Rosemary for Alzheimer's

This is an article from Dementia & Alzheimer Weekly, a great resource of information.
"Rosemary contains more than a dozen antioxidants and a half-dozen compounds reported to prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine. It's fabulous that the classical herb of remembrance has so many compounds that might help people suffering from Alzheimer’s."

These are the words of Dr. James Duke, former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Chief of Medicinal Plant Research. Dr. Duke is one of the world's leading authorities on medicinal plants. He helped build the USDA database that demonstrates how rosemary may slow the progress of Alzheimer's.

His strong advocacy of rosemary has to do with a chemical called acetylcholine. Anyone who has lived with Alzheimer’s in the past decade has heard of Aricept. Aricept is a medicine that does one thing: it inhibits acetylcholine.


So does rosemary.

Dr. Duke said that when he learned of the new medications that fought Alzheimer’s by inhibiting acetylcholine, “I probed my U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) database for herbs with phytochemical constituents that were also reported to prevent the breakdown of ACh (acetylcholine). Even though I myself had been the source of the overwhelming proportion of the data in the database for more than a decade, I was surprised at the output. The database yielded about a half dozen anti-AChE (acetylcholine) compounds, with Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) the proud winner in terms of their numbers and potencies.”

Richard Taylor PhD His thougts on being someone with Alzheimer's

ITEM OF INTEREST: ARTICLE


It is always startling to me when someone I know, even if only through some make-believe roles in make-believe movies, dies and has been prior to her/his death living with a diagnosis of Dementia - probably of this or that type.

Someone found the press release Mr. Heston read announcing his diagnosis - and I just read it. Reading Charleton Heston's announcement that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease reconfirms for me that many, too many individuals, even those diagnosed with the disease see the diagnosis as the start of a long good bye.

We announce and prepare ourselves and others for the fact that we have already started to fade away. It started the moment someone in a white coat told us "You have Dementia, probably of this or that type, and certainly with these features." I'm on my way out! It's all downhill from here! Don't look for me anymore; I'm going to be busy fading away and not being me.

We are seldom seen by others post-diagnosis. We seldom speak up or speak out post-diagnosis. After all, we are fading away. What could we have worthwhile to say? Could we possible grow as a human being after we have been diagnosed? We become someone we would be embarrassed to be, were we capable of appreciating who we had become!

Are we? Will be embarrassed for ourselves? Who is embarrassed for whom? How do you know I'm not accepting, perhaps even content with who I am today? Even if I'm sometimes frustrated. Even if I'm sometimes agitated. I'm still me!

Isn't it time others who don't live with the diagnosis focus their energies on understanding, appreciating, supporting, enabling those of us who do live with diagnosis? Don't concentrate on who we were. Don't try to convince us we should hang on to yesterday, or last year, or fifty years ago – when we are struggling to understand today!

Wouldn't it be easier to love someone we believed was a whole person, instead of someone half empty? Instead of someone who is literally a shell of who they were?

Is it any wonder people find us hard to love when they find us so hard to understand? To appreciate us for who we are? To accept our changes, our symptoms, our forgetting and confusion? Of course it is. Some people with dementia and many caregivers keep saying good-bye. I, and I honestly believe every other person living with and in dementia need to hear, feel, and be supported by saying "Hello!"

This is not an issue just for those in the late stage of the disease, nor just for those in the middle stage of the disease. It starts the day the diagnosis is pronounced. Collectively, and individually we need to find the courage, the support, the understanding to say "hello" to ourselves and each other.

Every day! Every day! It's that simple! It's that easy! Reduce stress, increase love you give and receive, enjoy and live in today.

"Hello,"

Richard


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More on Guardian and Conservator Responsibilities

After my last post I realized I had posted some information on this subject a few days or weeks ago. To add to your knowledge, here is what Attorney Leanna Hamill had to say in her newsletter.

On Guardian and Conservator Responsibilities
Attorney Leanna Hamill provides estate planning and related legal services to clients of all ages, with a focus on the needs of older individuals and their families.
160 Old Derby St., Suite 456
Hingham, Ma 02043
Phone: 781-749-2284 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 781-749-2284 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Fax: 866-573-6429
Leanna@HamillLawOffice.com

Responsibilities of a Guardian & Conservator
Written on December 6, 2010 in Guardianship
Have you thought about pursuing guardianship or conservatorship over an adult family member who you believe can no longer handle their affairs? A guardianship is a legal relationship created by a court between a guardian and her ward, usually an incapacitated adult. The guardian has a legal right and duty to care for the ward. A conservatorship is a like a guardianship but refers only to property.

After you are appointed by the Court, you have a lot of responsibilities to properly carry out your duties. Here are some of the ongoing responsibilities of a guardian and conservator:

•Filing a report with the Court at 60 days and annually outlining your plans for the ward, their care, and their property,
•Filing a yearly report with the Court outlining the ward’s living situation, medical condition, how often you’ve visited them, what services they are receiving and related issues.
•Caring for the ward – making health care decisions, living decisions and decisions about how to manage their property for their benefit,
•Involving the ward as much as possible taking into account their condition and circumstances,
•Filing Roger’s Monitor reports annually, if you are also appointed in that capacity,
•In the case of a Conservatorship, fileing annual accountings showing what has occured over the last year with the property you are managing,
•Responding to any requests from the Court for more frequent recording.
A guardian or conservator is always subject to the oversight of the Court and can be penalized for failing to properly account for funds and monitor their ward.

(The term “ward” is used here for convenience. The legal term for someone under a guardianship is “incapacitated person” and for someone under a conservatorship is “protected person.”)

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given. The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.
Posted by Coach Licensor Beverly at 12:33 PM 0 comments
Labels: From Leanna Hamill's blog
Friday, December 3, 2010

Today's radio interview

Greg Porell's show on WATD is worth an ear. If you're out of the area, log on to www.Southshoresenior.com and you can catch on. Judy Flynn Esq. was on talking about some of those legal jams people get themselves into due to lack of education. For example, if you are called on to be a guardian or conservator for someone, what is entailed? What are your responsibilities, your obligations legally? She mentioned a website that can help. It is www.massguardianship.org. There are explanations of guardianship and some downloads to take advantage of. She can be reached at www.thelegalcheckup.com for specific help. I mostly listened the first part of the show as I need to learn as well.
My part of the show is the segment once monthly called Matters of the Mind, the same title as my column, also available at www.southshoresenior.com. It is a fun show; Greg makes it so with his easy going nature. I spoke about New Beginnings; that in the course of Alzheimer's there are new beginnings as loss of function is recognized. It is a time for new learning to meet this new challenge. With every loss there is a new beginning; that is life. Probably in the Alzheimer caregiving journey it is more poignant as we are apt to think, I've never done it that way before. But do it a new way, you must, if you are to have an easier journey. The coach can help through all the new beginnings as can support groups. Our coaches run five support groups, so they are aware of the changes that take place in a person with Alzheimer's.

How is dementia and Alzheimer's alike or unalike?

Every time I present a talk on Alzheimer's disease, someone asks the question "What is the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's? Or are they the same?"
This is an exerpt from this week's Alzheimer and Dementia Weekly.

Dementia is not a specific disease. It is a descriptive term for a collection of symptoms that can be caused by a number of disorders that affect the brain. People with dementia have significantly impaired intellectual functioning that interferes with normal activities and relationships. They also lose their ability to solve problems and maintain emotional control, and they may experience personality changes and behavioral problems such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations. While memory loss is a common symptom of dementia, memory loss by itself does not mean that a person has dementia. Doctors diagnose dementia only if two or more brain functions - such as memory, language skills, perception, or cognitive skills including reasoning and judgment - are significantly impaired without loss of consciousness.


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www.healthcareinsights.com article on Omegas

THIS ARTICLE IS PART 2 of "Oh My...Omega's! and focuses on Food Sources and Supplements

Omega-3 fatty acids make up a major part of brain and body cells but can only be ingested, not made by our bodies. Omega-3s are important for building brain cell membranes, dendrites and synapses. They are also anti-inflammatory, and thus helpful for preventing or managing a variety of diseases. Choose fish (3 or more x a week!), seafood, fish oils, green leafy vegetables, walnuts, flax seeds, and purslane.

What are the Types of Omega-3's?

There are two major types of Omega-3 fatty acids:

alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is the plant form,
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) which is the marine or "sea" form. EPA and DHA are found in fish, algae and all seafoods and in grass fed and free range animals and poultry.
It is the marine form, DHA and EPA, that help make up our own brains and bodies cell membranes and other components, not ALA, the plant form.

Food Sources of Omega-3's

ALA is found in vegetable oils such soybean, canola (rapeseed), and flaxseed, pumpkin seed, hemp seed, and perilla seed oils. Other sources of ALA include flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, wheat (especially wheat germ), hemp, soybeans, tofu, walnuts, kidney beans, purslane, and green vegetables such as kale, spinach, Swiss Chard, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, mustard greens (and all of the other types of Chinese green vegetables), grape leaves, cauliflower, and salad greens.

Most foods rich in ALA also contain vitamin E which is one of nature's primary ways of preventing oxidation of the delicate Omega 3's. It is vitamin E in its multiple forms that also helps protect from oxidation the Omega 3's in our brain cell membranes and dendrites! (see our website and previous article about Vitamin E).

Purslane, though considered an exotic weed in the US, is frequently eaten as a leaf vegetable in Europe, Asia, and Mexico. Not only is purslane a rich source of ALA (1 cup of fresh leaves contains about 300 to 400 mg), but it is also a source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, some B vitamins, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron. Some types of purslane are now sold as flowering plants; these are also edible.

What are the fish and animal sources of Omega-3's?

EPA and DHA are found mostly in marine sources, especially in higher-fat, cold-water varieties of fish such as salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, sardines, Atlantic herring, swordfish, and lake trout, as well as in algae and krill...so today they are referred to as "marine" Omega 3's.

Surprising to many, PASTURE-RAISED (Free Range or Grass-fed) beef, lamb, and other animals, poultry and free-range chicken's eggs are also rich sources of "marine" Omega 3's including DHA and EPA.

Sixty percent of the fat content of grass is ALA Omega-3 fatty acid. When animals consume grass and green leafy "weeds," their flesh contains both ALA and the "marine" forms of Omega 3's. Just like humans, cattle convert the ALA they consume into EPA and DHA forms of Omega-3's; an analysis of grass-fed beef shows that EPA is the most prevalent Omega 3. ALA is the second most prevalent Omega-3 in grass fed beef with DHA the least abundant. But when transferred to the feed lot to be fattened on grains, the Omega-3 content rapidly diminishes until after just a few months in the feed lots, it is mostly gone. Animals fed only grain have high levels of Omega 6's and very low levels of Omega 3's in their flesh... or milk or products made from animal milk.

Some varieties of eggs are Omega-3 enriched, with either ALA or DHA/EPA depending on what the chickens are fed, and whether they are free-range. Feeding chickens flaxseed and canola (rape) seed and greens increases mostly ALA content while feeding them algae and seaweed increases EPA and DHA content of the eggs.

Thus if you do eat animal foods, and you can afford it, go for the grass fed and free range beef and lamb, and free range chickens, and/or Omega-3 eggs, and milk and cheese from grass fed cows. This is especially important for meat lovers who are not eating enough vegetables!

How often should I eat fish and seafood?

The Memory Preservation Nutrition (MPN)® program recommends eating fish at least three times a week and ideally some fish, seafood and/or marine oil (from fish, cod liver, or calamari) every day of the week.

The MPN™ does not emphasize just oily or fatty fish, even though they are higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, for several reasons. The most important reason is that many non-oily fish also are relatively high in Omega-3's and other important nutrients, and it is key that people try to eat fish that they enjoy eating.

What about contaminants in fish?

Though some fish contain mercury and other toxins the USDA and nutritionists say it is still safe to eat as much as 12 oz/week of those with problems (i.e. some domestic salmon, and those with higher mercury levels such as tuna, swordfish, and shark). However, pregnant women and small children are, as of late 2008, still cautioned by the USDA to avoid these particular fish.

Even more important though, pregnant women and small children need to consume fish, seafood, and fish oil to foster adequate brain and nervous system development for the fetus and child. There is indication that inadequate Omega-3's in mother (during mother's pregnancy and lactation) and child can result in poorer cognitive performance in school would otherwise be the case. See http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fish/index.html for a discussion of how to achieve the benefits of fish while reducing any risks.

Benefits of Supplements

Omega-3 supplements are an important way to ensure that you are getting enough Omega-3 fatty acids for optimal brain and body health. The preferred form of supplementation is DHA and EPA from fish oils, cod liver oil, or calamari (squid) oil. Calamari oil is excellent form rich in DHA and EPA, especially for those with fish allergy concerns (or worried about sustainability of our fish supplies).

Typically the amount recommended depends on the primary reason you are taking the supplement. A general recommendation is to take enough of a supplement to ingest between 600 mg to 3g of combined DHA and EPA daily. Be sure to read the label as supplements have variable amounts of the "active ingredients" of DHA and EPA depending on the brand and type of oil or capsule. Thus to achieve these amounts you might need to take two to four or many more of 1000 mg (large!) soft gels, or 1-3 teaspoons of an oil a day. Be sure to let you doctor know if you are taking more than 3g of the active ingredients (DHA and EPA) because Omega-3's thin the blood (thinning the blood is generally a good thing but may interact with other medical regimens you are pursuing, e.g. coumadin). Also be sure to purchase brands known to provide contaminant-free oils; the better companies have lab analyses proving "no detectible levels" of mercury, pcbs and dozens of other possible contaminants; these companies also properly process and package oils and capsules to prevent oxidation and spoilage.

Vegetarian alternatives include algae derived DHA/EPA or 2 Flaxseed Oil 1000 mg softgels (which typically each contain 450 mg ALA Omega-3). However, this is less optimal than supplementing with oils of a marine source because flaxseed oil contains the shorter chain ALA Omega-3 that needs to be converted by the body to DHA or EPA, and this is done much less efficiently as we age.

How do I find out what is best for me?

Dr. Nancy Emerson Lombardo can be reached by e-mail or phone for inquiries about what supplements would be best for you personally, and which brands are best. She also offers preferred nutritional supplements including some Omega-3 products through her website or by phone or email.
www.healthcareinsights.com

Resources

Perhaps because I'm in the field, but I get several good resources about different kinds of dementia, their treatment and the research being done. One is John Hopkins newsletter; another is Alzheimer and Dementia Weekly. If anyone wants contact information, write me @ beverly.moore@stilmee.com.