Dr. Jebelli's advice:
Follow a Mediterranean diet
Exercise (even mild exercise)
Avoid stress
Stimulate your mind (puzzles and mind games)
Sleep
Use turmeric spice (people in India who eat a lot of curry have lower Alzeimer's rates)
"You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain."
Joseph Jebelli is confident we will defeat Alzheimer's in our lifetime.
Aloysis "Alois" Alzheimer was born in a small Bavarian town in 1864. After attending medical school in Berlin he went on to work as an intern at a Frankfurt mental asylum where he made changes to release shackled patients and worked on calming them rather than imprisoning. He also studied brain tissue. The first patient he came across with what we now call "Alzheimer's" was a woman aged 51 but with dementia that had previously been associated with normal aging. After her death five years later, a post-mortem showed a large loss of brain tissue and dark particles of plaques and tangles between the nerve cells.
Alzheimer's disease is like a science fiction movie with plaques and tangles infiltrating the brain including frontal lobes that take away the ability to process logistical thoughts and resulting in fear and anxiety. With medication only 3-4 years of stability can be expected with death at about 8 years after diagnosis.
Following are some of the discoveries Dr. Jebelli mentions in his book:
In 1981 Leonard Heston discovered that Alzheimer's could be genetic with relatives of patients with early onset Alzheimer's developing the disease in middle age. He also discovered that many had a high incidence of Down's syndrome in the family. More studies on genes were done in the 1990 Human Genome Project.
In Columbia there is a higher concentration of Alzheimer sufferers than anywhere else in the world. Genetic mutation (Paisa mutation) is the cause. Scientists are hoping a new drug will combat the disease if given at an early age.
Karoly Nikolich found that using blood cells from younger people showed cognitive improvements.
Naji Tabet Exercise - even mild exercise - can prevent or slow the decline of Alzheimer's patients.
Frank LaFerla states that stress lasting several hours or more might accelerate or worsen the disease.
Stanley Pruisner discovered a class of pathogens (prions) that become self propogating and cause neurodegenerative diseases. These are immune to normal disinfectant and caused concerns for surgical instruments.
John Collinge shared that Alzheimer's might be transmissible (prions). Despite the British National Health service paying Dr. Collinge a large sum of money to develop a disinfectant to eradicate these (RelyOn), they then decided that the risk wasn't high enough to authorize the added cost within the hospitals (many had died resulting from infection after receiving a contaminated growth hormone)
Paige Cramer, a graduate student, discovered that a skin cancer drug, bexarotene, could reverse symptoms of Alzheimer's in mice.
Kavi Stefansson from Reykjavik, Iceland, discovered many Icelanders have a gene mutation that shields them from Alzheimer's.
Yves Christen and Tom Curran noted that those who develop cancer are less likely to get Alzheimer's and visa versa.
Genetics loads the gun - lifestyle pulls the trigger. . .
Early diagnosis is critical
