New Apoe4 couple

[Tiene]

A few weeks ago I found out that I 'm an E3/4 and decided to everything possible for not getting AD. My mother has AD, so I think she's E4 too. My husband received his genetic report today. He also is E3/4. I had not expected that as there is no known AD in his family, his grandmother lived until 100 without a trace of AD. It might have helped that they were/are Spanish (like my husband) and ate a healthy mediterranean diet. That gives me hope!
I feel very lucky that I found this website, it just what I was looking for; lots of information, nice and intelligent people, and lots of good advice and experience. Thank you all very much!

BTW; I'm not native in English, please excuse any mistakes. We live on the other side of the Atlantic, in Europe, in The Netherlands to be precise.

Tiene
E3/4

[Stavia]

Welcome Tiene and husband, and please dont apologize, your English is excellent.
We look forward to your contribution to our discussions.

[Nancy]

Welcome Tiene! We are so glad to have you aboard. No worries about the language situation. You seem to communicate very well! I know this is all probably a bit scary, but being apoe4 is not a guarantee for AD. You have come to the right place to learn stategies to avoid it. Yes, your husband's parents' eating habits most likely kept them from having the high risk problems associated with the apoe4 allele. The science is starting to show that certain diets/lifestyles combined with the gene is what causes problems. Have you read through Stavia's Primer yet for newcomers? That would be a great place to start.

[MAC]

Welcome aboard Tiene! I just joined recently having become aware of my E3/4 status, and have learned a ton (kilo LOL) from this wonderful group of people on this forum.

I was a bit skeptical at 1st re trying to avoid what I thought was a predisposed genetic freight train coming my way, but I have now come around to believing diet/lifestyle CAN make a preventative, non-pharma intervention impact on this disease.

Re the Spain/healthy analog, my parents were both southern European immigrants until their early 20's, and I know for CERTAIN they ate a very strong mediterranean diet prior to coming to North America. My mom and dad, now 75, have AD and PD, respectively (noting the majority of their lives lived in Canada). Although they continued to eat a relatively strong mediterranean diet (I grew up with it), of course there were Western digressions, but I would say mainly towards excessive caloric intake (carbs, red meats, dairy, some processed foods) given the bounty of North America. My mom in middle age, also lived a relatively sedentary and non-social lifestyle (again, bad hallmarks for AD), whereas my dad, who was a house painter, was exposed to CONSTANT toxicity present in the old oil based toxic paints of the 60's/70's/80's (I could not stomach an open can, and he inhaled it 8 hrs/day), which many now believe are strong risk factors for PD (again, environmental impact).

I think this forum is a very positive energy, and a wake up call to take proactive control our destiny.

[ru442]

Welcome Tiene,

Please read the Goddess Stavia's primer, it's the best place to start and getting a handle on your status as APOE:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1418

Some folks here start slowly which is fine, take baby steps if you need to, it can be a drastic change in lifestyle and the last thing you want to do is stress yourself.

Keep us posted and others will chime in with their thoughts and suggestions.

RU

[MAC]

Tiene,

e4 (e2/e4, e3/e4, e4/4) frequency in "Europe" can be as high as 25%:

https://www.23andme.com/en-gb/health/i_ ... echreport/

Although, when I search for country specific rates, other data shows mediterranean country E4 rates of 10-15%:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 301.x/epdf

(btw, Sardinians have the highest % of Centenarians per capita, and show an E4 rate of 5% in the link above, lowest in the table...hmmm)

And if I have my facts straight, only about 40-65% of AD confirmed persons are E4 (I have seen data as low as 25%)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolipoprotein_E

So having an E4 allele dosen't guarantee or extrapolate to anything of certainty, forward or backward.

[Starfish77]

Welcome Tiene,
It is interesting both you and your husband both have the same e3/e4 status. Having two people following similar health guidelines makes it easier. You communicate very well in English. I is so great that we have people joining the forum from all over the world. We are happy to have you with us.
Starfish e4/e4 79

[SusanJ]

Tiene, we're glad you and your husband found us! Your English is great, so no worries!

So sorry to hear about your mother. I'm also 3/4 and my dad had Alzheimer's, so I know well the motivation to do everything I can to avoid the same fate. Hugs.

[Ruth]

Welcome, Tiene! Thank you for joining our forum.

[TheresaB]

Welcome Tienne,

I, too, am part of an ApoE4 couple. My husband, GeorgeN, is a 3/4, his mother had dementia. He tested before me when we were dating at the time. I thought I’d be supportive so I tested too, although I felt it wouldn’t be an issue for me, since the only family history was my grandmother who didn’t develop dementia until her 90s. Turns out I’m a 4/4.

But this knowledge has been a blessing for both of us. We are now pursuing lifestyle strategies to prevent cognitive issues, supporting each other, talking about new findings together, and eating the same diet together.

I hope you and your husband can form a similar E4 partnership, it really does make things easier.

I wish I knew something in Dutch, but I don’t. I know it is similar to German, so Wilkommen. I’m learning German on the internet. It’s one of my strategies to keep my mind active in learning new things.