Newbie 4/4 trying to stay positive!

Newcomer introductions, personal anecdotes, caregiver issues, lab results, and n=1 experimentation.
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thehappygeek
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Newbie 4/4 trying to stay positive!

Post by thehappygeek »

Hello everyone, I am new here having discovered by APOE 4/4 status a couple of days ago. Yesterday I was down in the dumps and totally depressed about it all but I have had a word with myself and now I am going to be positive and focus on the good and try to continue to prevent LOAD. I just have a few questions...

My Heritage is the company which gave me the results for APOE 4/4. Should I do another test to confirm for sure? Or will this be accurate?

I also ran my raw data from My Heritage through Promethease yesterday which came up with a few other interesting bits of DNA. I think I found a few positives. If anyone knows anymore about them that would be greatly appreciated.

rs1799990 AG - resistance to vCJD, 4.6x reduced risk of Sporadic CJD and 0.87x reduced risk for LOAD.

rs10468017 CT - associated with higher HDL cholesterol

rs1061325 - two copies of 'farmer' CLTCL 1 gene variant - wasn't sure on this one because it seems to say that it means I am good at breaking down carbohydrates but also could potentially lead to insulin resistance?!

rs10936599 CC - this one just said 'longer telomeres, longer life?'

rs174537 TT - lower LDL-C and total cholesterol

rs4149268 AG - associated with higher HDL cholesterol

rs8164163 AG - associated with higher HDL cholesterol

rs261332 AG - associated with higher HDL cholesterol

rs4939883 CT - associated with higher HDL cholesterol

rs610932 AC - this was labelled as 'green' for good but didn't really say much. Just said it had some connection to AD.

rs2149954 AG - slight association with longer life (longevity)

In terms of prevention... I have been reading up lots on things which help...

Gain as high an education as possible in young age - I could read and write at 2 years old, was privately educated, gained two degrees and a professional qualification in my line of work. I would like to think I have that one covered!

Healthy diet / weight etc - I'm 5ft 3 and 8 stone 12ish so am a healthy weight. I eat freshly cooked meals at least 5 days of the week. I do like cake though... do I need to cut this out? Or would a slice or two a week matter if the rest of my diet is healthy?! Would love to know this.

Exercise - I walk my dog for around an hour a day. Guess I could do more than that?! I don't have an office job which is good.

Being social - I mean, thanks Covid! Was relatively sociable before that.

Any more suggestions would be most welcome!

Also, does anyone know how APOE4 status affects fertility? We have been casually TTC since January so would be interested to know. Unless you have horror stories.... I don't want horror stories.

Also would be really nice to hear of "old" people who are APOE 4/4 and doing great!

Thanks everyone xox
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floramaria
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Re: Newbie 4/4 trying to stay positive!

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thehappygeek wrote:Hello everyone, I am new here having discovered by APOE 4/4 status a couple of days ago.
I don’t know much about genetics, but reading through what you found on Promethease,
it sounds like you do have some protective genes. I especially like the “longer telemeres, longer life” SNP! That one seems like an excellent one to have.
There are plenty of old people with your ApoE4 status who are doing great. You’ll come across many encouraging and inspiring stories as you read more posts on the Forums. We have a female ApoE4/4 member, Starfish, who is in her 80’s and doing well.

Your cake question is open to interpretation. Maybe you are talking about a grain-free sugar-free low carb cake. Such things do exist! I may be wrong but I am guessing you are talking about a standard “cake”. My personal opinion is that you probably do best to cut it out completely at least long enough for your taste buds to become unaccustomed to such concentrated sweetness. Once or twice a week is a lot. I am basing this on my own experience with giving up most desserts, including cake, cookies, cobblers, and pies, all of which I ate regularly. At some point after not eating sweets for many months, or maybe a year, I was at a party where there was a delicious looking chocolate cake. I thought “ I’ll just have a small piece” and cut a slice and put it on my plate. But I couldn’t eat it. It was so cloyingly sweet that it didn’t taste good to me at all. I had no desire to eat it.
That said, I do occasionally make some desserts now, but they are a far cry from what I used to make. My taste buds have changed. For the rare times I bake, the sweeteners I use are low calorie low glycemic index like Lakanto monk fruit sweetener. And even then I cut down to half or even a third what is recommended.
I have always been active and maintained a normal weight, but when I was eating cakes and cookies regularly my doctor and I were both surprised to find that my Hba1c but me in pre-diabetic range. Now that I have cut out baked goods except for a rare treat, my Hba1c is fine.
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thehappygeek
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Re: Newbie 4/4 trying to stay positive!

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floramaria wrote:
thehappygeek wrote:Hello everyone, I am new here having discovered by APOE 4/4 status a couple of days ago.
I don’t know much about genetics, but reading through what you found on Promethease,
it sounds like you do have some protective genes. I especially like the “longer telemeres, longer life” SNP! That one seems like an excellent one to have.
There are plenty of old people with your ApoE4 status who are doing great. You’ll come across many encouraging and inspiring stories as you read more posts on the Forums. We have a female ApoE4/4 member, Starfish, who is in her 80’s and doing well.

Your cake question is open to interpretation. Maybe you are talking about a grain-free sugar-free low carb cake. Such things do exist! I may be wrong but I am guessing you are talking about a standard “cake”. My personal opinion is that you probably do best to cut it out completely at least long enough for your taste buds to become unaccustomed to such concentrated sweetness. Once or twice a week is a lot. I am basing this on my own experience with giving up most desserts, including cake, cookies, cobblers, and pies, all of which I ate regularly. At some point after not eating sweets for many months, or maybe a year, I was at a party where there was a delicious looking chocolate cake. I thought “ I’ll just have a small piece” and cut a slice and put it on my plate. But I couldn’t eat it. It was so cloyingly sweet that it didn’t taste good to me at all. I had no desire to eat it.
That said, I do occasionally make some desserts now, but they are a far cry from what I used to make. My taste buds have changed. For the rare times I bake, the sweeteners I use are low calorie low glycemic index like Lakanto monk fruit sweetener. And even then I cut down to half or even a third what is recommended.
I have always been active and maintained a normal weight, but when I was eating cakes and cookies regularly my doctor and I were both surprised to find that my Hba1c but me in pre-diabetic range. Now that I have cut out baked goods except for a rare treat, my Hba1c is fine.
Thank you! That’s interesting to note. My Gran was pre-diabetic actually (she’s 87 today and in good health - no AD) but she has managed to get back to a normal range now. She does love cake too though! I’m not aware of anyone else’s status in the family. My grandfather is 88 and no AD.

My other grandmother (aged 90) has AD and vascular dementia but that didn’t start until she was around 83/4ish. She had a terrible diet of deep fried chips etc. And her husband was a heavy smoker. She never did any real exercise and spent the last 20 years of her life sat on the sofa waiting to die! She never did much after my grandfather died.

Hoping even though I am 4/4 my old and generally good health grandparents (obviously not including the one with dementia) might give me some good genes too!
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floramaria
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Re: Newbie 4/4 trying to stay positive!

Post by floramaria »

thehappygeek wrote:
Thank you! That’s interesting to note. My Gran was pre-diabetic actually (she’s 87 today and in good health - no AD) but she has managed to get back to a normal range now. She does love cake too though! I’m not aware of anyone else’s status in the family. My grandfather is 88 and no AD.

My other grandmother (aged 90) has AD and vascular dementia but that didn’t start until she was around 83/4ish. She had a terrible diet of deep fried chips etc. And her husband was a heavy smoker. She never did any real exercise and spent the last 20 years of her life sat on the sofa waiting to die! She never did much after my grandfather died.

Hoping even though I am 4/4 my old and generally good health grandparents (obviously not including the one with dementia) might give me some good genes too!
Well, thehappygeek, it does sound like you might have inherited some some protective genes. My dad is now 101 and going strong. Though he is now losing a bit of his cognitive sharpness and complains that he is more forgetful than he used to be, he is still mananging very well; and he always reminds me, "you inherited half of your genes from me," which is somewhat comforting since on my mother's side all the women for generations have had AD. I'm not relying on my dad's good genes to carry me through though. Maybe I would have if I hadn't begun to have worrisome symptoms myself, problems that he never had but that were reminiscent of my mother's early cognitive decline.
You are still young enough that you have more leeway than someone like me, decades older and edging closer to the age when my mother developed AD. Of course, it is never too young to put healthy habits in place, but you have time to make those changes. You might want to check your own Hba1c and let that be a guide to how much you can get away with!
Avoiding insulin resistance is important at any age.
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IFM/ Bredesen Training in Reversing Cognitive Decline (March 2017)
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thehappygeek
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Re: Newbie 4/4 trying to stay positive!

Post by thehappygeek »

floramaria wrote:
thehappygeek wrote:
Thank you! That’s interesting to note. My Gran was pre-diabetic actually (she’s 87 today and in good health - no AD) but she has managed to get back to a normal range now. She does love cake too though! I’m not aware of anyone else’s status in the family. My grandfather is 88 and no AD.

My other grandmother (aged 90) has AD and vascular dementia but that didn’t start until she was around 83/4ish. She had a terrible diet of deep fried chips etc. And her husband was a heavy smoker. She never did any real exercise and spent the last 20 years of her life sat on the sofa waiting to die! She never did much after my grandfather died.

Hoping even though I am 4/4 my old and generally good health grandparents (obviously not including the one with dementia) might give me some good genes too!
Well, thehappygeek, it does sound like you might have inherited some some protective genes. My dad is now 101 and going strong. Though he is now losing a bit of his cognitive sharpness and complains that he is more forgetful than he used to be, he is still mananging very well; and he always reminds me, "you inherited half of your genes from me," which is somewhat comforting since on my mother's side all the women for generations have had AD. I'm not relying on my dad's good genes to carry me through though. Maybe I would have if I hadn't begun to have worrisome symptoms myself, problems that he never had but that were reminiscent of my mother's early cognitive decline.
You are still young enough that you have more leeway than someone like me, decades older and edging closer to the age when my mother developed AD. Of course, it is never too young to put healthy habits in place, but you have time to make those changes. You might want to check your own Hba1c and let that be a guide to how much you can get away with!
Avoiding insulin resistance is important at any age.
That’s good to know your dad is doing well. A grand age too!

I think you’re right. I already try to be healthy where possible, but I think yearly tests for cholesterol, blood sugar etc might be a good idea for me. I always have found it strange that we service and MOT our cars but not our bodies!
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