{"id":30916,"date":"2023-07-31T10:29:48","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T15:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=30916"},"modified":"2023-07-31T10:29:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T15:29:50","slug":"im-scared-so-many-of-my-relatives-have-alzheimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/31\/im-scared-so-many-of-my-relatives-have-alzheimers","title":{"rendered":"“I\u2019m Scared. So Many of My Relatives Have Alzheimer\u2019s”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeanette, sitting across from me, was genuinely frightened about her future. Yes, she did have several elderly relatives with what she was calling \u201cAlzheimer\u2019s\u201d, but I quickly pointed out that not all causes of dementia are due to Alzheimer\u2019s Disease and much of dementia is both preventable and reversible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked what steps she had taken to address her fears. She had purchased a rider to her Long Term Care insurance that would cover admission to a nursing home\u2019s \u201cmemory unit\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay”, I said. \u201cLet\u2019s see if we can come up with something a bit more optimistic. We can take a few proactive steps to reduce your risks and reverse any damage your brain may have experienced so far\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although we don\u2019t know the exact cause of Alzheimer\u2019s Disease (AD), we know AD is a combination of a low level, smoldering chronic brain inflammation with autoimmune components<\/a>. The well known \u201camyloid plaques\u201d seen on brain biopsies seem to appear in response to an insult: an infection, a toxin, a genetic predisposition, a nutritional deficiency, we don\u2019t know what, or a combination of several of these trigger a dementia tipping point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neurologist Dr. Dale Bredesen in his excellent, \u201cThe End of Alzheimer\u2019s\u201d, book suggests that if you or a family member is concerned about the possibility of developing a long term dementia, you should have several tests performed. Example: Singer Kris Kristofferson\u2019s battle with Alzheimer\u2019s turned out to be chronic Lyme Disease<\/a>. When this was treated he was back on the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long term exposure to toxic metals, especially lead, have been known for years to cause brain damage. It took an article from The Guardian (rather than the Sun-Times or Tribune) to alert me that Chicago\u2019s lead levels are \u201cshocking<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I told Jeanette that before she write her brain off as doomed to Alzheimer\u2019s, go ahead and schedule functional medicine tests with one of the practitioners at WholeHealth Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some tests include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n