Just Discovered Dale Bredesen

Newcomer introductions, personal anecdotes, caregiver issues, lab results, and n=1 experimentation.
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Tootsie
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Just Discovered Dale Bredesen

Post by Tootsie »

Hi everyone, I posted the message below in the welcome area, but I thought I'd copy it here and also update you:

Hello everyone. I'm from the UK and very glad to have found this forum. I'm 53 and we lost my Mum to vascular dementia a couple of years ago at age 85. Really she had been in cognitive decline since around age 70 and I've been living with a low grade fear that I may face the same fate.

I'm involved in the Action for Happiness movement, and recently watched one of their talks by Dr Rangan Chaterjee, a supporter of the lifestyle as medicine approach for complex and chronic conditions. He briefly mentioned Dr Bredesen's work and when he said that cognitive decline was both preventable and reversible, a huge neon lightbulb went on and I had to rewind and re-listen. Oh my goodness! I just knew that this tiny piece of information was going to be very, very important to me.

I'm reading Dr Bredesen's books at the moment, and trying very hard not to dive down the rabbit hole! It is complex and there's a huge amount of information to take in. I've been lucky enough to enjoy good health thus far and when we talk about knowing our numbers.....I literally couldn't quote one! (maybe BMI/weight but that's it..) I have no idea about my genetic profile, but I may well consider testing at some point.

So I guess I'm just working through the huge amount of information and will start to come up with a plan to at least know some basic numbers and start from there. My guess would be that in the UK, most GPs wouldn't really be resourced or feel able to support this - particularly at the moment - so I'd be looking at commercial test providers and maybe a little home kit too.

I'll read on and keep learning, but Hello to you all and I'm grateful for you already! My best wishes and may you all be happy and healthy xx
Tootsie
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Re: Just Discovered Dale Bredesen

Post by Tootsie »

My blood glucose testing kit arrived this week and I've taken a couple of fasting glucose tests. One was 5.4 (98) and the other 5.1 (92.)

I was a little concerned about the first result and more reassured by the second. I'll take a couple more in coming days to see how much they vary. A quick question...the fasting insulin test seems to be much more difficult to arrange in the UK. If your fasting glucose levels are okay (I'll monitor over time of course) is it worth exploring that one still?

I'm still reading Dr Bredesen's 'programme' book - lots to take in! I bought a notebook, which I'm calling my 'brain book' and I'm jotting down any notes from reading, results etc. I'm also making some diet and exercise adjustments - nothing too radical as I want the changes to be sustainable..

One of the things I've realised is I'm pretty reliant on carbs (I'm a vegetarian btw) so that's an area I'm looking at. Breakfast and lunch are fine - I love a 'super salad' for lunch....so it's more dinners. I need to change my repertoire there....

Anyway, just some early progress and I'm feeling highly motivated...I'll keep you posted as time goes on too xx
Quantifier
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Re: Just Discovered Dale Bredesen

Post by Quantifier »

Hello Tootsie! From a fellow recent-joiner (though I have been easing myself into the Bredesen-recommended lifestyle for a while now).
Tootsie wrote:My blood glucose testing kit arrived this week and I've taken a couple of fasting glucose tests. One was 5.4 (98) and the other 5.1 (92.)

I was a little concerned about the first result and more reassured by the second. I'll take a couple more in coming days to see how much they vary. A quick question...the fasting insulin test seems to be much more difficult to arrange in the UK. If your fasting glucose levels are okay (I'll monitor over time of course) is it worth exploring that one still?
Fasting insulin tends to diverge from the normal levels before fasting glucose starts being consistently high, but doctors usually only test it after seeing high fasting glucose. I'm not sure why that is so, might be a more expensive test? (Because it needs to be a lot more sensitive - blood glucose is in the mM range, insulin is in less than nM range.) Even if you can't get a test for fasting insulin, try getting a test for hemoglobin glycation - that is % of your hemoglobin that has sugars bound to it - known as HbA1C test. This one reflects how much the proteins in your blood have been exposed to high sugar levels over the last few months - it is not affected by your levels just being randomly high on a single day but on your general trend.

Also, from my reading of the medical literature, even with fasting glucose levels that are considered healthy in the sense of 'not at immediate risk for diabetes' being lower within the healthy range correlates with better memory performance.
I'm still reading Dr Bredesen's 'programme' book - lots to take in! I bought a notebook, which I'm calling my 'brain book' and I'm jotting down any notes from reading, results etc. I'm also making some diet and exercise adjustments - nothing too radical as I want the changes to be sustainable..
I also found this to be a good approach. Starting well before cognitive symptoms are serious or even exist at all allows you to experiment and find what works for you.
One of the things I've realised is I'm pretty reliant on carbs (I'm a vegetarian btw) so that's an area I'm looking at. Breakfast and lunch are fine - I love a 'super salad' for lunch....so it's more dinners. I need to change my repertoire there....
As a fellow vegetarian, just keep trying and experimenting! I recently started measuring both glucose and ketones (beta hydroxybutirate) in the mornings. I found that even a small change in carbs in the evening increases my ketones in the morning. In my case it was not eating a fruit after dinner.

Keep up the good work!
Tootsie
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Re: Just Discovered Dale Bredesen

Post by Tootsie »

Thanks so much Quantifier, I'll have a look at the HbA1C testing option too and that's interesting about your ketones - I haven't started on those yet, but they are definitely in mind as I go along.

I've been taking daily fasting glucose readings for 5 consecutive days now, along with eating healthily and reducing my carb/upping my healthy fat intake. My fasting glucose readings have ranged from 85 to 105 in recent days - so, not super high but definitely room for improvement there and I'll keep monitoring that one.

I don't find the fasting aspect particularly difficult. I would routinely have 12 hours, but I'm upping that to closer to 14 - finishing dinner etc. by 7pm and not having breakfast until around 9am. That one feels like a relatively easy win for me...unlike reducing carbs, which is definitely a challenge!

I'm reading book no. 1 now (I started back to front with book no. 2) and I was worried that the first book might read like more of the same, but it's very readable actually. I'm building up to a house move very shortly, so I'll carry on as I am for now and then pick up on some more testing once I'm in and my finances have settled down a little.

Warm wishes to you all from the UK xx
Quantifier
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Re: Just Discovered Dale Bredesen

Post by Quantifier »

Tootsie wrote:I don't find the fasting aspect particularly difficult. I would routinely have 12 hours, but I'm upping that to closer to 14 - finishing dinner etc. by 7pm and not having breakfast until around 9am. That one feels like a relatively easy win for me...unlike reducing carbs, which is definitely a challenge!

I'm reading book no. 1 now (I started back to front with book no. 2) and I was worried that the first book might read like more of the same, but it's very readable actually. I'm building up to a house move very shortly, so I'll carry on as I am for now and then pick up on some more testing once I'm in and my finances have settled down a little.

Warm wishes to you all from the UK xx
Looks like you have a plan!

Fasting did turn out to be much easier than expected for me too.

I don't know which carbs are the most challenging for you. In my case it was giving up the sweet stuff - I kept substituting with a healthier version, but it took really doing away with it all (except for a single serving of fruit after lunch) to finally stop the temptation of sweet foods. I went from quite a lot of foods with added sugars (breakfast cereals, granola etc) to dried fruit to lots of fresh fruit to just one fruit. Oh and a square of very dark chocolate maybe once or twice a week. I am amazed that it can sit in the closet, and I know it is there, but I can go days without touching it.

Take it easy during this time in your life!
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