supplements

LizG55

Hi all,

I don't know if this is an OK subject, if not,  I guess it would be pulled? Anyway, I wanted to know what kind of supplements people who use them have their loved one on. I work with a Holistic doc so I don't just do "anything" that seems OK, but I also did learn some interesting things in a FB group a while ago,  just don't care for FB. We had added some thing that really helped him over the years, so would be interested in other's protocols as well. Not to use without the OK of the doc of course, I want to stress that..  All of us should always check with our doctors that are in the know about these things.. 

Jo C.

Must  be ever so careful.  Many of these substances can react with prescription meds.  They are not held to FDA approval, so the contamination and reliability of the products can vary highly from pill to pill and/or bottle to bottle.

Consumer Reports has many articles on supplements; you can find them by using Google. Lots to read, but good to be a wise consumer.

J.

Lane Simonian

This is a perfectly good topic to bring up here.  I would recommend being cautious but not to the point of paralysis.  Some supplement makers have a very good track record in regards to testing the quality of their product.  Drug interactions can be discussed with a medical professional.  Also you can read studies of supplements that may be of value for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (or other forms of dementia) and those that don't seem to make any difference.

The two natural products that have the most evidence of effectiveness for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease are essential oils via aromatherapy and panax ginseng.  Certain stimulating essential oils and panax ginseng can potentially increase anxiety and high blood pressure in some individuals.  In most case, though, they have good safety profiles.  

What are you using that seems to help?

LizG55

Lane Simonian wrote:

This is a perfectly good topic to bring up here.  I would recommend being cautious but not to the point of paralysis.  Some supplement makers have a very good track record in regards to testing the quality of their product.  Drug interactions can be discussed with a medical professional.  Also you can read studies of supplements that may be of value for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (or other forms of dementia) and those that don't seem to make any difference.

The two natural products that have the most evidence of effectiveness for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease are essential oils via aromatherapy and panax ginseng.  Certain stimulating essential oils and panax ginseng can potentially increase anxiety and high blood pressure in some individuals.  In most case, though, they have good safety profiles.  

What are you using that seems to help?

Hi Lane....

He's been on a lot of supplements for various health issues for over 26 years. In my opinion that bought him a lot of time in his life since he's 90 1/2 now.  We have worked with doctors that do all this. More recently, meaning last year, we added melatonin and L-Tryptophan to the nighttime meds.. made a BIG difference for him. Everyone does not react the same... but in his case, the tryptophan is depleted along with other vital nutrients as this disease progresses so adding back some of what he has lost that he tolerates is great. Now we did start all these things before he  became acute. Also we have a lot of experience from all these years, doctors, nutritionists, etc... so not just grabbing a bottle off the shelves and saying hey let's give this a try. 

I realize a lot of people don't believe in supplements so not looking for a debate please.... just wondering what others are doing if anything.  he started 25 years ago when I first noticed symptoms...... phosphatidyl serine, as well as soooooo many others.  Supplements saved my life so... when he saw that too it became a new world for us. He did not tolerate ginseng it made him very nervous.  There are a lot of supps for the brain as well as everything else... like you said homework is very important for anything you take....and having a very good practitioner versed in this. Other things are Bacopa Monnieri, phosphatidyl choline, omega 3's, Acetly L Carnatine, and SamE. B-12 injections. These are just what some of what  he has taken that have bought him more time. But there are a lot of things out there we never got to unfortunately,  and some that didn't agree. Have to closely monitor just like with drugs what you take. They almost killed my father with the heavy psychotic drugs.. and eventually did.. but before that, he was getting sooo much better from nutritional medicine. Everything has it's place. 

About 25 years ago I started to see things in him that were just not right... and some mental decline. 

LizG55

Jo C. wrote:

Must  be ever so careful.  Many of these substances can react with prescription meds.  They are not held to FDA approval, so the contamination and reliability of the products can vary highly from pill to pill and/or bottle to bottle.

Consumer Reports has many articles on supplements; you can find them by using Google. Lots to read, but good to be a wise consumer.

J.

Absolutely true Jo, that's why the docs always need to know everything you're taking. Even then, I still look stuff up. His conventional doctor had put him on something new for his diabetes type 2 and it shot him right into full blown dementia/ hallucinations. Not one thing we could find in reactions that explained this but it happened. It also happened with a supplement that was supposed to do the same for his diabetes. So we couldn't use the med or the supplement. It's a very fragile road for sure. That's why I say don't ever try something on your own with this disease without working with your doctors...and doing homework. Even then, you never know. How many times do we try a pharmaceutical that makes our loved one worse right? ... so always to be careful for sure. Namenda ruined my dad. 

Lane Simonian

Thank you for the very detailed response.  Many of these supplements are part of the Bredesen protocol and can make a difference in the treatment of memory loss.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920/

The hard part is trying to figure out which supplements or combination of supplements does the most good and which ones that are generally not prescribed for Alzheimer's disease may do even better.

It is true that many medications prescribed for various conditions can do as much harm as good especially when given under conditions of oxidative stress.  Others such as Aricept and Namenda can temporarily reduce that stress but lose effectiveness over time while causing in some cases serious side effects.