Will trying to follow all these recommendations drive me insane, when the point is to avoid going “insane”?

[Beatrice3]

Hi, I’m new here and really appreciate the invaluable information. Thank you for all the hard work and research!

I'm afraid I will now go on a little bit of a pity-party rant, so of course you might want to click away. But I appreciate an opportunity to vent a bit, because my husband is getting tired of hearing about it, and no one else will understand.

I'm a 55-year-old woman, and one of my main goals has become to not end up like my dad, who died in a nursing home last year. We had an autopsy done and were shocked to learn he had Alzheimer's, because we had been told he didn't have it and instead had dementia caused by surgery, or possibly Lewy body dementia. It turns out he had surgery-induced dementia and AD, with no Lewy bodies detected. (More on his story at the end, if anyone is for some reason interested).

I recently got tested because I needed to know, especially as it would influence my decision about hormone replacement therapy. Since learning I have one copy of APOE4 earlier this week, I have done almost nothing but read about and research this topic. (My other copy is 2, but it sounds like being 2/4 is hardly better than being 3/4). I have read much of Bredesen’s book, and I've read loads of research and a good deal on the wiki and forum here.

And my reaction to all of this is that avoiding my dad's fate is only one of my goals in life. Other goals include enjoying my life without having to worry about every single thing I put in my mouth or every single thing I expose myself to. Covid has been bad enough for my anxiety, and I am just starting to enjoy life again. Now I get to deal with this.

I already eat healthier than the vast majority of people, including tons of dark green vegetables, olive oil, the recommended amount of salmon, and snacking mainly on nuts and hummus, not sweets (OK, too many pretzels, but I can let that go). I’ve been exercising almost every day since I was a teenager. I don't smoke. I have cut way back on my drinking, because I've learned how important that is for breast cancer prevention and because drinking more than about a small glass of wine doesn't even make me feel good anymore. I started HRT a few weeks ago.

I have had anxiety issues my entire adult life. I have various ways of coping with this. One of the most helpful is practicing letting go of the tendency to obsess about every little thing. But now I get to obsess about every morsel of food and every sip that goes into my mouth?

Reading this research, it feels like no matter what I do it will never be enough. Each day I learn some new thing I am not supposed to do, and there are very often things that are hard to avoid if I want to have any sort of social life that involves going out to eat, which is of course a major activity in social life.

Not to mention the little pleasures. After a very nice salad with olive oil and balsamic, cucumbers, and tomatoes, I learned I am supposed to give up cucumbers and tomatoes. OK, that's not the hardest thing to do, but will this ever end? Today I’ll see some other announcement about something else I have to give up, and it will go on forever and pretty soon I will be hungry all the time, which is pretty much how I have felt this week (since I chose not to have any more no-sugar-added muesli with milk for breakfast each morning, stopped eating any of the delicious cheese we have in the fridge, and haven't eaten a thing after dinner). I feel like I'm already doing so well, but it will never be enough. (No ice cream ever again — that's really hard to imagine.)

Then there's the confusing contradictory information I'm getting. For example, ibuprofen — very bad for the gut microbiome. Ibuprofen — helps prevent Alzheimer's (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articl ... eakthrough?). (I have a condition that makes me more susceptible to esophageal cancer, and ibuprofen correlates with a lower risk, so I've been feeling that it is healthy for me to take one or two regular-strength pills a day. But who knows?)

I have a doctor's appointment in a couple weeks, but in my experience doctors don't seem to know much about the research, so I doubt that will help clarify things. And no, I don't have access to a functional medicine doctor here, and I can't afford some of the huge prices I've been reading about for the highly recommended ones, even if they do offer online consults.

I just got my test results five days ago, and this is already exhausting me. I moved to a new country (Portugal) earlier this year, and it is festival season. Last night I went to the city center where everyone was celebrating, and all I could think about was how I'm not allowed to have a beer and I'm not allowed to eat a single thing being sold here, and I feel hungry and thirsty. It was hard to have a good time, but I ended up enjoying myself well enough. But then of course I got to bed two hours later than usual, so I disrupted my circadian rhythm. And I plan to do it again tonight because the fireworks are at midnight and I probably won't sleep anyway with the fireworks going on. It seems like the opportunities conspiring against following the healthy-brain program are endless, and many of those opportunities are also opportunities to actually enjoy my life, which I haven't done a whole lot of since before the pandemic.

I obviously need to adjust my thinking in some way. I will need to try to find a balance between taking good care of myself and enjoying some of life’s pleasures. It seems like some of the people on this page have been successful at the strict diet, etc. while still living full lives, and that is wonderful. I also realize that many people here have both copies of 4 and have to be extra vigilant. But I feel like having that as my standard seems like it will take a major toll on me. There has got to be a balance, and this is the tricky thing to find. The question I'm asking myself now is what level of risk is acceptable, but of course I can't know the real risk I'm taking with each action. I have to figure out at what point I am restricting my life so much that I'm not even living the good, relaxing life I have been wanting, and then really what's the point of doing that to prevent something that may or may not happen? And that is not how my dad would want me to live.

Thank you for listening!

About my dad:

He was an internal medicine doctor and had tons of medical tests and supposedly the best treatment, but no one ever talked about nutrition, and he always said “no thank you” to the salad. He didn't exercise at all. Really the only thing he did right brain-wise was to continue his intellectual pursuits, and he never smoked. He never got tested for APOE, and I had never heard about it until a couple months ago. He had a slow decline for a number of years starting when he was maybe in his late 60s. My mom didn't even notice, although my brother and I thought he was sometimes acting strangely — spacing out a lot, saying odd things, could never figure out how the microwave worked. We blamed it on his lack of interest, but I’m now sure that was not the reason. In his late 70s he had back surgery, completely tanked into delusional hallucinations for several months, and then rebounded to the point where he could read a lengthy book about the history of Sweden. He was still not enough well enough to leave the nursing home, though, and he gradually declined over several more years, although he always recognized us (and never got as bad as his cousin, who ended up dying of Alzheimer's with almost no brainpower left at all). In hindsight, I recognize the family history, although it’s still murky. My dad’s dad retired from medicine at age 86 because his hearing had gotten bad. He was fine until he had surgery, and then he acted “crazy” for the next three or so years until he died. But was it only from the anesthesia, or was it also latent Alzheimer’s? I wonder that now.

[NF52]

...I'm afraid I will now go on a little bit of a pity-party rant, so of course you might want to click away. But I appreciate an opportunity to vent a bit, because my husband is getting tired of hearing about it, and no one else will understand.

I'm a 55-year-old woman, and one of my main goals has become to not end up like my dad, who died in a nursing home last year. We had an autopsy done and were shocked to learn he had Alzheimer's, because we had been told he didn't have it and instead had dementia caused by surgery, or possibly Lewy body dementia. It turns out he had surgery-induced dementia and AD, with no Lewy bodies detected. (More on his story at the end, if anyone is for some reason interested).

I recently got tested because I needed to know, especially as it would influence my decision about hormone replacement therapy. Since learning I have one copy of APOE4 earlier this week, I have done almost nothing but read about and research this topic. (My other copy is 2, but it sounds like being 2/4 is hardly better than being 3/4). I have read much of Bredesen’s book, and I've read loads of research and a good deal on the wiki and forum here.

And my reaction to all of this is that avoiding my dad's fate is only one of my goals in life. Other goals include enjoying my life without having to worry about every single thing I put in my mouth or every single thing I expose myself to
....
I have had anxiety issues my entire adult life. I have various ways of coping with this. One of the most helpful is practicing letting go of the tendency to obsess about every little thing. But now I get to obsess about every morsel of food and every sip that goes into my mouth?

Reading this research, it feels like no matter what I do it will never be enough. Each day I learn some new thing I am not supposed to do, and there are very often things that are hard to avoid if I want to have any sort of social life that involves going out to eat, which is of course a major activity in social life.
---

I just got my test results five days ago, and this is already exhausting me. I moved to a new country (Portugal) earlier this year, and it is festival season. Last night I went to the city center where everyone was celebrating, and all I could think about was how I'm not allowed to have a beer and I'm not allowed to eat a single thing being sold here, and I feel hungry and thirsty. It was hard to have a good time, but I ended up enjoying myself well enough. But then of course I got to bed two hours later than usual, so I disrupted my circadian rhythm. And I plan to do it again tonight because the fireworks are at midnight and I probably won't sleep anyway with the fireworks going on. It seems like the opportunities conspiring against following the healthy-brain program are endless, and many of those opportunities are also opportunities to actually enjoy my life, which I haven't done a whole lot of since before the pandemic.

I obviously need to adjust my thinking in some way. I will need to try to find a balance between taking good care of myself and enjoying some of life’s pleasures. ...
About my dad:

He was an internal medicine doctor and had tons of medical tests and supposedly the best treatment, but no one ever talked about nutrition, and he always said “no thank you” to the salad. He didn't exercise at all. Really the only thing he did right brain-wise was to continue his intellectual pursuits, and he never smoked. He never got tested for APOE, and I had never heard about it until a couple months ago.
...
In his late 70s he had back surgery, completely tanked into delusional hallucinations for several months, and then rebounded to the point where he could read a lengthy book about the history of Sweden. He was still not enough well enough to leave the nursing home, though, and he gradually declined over several more years, although he always recognized us (and never got as bad as his cousin, who ended up dying of Alzheimer's with almost no brainpower left at all). In hindsight, I recognize the family history, although it’s still murky..

Welcome, Beatrice!

Please accept a warm, virtual hug in recognition of your grief and loss from the long decline and recent death of a brilliant, caring father. You are strong in naming your anxiety, which is something I also experienced in midlife and then had to re-learn how to "talk back to", after learning my ApoE 4/4 status at almost 62 years old. You may not be feeling this, but as someone who was in a similar spot 9 years ago, you are entitled to feel some anger that ApoE 2/4 is in your brain (and now in your thoughts!), while your husband, your friends and others are unaware or unconcerned about what a gut punch that feels all the time. I too devoured articles, most of which scared the heck out of me.

Nine years later, I'm a healthy 71 year old woman with ApoE 4/4 who takes an array of cognitive tests every three months and was recently told after a test of visual memory "Wow! I've never had someone get a perfect score on that." [ I still can't draw better than a 7 year old--some things don't change!] I am engaged in projects that I wouldn't have thought I could do 9 years ago, and planned all the details of a two week trip to 7 cities in Spain this fall. I help train interns on this forum in the navigation tricks that I didn't know 6 years ago. I eat better and exercise more and weigh less that I did 9 years ago.

What I don't do is try to be perfect; that's a hopeless quest! I also figure that if only 2% of people have ApoE 4/4, and about the same percentage have ApoE 2/4, we are amazingly unique and likely to have enormous diversity from those with "boring" alleles! Like you, I eat cucumbers and tomatoes, also like pretzels--just not very often, and have not sworn off ice cream forever--just not as a staple, like my mother's nightly treat! And I love fireworks, so would tell my brain "this one night won't derail the train of my journey through life"--but I might wear earplugs to lessen the damage to my hearing.

When I found out 9 years ago, my husband was convinced I would be fine, and probably didn't want to hear how that didn't help. Now he is very comfortable hearing the latest news I want to share, supporting me in a 4 -year clinical prevention trial in people with normal cognition. He even sends me links to articles he's found that offer good news. Your husband also needs time to absorb this. He is probably hoping not to talk about this, while you are needing more support than usual. Learning of a risk of Alzheimer's dementia "affects one brain and two minds": the mind of the person with the risk, and the mind of their loved one, who has to imagine a different future, think of their own family experience with Alzheimer's and wonder how to support their partner. I would gently suggest letting him know that right now, but not for always, you need him to "listen; don't reassure or try to solve, because this is scary for me. It might be like if you got a diagnosis of prostate cancer and didn't know if treatment would make you impotent." Sometimes helps to make it real!!

My gentle hope is that you focus on what gives you purpose, joy and fulfillment at work, at home, with friends and loved ones, and make those also priorities. Advice will be there for "small bites", especially from those who acknowledge the uncertainties. With ApoE e2/4 (or 4/4 for me) we are walking on one of an infinite number of trails through a yet-unexplored landscape. You can follow them, walk part of the way with them, or take their guidebooks and seek to find your own unique, purposeful journey. Some of us will be ahead hoping to leave markers that there is a happy ending.

Hugs,
Nancy

[Beatrice3]

Hi Nancy,

Thank you so much for your lovely and kind words. They mean a great deal, and I appreciate your support.

How great that you're doing so well! The good news with all of this is that at least we know what we're dealing with (as best as the science can tell us), so we can do many things to improve our odds and even to live much healthier lives than most other people, regardless of their APOE type.

I'm sad that my brother does not seem interested in hearing about my genes, let alone his, and he will likely continue some of his unhealthy choices in a state of denial. Of course he may have less anxiety about his health now, but I'm afraid it will catch up to him.

That's very good advice about how to discuss this with my husband. He's very kind and caring but doesn't always know how to react — and I really just want him to listen and express support. Fortunately, he is not a "solver" or a "mansplainer" — more the very quiet type.

And yes, my challenge now is to give this topic a bit less attention while trying to maintain healthy habits, and to turn my attention to things that give me hope and joy. What is the point of life if I can't do that and if I squander it obsessing about things like this?

Now I'm off to the fireworks. I will definitely bring my earplugs, because there's an odd tradition here: people buy soft plastic hammers that are also noisemakers, and they hit each other on the head as they walk by. Weird but true, and those things are noisy!

Enjoy your summer, and have fun in Spain! I assume we're allowed to eat olives — enjoy!

[Jane S]

Hi, I’m new here and really appreciate the invaluable information. Thank you for all the hard work and research!

I'm afraid I will now go on a little bit of a pity-party rant, so of course you might want to click away. But I appreciate an opportunity to vent a bit, because my husband is getting tired of hearing about it, and no one else will understand.
.....
I already eat healthier than the vast majority of people, including tons of dark green vegetables, olive oil, the recommended amount of salmon, and snacking mainly on nuts and hummus, not sweets (OK, too many pretzels, but I can let that go). I’ve been exercising almost every day since I was a teenager. I don't smoke. I have cut way back on my drinking, because I've learned how important that is for breast cancer prevention and because drinking more than about a small glass of wine doesn't even make me feel good anymore. I started HRT a few weeks ago.
.....
I will need to try to find a balance between taking good care of myself and enjoying some of life’s pleasures.
.....
And that is not how my dad would want me to live.

Thank you for listening!

Hello Beatrice3,

I'm so glad you posted in the forum! This is the perfect place to rant, vent, ask questions, share what you've learned, cry, celebrate, . . . . Pity parties are welcome. It's a safe place.

And I'm quite impressed with your healthy lifestyle choices. You will find the balance that you need. Maybe you're very close to it already. I bet your dad would be proud of you.

As a Support Team Intern, I'd like to officially welcome you to the forum and share some tools/resources that you can use to explore the site, helping you get the most out of your experience.

The Primer is a detailed and informative resource written by a practicing M.D. with ApoE4/4. It includes information about the biochemistry of the ApoE4 gene and offers a variety of research-based prevention strategies.

Some helpful tips to navigate the site include the How-To Guide. It includes topics such as navigating the forum, private messaging, and searching. One great tip is using the quote (") button when replying to a post. Using the button will automatically alert the member of your response.

As you've seen, you can learn more about other members in Our Stories.

I'm so glad you joined and look forward to hearing how your journey unfolds. Please feel free to reach out anytime.

Enjoy the fireworks!

Jane

[Jane S]

I would gently suggest letting him know that right now, but not for always, you need him to "listen; don't reassure or try to solve, because this is scary for me.

NF52/Nancy,

Beautiful message. So warm, caring, and helpful. I especially loved the suggestion to let loved ones know that right now I just need to be listened to. It reminds me of a bit of guidance I heard recently. When someone seems in need, ask whether they need to be Hugged, Heard, or Helped.

All the best,
--- Jane ---

[Beatrice3]

Thank you, Jane, and thanks for your work!

[TCHC]

Hi Beatrice3

I'm a 55 year old woman trying not to go the same road as my Mum, so I hear you!
I know it's a lot to deal with.
But the good news is, you don't say you're having symptoms right now. So, this is truly prevention. And you've had such a great lifestyle so far, you're already in a better position than most.
I'm not sure why you think you can't have cucumber or tomatoes. Have you seen something I've missed? I eat them and I'm in ketosis.
I think everyone is a bit different and can tolerate different fruits and veggies in different quantities in ketosis. So if it is just staying in ketosis that worries you, do try out different foods and test for ketones later and see how each affect you.
If it's all a bit too much, you could try carb-cycling, I'm sure I've seen something on the Apollo site about carb cycling if you're underweight, so it could be something you do to keep you sane when at lovely events.
If you're struggling to find an FM Prac in Portugal, I spoke to one recently for a friend out there. I could pass you her contact details if you want.
But the top and bottom is, you're already doing loads. Enjoying life is also really important for brain health - so take a balanced approach.
Good luck and keep us up to date with how you're getting on.

Lindsey

[Beatrice3]

Thanks so much for your helpful words, Lindsey. Yes, I would definitely appreciate contact details for the practitioner in Portugal.

Who knows about the symptoms? Of course I do have forgetful moments, and I did something really stupid today, but it's the kind of stupid thing I've been doing my entire life so I don't think it's the disease yet! My husband thinks I'm completely fine. I’ve just spent the past year project-managing the fine details of moving here, and I don't think I could have done that with dementia. Knock on wood.

I've seen a number of comments on this forum about tomatoes, cucumbers, and other foods with lectin, because people are following Steven Gundry’s diet. I've read more about how highly controversial that all is, so I'm relieved it is not some essential well-known fact that I'm just learning about (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Gundry). I've been thinking about buying a tomato plant for my balcony and think I will go ahead with that.

I'll research carb cycling too. I'm not going to miss sugar-bomb sweets very much, but I do not plan to go the rest of my life without ever having another glass of wine, especially since I've moved to the one of the world's best wine regions.

Here’s to enjoying life!

[TCHC]

Hi Beatrice
I've messaged you the practitioner details.
Ah, the lectins makes sense. I only stick to keto myself.
Far be it from me to encourage alcohol, but...
A little red wine is allowed, at the very top of the Bredesen food pyramid, so... and I saw a post on FB from Dr. B about a trial that showed a little alcohol was better than none for brain health:
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/98 ... qfS78#vp_1
We have to live too!
Lindsey

[KathleenC]

Hi, I’m new here and really appreciate the invaluable information. Thank you for all the hard work and research!

I'm afraid I will now go on a little bit of a pity-party rant, so of course you might want to click away. But I appreciate an opportunity to vent a bit, because my husband is getting tired of hearing about it, and no one else will understand.

I'm a 55-year-old woman, and one of my main goals has become to not end up like my dad, who died in a nursing home last year. We had an autopsy done and were shocked to learn he had Alzheimer's, because we had been told he didn't have it and instead had dementia caused by surgery, or possibly Lewy body dementia. It turns out he had surgery-induced dementia and AD, with no Lewy bodies detected. (More on his story at the end, if anyone is for some reason interested).

I recently got tested because I needed to know, especially as it would influence my decision about hormone replacement therapy. Since learning I have one copy of APOE4 earlier this week, I have done almost nothing but read about and research this topic. (My other copy is 2, but it sounds like being 2/4 is hardly better than being 3/4). I have read much of Bredesen’s book, and I've read loads of research and a good deal on the wiki and forum here.

And my reaction to all of this is that avoiding my dad's fate is only one of my goals in life. Other goals include enjoying my life without having to worry about every single thing I put in my mouth or every single thing I expose myself to. Covid has been bad enough for my anxiety, and I am just starting to enjoy life again. Now I get to deal with this.

I already eat healthier than the vast majority of people, including tons of dark green vegetables, olive oil, the recommended amount of salmon, and snacking mainly on nuts and hummus, not sweets (OK, too many pretzels, but I can let that go). I’ve been exercising almost every day since I was a teenager. I don't smoke. I have cut way back on my drinking, because I've learned how important that is for breast cancer prevention and because drinking more than about a small glass of wine doesn't even make me feel good anymore. I started HRT a few weeks ago.

I have had anxiety issues my entire adult life. I have various ways of coping with this. One of the most helpful is practicing letting go of the tendency to obsess about every little thing. But now I get to obsess about every morsel of food and every sip that goes into my mouth?

Reading this research, it feels like no matter what I do it will never be enough. Each day I learn some new thing I am not supposed to do, and there are very often things that are hard to avoid if I want to have any sort of social life that involves going out to eat, which is of course a major activity in social life.

Not to mention the little pleasures. After a very nice salad with olive oil and balsamic, cucumbers, and tomatoes, I learned I am supposed to give up cucumbers and tomatoes. OK, that's not the hardest thing to do, but will this ever end? Today I’ll see some other announcement about something else I have to give up, and it will go on forever and pretty soon I will be hungry all the time, which is pretty much how I have felt this week (since I chose not to have any more no-sugar-added muesli with milk for breakfast each morning, stopped eating any of the delicious cheese we have in the fridge, and haven't eaten a thing after dinner). I feel like I'm already doing so well, but it will never be enough. (No ice cream ever again — that's really hard to imagine.)

Then there's the confusing contradictory information I'm getting. For example, ibuprofen — very bad for the gut microbiome. Ibuprofen — helps prevent Alzheimer's (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articl ... eakthrough?). (I have a condition that makes me more susceptible to esophageal cancer, and ibuprofen correlates with a lower risk, so I've been feeling that it is healthy for me to take one or two regular-strength pills a day. But who knows?)

I have a doctor's appointment in a couple weeks, but in my experience doctors don't seem to know much about the research, so I doubt that will help clarify things. And no, I don't have access to a functional medicine doctor here, and I can't afford some of the huge prices I've been reading about for the highly recommended ones, even if they do offer online consults.

I just got my test results five days ago, and this is already exhausting me. I moved to a new country (Portugal) earlier this year, and it is festival season. Last night I went to the city center where everyone was celebrating, and all I could think about was how I'm not allowed to have a beer and I'm not allowed to eat a single thing being sold here, and I feel hungry and thirsty. It was hard to have a good time, but I ended up enjoying myself well enough. But then of course I got to bed two hours later than usual, so I disrupted my circadian rhythm. And I plan to do it again tonight because the fireworks are at midnight and I probably won't sleep anyway with the fireworks going on. It seems like the opportunities conspiring against following the healthy-brain program are endless, and many of those opportunities are also opportunities to actually enjoy my life, which I haven't done a whole lot of since before the pandemic.

I obviously need to adjust my thinking in some way. I will need to try to find a balance between taking good care of myself and enjoying some of life’s pleasures. It seems like some of the people on this page have been successful at the strict diet, etc. while still living full lives, and that is wonderful. I also realize that many people here have both copies of 4 and have to be extra vigilant. But I feel like having that as my standard seems like it will take a major toll on me. There has got to be a balance, and this is the tricky thing to find. The question I'm asking myself now is what level of risk is acceptable, but of course I can't know the real risk I'm taking with each action. I have to figure out at what point I am restricting my life so much that I'm not even living the good, relaxing life I have been wanting, and then really what's the point of doing that to prevent something that may or may not happen? And that is not how my dad would want me to live.

Thank you for listening!

About my dad:

He was an internal medicine doctor and had tons of medical tests and supposedly the best treatment, but no one ever talked about nutrition, and he always said “no thank you” to the salad. He didn't exercise at all. Really the only thing he did right brain-wise was to continue his intellectual pursuits, and he never smoked. He never got tested for APOE, and I had never heard about it until a couple months ago. He had a slow decline for a number of years starting when he was maybe in his late 60s. My mom didn't even notice, although my brother and I thought he was sometimes acting strangely — spacing out a lot, saying odd things, could never figure out how the microwave worked. We blamed it on his lack of interest, but I’m now sure that was not the reason. In his late 70s he had back surgery, completely tanked into delusional hallucinations for several months, and then rebounded to the point where he could read a lengthy book about the history of Sweden. He was still not enough well enough to leave the nursing home, though, and he gradually declined over several more years, although he always recognized us (and never got as bad as his cousin, who ended up dying of Alzheimer's with almost no brainpower left at all). In hindsight, I recognize the family history, although it’s still murky. My dad’s dad retired from medicine at age 86 because his hearing had gotten bad. He was fine until he had surgery, and then he acted “crazy” for the next three or so years until he died. But was it only from the anesthesia, or was it also latent Alzheimer’s? I wonder that now.

Hi Beatrice. Can I join your pity party? My husband and I decided to take 23andme tests because our son did and found his results really interesting. He thanked us for giving him good genes! Little did I know that his good genes came from his dad and not me. I always assumed, outside of a high risk for osteoporosis, that I had the same genes as my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. My mother is still alive at 93 with just the first signs of mild dementia. My maternal grandmother and great grandmother lived until their late 90s, with dementia setting in the last few years. My dad, on the other hand, died in his sleep at 62 from, we believe, sleep apnea. But, at the end, he was also exhibiting signs of cognitive decline (balance issues, erratic behavior) which I now think were Alzheimer symptoms. Anyway, I received my 23andme results at the start an extended trip in Italy. I was shocked by my 3/4 status. Like you, I immediately went online and began researching what it meant. And, I was completely traumatized! I'm 59 and have always been thin, exercise regularly, and thought I had a pretty good diet. But, my diet was only good from a non APOE4 carrier status. I eat (ate) a lot of carb heavy healthy foods - - fruit, lentils, quinoa, etc. So, here I was in the land of pasta, gelato, bread and wine, and couldn't eat any of it. I'm probably the first person in history who came home from a trip to Italy having lost weight. I have been home for a few days now and am in full research mode. I agree with you that it's overwhelming, with so much conflicting information. At first I thought I was lucky for having always been thin, but then yesterday I read an article that being thin is beneficial to female APOE4 carriers in midlife but that in older age, fat is more beneficial. Seriously!?!?! And I haven't come across the research regarding tomatoes and cucumbers yet! Ugh! Anyway, I wanted you to know that you aren't alone in how you feel. Good luck to you!