Sleep, Research News, My New Book, and Testing ... in no particular order

For several reasons, I haven't posted recently.  For one thing, with the covid lockdown, there has been very little news on research findings.  The most recent issue of a magazine from a research center that I follow featured an article on how the researchers were spending their time now ... working in the garden, doing artwork, reflecting on all they have to be thankful for, etc.

But my big focus has been on the new book.  I have uploaded a manuscript that I hope is final, but my co-author still needs to finish her review.  We also need to finalize the cover.  But it's really close, and I'm really excited.  After all, it's been two years since I started.

I have neuropsych testing at Harborview in Seattle on Monday.  You may recall that I was doing so well in 2018 that they decided to skip 2019.  I went in for my regular evaluation last year, but it was without tests.  But I did not feel well about how things were going at the time, and my neurologist attributed it to sleep problems.  After that I worked hard on improving my sleep, and my intuitive sense was that I'd have done as well earlier in 2020 as I did in 2018

But I've been struggling with sleep again, and I don't think I can do as well now as I did in 2018.  I blame sleep.  I go to bed at 10, and I try to sleep until 5.  I usually fall asleep pretty easily, but I'm wide awake at 3:00.  Trying to go back to sleep is futile.  So I've learned to get up then and do the things I would normally do when I get up normally -- takes about an hour to an hour and a half -- and then go back to bed.  Often, but not always, I can then sleep until 6:30.  When this works, I feel well, but we'll need to see the results of my cognitive tests next week to see if this is helping.

We discussed the central importance of sleep in Alzheimer's disease in the first edition of Beating the Dementia Monster, but we'll get into it more deeply in the new edition.

What I'm interested in is trends.  I am 100% fully functional, but I worry that my trend of improvement has stalled or even reversed a little.  A question I'll have for my care team when the results are in (June 30) is whether a renewed decline is in line with normal aging from where I was in 2018.  Recall that my trend in cognitive improvement from 2015 to 2018 was pretty powerful.  Which is why I wrote Beating the Dementia Monster.  I was told in early 2016 that I had bought 10 years with my lifestyle changes.  Five of those years are now gone.

I recently purchased a white noise machine on Amazon, and I think it's helping a lot ... usually.  Sometimes not so much, but usually.  Basically it makes a steady whooshing noise, like a fan or something, that calms you.  The first couple of nights I had it on low, and I slept all night for the first time in probably a year.  But after the second night, I couldn't discern an improvement.  Last night I ran it on high, and I slept through the night again.

When I say I slept through the night, I still got up frequently to visit the bathroom.  After the third time I don't get back to sleep.  But I'm sometimes up 5 or 6 times a night.  I have an appointment to see a new urologist, and I want him to investigate the possibility of neurogenic bladder.  You'll notice that Alzheimer's disease is listed as the #1 cause, and my symptoms track exactly.  My previous urologist never talked to me about it as a possibility, but I saw recently that he wrote "neurogenic bladder?" a couple of times in his notes.

After my tests next week I'll be sure to post regarding how I think I did with my neuropsychologist and her tests, and I'll post again June 30 on the outcome of my visit with my neurologist.