Disclaimer: This site contains opinions based upon personal (never professional) experience. Before making any decisions about your own care for dementia (or any other condition), please seek solutions with your own trusted and licensed medical, legal, financial, psychological, trade, and spiritual advisors.
As you may know, a confirmed Alzheimer's diagnosis cannot be made until an autopsy; however, this does not change what the MRI (with software-enhanced NeuroQuant) testing shows: Mom has Alz. We found out last week from the doctor whom we've both been seeing for almost two years to treat/prevent dementia (she at 83 and me at 49). During this visit, we both realize that being dementia Slayers is relentless and exhausting because it means living within extreme limits to include the other dreaded D (diet) as well as getting daily exercise, consistent sleep, and no sugar, simple carbs, or alcohol. Then, she says: "Well, you can still have sex!"
Mom is teaching all (potential) dementia Slayers since 1938.
For now, let’s sing a different tune (as from the Buffy TV Show musical): "Where do we go from here?"
It's as though we are joining hands in different stages with millions around the globe suffering from dementia. We sing our innermost feelings from grief, despair, rage, and depression. It's not enough.
Instead, we must enter the Library to seek a cherished tome written to help defeat the Big Bad Dementia: The End of Alzheimer's by Dale Bredesen, MD, as well as its skeptics. We dedicate each season to all our loved ones obliterated without having any actionable wisdom to prevent their own dementia deaths (from Alz) to include both mom’s parents, her husband (my dad), and both mom’s aunts. Even now, mom’s friend does not want to try pursuing our chosen options which he sees as “quackery” even though he has also been diagnosed with Alz from a different health care provider and he continues to decline with multiple health problems including Type 2 Diabetes which itself is a dementia risk factor.
“She Slayed Dementia. A lot.” - Let’s exit with an epitaph homage to a certain TV show [shh…no spoilers…just watch]
Although mom’s friend is not wrong in the idea that personal anecdotes are the least reliable form of evidence (thanks Neil DeGrasse Tyson), I don’t think mom or I has time to wait for scientific validation when trying to treat/prevent dementia (including from controlled and peer reviewed studies) since this beast will continue its lipsmacky brain feast and we would prefer to act now rather than to wallow in Shamestown or at the Sunnydale hellmouth.
There is no dementia cure because dementia is complex and these monsters of the week are pesky and ever present with their multiplex movies streaming all over town (there's one bugger near you). What these D-villains don't realize is that they're dealing with at least "one mighty pissed off Slayer," as dear vampy Spike once said. Where are Willow and Tara to conjure a healing spell? Oh, right...the Universe has its limits and magic is an illusion. Instead, our mission is to prevent suffering as much as possible for the millions living this tale in reality without a known Doppelganger living in some alternate reality whom we will never meet (oh, how I Wish)! C'mon FTL travel! But, let's get back to reality as metaphor courtesy the Buffyvamp TV show.
As if Alz itself isn't Big Bad enough then enter a Bit Player named the Trio:
1. Alz has no cure (yet). This sinister monster smolders, burns, and consumes until the hollow remains.
2. Alz might be reversed by diet, exercise, and supplements tailored to one's DNA.
3. Only #1 is a guarantee and #2 is where ongoing Scooby research works and Shaggy skeptics (“like, Zoiks!”) to save the day.
All are a great reason to watch the Buffyverse and Scooby Doo for blissful escapism, but let's focus, people. Start with the Initiative. Where is it? I am tired. I am Only but not alone. I am sad, angry, and optimistically depressed. Why? Because, for the first time in our lives, there might be something we can do to help mom get better! We have already seen this firsthand after she got and fully recovered from Covid-19 in February (from the treatment methods shown here and here) shared with our eternal gratitude from Resilient Health Austin along with having continuous brain improvement once she (mostly) retuned to her regular supplements and exercise (and yes, it’s always a struggle for a bazillion reasons other than dementia including apathy).
The worst part with dementia (more than the diagnosis itself) is that any steps for the sufferer to treat themselves (even with assistance) is already intertwined with disease that causes decline in decision making and memory. Therefore, here's advice to defeat dementia (Bredesen protocol) with fearsome tasks (even for the healthy). I say, "fearsome" because no one ever promised this would be easy but the rewards are immeasurable for a healthy brain including the hippocampus which we learned in this article means “seahorse” in Greek and what’s critical: the hippocampus can repair (even with dementia) if given proper care! 🧠
Photo Credit: Valkyrie Pierce (Wix.com)