Imagine you are the first reporter attending this confronting war scene…… where do you start?
Hi friends, Dr Dennis here; nice to e-meet you here and thanks for reading this series of three on all things Dementia (Alzheimer’s disease is the most common brain degenerative disease that leads to Dementia). For those who have been following from series one, I am thankful for sticking with me, and for those who joined me for the first time, I encourage you to start from the beginning.
In this series, I will unravel a different perspective on the causes and, hence, the management of Dementia. Some comments are confronting and seem “unorthodox”, but hopefully, they will arouse your curiosity and shift your perspective towards this disease.
What's going on here?
Back to the picture/scenery above, imagine you were the first-ever reporter to arrive at the scene. You are required to report what has or might have happened. Let’s imagine a TV journalist went live with you as the national reporter and asked what you saw and what happened (no right or wrong answer here). These are the exchanges,
The TV presenter: “Dr D., we heard an unconfirmed report of a demolition of a town near_____. Can you tell us more?”
Reporter – “Hi, that’s right, it is an utter scene of chaos and devastation; this town seems abandoned; there is no single soul here, the buildings are bellowing with smoke, burnt cars are strewn everywhere, and the only recognisable object is a tank in the middle of the street.”
The TV presenter asked, “Assuming there was intense fighting as evidenced by the tank on the street, can you elaborate more? Do we know whether the tank is from the enemy or not?”
Reporter – “At this stage, we can’t confirm if the tank was from the enemy or defender. All we know is this town is like a ghost town; there is not a single soul here for us to ask what happened.”
The TV presenter said, “Well, doesn’t the presence of the tank signify a war, and it is most likely from the enemy?”
Reporter: “Not. We can only assume some fighting happened. We can’t confirm if it is civil unrest, guerilla warfare, or an invasion from another country. All we can see is the evidence of destruction, and the tank shouldn’t be there.”
Friends, I hope you got the gist of this short exchange between the reporter (Scientists’ discovery of Amyloid and Tau protein) and the TV presenter (Clinical researchers and pharmaceutical companies developing drugs to remove the proteins). Yes, that’s right, the traditional belief and assumption is that the Amyloid and Tau proteins (tank) are the bad guys, and we must find a way to clear it. The fact is that over the past few decades, well over 400 well-funded, big-scale designed trials have failed to find a cure to reverse Alzheimer’s and to slow its progression. Have we ever asked why? Are we sure the tank is the bad guy? Could the tank be from the defender? Yes, we could see the devastation (the degeneration of the brain cells), but what’s going on?
The Treatment
The picture here shows a rooftop with a few broken tiles and leaky holes. Imagine we are the occupants under that roof, and all we can see is the water leaking through the ceiling, as evidenced by the watermarks. Without climbing to the rooftop to investigate, it is easy for us to assume that the leak must be from one hole, which we could easily fix by targeting the “bad guy.” But, friends, there are reasons why the “proteins” are there. Please don’t assume they are the culprit without understanding why they were there in the first place. Can we move on from this discussion?
The Real Causes
At this point, I want to acknowledge the work done by all the researchers and scientists in this area, especially Dr Dale Bredesen, MD, Chief Science Officer at Apollo Health. “Dr. Dale Bredesen’s career has been guided by a simple idea: that Alzheimer’s as we know it is not just preventable, but reversible.”( Dr. Dale Bredesen – Chief Science Officer At Apollo Health (apollohealthco.com). Led by this conviction and belief, Dr Bredesen dedicated his career to this area of research and developed The ReCODE Protocol. The protocol is designed to manage those with Alzheimer’s Dementia according to the underlying causes (Dr Bredesen has subdivided them into six subtypes; see figures on the previous page). I will explain this in detail in the coming blogs.
In brief, it turns out that the roof has indeed as many as thirty-six leaky potential holes causing the leak (Alzheimer’s) and patching one of these holes (replacing the “missing Acetylcholine”, a neurotransmitter by Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as Donepezil) isn’t expected to be very successful. The Amyloid and Tau proteins may protect the neurons against further damage by toxins, ongoing inflammation, nutritional deficiencies, etc. Plausible? I think so; it is hard to explain why decades of clinical trials to remove the Amyloid protein were unsuccessful. Maybe we are “forcibly” removing a protective factor (Amyloid protein), possible?
What is the main take-home message?
- The Amyloid protein we see may not be what it seems. We can’t possibly conclude that it is terrible and is the cause of Alzheimer’s.
- Amyloid protein may be a protector against further insult to our neurons and
- The insult could be anything from chronic infection, environmental toxicity, inflammation, nutritional deficiencies, etc.