Alzheimer and other brain disorder prevention. What can you do?

Alzheimer prevention what can you do?

Well I know that Alzheimer is pretty much connected to old age, however, what you do during your young live and how you live and eat will lead to either developing Alzheimer or similar diseases if you have the genetic makeup. So again when do you start the prevention? If you are a mother, start from the birth of your children, if you are a young adult without children start from yourself before you have children. It does not take much to change even one little thing at the time.

What is Alzheimer and what symptoms would you have?

There is a spectrum of Alzheimer, from mild to severe cases, which reflects some other brain and neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and dementia. All the above diseases and disorders cannot be cured once their Genotype has been triggered, however, there are now plenty of research and case studies to show that they can be prevented and slowed down if taken on time.

What to look for early prevention of Alzheimer either if it is yourself or your parents:

Family history of dementia, Alzheimer or any autoimmune disorders.

Blood test ApoE4 positive with other blood factors in the related specifically to Alzheimer or dementia. Some of the symptoms below are quickly progressive or new to the person:

• Sleep deprived. If this is new to the person, especially if older.
• Stress. Anything can be stressful for some people, even making a phone call. In this cases a change in the emotional response to simple tasks is the key to reduce the stress level. Click here to read about stress related problems and what you can do to reduce it. Babies and children trauma click here to read more
• Leaky gut caused by either taken recreational drugs, food allergies or intolerance, coeliac or gliadin/gluten gut inflammation in genetically predisposed individual, dairy allergies or other foods, dysbiosis (more of bad bacteria than good bacteria).
• If the person has been constantly ill and taken plenty of antibiotics lately without supporting and healing the intestinal tract afterwards.
• IBS and IBD symptoms: pain, constipation and or diarrhoea. Gastroenteritis or any intestinal gut problems at some point in life that was not supported by healing the gut afterwards.
• Possible candida or frequent yeast infections.
• Possible Mercury or lead toxicity (even though most lead around has been eliminated, I have been told by a someone who works for the water supplier that there are still some big lead pipes where the water that we drink and cook goes through it. As changing every pipe seems to be a big job, he said!
• Possible leaky gut mucosa triggered by the above situations and maybe leaky blood brain barrier (BBB), causing inflammation of the brain, by non-essential brain nutrients entering the brain or the immune system attacking the invasive nutrients.
• Nasal obstruction by allergies or other bacteria, breathing in from the mouth and from the upper chest instead of diaphragm and from the nose.
• Exposure to environmental toxins, and other drugs, leading to cellular toxicity. Toxic mold exposure, history of meningitis or cancer.
• As I mentioned above liver and kidney not functioning well for detox, either genetically or because exposure to more toxins that healthy nutritious diet.
• Unhealthy lifestyle. Even though this also depends on the genetic make of the individual. Some one that has got a liver or kidney that detoxifies slower might needs just few more sugar foods or alcohol and have health problems, than somebody that can drink plenty of alcohol and bad food but have their detox organs working at their optimum state. It does catch up later though with them.
• Physical trauma to the head or strong emotional trauma.
• A BMI over 25.
• Diabetes type II.
• Hyper or hypoglycaemia and insulin resistance.
• Lack of exercise.

What symptoms you need to watch out for?

• Visual hallucinations
• Delusions
• REM behavioural disturbance
• Constipation
• Anosmia (loss of the sense of smell. Caused by a nasal condition or brain injury. Some people are born with it)
• Postural hypotension
• Not able to sleep much (as a new symptom). Sleep apnea.
• Resting tremor.
• Alert all the time.
• Kleptomania (urges to steal item that you do not usually need, caused by deep emotional problems).
• Loss of empathy.
• Passing out, frequently.
• Saying inappropriate things, apathy, executive dysfunction.
• Primary progressive aphasia (speech impairment and loss of the ability to write and read. Quite often this can be caused by brain injury, and from a stroke, particularly in elderly people).
• Atrial fibrillation, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, sudden neurological changes.
• Peripheral vascular disease, vascular dementia.

Again the symptoms above occur usually in rapid course, over weeks or a few months.

(notes from seminar on the 9^th.1.16).

The above symptoms as you have seen can be for everybody, however it is more of a concern for the above 45 and over, who all of the sudden have few of the above symptoms and they get worse very quickly. If taken on time it can help. Now medically, they have to have with quite severe symptoms to do something about it, however, nutritionally, combined with a lifestyle changes, research and case studies have shown to have made a huge impact in slowing down or reducing the progression of Alzheimer and any other disease for that matter, so important to stop it on time.

What can you change in your lifestyle to prevent getting Alzheimer or at least delay Alzheimer or any other possible condition that genetically you are prone too?

Your diet is the most important factor, together with the health of your intestinal tract and the optimum detox of your liver and kidney. Children have different requirement from adults, so their diet needs to be appropriate to them and their growth.

This does not mean that you need to go on a detox diet, as that can be more damaging than eating a normal diet, if your liver is not supported with the right nutrients. Remember that some adults and children need more of certain food than others, depends on their genetic makeup, exercise regime if any and where they live, as well as their detox organs such as the liver, kidney and elimination of stools work! and of course the status of the intestinal tract which is essential to keep the internal body healthier.

What do you need to do then?

• Making sure that you have at least 7 to 8 hours sleep for adults and 10 to 12 for children up to their growing state which is about 18 to 19 years old for some.
• Exercise, such as walks, swimming, meditation, jogging, Pilate, yoga, Thai Chi, Qi Gong and any of the exercise that you like to do.
• Have some healing therapy such as Craniosacral therapy and any other that you are drawn too, to help you cope with life in general and let go of old t
• Brain exercise, reading, doing the Sudoku, word puzzles and other brain activity, including numbers. Painting, drawing, playing chess, or any boarding games. Socialize with other people, look around for things that you can do to meet new challenging people around you, etc.
• Eating oil fish or equivalent to that for vegetarians and vegans, good fats, organic omega 3 eggs or free organic eggs. Healthy non salted nuts and seeds.
• Eating food that has been grown on the ground and trees, rather than take away or packed food.
• Drinking water mainly and herbal teas.
• Reduce sugar and sugary foods.
• Reduce toxins in general such as drugs, alcohol, hydrogenated fats, frying foods, etc.
• Eating colourful fruits and vegetables, such as dark green, purple, black, blue, red, orange and yellow, includes nuts and seeds if you can eat them in small amount, especially if you are vegetarian or vegan.

In Patrick Holford book, “the Alzheimer prevention”, it mentioned that some people will kind of self- medicate before they run out of their dopamine. With:

• Caffeine will cause a short term boost of adrenaline and brain alert.
• Nicotine triggers the release of dopamine, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter that inhibits the activation of neurones, in the vertebrate nervous system), glutamate, andrenalin and acetylcholine, while it reduces serotonin.
• Chocolate contains phynethylamines that boosts noradrenalin.
• Sugar increases the mounts of dopamine in short term.

Long term of the above substances and in high amount, reduce all the good neurotransmitter though and increase the bad habits and brain toxins in some way.

Reference:

1. Metabolic enhancements for neurodegenerative diseases seminar on 9^th.10.16 (cytoplan education seminar, London). Speakers Professor Dale Bredsen, Laura Stirling, Lucille Leader, Amanda Williams, Clare Daley and Miguel Toribio-Mateas.
2. Ettcheto M et al (2016). Evaluation of neuropathological effects of High-Fat Diet in a presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease stage in APP/PS1 mice. Jul 14;54(1):233-51 (abstract).
3. Mosconi L. et al (2014). Mediterranean Diet and Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Assessed Brain Atrophy in Cognitively normal individuals at risk of Alzheimer’s disease. J. Prev. Alzheimers Dis. Jun;1(1):23-32. (full journal)
4. Patrick Holford (2005). The Alzheimer’s prevention Plan. UK.
5. Staubo SC et al (2016). Mediterranean diet, micronutrients and macronutrients, and MRI measures of cortical thickness. Alzheimers Dement. Jul 23. pii: S1552-5260(16)32661-9. (abstract).
   © Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) Nutritional Therapist – R-Craniosacral Therapist