Karma on a Fork: Diet and Alzheimer’s

Mom, 2008, South Fort Myers, Florida.

My parents (mother and stepfather) drove all the way to Florida to visit for the first time. They discovered Love Boat Ice Cream a few miles from my place.

I love this picture with her wide smile and big honking scoop of orange pineapple in – what else – waffle cone. It’s nearly as big as her head.

November 2014, Utica, Michigan. The light was leaving her eyes.

It was the first time she didn’t know who I was. She did remember to smile for a camera. It was her only smile on the great occasion of his 90th birthday. Family gathered, but she didn’t remember anyone but my stepbrother and her sister.

This week my stepfather told me she sits on the lawn pulling grass. For hours. There are great bald patches. He can’t get her to come in. My grandmother did the same thing.

He said she’s dirty and covered with mosquito bites. She no longer bathes; he continues to refuse assistance of any kind.

My mother was … yes, past tense; she was a person who consumed a diet of sugar, grains and baked goods. She said “I’m vegetarian except for bacon.” (And burgers, steaks …)

She took long walks most every day, but was mostly antisocial. Then she got to the point that she no longer cared to figure anything out. Forgot how to send an email.

It grabbed her by both ankles and pulled her down. She drowned without a fight.

She believed Alzheimer’s would not happen to her, could not happen to her. It had happened to her mother, but her mother was (in her eyes) weak and stupid. She deserved it.

Nobody deserves it.

Christmas in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, 2009.

That’s me on the right, puffy, yellow and miserable. It wasn’t my chronic Lyme disease, it was something else; unbearable bloat. What was making me so SICK? Their high sugar, high gluten, sausage, sandwich and donuts lifestyle.

June, 2015; older and wiser. 

I didn’t know to connect the dots until the past few years. Thank you Dr. Davis of Wheat Belly and Dr. Perlmutter of Grain Brain. If their recommendations can heal the body, how can they fail to help preserve the brain?

I take it a little further; I find choosing, buying and eating with awareness soothes my conscience.

It’s karma on a fork. 

Compare organic farms where land and livestock are honored vs. factory farms where animals are shit and Profit is God. We vote for or against their inhumane behaviors with our grocery dollars.

My diet today is low carb, gluten/grain free, sugar free vegetarian. I eat organic vegetables, wild caught salmon and eggs from free-range chickens vs. pale sick birds that never see sunlight. No soul need suffer for me to survive!

Karma by the spoonful.

Did you know sugar is killing the Everglades?

“Sugarcane is grown primarily in the tropics and subtropics. In the United States, sugarcane is grown commercially in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Hawaii.”  http://tinyurl.com/p4oq6ko

  

I am less than one mile from the Caloosahatchee river. These releases are destroying our waters, marine life and tourist economy. Dolphins and pilot whales die on our beaches.

If you own property here, you should be very concerned.

“With wealthy sugar polluters running the show in Tallahassee, it sometimes seems hopeless to stop them from slowly killing our coasts and destroying the Everglades.”
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-ed-everglades-big-sugar-040115-20150331-story.html

My Environmental Activists of SW Florida page on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/SWFLEnvironmentalActivists

Is a conscientious, karma-friendly diet expensive?

Not at all; because your starving body is finally getting nutrition! Cravings go away and you need less food. Dr. Mercola summarizes the basics.

“Two key instructions are:

Avoid processed foods of all kinds, as they contain a number of ingredients harmful to your brain, including refined sugar, processed fructose, grains (particularly gluten), genetically engineered (GE) ingredients, and pesticides like glyphosate (an herbicide thought to be worse than DDT, and DDT has already been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s)

Optimize your gut flora by avoiding processed foods (sugar, GE ingredients, pesticides and various food additives all discourage healthy bacteria in your gut), antibiotics and antibacterial products, fluoridated and chlorinated water, and by regularly eating traditionally fermented and cultured foods, along with a high quality probiotic if needed.

http://tinyurl.com/no2fae9

WHEAT BELLY
Here’s a link to Dr. Davis’ most recent book:
http://tinyurl.com/o7wky85

GRAIN BRAIN
And a link to Dr. Perlmutter’s book.
http://tinyurl.com/qeuqk85

I also have a Facebook page named “The Gluten Free Vegetarian.”
It sounds impossible but it’s not.
https://www.facebook.com/defeatfrankenwheat

You can friend me on Facebook at mickisuzanne
https://www.facebook.com/mickisuzanne

Reducing Your Risk for Dementia Through Diet – Mercola interviews Perlmutter

Dr. Mercola always buries the very topic you’ve come to read. (Hate that.) Today the email subject line was “Fearful of Alzheimer’s? Then avoid this.”  You arrive to scroll and find a 25 minute interview with Dr. Perlmutter, the author of Grain Brain. I must tell you from personal experience, Dr. Davis’ book Wheat Belly changed my life. (And my wardrobe.)

It’s an unpleasant truth but gluten is absolutely a health issue, please learn about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t65F26xZUBU

Here’s a link to the whole article. http://tinyurl.com/n3ykkbw

If you want to cut to the chase, this is the bare bones summary I wanted:

Since there’s no conventional cure for dementia, the issue of prevention is absolutely critical. Evidence points to lifestyle factors as the driving forces behind dementia, and fat avoidance and carbohydrate overconsumption are at the heart of it, as Dr. Perlmutter discusses in the interview above. The following list of basic nutritional strategies will help keep your brain healthy as you age:

1. Avoid sugar and refined fructose. Ideally, you’ll want to keep your sugar levels to a minimum, with your total fructose below 25 grams per day, or as low as 15 grams per day if you have insulin/leptin resistance. Avoid all artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame, which studies have linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
2. Avoid gluten and casein (primarily wheat and pasteurized dairy, but not dairy fat, such as butter). Research shows that gluten adversely affects your blood-brain barrier and makes your gut more permeable, which promotes inflammation and immune dysfunction, and both of these are believed to play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
3. Optimize your gut flora by regularly eating fermented foods.
4. Increase consumption of healthy fats, including animal-based omega-3 fats. Make sure you’re getting enough omega-3 fats, such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines, and krill oil, which helps protect your brain.
5. Reduce your overall calorie consumption, and/or fast intermittently. Intermittent fasting is a powerful tool to jumpstart your body into remembering how to burn fat and repair the insulin/leptin resistance that’s a primary factor in the development of Alzheimer’s.
6. Improve your magnesium level. Preliminary research suggests increased magnesium levels in the brain may result in decreased Alzheimer’s symptoms. Unfortunately, most magnesium supplements do not cross the blood-brain barrier, but magnesium threonate appears to cross so it may be superior to other forms.
7. Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate and zinc. Without question, fresh vegetables are the best form of folate. Avoid taking a folic acid supplement, which is the inferior and synthetic version of folate. Research suggests zinc deficiency can contribute to Alzheimer’s by promoting the accumulation of defective proteins in your brain, which is one of the hallmarks of the disease.
8. Avoid environmental toxins and chemicals as much as possible. The rise in Alzheimer’s disease may be related to genetically engineered foods and how they’re grown; herbicides like glyphosate are mineral chelators, binding up important nutrients, such as zinc.

Other Lifestyle Guidelines That Help Protect Your Brain

Besides diet, there are a number of other lifestyle factors that affect your neurological health. To minimize your risk for developing dementia, make sure you address the following:

• Regular exercise AND minimize sitting. Exercise supports your brain by helping it produce new neurons, thereby helping prevent neural degeneration. Excess sitting is associated with an increased risk of many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurological illnesses. Stand up and walk as often as possible, with a goal of walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day.
• Get plenty of restorative sleep. Recent studies indicate that poor sleeping habits cause brain damage and may accelerate the onset of Alzheimer’s.
• Manage your stress. Researchers have found that nearly three out of four Alzheimer’s patients experienced severe emotional stress during the two years preceding their diagnosis. One of my favorite stress-busting tools is EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).
• Optimize your vitamin D levels with safe sun exposure. Keep your vitamin D level between 50-70 ng/ml, as there are strong links between insufficient vitamin D and Alzheimer’s disease. Vitamin D may enhance important chemicals in your brain, protecting your brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health. Vitamin D may also benefit dementia by its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties.
• Eliminate mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50 percent mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity. Once you’ve optimized your diet, consider implementing a mercury detox protocol and then finding a biological dentist to safely remove your amalgams.
• Eliminate aluminum from your body. Many people with Alzheimer’s are found to have high aluminum levels in their brain. Sources of aluminum include antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, vaccine adjuvants, etc.
• Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain mercury and aluminum, which are well-known neurotoxic and immunotoxic agents.
• Avoid drugs—especially anticholinergics, statins, and benzodiazepines. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.

Statin drugs are also problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of coenzyme Q10, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain. Studies show that adults who use benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, Ativan, etc.) for anxiety or insomnia are about 50 percent more likely to develop dementia, especially if used chronically.

• Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation—especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language—is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s.

An existing stroke medication may offer new hope for Alzheimer’s disease

Drug Discovery Yields New Hope for Alzheimer’s

Sharing an abbreviated version of this important article from Health Freedom Alliance.

“A drug that’s already being used to treat strokes could hold promise in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists from the University of South Australia and Third Military Medical University in China discovered that a drug called Edaravone could alleviate the progressive cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Available in some Asian countries, Edaravone is used to treat ischemic stroke, the most common kind that occurs due to blood clots.

When tested on mice, the drug improved functions of learning and memory by several different mechanisms, according to lead author Professor Xin-Fu Zhou of UniSA. He says the multi-faceted approach could be key in treating Alzheimer’s because several pathways require targeting to keep symptoms at bay.

It can also hinder production of amyloid beta, a series of amino acid peptides that play a key role in the progression of Alzheimer’s as the main component of the amyloid plaques that form in the afflicted brain.”

Read the whole article here:

Drug Discover Yields New Hope for Alzheimer’s
by Samantha Hemmingway
http://www.healthfreedoms.org/drug-discovery-yields-new-hope-for-alzheimers/

Personal update: In less than three years my mother has diminished from fully functioning to not knowing who I am.

Alzheimer’s memory loss reversed for first time

Princess relaxing in ‘the meditation chamber’

A friend shared this on my Facebook page – it’s from UCLA News:

Memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s reversed for first time
Small trial by UCLA and Buck Institute succeeds using ‘systems approach’ to memory disorders
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/memory-loss-associated-with-alzheimers-reversed-for-first-time

Excerpt …

Bredesen’s program includes:

• eliminating all simple carbohydrates, gluten and processed food from her diet, and eating more vegetables, fruits and non-farmed fish
• meditating twice a day and beginning yoga to reduce stress
• sleeping seven to eight hours per night, up from four to five
• taking melatonin, methylcobalamin, vitamin D3, fish oil and coenzyme Q10 each day
• optimizing oral hygiene using an electric flosser and electric toothbrush
• reinstating hormone replacement therapy, which had previously been discontinued
• fasting for a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for a minimum of three hours between dinner and bedtime
• exercising for a minimum of 30 minutes, four to six days per week

My friend asked for my opinion on the article. I responded:

“That is REALLY interesting, it’s a summary of many things I’ve noted while uninsured with #Lymedisease (including the dread ‘fog’) and in constant fear of #Alzheimer‘s – the family curse. You pay extreme attention to everything you eat and do to see how it affects mental and physical stamina.

I DO NOT understand why those people threw in the towel before they sought professional help or changed their lifestyles. IMO, that conscious decision to take the easy way out is the path to decline. When my mother started losing her memory a few years ago, I told her “the day you choose to stop ordering things on your computer is the day you begin to cut your lifelines.” She hung up on me, I’m sure she nearly broke the phone. She didn’t want to hear it. And now she’s gone. IN TWO YEARS.

The carb thing is a gluten thing – #Wheat Belly by Dr. Davis gave that clarity and started the ball rolling; he has a second version I need to buy. Then #GrainBrain by a doctor down here, associating gluten with mental decline. (My mother is the undisputed Queen of Simple Carbs – and her decline has been breathtaking. Two years from ‘normal’ to not knowing who I am.)

I’ve noticed the Lyme groups are telling people to get off gluten and simple carbs immediately.

I’m surprised there is no mention of coconut oil. I do so much detail work for a living, I know when I’m not taking enough. The difference is noticeable.

It also doesn’t talk about ‘a little weed.’ The studies appear to be solid.

Sleep – absolutely. Meditation, yoga – lifesavers. I have to check the vitamins … I need to repost this to my blog, thanks!”

Color it reposted.

Namaste …

Cure for Alzheimer’s could be available in 5 years

Mom with my son and family in happier times. Too late for her … maybe not for the rest of us.

Cure for Alzheimer’s closer
by James Chapman, Daily Mail

From 2/18/15
A treatment to reverse Alzheimer’s Disease could be available in five years, it has been revealed.

Experiments on mice have indicated that a new vaccine not only halts the advance of the disease, but repairs damage already done.

It could also be given to patients whose families have a history of Alzheimer’s, to prevent them developing the disease.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10539/Cure-Alzheimers-closer.html#ixzz3S7YOf7JX
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

 

Blood type a factor in memory loss?

Important quotes from the article …

Type AB Blood? You May Be More Prone to Memory Loss

“How sharp you are at age 65 may be tied to something totally out of your control: your blood type. And people with Type AB blood — the least common type — may face a particularly high risk of memory loss later in life, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology.

The researchers asked more than 1,000 people age 45 and older to perform cognitive and memory tests — learning and then recalling a list of 10 words, for example — and then took a blood sample from each study participant. After following the participants for an average of 3.4 years, the scientists found that those with Type AB blood had an 82 percent higher risk of cognitive decline.”
…
“So should Type AB people panic about preserving their memory? Cushman thinks not — at least not yet. “The association we saw was relatively small, and the findings need to be confirmed in other studies,” she said. “However, everyone can work to maintain their cognitive function through leading a healthy lifestyle, in terms of diet, physical activity, and not smoking, as well as controlling cardiovascular risk through optimizing blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes treatment.”

Read the whole article here:

https://www.yahoo.com/health/type-ab-blood-you-may-be-more-prone-to-memory-loss-97230693847.html

The connection between “the sunshine vitamin” and Alzheimer’s

Easter in Michigan; photo borrowed from Facebook.

“Older adults with too little vitamin D in their blood may have twice the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as seniors with sufficient levels of the ‘sunshine vitamin,’ a new study finds.”

According to HealthDay.com, “Vitamin D3 deficiency has been linked to a host of other conditions such as high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and an increased risk of pre-eclampsia and insulin resistance during pregnancy. Most recently, low Vitamin D3 levels have been linked to an increased prevalence of early age-related macular degeneration.”

Read the whole article here.

Makes sense.

My grandmother spent – and my mother is spending – her life in a state with very little sunshine; Michigan. It’s one of the reasons I headed for Florida; the cold is horrible for my Lyme, but the darkness is UNBEARABLE. 

The article says “the findings aren’t enough to recommend seniors take vitamin D supplements to prevent mental decline. ‘Clinical trials are now urgently needed in this area.'”

May I just say bullshit. 

Like Dr. Weil says about coconut oil – what can it hurt??

One of my friends is a cardiologist; he says lack of Vitamin D is an incredibly serious problem in this country. He recommended that I take from 2,000 to 3,000 IU of Vitamin D3.

This article from VRP – Vitamin Research Products – confirms his advice …

“Vitamin D3 deficiency is common in older adults and has been implicated in psychiatric and neurologic disorders. For example, in one study of 80 older adults (40 with mild Alzheimer’s disease and 40 nondemented persons), Vitamin D3 deficiency was associated with low mood and with impairment on two of four measures of cognitive performance…

Conclusion

A growing number of researchers who have widely studied Vitamin D3 are almost begging the general public to consume more of this important nutrient. Due to Vitamin D3’s high safety profile in doses up to 10,000 IU per day and because of the wide role it plays in our health, consuming 2,000 to 4,000 IU per day of this nutrient at times of the year when sunlight is scarce is a prudent way to improve overall health.”

My friend joked that you could lie naked in the sun all day and not get enough Vitamin D. Well, I’m not about to scare the neighbors, but I did go out and buy Vitamin D3 the next day. I’ve been taking it ever since – along with my sugar free, gluten free diet with coconut oil. (I’ve learned coconut oil sucks less if you add it to a nice Thai type tea. Mine is Harney & Sons Green Tea with Thai Flavors of coconut, vanilla, ginger and lemongrass.)

And let’s not forget to get mental and physical exercise every day.

Recommended Websites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AGINGCARE.com

People with aging parents, those who may become caregivers, caregivers and those who may one day need care should connect with this great site.

My favorite section is the Caregiver Support Forum:
http://www.agingcare.com/Caregiver-Forum?utm_source=Daily+Questions&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Questions%20-%20August%207,%202014

Benadryl, Excedrin PM, Tylenol PM – over the counter drugs that destroy the aging brain; surgeries that seal the deal.

ALLERGIES ARE PART OF WHAT’S SWIMMING IN MY GENE POOL.

I’ve gone into anaphylactic shock twice; I don’t have health insurance.

The first time it happened – about five years ago – my son and his family were visiting. We stopped at Taco Bell on our way back to the airport. I happened to kick some litter near the curb and felt a tiny pin prick between my toes. Thought nothing of it. (Fire ants are pretty prevalent here in SW Florida.)

He was at the counter placing our order as I sat with my DIL and granddaughters; suddenly I thought I was having a stroke. It’s so hard to describe. Your pulse races and you think you’re going to pass out. I had to lie down.

They were going to call an ambulance, but I imagined a bill in the thousands. I asked my son to call my mom instead. Her allergies are so bad she doesn’t go anywhere without epipens. She has nearly died from bee stings; her throat closes up.

She told Shawn to get me liquid Benadryl and chug some ASAP. Said it works nearly as fast as an epipen.

We rushed to a drug store and I swallowed a gulp in the car. Long story short, we called a friend, the family got to the airport and I survived. Only I knew my life was forever changed; I had to be careful.

The second time I stepped out of my kayak onto the beach and felt a tiny bite; again. On top of my foot. Different type of bug this time, not a fire ant.

I knew what to expect and I was with the friend we called the first time. He got me home, I chugged the liquid Benadryl I kept for emergencies and I was out for the rest of the day. (Photo above.) We thought it was sort of funny. But really, it’s not.

Benadryl knocks me OUT. I can give my 13 lb. Shih Tzu 1/2 to calm her down for a plane. If I take a whole tablet I can’t function. Maybe that’s a good thing.

MOM DECIDED SHE SHOULD TAKE A BENADRYL EVERY NIGHT.

It would help her sleep. (She’s wound pretty tight.) It sounded like a good idea.

Fortunately I don’t have any trouble sleeping. My allergies usually strike during the day and I take Sudafed as needed.

This week my allergies are horrific. It’s jungle in south Florida, the weather is soup and everything is growing. My lips and eyes are swollen and itchy. Google says “go to a doctor.” I was thinking I should start taking Benadryl; then I remembered her memory problems started around the same time as her nightly Benadryl.

I googled “Benadryl” and “memory loss” and found this. I like that it names the drugs. And it’s backed up by many other medical articles on the topic.

“These drugs, called anticholinergics, block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, and are widely-used medical therapies. They are sold over the counter under various brand names such as Benadryl®, Dramamine®, Excedrin PM®, Nytol®, Sominex®, Tylenol PM®, and Unisom®. Other anticholinergic drugs, such as Paxil®, Detrol®, Demerol® and Elavil® are available only by prescription. Older adults most commonly use drugs with anticholinergic effects as sleep aids and to relieve bladder leakage problems.”

The bottom line on this article –

“Simply put, we have confirmed that anticholinergics, something as seemingly benign as a medication for inability to get a good night’s sleep or for motion sickness, can cause or worsen cognitive impairment, specifically long-term mild cognitive impairment which involves gradual memory loss. As a geriatrician I tell my Wishard Healthy Aging Brain Center patients not to take these drugs and I encourage all older adults to talk with their physicians about each and every one of the medications they take,” said Malaz Boustani, M.D., IU School of Medicine associate professor of medicine, Regenstrief Institute investigator and IU Center for Aging Research center scientist.” Read more at: http://phys.org/news198238000.html#jCp

The article is from 2010. Let me say, from personal experience, my mother RAPIDLY developed (and was diagnosed with) cognitive impairment and there IS no hope for improvement.But wait – there’s more.

SURGERY MADE IT WORSE.

Knee replacement surgery shoved her right off the effing cliff. She yanked all her IVs and tried to leave her hospital bed TWICE the night of the surgery.
https://www.mysciencework.com/news/8206/could-surgery-accelerate-alzheimer-s-disease

In the morning hospital staff asked my stepfather why he didn’t tell them she had dementia. Heck, he couldn’t even deal with the diagnosis of “cognitive impairment.” But bless him for living longer than he wanted in order to take care of her. She’s so hostile she makes his life living hell.

This death spiral all happened within about 3 years.My Gram had dementia for about ten years. Her decline was gradual and she transitioned at 96. Not the most loving person when she was “normal” – paranoid and bitchy at her worst, my mother has been furious about her decline and enraged at me for being the first to recommend a neurologist. I am not welcome in her home.I hear she’s better now that she’s “on medication.” Not so hostile.I may drive up for Thanksgiving; she’s already forgetting grandchildren when they come to visit. So I doubt she’ll remember me.

Exercise helps improve or prevent Alzheimer’s.

Appropriate for this nerve-wracking day where my parents (1700 miles away) have not answered their phone in 48 hours.

My mother is furious with “us” for discouraging her from driving 500 miles alone. She has terminal cabin fever because they still have snow up there. It’s 4/21 and that area has received snow in the past 48 hours.

The last time we talked she said it was “up to her elbows.”

Note also that the last time they didn’t answer she had put the phone upside down in the charger. (But she thinks she can drive long distances.)

My mother has been a fanatic about exercise but she is NOT social and no longer reads or uses the computer. The changes were so gradual we didn’t even notice. One day I realized she was sending me books to pretend she was still reading. As if they were her personal recommendations. They were nothing I would be interested in.

And she hasn’t sent an email in 3 years. It’s as if she has let her brain sneak off to die.

Great Gram died at 86 mentally fit; but Gram had Alzheimer’s and Mom is getting it.

Of course I am next and of course I am terrified. I am exercising and I force myself to be social, despite the fact that writing is a solitary profession; and I always find projects for my brain to do – complex tasks that require work and learning. (I recently wrote and published “How to Sell Vintage and Gold Jewelry Online.” There was a lot to learn in terms of formatting for Kindle and formatting for print. It is a pain in the …. )

This article puts the focus on exercise.  “…brain decline is not necessarily an inevitable part of aging. “It’s simply not pre-destined for all human beings,” Bryan James tells Shots. He’s an epidemiologist at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago. “Lots of people live into their 90s and even 100s with no symptoms of dementia.”

So what can you do to increase the odds? Neuroscientist Art Kramer, who directs the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, has a number of suggestions. First and foremost, Kramer says, is to exercise. Research shows it’s the best thing you can do for your brain.”

Read the whole article here:
http://tinyurl.com/cfh8q3u

(Thank you NPR!!)

“I’m Still Here” by John Zeisel, Ph.D.

This photo of my Gram gives me unimaginable pain. It was buried, but I tracked it down for this post. She would hate me for using it, she was very proud of her looks. She lost them first, her brain second and her body … well, she never lost her flexibility and energy. She was in tremendous physical shape, a proud Finn from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Her descent into dementia took years. Nobody wanted to see it. Nobody wanted to hear it. She was playing games they said. My mother – who never liked her – claimed she just wanted attention. My cousin and I visited every week and we saw the changes.

When she could no longer drive, my aunt took her in and cared for her like a princess. She even created a full suite that was similar to her little blue house. She prepared marvelous meals. Gram had it great until she started wandering the roads and docks and leaving the burners on. She was diagnosed with a cancer in her early 90s, but she was so strong it “went away;” she outlasted hospice by many years.  My aunt finally had to put her in a home. It was an agonizing decision.

It was a nice home. The aides cared deeply, but the food had little, if any, nutrition. Because the Dementia Ward was all time and no hope. That’s what our society does to grandparents. That’s what we have done. We tuck them away where they can’t wander off docks to drown in the river or set fires like my Gram would have done; no, we put them somewhere safe so we can come visit when we have time.

Some sit back and wait for a phone call. She or he “is not there” they say. They wait for the inevitable phone call.

And maybe there will be some assets left. My Gram left me exactly one month’s salary. I was making money she would have never dreamed of. It wasn’t right that my piece of that precious woman’s life’s savings were the equivalent of pre-recession chump change.

I visited every Sunday. She was a mere shadow of the woman who raised me, but she was still available for a hug. She didn’t know who I was, but sometimes there would be new paintings on her walls; I was amazed by her continued creativity.

I knew she had arrived at a place of shapes and colors, so I came armed with Dairy Queen ice cream, home decorating magazines and memories. “Gram – that  was your blue. Remember your carpet and walls?” And she smiled. No demands. She had done the same for me when I was little; shared a coloring book full of possibilities with a side of Crayolas.

When I moved to Florida I did not doubt I would see her again every time I came back for visits; but she passed within three weeks of my leaving. I nearly crumbled.

I had joked she would be my first house guest and indeed she was, rattling paintings, shaking my bed and visiting in dreams. It was a great comfort – but the shaking bed was a bit of a shock for my then-boyfriend.

Gram started slipping gears in her mid-80s and lived to 96. Nobody expected my smart, control freak mother would slide in her 70s; but she has. Again, nobody believed me. Believed us. But the descent has been rapid and inescapable.

Looking back, she stopped sending emails about four years ago. She stopped using Skype about a year ago. When I warned she was giving up lifelines she needed to survive in their great white northern wilderness, she hung up on me; because somewhere in her limited awareness she knew I was right.

She didn’t fight, she hid her symptoms as long as she could and took the easy road. Now it’s up to us to walk it with her.

Like my Gram, her body is solid; my stepfather’s body is toast, but his mind is good. He is calling all the shots. I am terrified she will wake up and find him dead and not remember how to make a phone call.

I don’t know his ultimate exit plans. They NEVER planned for this because they never dreamed it would happen. She was an avid reader; last year I finally realized she was sending books to give the impression she was still reading.

I half imagine a taxi will drop a disoriented widow off at my front door. With my Lyme Disease, she will run circles around me.

I have been living in total fear.

I imagined an Evelyn Wood Speed-Descent for my mother and had already accepted “the inevitable” until I saw Dr. Zeisel on PBS. Funny how the Universe sends us bits of what we most need when we most need it. I’m only 50 pages in, but I’ve already found comfort.

Let me share some paragraphs with you …

“Throughout the more than decade-long progress of the disease, the person is crying out ‘I’m still here.’ We all need to start hearing that cry before it fades away completely.”

“People living with Alzheimer’s live in the present moment.” It’s about damned time. My mom spent too much time in the past. Welcome to NOW, population YOU:-)

“The lack of a fully functioning brain ‘comparer’ makes many people living with Alzheimer’s better artists than they were before the disease.” Also – she is not the judgey know-it-all she once was.

“The way the illness affects the brain leaves most of them exceptionally perceptive, increasingly creative, and highly emotionally intelligent for years.” That’s good because she loved to paint. I’ve been encouraging her to get back at it and I can hear the enthusiasm in her voice.

“The people who care for them can maintain positive relationships and share vibrant memories for the entire course of the illness though photos, music, art, personal stories, and visits to museums and other community cultural events.” We would both enjoy that immeasurably.

Perceptions are beginning to change …

“When dementia among the elderly was labeled ‘senility’ and ‘hardening of the arteries’ and was considered an attribute of natural aging, few people paid much attention to this condition because they considered it chronic, hopeless, and untreatable.

Research scientist Peter Whitehouse sees the distinction between Alzheimer’s brain aging and less severe brain aging as a ‘myth.’ According to Whitehouse, it’s just a matter of some people’s brains aging faster than others because of genetic and environmental differences. Whether you believe this or not, shifting Alzheimer’s – or rapid brain aging  into the same class of illness as cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and degenerative arthritis places it squarely in the realm of an understandable and manageable condition. Making this link turns Alzheimer’s into a treatable, although still incurable, condition rather than a hopeless one.

This seemingly simple change can bring back to the realm of the living the tens of millions of people worldwide whom our limited thinking has condemned to a limbo in which they are merely waiting to die.”

The book has already made me cry. There were times when I walked into Gram’s nursing home and asked if she knew who I was.  Like D’Onofrio psyching a perp on Law & Order. I was putting her on the spot, making light of memory issues that were monumental in her limited awareness.

The book gives meaningful tips –

NEVER test their memories!

Never refer to the person indirectly in his or her presence. I remember doing that and she said “Hey, I’m standing right here.”

Encourage their personal control – as in not finishing a sentence as they struggle for words.

Provide photo props that help them remember loved ones.

The sources of their perplexing behaviors 

AGITATION – Our loved ones have lost the ability to occupy themselves; they’re bored. We can help with that.
AGGRESSION – I haven’t seen this in my family, but I did see it in the nursing home. Zeisel says they’ll shout to get attention or “create something lively to take part in.” Or they may not understand why they’re confined (to a facility).
ANXIETY – It’s hard enough for most of us to know how to act in some social settings. Zeisel says “The actual symptom is not having a clear picture of time and causal relationships.” I remember my Gram was most calm with children and – later – her friends in the dementia ward. She was fine with people who had no expectations.
APATHY – Zeisel says “The actual symptom is the inability to perceive of and remember the future, and thus the inability to plan for the future.”  I’m 1,750 miles away. My stepfather tells me my mother has “taken to the couch and the television.” This explains it.

Companion behaviors contribute to these outcomes.

When my son’s family was with my parents a few months ago my daughter-in-law told me my mother was not eating because she did not remember there was food in the refrigerator. Out of sight, out of (her) awareness.

There is so much to learn.

I have some comfort that I did a few things right with my Gram. “Music, images, perfume and other nonverbal forms of communication let the person with the illness know that someone who cares for her realizes she is present.”

I’m only 48 pages into the book; Zeisel promises “if we choose to stay connected to others as they and we change during the passage of the disease, we learn about ourselves, about relationships, and even about the meaning of life.”

He says “The first step is to discard old expectations and role relationships that limit our ability to see the person and relate to him or her in a new way.”

I have no stake in this book – except for the hope it brings.

Please read and share Zeisel’s message.

http://www.amazon.com/Still-Here-Philosophy-Alzheimers-ebook/dp/B001Q8V6PI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1365532496&sr=1-1&keywords=I%27m+Still+Here

Namaste

The Bus Stop

This solution is charming.

“The bus stop, in front of the Benrath Senior Centre in the western city of Düsseldorf, is an exact replica of a standard stop, with one small difference: buses never stop there.

The idea emerged after the centre was forced to rely on police to retrieve patients who wanted to return to their homes and families but had forgotten that in many cases neither existed any longer.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2069467/Wayward-Alzheimers-patients-foiled-by-fake-bus-stop.html

The Center that Masquerades as a Village

http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/0_4gqy0482/uiconf_id/5590821

This is awesome. “We decided that’s not how we would like to live when we get old,” said Van Zuthem, adding that Hogewey residents are more at ease and need less medication because they feel at home.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AlzheimersCommunity/alzheimers-disease-dutch-village-dubbed-truman-show-dementia/story?id=16103780#.T4RZvNXuiQp

1500 Miles South of Good-Bye

I was born in 1950. My mom was just a kid. They could have had me aborted or put me up for adoption, but they – probably my Gram – decided to keep me. (Mom married when I was two and covered her tracks. The family secret held for a very long time. )

Ultimately Gram was the only unconditional love I’ve ever had in this world.

She would have loved the colors on this blog. In our last days together I found the only way we could really connect was through pretty pictures. I used to take decorating magazines to the Dementia Ward on Sundays and we would look at the pictures together. “You had zinnias in your garden.” “These blues were your favorites in your living room.”

Her brain was pretty much gone, but she was still visual. She still appreciated colors and could create lovely paintings.

I last saw her five years ago. I was moving to Florida because Michigan winters and Lyme Disease do not mix. The Lyme was – is – a scary thing because relapses sometimes come with a fearsome fog. I was sick for two years before I backtracked and remembered “the bug” I clawed from my leg. I spent some of that time thinking I was getting Alzheimer’s. I could not focus. I could barely drive.

Fortunately, IV antibiotics cleared the fog; but the weather was hell on my physical health. I had to head south.

I expected I would see Gram when I came back for visits because nothing ever killed the Energizer Bunny. She was a vain woman who kept herself physically fit. As a result, her body outlasted her mind by many years.

But she died within two weeks of my leaving.  My cousin called. She had one last evening where she was fully lucid and could remember everyone’s names and tell them she loved them. What was that??? I was broke, sad and lonely 1,500 miles south of I love you and good-bye.

I had joked that when she passed, she would be the first to visit me in my new place. And she did. But those are stories for another kind of blog.

I love my Gram and my Gram loves me.

Love never dies.

Prevention: Coconut Oil

I saw this on TV several months ago and immediately bought some for myself and my mother. (Organic, unprocessed coconut oil.) I noticed improvements in both of us.

Please take time to view the video and read the whole article.

“After two weeks of taking coconut oil, Steve Newport’s results in an early onset Alzheimer’s test gradually improved says his wife, Dr. Mary Newport. Before treatment, Steve could barely remember how to draw a clock. Two weeks after adding coconut oil to his diet, his drawing improved. After 37 days, Steve’s drawing gained even more clarity. The oil seemed to “lift the fog,” his wife says.”

http://www.tampabay.com/news/aging/article879333.ece