Scared all over again

[kateg]

Hello,
I am a member of this group and was active awhile ago after finding out I’m apoe4/4. My grandmother passed from Alz. no other family member except my mother’s first cousin with early onset.
Tonight a news story triggered my anxiety and sent me spiraling in anxiety. I haven’t been taking care of myself as best as I should although I’ve been reading about preventative measures all along. I feel like a fool to have neglected so much of the preventative measures. I’m going to try to get myself back on track and I’ve looked over the primer again. I think my plan of action will be to start one thing at a time and add on so it’ll be more sustainable. I have a couple questions. When removing sugars, does that include honey & maple syrup? Should I be following a vegan diet like Team Sherazi recommends from the Alzheimer’s Solution book? I take omeprazole for newly diagnosed Barrett’s esophagus. What are your thoughts on that? I think the issue with the med was thought to be more heart related than brain. And I’m doing my best with sleep but I have an autistic child at home which greatly interferes. Any advice, guidance, support or words of encouragement would be helpful - as I’m feeling quite overwhelmed, anxious and as my title states- scared all over again.

[kateg]

I’m so stressed I’ve read that having apoe4/4 increases our risk by 50% other studies saying 12x more likely and other studies saying lifestyle is the biggest risk. There is too much controversy over lifestyle. I’m feeling overwhelmed. I think I need to stop my omeprazole. Further clean up my diet and get serious about stress, sleep and exercise. I’m asking on another board about birth control pills - if I should start taking them. I’m 38 still getting my period but it’s starting to become more irregular. I’m thinking I need to start fasting again or at least not eat 4 hours before sleeping. It’s so much to think about. It’s empowering to think maybe I can mitigate my risk but right now I’m feeling paralyzed with fear. This stinks! Thank God tmrw is a new day.

[JD2020]

Hi,

Let's start at the beginning. Take a deep breath and then relax, if you can. You have one very good thing going for you: your age. You have time to implement protocols that will reduce your risk. Please also be realistic. At 38, I was dealing with work and two young children. There simply was not enough time. You have the added issue of having a child with challenges.

Perhaps start with the book



which will provide hope and an overview of the current state of the research and mainstream medical.

Do you have the financial resources to work with a ReCODE practitioner? That is the person who can guide you with regard to hormones, the many tests to uncover your individual vulnerabilities, etc. If not, perhaps Apollo Health is a resource.

https://www.apollohealthco.com/solution/recode/

Then there is everything else: diet, exercise, sleep, toxicities,, stress. I'm not the person to speak re diet. Exercise is super important. For sleep, I have found Oura and Why We Sleep to be super helpful.

https://ouraring.com/



Some toxicities can be addressed by lifestyle - eat organic, use healthy products for home care, etc. Others have to be discovered by testing - heavy metals, mold burdens.

Stress. I cut back on work because I figured there was no point in doing this program if I was going to bathe myself in cortisol all day. It was a "put your money where your mouth is" move. My doc likes heartmath for meditation. I like the guided meditations on Insight Timer.

I hope this helps you feel better and gives you a starting point. There is a very comprehensive Wiki page that provides a lot more information.

[kateg]

Thanks for the reply. I really worked myself up yesterday then back down - I can’t control my genetics but I’ll try to do my best with my lifestyle. Right now I’m focusing on diet and exercise as it looks like those two are exceedingly important. Sleep is an issue because of my child, but it’ll be the next move plus lowering stress. I don’t know much about a recode practitioner- how do I find that info? A simple google? I listened to a podcast and read some articles yesterday that really pointed to lifestyle as being the main driving force so it is empowering if you can do that work but I find it anxiety producing when I can’t. But that’s ok. I’ll do my best and work on my anxiety. I spoke with my GI doc today who said I can get off my long term PPI - he doesn’t believe in a link between dementia and long term use based on new studies but agreed to trial off and compare endoscopy results next time I’m due for one. I’m on the right path and I’m going to try to create my own master list of small goals and implement them slowly so they become more manageable and sustainable. Sorry for the freak out yesterday- I honestly don’t know why it got me so bad yesterday but I’m thankful I’m feeling more rational today.

[JD2020]

No need to apologize at all. This is scary stuff.

You reminded me of something. I used to have bad heartburn. Then I took DGL about 20 minutes before each meal. I did that for at least a year. I also had the endoscopy, and the report was good, and the doc told me to keep doing what I was doing. But I didn't have an earlier endoscopy to compare it to. There's a lot of info and discussion about healing the gut. Am I remembering that people combine DGL with glutathione? Hopefully others will chime in.

[kateg]

What is DGL?

[JD2020]

Sorry. Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice. The way I understood it back then was that it was coating my stomach, but that might have been just what I told myself. I do remember reading that it was commonly used in other countries for this purpose. Also, I remembered that the other powder was L-Glutamine Powder. This is the sort of thing that an integrative doc could help with - how to use natural substances to heal your gut. Maybe that should be your starting point. Eventually you will realize that you need to take supplements to optimize your health, and that will feel bad if your gut isn't healthy.

Also, a doc once told me to use these two powders to speed healing and to take activated charcoal whenever I get heartburn. I did not do that because I am allergic to activated charcoal.

You are starting on a journey, and it will be much easier for you if you can find an integrative doc, preferably trained in ReCODE, to work with.

[kateg]

Thanks I’ll look into an integrative or recode doc.

[Jane S]

I’m on the right path and I’m going to try to create my own master list of small goals and implement them slowly so they become more manageable and sustainable. Sorry for the freak out yesterday- I honestly don’t know why it got me so bad yesterday but I’m thankful I’m feeling more rational today.

kateg,
No need to apologize for the freak out and overwhelmedness. Know that you're not alone. Many other forum participants are on similar journeys and may feel those same emotions from time to time.

I love your plan to make a master list of your small goals to implement slowly and sustainably. That's a great approach! Every single step that you take will be helping your brain (and the rest of your body, too ). Don't worry about the steps you haven't taken yet or those that you may be less than perfect on. It all adds up, so everything you do makes a difference. A step at a time.

As JD 2020 said, you might want to check out www.apollohealthco.com. They have lots of helpful information on the website, tons more if you join the PreCODE program, plus you can get info on ReCODE trained practitioners and coaches.

I hope that engaging in these discussions and hearing from other forum members helps your anxiety. This is a safe place to share those challenging emotions.

Take care.
--- Jane ---

[kateg]

Thanks so much Jane!
I’ll look into the website.

Kate