In my book, "Beating the Dementia Monster," I describe what has occurred since 2015 when I first knew I had memory problems. (You can find it on Amazon.com.) I have experienced remarkable improvement, and I’m certain that I can share valuable information with many others. In this second edition I continue my story to 2020 and provide greater understanding of how Alzheimer's advances and why what I did worked.
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Interviewed by "The Senior Times"
Yesterday, I got my copy of our local paper for seniors, The Senior Times. It contained a nice article about my book, based on an interview they had with me a few weeks ago. You can see the article here.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Heart Situation Not so Bad
I had an electrocardiogram on Tuesday, and I got the results yesterday. I need to see my doctor on Monday to go over it all, but the radiologist who read the results didn't think there was anything to worry about. This is, of course, good news.
My New YouTube Channel
Over the past few days I've been working on a video about Beating the Dementia Monster. I created a new YouTube channel for it here, with the idea that I will be adding more video later. You're free to provide me feedback on both the channel and the initial video. (I have to admit, it looks a little amateurish out of the gate...)
I'll soon start working on a video to distinguish normal aging from the various dementia-causing diseases.
I'll soon start working on a video to distinguish normal aging from the various dementia-causing diseases.
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Blood Test for Alzheimer's?
This week's ALZForum carried a very interesting article on some breakthroughs in diagnosing AD with blood tests. The article is "With Sudden Progress, Blood Aβ Rivals PET at Detecting Amyloid."
Historically, the proof of AD was in the autopsy, but there have been a number of ways of ruling out other causes in dementia patients and to find strong evidence suggesting AD. The two best tests for AD have been measuring amyloids in cerebro-spinal fluid from a spinal tap and with an amyloid PET scan. Both tests are expensive and invasive. Who wants a spinal tap? Who wants their blood stream filled with radioactive stuff? Who wants to pay for a diagnosis that won't alter the treatment path? Not your insurance company. On the other hand, what if an inexpensive blood test could detect amyloids with the same confidence as the other tests? At least one blood test is on the horizon. Colin Masters of the University of Melbourne, Australia was quoted as saying that blood tests “will become widely available and revolutionize the field in the next few years.”
The article discusses several approaches to measuring blood amyloid, but the most promising is a device called an "antibody-based single-molecule array (Simoa)." The device had been able to detect elevated amyloid in patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The problem has been that the concentrations of amyloids (or proxy substances) in the blood of someone with mild cognitive impairment are infinitesimal and are extremely difficult to measure. How much more so for someone who is presymptomatic. However, the breakthrough this year is a device sufficiently sensitive to detect elevated amyloids in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or even at the presymptomatic stage of AD.
This will revolutionize diagnosis of AD, but what will it mean for the cost of long-term care insurance? My guess is that someone who is found presymptomatic with AD will be completely unable to get insurance.
Historically, the proof of AD was in the autopsy, but there have been a number of ways of ruling out other causes in dementia patients and to find strong evidence suggesting AD. The two best tests for AD have been measuring amyloids in cerebro-spinal fluid from a spinal tap and with an amyloid PET scan. Both tests are expensive and invasive. Who wants a spinal tap? Who wants their blood stream filled with radioactive stuff? Who wants to pay for a diagnosis that won't alter the treatment path? Not your insurance company. On the other hand, what if an inexpensive blood test could detect amyloids with the same confidence as the other tests? At least one blood test is on the horizon. Colin Masters of the University of Melbourne, Australia was quoted as saying that blood tests “will become widely available and revolutionize the field in the next few years.”
The article discusses several approaches to measuring blood amyloid, but the most promising is a device called an "antibody-based single-molecule array (Simoa)." The device had been able to detect elevated amyloid in patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The problem has been that the concentrations of amyloids (or proxy substances) in the blood of someone with mild cognitive impairment are infinitesimal and are extremely difficult to measure. How much more so for someone who is presymptomatic. However, the breakthrough this year is a device sufficiently sensitive to detect elevated amyloids in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or even at the presymptomatic stage of AD.
This will revolutionize diagnosis of AD, but what will it mean for the cost of long-term care insurance? My guess is that someone who is found presymptomatic with AD will be completely unable to get insurance.
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