Showing posts with label Lewy Body Dementia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lewy Body Dementia. Show all posts

Monday, 15 April 2013

Quality >> Quantity.

Mum passed away peacefully in the middle of the night. I'm waiting for paperwork to be done.

"And the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

On the internet, I read that Dementia with Lewy bodies has a mean survival time of 6 years from the onset of symptoms. Mum first became confused in mid-July 2007, so it's been just under 6 years. Does this mean that all of the supplements I gave her were worthless. Hell, no!

As mentioned in Look after your brain., mum's MMSE score increased from 14 to 26 out of 30 after taking medication and supplements. The medication gave a 3 point increase in MMSE score on average, so the rest of the increase in MMSE score was probably due to the supplements, which had no undesirable side-effects.

On Christmas day 2008, mum was capable of preparing Brussels sprouts for cooking, though she got the knives, forks & spoons mixed up when she tried to lay the table. Here's her final Christmas at home. Roast duck with all of the trimmings. Om, nom, nom!

Mum's last Christmas at home.

People commented on how happy mum always was. Even though she probably didn't know who she was or I was, when I said "Fancy a cup of tea, mum?", she'd reply "Ooh yes, please!" That was the last part of her speech to go.

In conclusion, I believe that quality of life trumps quantity of life, so supplementation for the win.

Thursday, 3 May 2012

Look after your brain, Part 5.

This is another bookmarking post.

I spotted an article by Emily Deans M.D. called Nutritional Brain Bomb - Thiamine Deficiency.

So there's yet another way to knacker the brain, resulting in Wernicke's encephalopathy and in severe cases, Korsakoff's psychosis. Both of these conditions are partially irreversible due to neuron death. Both of these conditions are partially reversible by high-dose thiamine therapy.

Thiamine 500mg/day is one last therapy to try mum on after I've got her back on Vitamin K2 (hopefully today).

Continued on Quality >> Quantity.

Monday, 4 January 2010

Look after your brain, Part 4.

Ketogenic Diet REALLY WORKS!!!
WHAT IF THERE WAS A CURE FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND NO ONE KNEW?
High fat, low carb diet may help Alzheimer's sufferers.

The above popped-up when I Googled for "ketogenic diet" alzheimer's.

See also
D-β-hydroxybutyrate protects neurons in models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease ,
D-β-hydroxybutyrate rescues mitochondrial respiration and mitigates features of Parkinson disease ,
Ketones: Metabolism's ugly duckling ,
Ketone bodies, potential therapeutic uses ,
Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet ,
Ketone bodies as a therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease ,
Altered lipid metabolism in brain injury and disorders ,
The ketogenic diet: uses in epilepsy and other neurologic illnesses and
Branched chain amino acids as adjunctive therapy to ketogenic diet in epilepsy: pilot study and hypothesis.

EDIT: Ketones give the brain two fuels to run on instead of one (glucose). This improves mental function considerably. However, it can't repair the damage done to the brain by amyloid plaques, protein tangles etc. Sadly, this damage is progressive and permanent. Therefore, coconut oil can't cure Alzheimer's Disease, Lewy Body Dementia etc. It just delays the inevitable.

It's mum's 80th Birthday today so I'm off to see her now.

Continued on Look after your brain, Part 5.

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Look after your brain, Part 2.

Mum used to use a transdermal Natural Progesterone Cream (to reverse hair loss) but she stopped using it some time before she became mentally impaired. I found a half-full pot of the stuff in mum's house and have instructed the nursing staff to rub a blob of cream on mum's skin each day to see if it makes any improvement to her Lewy Body Dementia. See Regeneration in a degenerating brain: potential of allopregnanolone as a neuroregenerative agent , Regenerative potential of allopregnanolone and Progesterone receptors: form and function in brain.

Getting mum to eat more smoked salmon has definitely perked her up. I've also managed to re-introduce turmeric into her diet (she was spitting out the turmeric pills as they were large & unchewable) by getting the nursing staff to stir a teaspoonful of turmeric powder into her orange juice (I & she can't taste it) once every few days. Luckily, she never had any problems taking the Vitamin D3 & K2 capsules/gelcaps.

Finally, I'm trying to get mum on low dose Aspirin, as Aspirin inhibits the aggregation of proteins (synuclein, beta amyloid) on charged polymers in amyloid diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, etc., according to Dr Art Ayers. As mum has a hiatus hernia, which causes acid reflux, her GP may not allow her to do this even though mum is taking a Proton Pump Inhibitor and Gaviscon. See The role of anti-inflammatory drugs in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and other anti-inflammatory agents in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.

Continued on Look after your brain, Part 3.