ApoE4.Info

My name is Andrea, I am a 43-year-old physicist from Switzerland. Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple of months ago. My siblings and I had been seeing first sings quite a while before the diagnosis, but mom and that pushed the possible threat of Alzheimer's away and did not get a diagnosis until it was evident. I would say that by now dad is about at stage 4.

I have been researching on the Internet and was very grateful to discover the Bredesen Recode program and other holistic approaches. The frustration came when I tried to find a medical practitioner in Switzerland or Germany that could supervise the program. There are none. Geriatric medicine is just focused on palliating the symptoms, they don't believe in reverse. Even though the results of the first studies of Dr. Bredesen were cited in Swiss newspapers, the swiss Alzheimers association didn't even know who he was. This totally astonished me, because besides of being very beneficial to many patients I also believe focusing on holistic approaches to prevent and reverse Alzheimer's would be a great business model for any medical practitioner. Groups like yours just don't exist in the German-speaking part of the world.

A trip to the US would be very tiring for dad, especially since his English is not very good. Therefore I am considering of attending an Advanced Clinical Training at the Institute for Functional Medicine (https://www.ifm.org/learning-center/act-rcd-2017-dec/), that is also open to family members. This should give me the knowledge to guide a general practitioner through the Bredesen Protocol.

I 'd love to get feedback from you about this idea. Is this reasonable? Does anyone have experience with it?
Or does anyone know a practitioner in Germany or Switzerland who does the Bredesen Recode program?

Regards, Andrea

Welcome, Andrea! I think your idea to help your Dad via a Bredesen-training protocol is feasible. I've seen other physicians/practitioners do the same for their parents. I've heard that they plan to make the training open via videoconferencing for folks that specifically have goals to help family members as opposed to patients. Consider reaching out at info@drbredesen.com to learn more. FWIW, I've also heard that a group from Switzerland has just reached out to Dr. Bredesen to try to bring the protocol there. I'm unsure of the timeframe. I know that you want to get started as soon as possible.

That said, I'm sure that you're aware that the protocol is much more effective in the early stages. It would take a big commitment from your Dad and a lot of support to turn things around. It's possible, but will entail many changes that are self-perpetuating for many of us because we feel so much better implementing them. Please check out our Primer, specifically written for E4 carriers (not sure if that's your Dad?), which overlaps with Dr. Bredesen's approach.

Thank you for your information and encouragement. Do you happen to have the contacts of the swiss people that reached out to Dr. Bredesen I would love to get in touch with them.

I'm sorry, I don't. I just heard about this from Dr. Bredesen himself. The doctors are untrained at this point so it will take some time. Why not reach out to his company using the email I provided to see if you can get more info?

Sorry to hear about your father. I would really discourage you from traveling because it has not been my experience that there are that many people in the US, at this time, that could help. try and learn as much as you can on your own about the program and apply what you can. There are some many facets to the protocal. It is my opinion that support from your family will be more important than a single practioner or coach.

Welcome Andrea to the apoe4.info site. I admire your desire and determination to help your father as I am working along the same lines to help my sister navigate this complicated path. I noticed in another posting a while back from Slacker the following.. which might offer an alternative solution for your family….

“There are 2 physicians in the UK who are Bredesen trained, and participated in a 4 day "Immersion" program with 31 people with Alzheimer's and their families here in the US. They are Rangan Chatterjee and Ayan Panja. “

I also recall from another posting that there are up to 200 physicians going through the Bredesen protocol training in the UK and what I have found to be true is that many of these physicians will ask to meet the patient in person for the first visit but will then continue care via telemedicine.

Lastly, apoe4.info offers an excellent starting point for your journey located under the primer (see link below). The primer is authored by a member physician who carries two copies of the apoe-ε4 allele, the primer thread offers accessible science background and prioritized, sensible preventative measures.

Wishing you and your family the best.

Kind Regard,
Sara

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1418

ps... I didn't see it mentioned in your post but assume you are familiar with Dr. Bredesen's new book The End of Alzheimer's?

Thank you all for your advice.
@Sara: yes I've got Dr. Bredesen's book and it answered many of my questions. I feel pretty confident on implementing a ketogenic diet. (even though this will be a big change for my parents who have been following a vegetarian diet with a lot of grains and no eggs the last twenty years. My mom has not totally bought in yet). Then I will have his general practitioner do all the laboratory tests recommended in the book and see where he is out of range. On the other hand I have no clue how to identify what type 1,2,3 of Alzheimer's he has and how the treatment differ based on that knoledge. Would you recommend we get his Apoe allele tested and how does it affect the treatment?
Kind regards,
Andrea

Andrea, have you read the book? Chapter six very specifically details the characteristics of each type. As a scientist, my guess is that you'd have no problem putting the pieces together if you have some basic biomarkers. Many/most of us are not working with Bredesen practitioners and still doing our best to roughly practice the protocol.

Welcome, Andrea. You may have noticed that the Reversing Cognitive Decline Advanced Clinical Training in December has a Live Stream option (under "How to Access"). I did this exact course September 9-10 (when it was presented in Dallas), but live-streamed it completely on my computer from home.

It's the exact course, you are just getting everything on your computer at home, but you are also able to interact in real time with everyone else who is attending by live stream. They encourage attendees to form connections with other attendees, that continue after the conference, and there were participants from several countries who were live-streaming. (You can download an App, check that you want to participate, and see the list of the other attendees who have opted in, and where they are from.)

A couple of weeks before the course, you receive a great deal of advance information. (Literally, about a thousand pages., along with some videos.) Four weeks after you attend, you receive the recordings of all the lectures, and (I think) transcripts. Immediately after the course, you receive free (30-day) access to the entire IFM repository of materials (which you may download and keep).

I found live streaming to be an excellent option.

" We’re a group of ordinary men and women, from all over the world " in https://www.apoe4.info/wp/our-story/
Who are they ? Where ?