New member, ApoE3/4

Newcomer introductions, personal anecdotes, caregiver issues, lab results, and n=1 experimentation.
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jkeys1959
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New member, ApoE3/4

Post by jkeys1959 »

Hello my name is Jim and I am 61. I just found out that I am ApoE3/4. My father passed away due to alzheimers at the age of 92. My brother is currently in the late stages of alzheimers at the age of 68.
I just recently started researching how to fight off alzheimers. I know that I need to make lifestyle changes. My wife and I just started the Mediterranean diet. I would appreciate any and all hints to get me on the right track. Diet, supplements, sleep, exercise, etc...
Anxious and concerned,
Jim
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Tincup
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Re: New member, ApoE3/4

Post by Tincup »

jkeys1959 wrote:Hello my name is Jim and I am 61. I just found out that I am ApoE3/4. My father passed away due to alzheimers at the age of 92. My brother is currently in the late stages of alzheimers at the age of 68.
I just recently started researching how to fight off alzheimers. I know that I need to make lifestyle changes. My wife and I just started the Mediterranean diet. I would appreciate any and all hints to get me on the right track. Diet, supplements, sleep, exercise, etc...
Jim
Welcome Jim!

I'm assuming the age of AlzD onset of your brother and your father is very different?

Places to start include our Primer, our Wiki, Dr Bredesen's books here and here.
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lgoring
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Re: New member, ApoE3/4

Post by lgoring »

jkeys1959 wrote:Hello my name is Jim and I am 61. I just found out that I am ApoE3/4. My father passed away due to alzheimers at the age of 92. My brother is currently in the late stages of alzheimers at the age of 68.
I just recently started researching how to fight off alzheimers. I know that I need to make lifestyle changes. My wife and I just started the Mediterranean diet. I would appreciate any and all hints to get me on the right track. Diet, supplements, sleep, exercise, etc...
Hello and Welcome Jim to the ApoE4.Info Community!

As TinCup mentioned, there is a wealth of knowledge on this site and I hope you find the Wiki helpful! The Wiki pages have been created in order to organize information about how to prevent and address health problems related to the APOE4 allele. If you are more interested in a tangible book to have in your hands, Dr. Dale Bredensen's books are a great resource. Here is a summary of the book if you would like: Summary of The End of Alzheimer's.

If you would like to search this forum to find information on a specific topic, using the Search function (magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner or Here) helps you find previous conversations or threads. We encourage people to post to previous topics, even if they haven't been active for a while. It gets conversations going and often promotes new ways of looking at an issue.

I hope these resources help you on your journey! If you have any questions about the site, please don't hesitate to ask. Again, a warm welcome and looking forward to seeing you around the forum.
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jkeys1959
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Re: New member, ApoE3/4

Post by jkeys1959 »

My father was early forties and my brother was late fifties.
Tiramisu1984
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Re: New member, ApoE3/4

Post by Tiramisu1984 »

That is a tough family history. I too, have a daunting family history. So, I would start in the beginning. Either see how many Bredesen recommended labs you can get your GP to order, or pay for Recode through Apollo. Get an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.

I learned about Dr. Bredesen after years of following press releases on AZ in Science Daily. Sadly I started because I was hoping to find a therapy for my mom.

I can say the protocol has helped me, although I don’t have the science gene and when people on the board start talking about calcium and LDL, I start to feel sleepy!

Good luck. Don’t hesitate to post your questions.
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Re: New member, ApoE3/4

Post by NF52 »

jkeys1959 wrote:Hello my name is Jim and I am 61. I just found out that I am ApoE3/4. My father passed away due to alzheimers at the age of 92. My brother is currently in the late stages of alzheimers at the age of 68.
I just recently started researching how to fight off alzheimers. I know that I need to make lifestyle changes. My wife and I just started the Mediterranean diet. I would appreciate any and all hints to get me on the right track. Diet, supplements, sleep, exercise, etc...
Anxious and concerned,
Jim
A warm welcome, Jim!

I remember that same anxious and concerned feeling at the same exact age, when I found out I had 2 copies of ApoE 4. In an instant I began to feel that my future was shortened and inevitable. Yet now at 68, with a gene combination that only about 2% of the population has (versus about 20% of people with ApoE 3/4) I am still cognitively and physically healthy. I had MRIs, blood tests and lots of cognitive tests and even questionnaires for my husband every 6 months as part of a clinical trial for people with ApoE 3/4 and 4/4 from 2017-2019 . I realized that learning my risk meant I could prioritize my health and also seek to find more answers and help others. I found great wisdom and reassurance from the strategies recommend by Dr. Stavia (another ApoE 4/4) on the Primer. In addition, I have the good fortune to be on panels with researchers and other clinical trial participants to hear how much the "conventional wisdom" and "accepted history" is changing and how fast research is discovering the fascinating diversity even within families.

So here's some thoughts from someone who, like you, has an older sibling whose path I hope to NOT follow:
* It was very unusual in the 1960's and 1970's, when your father may have shown signs of cognitive impairment in his early 40's, that people were diagnosed using the term "Alzheimer's". My own grandmother around that time was diagnosed with "hardening of the arteries" and "senile dementia", even though she was cognitively fine until she almost died from salmonella at age 87. What was also extremely common in the 60's and 70's was that men dropped dead of heart attacks in their 40's and 50's, because no one understood the relationship between diabetes and high blood pressure and coronary artery disease, and almost no one went to a cardiologist before they had a heart attack. So it's at least possible that if your dad showed signs of cognitive issues in his early 40's, yet survived to 92, he may have had heart issues or even mini-strokes (transient ischemic attacks or TIAs) that caused some "swiss cheese" holes that were noticeable, but not quickly progressive.

* Your brother's situation is deeply tragic. His "onset" in the late 50's appears consistent with what Alzheimer's researchers now call "Young-Onset Alzheimer's Disease", to distinguish it from other types of dementia that tend to strike at younger ages from other causes, such as Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson's disease with dementia, and Frontal Lobe Dementia, as well as familial Early-Onset Alzheimer's, in which a family has a dominant gene and many members get Alzheimer's in their 40's or 50's. Researchers are trying hard to find why some people get the "markers" of Alzheimer's disease a decade or more before the "typical" cut-off age of 65 or older. (Those markers of amyloid beta plaques, toxic tau tangles, usually appear years to decades before any loss of brain volume or any signs of changes in thinking and behavior.) Some associations have been seen with earlier onset and history of repetitive mild brain injuries, or severe brain injuries with extended loss of consciousness, but most people with brain injuries do just fine. Others have found associations with higher levels of alcohol consumption over time, or exposure to high levels of pollution or toxic chemicals, or with underlying conditions such as Type 2 diabetes. But the sad truth is that often no clear reason for such an early diagnosis can be found, and no others in the immediate family have similar early diagnoses. You may share only 50% of your brother's genes, with time on your side to make wise healthy choices to dial down your risk.

* With one copy of ApoE 4, your "lifetime" risk of a diagnosis of either Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or any type of dementia appears to be about 20-25%, according to a large meta-analysis of thousands of people followed for years in population-based studies. APOE-related risk of mild cognitive impairment and dementia for prevention trials: An analysis of four cohorts

With clear disclosure that I have no medical background, so this is merely a suggestion, I would think about all your immediate and extended family members and what you know of their health resiliency and risks. And then I would think about getting some tests if I wanted to find out:

* Coronary Artery Health: A coronary calcium scan is painless and takes about 3 minutes in a CAT scan and will give you a score of how and where you have any calcium plaques in your arteries. It isn't usually covered by insurance, but costs only about $130. and can be requested by your primary care provider.
* Consider some of the measurements like BMI and tests listed in the Biomarkers section of the Primer. If you can rule out the big things like insulin resistance, glucose levels (HbAic), coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and inflammation (C-reactive protein), you can focus on lots of areas that collectively will help greatly (exercise, sleep, diet, stress-reduction).
* Most of all, in our 60's I think it helps not to ruminate on past grievances or regrets, but to look to the future. People with a future-oriented attitude and an optimistic sense of purpose tended to delay signs of cognitive impairment by 7 years! Here's two quotes from recent studies:
In this meta-analysis of 15 studies including 229 391 individuals, optimism was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events and pessimism was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events; the pooled association was similar to that of other well-established cardiac risk factors.
Association of Optimism With Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality
Conclusion:... people with the highest levels of optimism had the lowest odds of cognitive impairment (OR=0.53, 95% CI, 0.35–0.78). These associations remained after adjusting for health behaviors, biological factors, and psychological covariates that could either confound the association of interest or serve on the pathway.
Dispositional Optimism and Incidence of Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults

Be well! Be hopeful!
4/4 and still an optimist!
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