With Alzheimers am I like the Green knight? I am a judge and tester over the 4 years of the various ideas about AZ

 Link The Green Knight

 His major role in Arthurian literature includes being

 a judge and tester of knights, and as such the other characters consider him as friendly but terrifying and somewhat mysterious.^[3]

This will be the cover of my YEAR 4 book

Alzheimners is Inexorable.

True grit and fortitude needed. 

When I die I will get a Brain autopsy.

"In Sir Gawain, the Green Knight is so called because his skin and clothes are green. The meaning of his greenness has puzzled scholars since the discovery of the poem, who identify him variously as the Green Man, a vegetation being of medieval art; a recollection of a figure from Celtic mythology; a pagan Christian symbol — the personified Devil. The medievalist C. S. Lewis said the character was "as vivid and concrete as any image in literature."^[3] J. R. R. Tolkien called him the "most difficult character" to interpret in the introduction to his edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. His major role in Arthurian literature includes being a judge and tester of knights, and as such the other characters consider him as friendly but terrifying and somewhat mysterious.^[3]

 

Losing friends due to my Alzheimers

 Chapter Three

October 29, 2021

Losing friends due to my Alzheimer’s

I have written a couple of blogs about this subject. Anger link.

This time it is different as to the reason. 

There are 2 couples and one friend that I no longer care if we associate with them anymore.  

The reason is not because of my anger but because they don’t understand my disease.  I am in the fifth year since my diagnosis and most people are surprised when I tell them of my diagnosis.  I can still talk and write well, I just have terrible short term memory.  However it’s the emotional part I don’t think my friends understand.  

I get frustrated easily in discussions especially in subjects (C0vid, I am board certified in Infectious Disease) I know alot about but one couple continues to go on about their opinion. 

We travel with the second couple a good deal.  They told my wife they were concerned about her because of my drinking and my Alzheimers.  They thought my AZ was getting worse when I had trouble understanding the menu on the chalk board that was in French.  The wife had yelled at me earlier asking if I was a five year old.  Thus when I went up to the chalkboard, I said since people think I am a five year old I want to be sure about this menu. 

Thus since they didn’t come to both of us I began to think they are not really true friends.

Pill burden for Alzeimers?

Chapter Two

 I take 39 pills a day.

Also a testosterone shot and an ozempic shot once a week.

When I was in my residency I was taught there is a limit how many pills you can take before there is a problem with interaction. 

There was also called 'pill burder' which decreased compliance. 

This is why my YEAR 4 book (now at pulblishers) talks about the need for True Grit and Fortitude with Alzheimers. 

When I did my Infectious disease fellowship with the advent of HIV (AIDS) many of the medicine myths were crushed.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is an opportunistic infection that occurs in immunosuppressed populations, primarily patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus infection.

PCP must be treated with prescription medicine. Without treatment, PCP can cause death. The most common form of treatment is trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX), which is also known as co-trimoxazole and by several different brand names, including Bactrim, Septra, and Cotrim.

We treated this with very long term treatment. 

I also learned we would treat Staph aureus chronic osteomyletis for years with an oral cephalosporin.  

Thus I accepted doubling the number of pills I take under the guidence of a Holistic doctor who was familiar with the Bredesen ReCode treatment for Alzheimers. 

Cheapest way to treat AZ link

Seventeen Morning prescription pills 

Thirteen Post lunch supplements above

Six Bedtime supplements

Chapter one of my YEAR FIVE book on my Alzheimers

 

Chapter one

Starting the Fifth Year with good numbers

October 26, 2021

Weight 193.2 new low

Fat percentage 23.1% 

Water percentage 57.8

I was 280 pounds. I could not keep my weight down to 200 pounds till I increased my Ozempic shot to 1.0 mg a week.  It greatly decreased my appetite.  Exercise has had little effect on losing or maintaining weight loss.  You can’t outrun your fork.

I have been on a Low Carbohydrate High Fat diet since 2011.  I have been in a state of nutritional ketosis since then. 

Today my fasting glucose was very low for me at 108.  It usually runs at 150. 

I believe I developed type 2 Diabetes Mellitus from long term central obesity.  

I skip breakfast each morning and thus fast for 12-15 hours.

Today my ketone level was 3.6. I think this is important for my Alzheimers. 

Improved mental performance has been seen if ketone level is greater than 3.0.

My LDLp (particle number) has been less than 300.

My non-fasting triglycerides are less than 100. Due fish oil and nicotinic acid. 

My LDLc is 34. Due to lipitor 10 mg. 

My blood pressure is usually less than 120 systolic due to ramipril and cardizem. 

This is why I don’t think I will have a stroke or a heart attack. 

My fear is falling as my balance gets worse and I have developed festination. 

I have remedied this by using a cane going down and trying not to party too hard with alcohol.  Last year I did that and had a subdural hematoma while on blood thinner Xarelto.  

Here is my first BIA when I started at an Obesity Clinic on 6-23-15

 

Introduction to Year Five Alzheimers book

October 25, 2021

 Introduction to Year Five

Avoiding falling off Cliffs with Alzheimers

Am I one of the Alzheimers survivors?

I guess I was too pessimistic when I wrote my Year One book.  I am waiting for when I forget I have Alzheimers. I thought with Namzaric I could only hope for 2 good years before I fell off the cliff of the survival curve and had a severe loss of cognition.  Afterall I don’t do a great job controlling my Diabetes Mellitus type 2. 

Other than the head injury which I had with a small subdural hematoma when I fell after drinking I doubt I will fall off a sudden cliff because my blood pressure is low and my cholesterol is very low with medications.  Thus no stroke or heart attack is in my future. 

During Covid shutdown I decided to try supplements as advised by Dr Bredesen and Dr Isaacson. They both had poster children for their program.  Julie and Rogen.  Thus I started the ReCode program at a Holistic clinic in Lawrence, Kansas.  I have completed twelve.   months and don’t plan to continue with visiting the clinic now that my year's contract is done. I mostly wanted a Doctor familiar with all the supplements to slowly guide me on starting them.  Presently I take  fourteen new supplements.  I tolerate them well except for some mild esophago-gastric reflux.  Have they helped me? All I can say is I seem to be maintaining the status quo on the most part.  My wife and I still notice some more short term memory loss.  I do think I am more emotionally stable which I contribute to Ashwagandha. 

What will the Fifth Year bring?

I am open to taking the new Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm (aducanumab).

I am waiting for the one year post treatment analysis before I make a decision. 

In the meantime I plan to have fun. 

We have scheduled 6 cruises, one Tauck tour in Ireland and 3 USA trips. 

After next year I am willing to roll the dice on Aduhelm (aducanumab) and get the expensive monthly  IV infusions each month.  

CoQ10 treatment for mitochondria?

After reading Dr Swerdlow's article on the mitochondrial path to Alzheimers I decided to take ubiquinone. 

Mitochondria and Mitochondrial Cascades in Alzheimer’s Disease Russell H. Swerdlow* link

One more pill added to long list of supplements.

My prescibed medications below

Important to take this supplement with fatty meal. 

Tranquility, Serenity, Peace

This December with be the fifth year since my diagnosis of Alzheimers was made. 

I learned there are three key goals for me with my Alzheimers.

Tranquility, Serenity, Peace. 

How do I try to achieve these goals?

Most important: avoid stress. 

I enjoy my mornings the most link

I usually sleep an average of 8 hours a night. 

Sleep full of dreams. 

I often wake up every 60 to 90 minutes to urinate. 

If have difficulty falling back to sleep I use a mantra about Tranquility, Serenity, Peace but add on 

Faith, Hope and Love. 

A big part was to stop arguing with people especially my wife. 

We know the Universal sign for Choking what is the Universal sign for Alzheimers?

 My friend uses this gesture often.  

I realized I could also use it with my Alzheimers to communicate easily. 

The response is to have people repeat what they said but to be more mindful of their tense and words.