When I was Younger

By Valerie Driscoll, Lead Coach and Coaching Program Developer for Apollo Health

The other day, in our Mastering Nutrition for Cognition group, a member asked my opinion on her signing up for the new BrainScan test. She is 82, with some cognition issues, but is working the protocol diligently and joyfully and seeing improvement. My recommendation was to ask her practitioner, of course, but I opined that she might spend her resources in a better way, as she already knows much about her status and is reversing her decline. Her response was, “But my kids should get BrainScan.”

Weirdly, a little later in the day, I was shopping in Trader Joe’s and heard this earworm:

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger

The lyrics used to conjure up thoughts about wisdom and love and life choices; this time, all I could think about was my arteries! Although I look pretty good from the outside, I am managing a 3-alarm fire in there. This occurred through many levels of “not knowing,” especially as I was told years ago that I was doing everything right. If I had only known then what I know now, it might only be a slight smoldering.

We are so fortunate at this moment in time because we have available both the knowledge and the tools to help our kids and their kids not to face the heartbreak of Alzheimer’s; we know now! Dr. Bredesen tells his own children that this is a disease that they will never have to face, and we know it to be true.

What is just some of what we know now?

● New tests, like BrainScan, show key markers of brain health risks far earlier than ever before.

● Working to heal the brain heals the entire body, and the small aches and pains that begin showing up in the 30s and 40s due to changes that most physicians don’t even measure will often resolve.

● The lifestyle changes necessary to prevent, rather than reverse, cognitive decline can be incorporated more slowly and steadily, which makes the process both easier to implement and sustain. Your kids’ protocol implementation will look very different from yours.

● The healing trickles down: last week, a member in his 30s, with high insulin resistance and liver enzymes and low HDL among his PreCODE findings, talked about slowly starting to make better choices at home for his children, with more veggies, less screen time and going outside to play as a family as a result! We all clapped!

● The Bredesen Protocol has replaced “false hopelessness” with hope, and there is no reason for anyone – especially those with a family history of Alzheimer’s – not to know where they stand and how to begin doing a prevention program.

Like me, most of you are at the end of the song, wishing we had only known. In our defense, so little was available to increase our knowledge. But the “younger and stronger” members of our community can certainly change their tune, and we owe it to them to encourage them to seek knowledge about their health. What is the song you want to sing to them?