Pearls of Wisdom Better Memory, Anyone?

Reversal of Cognitive Decline Has Arrived

by Nancy Lonsdorf, MD and Mimi Guarneri MD FACC

EVER FORGET A NAME, BLANK out on a word or walk into a room and forget why you’re there? Sure, we’ve all done it, and most of you under 40 don’t think twice about it.

For the rest of us, such slipups can leave us wondering, worrying, rationalizing, and otherwise wasting precious energy trying to convince ourselves that we are NOT careening down the slippery slope of no return called “Alzheimer’s disease.”

Game-Changer Ahead

Fortunately, the memory changes of Alzheimer’s vs. “normal aging” are readily distinguishable, and most “senior moments” are not harbingers of decline to come. For example, a lapsed name, word or item popping into your mind later is a good indication you’re exhibiting “normal aging” only.

Yet, the grounds for deeper Alzheimer’s fear relief is here. The impossible-- slowing, stopping or reversing memory decline-- has now become a reality. Yes, you heard us correctly, research now suggests that Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is reversible, especially if you act early.

And the solution is not the usual high tech medical breakthrough of expensive drugs, immune or gene therapy you might think. Rather, the effective approach is an amazingly low tech, multimodality, natural approach that is within reach of every individual right now.

The First Patient

Sound unbelievable? We would never have believed it either, if we hadn’t first heard it directly from a close colleague of Dale Bredesen, MD, the pioneering UCLA Professor and Alzheimer’s researcher who discovered it.

Under the soft southern California sky, dining at dusk, she related the dramatic story of her best friend, “Patient Zero” (PZ.) In short, PZ is a globe-trotting, high-level consultant who speaks seven languages, yet called her friend (BFF) one day in a panic—she couldn’t remember what country she was in. PZ’s eventual diagnosis was not good. She had early Alzheimer’s disease (AD.)

Devastated. PZ confessed she was going to commit suicide rather than suffer, as her mother had, a long, protracted death from AD.

As a result of her friend’s urgent referral, Dr. Bredesen agreed to try his multimodality research protocol for the very first time, with PZ. Amazingly, within a few months, her memory began to recover, and she eventually returned to her high-level job fulltime.

Medical Mind Bend

Soon after hearing this medically mind-bending story, Dr. Lonsdorf had the fantastic opportunity to study in person with Dr. Bredesen at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s Advanced Clinical Training in Reversing Cognitive Decline. To Dr. Guarneri, Dr. Bredesen was already a colleague, and had seen videos of his patients before his work became world renown. In fact, Dr. Guarneri has featured Dr. Bredesen at the annual Natural Supplements conference and has him scheduled to speak in San Diego at the AIHM conference September 2018.

While we both had helped reverse memory loss in a handful of patients with heavy metal toxicity, B12 deficiency or memory-damaging medications, to learn a reliable protocol with

the potential to help anyone with cognitive decline was an opportunity we believe every clinician should jump at! (Works best in those under 75 years old and in early stages.)

What’s The Discovery and How Can Lifestyle Turn AD Around?

The key point is that a healthy brain maintains balance between 2 critical factors: building new connections (memories and learning,) and breaking down connections (forgetting irrelevant details.) In Alzheimer’s, the breaking down exceeds the building up. The result is important memories and functions are progressively lost.

How to restore balance? Establish a healthy diet, good sleep, balanced blood sugar, normal blood flow, exercise and less stress for your neurons to grow and thrive. Ironically, these are the same treatments we have used for years to reverse and treat coronary artery disease.

Likewise, eliminate bad fats, environmental chemicals, nutritional and hormone deficiencies, and excess stress that cause your neurons to downsize and clog up with the memory-destroying protein “A-beta."

Dr. Mimi Guarneri Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf

Nancy Lonsdorf, MD is a Johns Hopkins and Stanford- trained physician who is trained in the Bredesen ReCode Protocol for Reversing Cognitive Decline and helps patients restore memory and overall health, naturally. She practices Integrative Ayurveda and offers the Healthy Brain Recode Success Program at Guarneri Integrative Health at the Pacific Pearl. Call 858-459-6919 for details.

Mimi Guarneri, MD is President of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine. Dr. Guarneri is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Integrative Medicine. She is the medical director and founder of Guarneri Integrative Health at Pacific Pearl La Jolla.

For more information on natural approaches to AD and cognitive decline or to hear Dr. Bredesen speak, join us at the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine Conference, Sept 22-25, 2018 San Diego California(www.AIHM.org).

How Can It Work for You?

Step One is to find out your underlying vulnerabilities or potential causes for cognitive decline through thorough testing. The commonest ones define Bredesen’s 6 Subtypes of Alzheimer’s: Types: 1. Inflammatory, 1.5. Insulin Resistant/Sugar-related, 2. Trophic (lack of nutrients or hormones,) 3. Toxic, 4. Vascular, and 5. Traumatic. Many people will have challenges with more than one. For example, if you have coronary disease, you most likely have the same risk factors for vascular dementia, but you may also have a hormone imbalance.

Next, correct them with personalized diet, lifestyle, supplements and other therapies as needed. Shrunken brain areas have actually grown back as a result of diet, targeted supplements and lifestyle, including stress-reduction (Dr. Bredesen specifically recommends Transcendental Meditation for its neuroplasticity benefits.)

Where To Go From Here?

Dr. Bredesen and his colleagues have successfully treated over 200 patients with cognitive decline to date, with the first nine documented in a case series published in 2014.

You can learn more in his scientifically thorough, yet highly readable bestselling book, The End of Alzheimer’s, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in optimizing memory and brain health for the long run.

Alzheimer’s Disease is now preventable and even potentially reversible, and the control is in our hands. Learn your risk factors and correct them now to enjoy a youthful mind for many years to come!