How advance is advance and which Bredesen Program is best

[scocchia]

Hello,
I am new to this great group/website. I see a lot of great resources here and will take me a while to explore fully.
I have a couple of questions to start:
Hello,
I have family history of Alzheimer’s. My mom started showing signs of cognitive decline about 15 years ago and soon after had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She is now in a very advanced stage and needs assistance with everything she does, spending most of her time in bed and not able to talk, eat or walk (not even sure she recognizes family anymore).
I am experiencing some “initial” memory problems myself with at times not remembering names, having to think harder to do things or feeling like things are harder than what they actually are, occasional brain fog, loosing line of thought or having to read again same sentence to fully understand it because of difficulty to concentrate, missing appointments, not finding the right words, etc. Symptoms are only occasional for now and during some periods I feel better better than others.
I started reading a lot and implementing some general rules of thumbs about Bredesen Protocol and was wondering if the REVERSE program could be beneficial for my poor mom or her stage is too advanced.
As for myself I was wondering which of the programs would be better to “prevent”. And are the Recode or Reverse programs implementable on my own or do I need a Doctor? If I do, I am not aware of anybody assisting with the protocol in Honolulu, Hawaiian island of Oahu (there is somebody on another island). Can doctors assist remotely? I leave in Honolulu and my mom in Italy with my brothers (any doctor there)?
Thanks in advance for the answers.
Sergio

Sent from my iPhone

[DebS]

Hi Sergio,

Welcome, and thank you for sharing your story with us. I am so sorry to hear about your mom and also about your own experience. As you have suggested, this community is a wonderful resource. Please do give yourself time to digest the information you will find here. You may want to start with our list of basic strategies and this guide. Regarding your question about local practitioners, you may want to take a look at our list of ApoE4-Aware Healthcare Practitioners.

Wishing you and your mom the best of health!

[TheresaB]

I started reading a lot and implementing some general rules of thumbs about Bredesen Protocol and was wondering if the REVERSE program could be beneficial for my poor mom or her stage is too advanced.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I am not familiar with the REVERSE program, I’d be interested in hearing more about it if you have the time to elaborate. I do know it seems there is a point of no return when too many brain cells have died due to lack of energy source and exposure to oxidizing agents, but it’s hard to say where that point is.

You didn’t say if you are ApoE4 positive or not, but having family history, particularly maternal family history is concerning because mitochondrial DNA is passed through maternal lines which seems to predispose to reduced brain glucose metabolism caused by brain insulin resistance.

I would venture to guess that most of the members here are not on the Bredesen protocol as directed by a Bredesen practioner, that most are here for prevention purposes or early reversal having learned their genetic predisposition. Many of us are self directed. We’ve read the Primer, we've read areas of interest in the wiki, we've read Dr Bredesen's work as well as the work or listened to podcasts of others focusing not just on Alzheimer's researchers, but experts in related fields as well, we ask questions in these forums, and follow lifestyle recommendations addressing diet, exercise, stress and sleep accordingly.

Some of us have found a good functional doctor to work with, one who will pull biomarker tests and work at getting to the root cause of problems and returning to a healthful condition vs just writing a prescription for symptoms. Sometimes this means educating that doctor on peculiarities of the ApoE4 allele and/or Dr Bredesen’s Protocol, but a good functional doctor should be open to learning.

If you feel you do need guidance/support, as DebS provided above, we do have a list of practitioners in the wiki, we also have a list of health coachesApoE4 -Aware Health Coaches. Both lists cite whether or not they will consult remotely.

[NF52]

Hello,
... My mom started showing signs of cognitive decline about 15 years ago and soon after had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She is now in a very advanced stage and needs assistance with everything she does, spending most of her time in bed and not able to talk, eat or walk (not even sure she recognizes family anymore)....I started reading a lot and implementing some general rules of thumbs about Bredesen Protocol and was wondering if the REVERSE program could be beneficial for my poor mom or her stage is too advanced....
Sergio

Welcome, Sergio,
Please know that many people here wish they could relieve the deep sadness and losses you, your brothers and your extended family have already experienced with your mother's disease in the last 15 years. Many of us have walked a similar path with loved ones, even though each person's experience is unique. So while none of us can predict the future, or diagnose your mother, I do think your question: if anything could be beneficial for your poor mom, is an important one. Sadly, although there is much scientists are still learning about Alzheimer's and other dementias, they do know much about the course of the disease. A diagnosis of "advanced" Alzheimer's is described this way by the National Institute on Aging, the division of the National Institute of Health that provides the majority of U.S. federal funding for Alzheimer's research:

How Does Alzheimer’s Disease Affect the Brain?
... In Alzheimer’s disease...damage is widespread, as many neurons stop functioning, lose connections with other neurons, and die. Alzheimer’s disrupts processes vital to neurons and their networks, including communication, metabolism, and repair.
... It later affects areas in the cerebral cortex responsible for language, reasoning, and social behavior. Eventually, many other areas of the brain are damaged. Over time, a person with Alzheimer’s gradually loses his or her ability to live and function independently.

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-hap ... rs-disease

Your mother has survived for 15 years with a complex disease thanks to the loving care of her entire family. Now the disease has taken a toll and it's likely that many areas of her brain are no longer able to communicate with each other. Dr. Bredesen recently published a paper on the results of his protocol being used on 100 patients by a dozen or so doctors trained in how to personalize to individuals. From looking at the data on those who tested lowest on scores of cognition (which would have required them to still be able to talk), it appears that they did not show meaningful changes in later testing, although some showed some functional improvements in daily care and engagement with family. Reversal of Cognitive Decline: 100 Patients

Your mom now may respond most to those feelings and experiences that are central to our sense of safety, security and love: touch, warmth, music, a massage to make aching joints feel better, the voices of grandchildren, the feel of the Italian son on her face, the reassurance that her family loves and cherishes her.

As for yourself, my friend, it is possible that the stress of your mom's illness is causing you to forget those appointments, lose your place in books and forget people's names. Sleeping poorly itself can do all of that. Rather than make a decision quickly on either ReCODE or ReVERSE, you may want to talk to your doctor about doing a few labs to begin with that your insurance will cover and then give yourself a few months to address issues of sleep, exercise, diet and a few strategies that Dr. Stavia focuses on in the Primer that our health coach intern DebS noted. For tips on quoting people so they see your reply, searching for topics, etc., this is an easy resource: "How-To" Get the most out of the ApoE4.info website

Please know that you and your mom are in our thoughts.

[Walnut]

Dr. Bredesen recently published a paper on the results of his protocol being used on 100 patients by a dozen or so doctors trained in how to personalize to individuals. From looking at the data on those who tested lowest on scores of cognition (which would have required them to still be able to talk), it appears that they did not show meaningful changes in later testing, although some showed some functional improvements in daily care and engagement with family. Reversal of Cognitive Decline: 100 Patients

Thank you so much for this link. It gives me so much hope for my dad.