Martha:
Thank you for your response. Your words show an understanding of both Alzheimer's disease and the plight of caregivers. Though Alzheimer's effects millions of people and their families, I have found that a majority of people neither understand it nor what caregivers go through in trying to care for their loved ones. Having served as the caregiver of my mother for over ten years now, I share in your prayer that a remedy will be found to this horrific disease. In the interim, I also hope that a greater understanding of this disease and the effect it has on caregivers is acquired by the millions of people who have not experienced it.
Mike
The Following User Says Thank You to MikeNJ For This Useful Post: aras (03-25-2012)
I totally agree that the plight of the care giver needs awareness as well as an awareness of this disease by not just those that are dealing with it but the general population. Having been the care giver for my Dad and now my Mom for over a decade I do understand.
I would like to ask what improvements you have seen with your Mom?
Before giving you the changes, I need to note that my mother suffers from both Alzheimer’s and a deterioration of her cochlear (auditory) nerves. The latter causes her brain to hear words completely different than those that are spoken. Therefore, we had to communicate in writing with a white erasable board. That means of communication, however, had also stopped working. Though the changes we have seen may seem small to one who has not experienced advanced Alzheimer’s, they are quite significant to us who have seen nothing but the steady progression of this disease for over ten years now. The changes include:
1. Before: She could only understand about 10% of the words we spoke to her. Now: She can understand about 80% of the words and simple sentences we speak to her though, at times, it may require repeating 2 or 3 times.
2. Before: She had stopped reading. Now: She can read magazines but still doesn’t understand or remember what she reads.
3. Before: She could not remember or follow simple instructions whether verbal or written. Now: She can follow simple instructions which we give to her verbally. On a couple of occasions I asked her to repeat the instructions I gave her and she was able to do so.
4. Before: She could not dress herself. Now: She can dress herself when she is given simple dressing instructions.
5. Before: She babbled continuously for hours. Now: Her babbling is sporadic and there were several days during which she didn’t babble at all. A combination of the coconut oil and potassium seems to control her compulsion to babble more than the coconut oil alone. Interestingly, before the coconut oil, she could not tell us, when asked, why she kept talking incessantly. But, after the coconut oil and potassium, I asked her this question again during one of her sporadic babbling sessions. Unlike previously, this time she said: "I can't stop."
6. Before: She couldn’t respond to most simple questions asked. Now: She can provide logical answers to most of the simple questions we ask.
7. Before: She would frequently remain awake all night and roam the house. Now: Her roaming is rare and, when it has occurred, another dose of coconut oil has resolved it in about an hour.
8. Before: Her ability to write had ceased. Now: She can write her own name and my name in a penmanship that is very close to normal. We haven’t tested her beyond that point.
9. Before: She could not recall the names of lots of common items such as a fork or spoon. For this, we use a pack of index cards with pictures on them. When we tried them previously, she could name very few of the items (10% if that) and got frustrated with them. Now: She can recall the names of many common items but not all of them. She recalls the names of about 70% of the items on the index cards.
10. Before: She could not form new memories. Yesterday: We’ve taught her the names of some simple items she had forgotten, like strawberry and lemon. When we tested her today, she recalled the names of those items.
11. Before: She could not recall the different locations in the house. Yesterday: She surprised us by heading toward the basement. When asked where she was going, she said to the bathroom. When followed, she went straight to the bathroom in the basement which she had not recalled existed for a very long time. She also knows exactly where her bedroom is which she could not recall previously. Most importantly, with an exception here and there, she recognizes that she is home which was not the case prior to the coconut oil and potassium.
12. Before: She had difficulty swallowing and, therefore, eating. Now: Her swallowing ability has substantially improved and she eats almost normally.
13. Before: She couldn’t identify dangerous items in the house and, at one point, completely took apart a very sharp pocket knife. Now: She tells us to be careful when using a knife and to shut off the gas on the stove. Today, she told a visitor who was about to leave our house to be careful going down the front stairs. She was inside the house in a location from which she could not see the stairs. Previously, she could not even remember that the front stairs existed.
14. Before: Her analytical abilities had disappeared. Now: She can analyze very simplistic problems and find a solution.
15. Before: She suffered from frequent hallucinations seeing and talking to people that were not there. Now: The hallucinations are rare.
16. Before: She thought the people on television were in the house and, even when we tried to explain it was a show or movie, she didn’t understand. Now: When we tell her it’s a show or movie, she seems to understand.
17. Before: She could not focus on watching TV. Now: She can focus on watching TV for extended periods of time though the rapidity of TV speech is too fast to accommodate her hearing impairment.
18. Before: She was bewildered and fearful of the people she saw on TV. Now: She's inquisitive and asks what they are doing or saying or why they are doing something.
As I said in my original post, we don't know whether these improvements will continue but we have no doubt that they are real and constitute a significant change. We're just taking it day by day. So far, each day has brought a slight improvement over the previous one. Should the coconut oil and potassium stop working, which given the nature of Alzheimer's is a distinct possibility, I'll post it.
Mike
The Following User Says Thank You to MikeNJ For This Useful Post: Harry (04-06-2012)
This is an update on my post of March 25th. The effectiveness of the coconut oil appears to have plateaued or peaked. We haven't seen any additional improvements within about the last two weeks. I wish I could state definitively that coconut oil works or doesn't work but I can't. The results so far are mixed. Of the 18 improvements I listed in my March 25th post, eleven have remained essentially constant while 7 have either deteriorated to their prior state or the frequency of their sporadic regressions has increased. Notwithstanding these mixed results, we continue to give my mother coconut oil because we have concluded that, though not a panacea, it is helpful in maintaining the improvement we have seen with many of her symptoms. If things change for the better or worse, I'll post again.
Hi I have been thinking about the coconut oil in the meantime. A family member has been studying arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis. This usually involves inflammation in the case of one or a coating of a fatty/cholesterol plaque in the other. If one really thinks about it coconut oil is hard at room temperature. If a person goes out in the cold and the limbs chill I wonder if any fat that can harden contributes to the rise in heart attacks in winter. If butter is put in the refrigerator it hardens. Of course this would include the animal fats. The coating of the inside of blood vessels would only see that the blood would not be able to reach brain cells.
They say cilantro helps to detoxify from heavy metals. In some cases of the past aluminum was pointed at as a problem for these patients. Aluminum is found in many snacks, some salts, and in certain antacid products. I think I would also feed my family member this and bring them out for as many brisk walks as possible since this improves circulation, has helped to decrease fatty plaque build up and may actually improve blood flow in the brain.
I watched a health program a few weeks ago and people who ate a plant based diet without animal foods after a fatty deposit in the heart decreased these terrible plaques after 3 years. Of course if there was an emergency the plant food diet is a bit late and sugery would be needed for the heart patient but it could help prevent a rebuild up of plague in the arteries of any place in the body such as the brain.
I found some information some time ago they said rats brain damage was reversed by feeding them cranberries, blueberries, concord grape juice and strawberry.
Other foods are mentioned by other people as also being useful for the brain but that was the one someone said actually reversed damage and I found it surprising. Peace, SJB
This will probably be my last post on this subject because, since my last post, there have been no perceivable changes one way or the other. Though the improvements that resulted from the coconut oil continue, the degree of those improvements remain the same and no further improvements have appeared.
The following user gives a hug of support to MikeNJ: sjb (07-15-2012)
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to MikeNJ For This Useful Post: Kathryn757 (07-15-2012), Locket25 (08-27-2012)
Would appeciate you giving us an update if you have time Mike. Just hiope all is well for you all.
..
My husband has been on the oil for just a short time and without doing anything else has lost 4 lbs. from his tummy so we are very happy.
The best thing about this method is that it does no harm ..unlike so many drugs prescribed for this condition which do not do any good but do a LOT of harm!
I have mild cognitive impairment. I had two head injuries due to sports and a car accident in my teens. I am now 46 years old and have been told by my neurologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, that it is probable early dementia.
I've been given Aricept, Namenda, and a handful of antidepressants to manage my disease. I take none of them. The side effects are awful, and some of them made my memory worse. I am not depressed, in fact quite the opposite. The MCI has made me very mellow and content. I am aware that both Aricept and Namenda will not stop the progression of my probable disease.
The only thing that has ever helped was coconut oil. I have issues with communication, so after years of being talkative and bubbly my communication had ground to a halt due to an inability to "find" words. The first day I took it, I decided not to expect too much. I had read both glowing reports and negative posts about how it was not scientifically proven, and just a way to get my money.
That morning, I took 1000 mg organic coconut oil. I purchased it at Whole Foods. I jumped on my bike and rode, soon forgetting I had taken it. An hour in to my ride. I stopped. I realized I had something to tell my husband. As I rode home, words and thoughts were in my head.
I ran into my home, into the kitchen where he stood, and for the next ten minutes, talked non stop about a book on economics I had read three months prior. He asked me about it after I finished reading it and all I could muster was it was okay and very informative.
When I finally finished my long winded explanation of the book, he smiled and said.. " You are feeling much better arent ya?" At that point, I realized that I had spoken without hesitation, words flowed freely-- and I remembered the details of the book.
In the next several months my ability to manage bills and math returned. I was able to read books straight thru, and remember them.
Finally, my doc suggested a new med. I stopped the coconut oil, and tried it without success.
Within a month, I was back to my former self. Not able to do math, driving poorly, not reading, and stilted conversations.
When I suggested to my doc that I take it again, he told me it's not scientifically proven and gave me another antidepressant. It went unfilled.
For me, personally it works. You can call it snake oil sold by money grubbers, you can say it's not scientifically proven, but I guess I could say the same about Aricept and Namenda.-- ( at least for me)
All I can say is try it. If it works great, if not you've lost your money and your time. I have lost a lot more than that.
I am sorry you are having to deal with this cognitive impairment. I am glad the coconut oil seemed to work for you and I agree with your assessment of the current medications that are prescribed for dementia! Hope you continue to do well! Yet I do hold to my past statements because I know many cases it has not worked at all.
