflowing the kitchen sink because I went to do something else and became distracted. I left the oven on all night. I went cycling with a friend - had borrowed my husband's truck to transport my bike in. When I came home I didn't put the tailgate up and my bike fell out on a busy highway.

I really thought I had dementia and said to my husband that I needed to go and get checked out. Before I did that we put two and two together and realized that the new thing I was doing was taking the calcium. I am someone who is really sensitive to things like caffeine. Anyway, I cut out the calcium at bedtime and the brain fog disappeared in a couple of days. Once in a while I will take it to sleep, but never take it in the morning, or on a regular basis. I just try to get enough through diet.