INTRODUCTION
Well, let's have at it! I am a 50 year old sad sack of a singleton, living in a country house on a farm in South Africa. It is mom and I, two dogs and a cat and more than a few venomous snakes from time to time.
A few years ago mom's memory and other issues became real evident and I knew that I needed to stay home and care for her full time. I closed my landscaping business, which was no great sacrifice as I was thoroughly sick of staff, the sun and the joys of self employment. Not to mention the various aches and pains creeping up in my middle-age dom.
However, as it turned out the joke was on me, because I decided to make a product from home that I could sell worldwide.
Mom was a Nursing Sister for 60 years and for the last two decades, or so, worked in old age homes. So I got up close and personal with the aged and all the various things that befall them.
I saw folks I had come to know over years being diagnosed with dementia, even close family friends, but it was only when my mom's short term memory, attitude, behaviour, logic, reasoning and personality started undergoing definite changes that I realized that she had a major problem.
Luckily, she is still in 'Mild Cognitive Impairment' (M.C.I) stage I hope. Only 20% of folks with it end up getting worse i.e. Alzheimer's, or another form of dementia and this is where my ADVOCACY lies.
When I discovered the fact that folks with dementia are deficient in Cholesterol, Acetylcholine, Glutathione and Testosterone in men, I knew I had to zone in on that. Right now there are 126 drugs being trialled, but nada that I know of research wise being done about nutritional deficiencies.
I am a pretty logical rational person and I have found clear cut evidence of 'CAUSE' and 'EFFECT'. Only roughly 5% of folks with dementia have the genetic disposition for it. If you look at a map of the world and see where the most dementia occurs, then diet clearly plays a part in its development.
In fact, Finland leads the world statistically and it took me moments to suss out why. In the early 1970's based on a doctor's advice the government started a countrywide low cholesterol drive to lower the heart disease statistic's.
They slashed the stats by two-thirds, but ended up with an Alzheimer epidemic instead. The problem is that the brain needs FAT to function. Not just any fat, but healthy cholesterol, or HDL.
20% of the cholesterol in the body is stored in the brain and why it is so crucial is what it does in the brain.
It has a major PROTECTIVE function for the brain's nerve cells and for synaptic interactions between cells. Basically, if your brain does not have enough fuel to function it starts 'screaming' for fuel. Unfortunately, most folks interpret that urge for energy as a need to pour on the sugar, but as some of you may already have found out - INSULIN balance in the body is also a major factor in dementia. Some researchers view it as a third type of DIABETEs.
(If only it were that simple...)
SUGAR CRAVINGS
So these afflicted folk start craving SUGAR and lots of it!
Now these sugar boosts usually go together with carbs, but end up doing absolutely NOTHING to help. In fact, they make the situation a lot worse, a lot quicker.
Once you supplement yellow oils and spreads with a "white" fat like COCONUT OIL, avocado's and olive oil (raw on salads - never heat), your LO will lose the sugar cravings entirely. Happened for my mom and I am pleased to say that I now find the yellow stuff totally nauseating - literally!
We bake with it, fry with it, put on toast and in porridge to get the recommended 3 TBS 2x per day.
Thanks to Dr Mary Newton who did the research when her own husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I got to learn about coconut oil. Preferable "organic unhydrogenated", but if you cannot afford it like mom and I, then the cheaper lot. As it is able to convert KETONES into a kind of fuel the brain can use as energy, it still works.
BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER
The problem is that only 40% of cholesterol that is taken in by the body gets through the blood-brain barrier, so I have taken to advising folks to rub coconut on the arms, legs and backs of their loved one's twice a day to increase the amount of absorption.
As the skin is the largest organ of the body, there is absolutely no reason why this method should not work perfectly, but Bill Gates Dementia Defence group are not interested in funding any of my research trials. I think I have found the reason why more woman then men get Alzheimer's and it is not because they live longer.
WHY DO MORE WOMAN THEN MEN GET ALZHEIMER'S?
I am an amateur armchair detective and pretty good at it when I have the time to devote to a case. I have the kind of mind that picks on singular facts and makes something out of them.
What stuck out in my mind was the Testosterone deficiency in men with dementia.
It turns out that men store it in their sperm, testes and prostate, but woman of course do not have any of these. So what is the deal?
It turns out that ZINC is involved in the control of insulin levels. So the more Zinc a man has, the higher his testosterone levels.
Zinc is one of my favourite minerals. I found out about it years ago when I ended up dating a nice guy with the worse acne I had ever seen. It was 'EPIC ACNE', but I have never been one to shy away from a challenge.
None of the specialists could cure it and it was on his face, neck and back and we are talking large active volcanic craters.
I read up a wee bit and then decided to put him on high doses of Zinc, with multi-vitamins (he smoked) and a medicated face wash.
Lo and behold it worked!
However, the minute he stopped taking the Zinc the volcanic eruptions would start up again.
NB: Some folks have chronic deficiencies of vitamins and minerals.
ZINC is also of major importance to speed up healing, strengthen the immune system and fight infection, so if you have a LO with dementia (man or woman), they should definitely be on a minimum of 50mg Zinc per day (taken after meals).
My mom used to get constant UTI's and was on an antibiotic for YEARS. I reckon it was the reason she ended up with a Duodenal Haemorrhage and nearly bled to death.
Since then and 5 pints of blood later, mom now takes my health advice most of the time. No more meds and no more UTI's!
Unfortunately, mom seldom believes a word I say. So getting her to do anything I suggest is a real battle. She was always gorgeous though and here she sits with a friend of hers out and about. (A rare occasion).
As you can see I did not get her Elizabeth Taylor looks. Tall thin, white skin, black hair and greenish eyes. I took after my gran and dad (build) and ended up with mom's bad genes. Eish!
Mom with my now deceased beloved fur baby, 'Olive" lying on her lap.
One of my fidget blankets. Only recently started making fidget quilts and aprons. Love it!
Well, I can go and on and, but the crux is this:-
Everything means something. You do not have to have your loved on a Statin drug to lower (LDL) high, or bad cholesterol. They remove ALL the bodies cholesterol. There are natural products like RED RICE YEAST EXTRACT.
I now know why my mom had excess Calcium in her blood. It is linked to Acetylcholine mechanism. Why was her sodium out of whack? The sodium-pump balance also gets destroyed. I could go on and on, but this is just a wee introduction. So until next time. God bless! Ciao, Mel
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