Facebook Live: The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s

Dr. Bredesen recently met with four of the seven survivors featured in his book “The First Survivor’s of Alzheimer’s” during a Facebook Live session. The four shared not only how they not only survived a battle with cognitive decline but thrived. They told their stories of resilience, preservation, and triumph while they applied the latest research on reversing cognitive decline.

We’ve included a complete recording of the session and a full transcript below for your convenience.

Watch here:

Transcript:

Dr. Bredesen: Hi everybody. I hope everybody is staying safe despite the Delta variant. And I’m getting over that myself, so it’s certainly out there. I am just absolutely thrilled today. It’s such a wonderful time to be able to have four of the people who wrote these wonderful, their own wonderful stories for the upcoming book, “The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s.” Four people with whom I’ve worked with a number of years. It’s very, very exciting. So let me welcome Julie and Sally, and Kristin, I called her in the book, and Frank, and thank you so much to all four of you for being willing for the hard work you’ve done over the years, and for being willing to come on and share your stories.

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Dr. Bredesen: Let me start with a little bit of background. So we worked for 30 years in the laboratory on understanding what actually drives the neurodegenerative process. And we’ve recently published a trial showing that we can actually reverse the process in many people, which, again, not yet accepted by the general medical community. We’re planning a larger trial and we’ll get there, but way back in 2012, I got a call, and I hadn’t seen patients in over 20 years. We worked with transgenic mice, cells in culture, and fruit flies. And I got a call from a woman who said, “A friend of mine has been told by her physician that she is developing the same thing that her mother had, unfortunately, and would you please talk to her?” And, of course, I started to say, well, no, I don’t that. I work with mice, but I said, okay, I’m happy to talk to her. And she actually came out from the East Coast and became patient zero. And I called her Kristin in the book. And she wrote an amazing story about what she had. Now you’ll see she has dark glasses on today only because she’s had a surgical procedure recently. In the light she still has a little bit of photophobia, so. Kristin, could you give us a little background. Tell us a little bit about when it was first suggested that you come to the book and tell us a little bit about the beautiful story that you wrote for “The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s.”

Kristin (Judy): Oh, thanks Dale. First of all, it’s really an honor to be part of this group. And I’m so glad that you’re doing it, but I also just want to express my gratitude in case I run out of time. I wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t have my life if it were not for Dale, and the protocol, and so I’m extremely grateful. And, yeah, 10 years ago I was the first fruit fly, I guess, or maybe not the fruit fly, but anyway, I was at really a low, low point in my life because I just felt that I didn’t want to repeat what I had seen my dear mother go through for 20 years before she passed. And so one of my oldest and best friends, she knew Dr. Bredesen from another arrangement. And she suggested that I fly out from the East Coast to the West Coast, and I thought, well, what have I got to lose? I was really so desperate. And so I did, and we spent what? A few hours, Dr. Bredesen, I think. He was explaining a lot of things, which at that stage went right over my head, but I did have a little piece of paper and a notebook, and I was writing everything down, and I still have that little piece of paper, by the way. And it was all try this supplement, try that supplement, do this. And I realized from that conversation that I had really been doing all the wrong things. Not sleeping, not eating properly, high stress. Just everything on the list, practically. Exposure to mold, exposure to other toxic elements. So I said to Dr. Bredesen that day, I’ll do whatever you say. You want me to eat dirt, I’ll eat dirt because I’m going to do this. And I really think that’s the answer. I think it’s compliance. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it’s hard work that we’ve all done, and it is hard work. It’s the hardest work you’ll ever do. And you’ve got to be committed, and you’ve got to be willing to do the work, or you will not get a good result.

Dr. Bredesen: And before you came out what had your doctor told you?

Kristin(Judy): Well, my doctor told me that I was on the same path that my mother was. I was forgetting the most simple things. I was mixing up the names of my pets. I was actually calling my grandchildren the wrong names. I was getting lost in very familiar places when I would drive. I would reach for the light switch on the wrong wall. I mean, I literally was going down that slippery slope very, very fast, and I knew it. And it’s that gripping terror if other people have felt this you think, oh my God, I know what’s happening to me. And it’s like it takes your breath away, and you don’t know what to do. And the more you don’t know what to do, and the more stressful and tense you get, the less you can think straight. So I was terrified, and I knew where I was going. And there are other issues. Being in a doctor’s office they just basically tell you, well, come back in six months, and I guess then you get to go on Aricept, or one of the other drugs. And I did not want to do that I wanted an alternative. So that’s what really compelled me to get myself out to Dr. Bredesen’s office.

Dr. Bredesen: And then when you got started, I remember you actually called us about three months in, and telling us that things were getting much better, but I know a couple of times you were forced to stop because either you had a viral infection, or you were traveling, or you ran out of some things. Tell us a little bit about what happened when you stopped.

Kristin (Judy): Well, my job at the time, and my husband for many years was international work, international development. And I’d go overseas to a lot of conflict countries, very stressful environment. And a couple of times I ran out of my supplements because I stayed longer than I anticipated, or I had jet lag from long flights. And I had a regression at those times. I started having foggy thinking again. After getting clarity, I started to kind of go backwards. And I really quickly realized that I needed to stay on the supplements. And, also, I needed to make sure that I got good rest. And that was something that was very hard to do overseas.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, thank you so much. Well, now you’re doing your brain health coaching, and helping so many people yourself, which is fantastic. So we’re going come back with questions, and thank you so much, Kristin, for talking to us. And let me move on to Dr. Sally Weinrich, who is a nursing professor. And, of course, talked to people about Alzheimer’s disease years ago, and had herself gone through a very well-diagnosed amyloid positive PET scan APOE for positive genetics, and multiple symptoms, actually, to the point of being on a drug trial for Alzheimer’s disease. And, Sally, could you talk to us a little bit about how you came to know about this? I remember the first email I got from you, and then how you’re doing these days? I think you’re on mute. So I think, Sally, you’re on mute. You have to unmute.

Sally: I got it.

Dr. Bredesen: There you go.

Sally: Obviously, I still need ReCODE. My best news is I’ve been on ReCODE for five years. In the book I talk about it four years, but I wrote the book a year ago.

Dr. Bredesen: Right.

Sally: So I’ve been following ReCODE for five years and it works, and it works wonderful as long as I follow it. As Dr. Bredesen just said, I actively, as a retired nurse researcher actively sought out research. I enrolled in a national trial. I was told I’d have advanced Alzheimer’s in 10 to 15 years because I was positive for beta-amyloid plaques. As a retired researcher I devised a method, so I could tell whether I was in the intervention, or control, and if I was in intervention as a hoped, whether or not it worked. And that was before and after each IV infusion, I would subtract seven from 100. And at that time I could not do it accurately, but I also timed myself. And starting with my second IV infusion, I not only got worse on my score and my timing of subtracting seven from 100, but I got irritable. I had trouble sleeping. I got anxious. And it would last anywhere from two to five days, increase in time with each subsequent IV. I took eight IVs once a month. I wanted to withdraw from the trial. They encouraged me to stop for three months, and then come back. I did that, and then in three months I withdrew permanently. And in the meantime, my husband heard about Dr. Bredesen on a talk show. I emailed him, asked if I could be part of his research. And he said, no, since I didn’t live in California. I’m on the East Coast, but he graciously offered to help me. And I started the protocol. His first publication in 2014 talking about 10 people in which nine of them had reversed Alzheimer’s he described the lifestyle changes I started those. And then I had the cognoscopy. First of all, I encourage everyone to get a cognoscopy. It’s a diagnostic that covers all the risk factors. You have a lot of blood drawn. I was discouraged when I got my results because I was less than optimal or abnormal in almost everyone except Lyme disease. I also discovered I was positive for one of the APOE4, or the Alzheimer’s gene. And then I also was tested for my toxicity problems. And I found out I had a rare, and a multiple susceptible genetically meaning I reacted negative to more than one toxicity. And my initial toxicity was living in a home with mold in 2000. I love being on the program. I’ve changed my lifestyle. I’ve learned how to handle stress. I sleep more. I like doing BrainHQ each day. My life is great, the best it’s ever been.

Dr. Bredesen: You had mentioned in the book you talked a little bit about forgetting to pick up your granddaughters.

Sally: I think we all use denial and we deny as long as we can, as long as it works. And when I forgot to pick up my granddaughters one morning, I told myself, forget the denial, Sally, you’ve got Alzheimer’s. And that was when I actively worked even harder. And in the meantime, soon after that, I found Dr. Bredesen and started his protocol.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, good point. And I think you brought up a good point as Kristin did the idea that, in fact, once you improve, you can stay improved for a long time. And, of course, Kristin has been for over nine years now. And as you mentioned, five years, so this is the most important thing that we’re actually addressing the things that actually cause the problem. So I look forward to hopefully many more good years.

Sally: My story is similar to Kristin in that I had general surgery with general anesthesia, and then it took me a good year or over a year to get back to where I was formally on the computer game BrainHQ because I did not know at that time of the danger of anesthesia.

Dr. Bredesen: It’s a really good point, and we see this all the time. People have a kidney stone, or an infection, a viral infection, or they go on a long trip, and they’re staying up all night and things like that. These things can cause setbacks. And as you indicated, anesthesia, one of the big ones. And, in fact, Julie wrote about what to do getting ready for anesthesia and after anesthesia. So I think we’re all learning more and more about what we can do to mitigate some of these effects, but thank you very much, Sally. And I’m going to go on to Frank here for a couple of minutes here. And, Frank, I know you actually got to the point of moving out of the United States because of the concern about how you would be cared for. And you also mentioned in your story that you were told that you had mild cognitive impairment. You said that there’s nothing mild about this. And I think that is actually one of the most important points, because I’ve been telling everybody recently that this is a problem. I mentioned this in the lecture just at UCLA, just 10 minutes ago. The issue is that we call this MCI, mild cognitive impairment. It’s a little bit like telling someone they have mildly metastatic cancer. It is a late-stage of the underlying process. And so we have to quit calling it mild, and let people know, yes, you need to get on either prevention, or the earliest reversal possible. If you get to MCI, which is typically more than 10 years down the road, that is an emergency you need to jump on that. So, Frank, could you tell us a little bit more about your story?

Frank: I’d be glad to. I did finally get diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. It was a relief to my wife. She finally understood what had been going on for the last several years. Sally, I was like you, I was in deep denial. Like everybody in 2010, 2011, I believed Alzheimer’s was fatal, incurable, and progressive. And I figured out that I had it before my doctor did, I think, but in the beginning for the four years before I was diagnosed, I denied it. And I was running a business that I had ran for decades that had provided us with a very, very comfortable lifestyle. And I just kept losing money at the same business I’d been doing for decades, and I couldn’t understand it. My wife tried to keep telling me there was something wrong, and I kept telling her, you don’t understand the business plan. Well, I guess I didn’t understand it either, but, anyway, I finally got so scared. Something happened that scared me so much. I said, “I got to see a doctor,” and I did. And eventually I was diagnosed. Yeah, so we moved to Mexico because, A, I had lost every nickel we ever saved. The only asset left was one house. I was selling the rugs off the floors at the time. And the other reason I moved to Mexico because I knew that my wife was going need help taking care of me in the not very distant future, and we would maybe be able to afford it. And something happened, I mean, to me, it’s like a miracle. I live in San Miguel, there’s a lot of old gringos here. I was in a restaurant one day, and this was before I got hearing aids. I was hard of hearing when I heard this, but I overheard a conversation about Dr. Bredesen. I went home and I Googled the results of the 2014 paper. And I started trying to duplicate it. I took all the supplements that all the case studies took in common all the ones they all had taken. And I started to do all the other stuff. And I started trying to get Dr. Bredesen on the phone. Anybody that’s ever been a businessman that’s really busy knows that your personal assistant’s main job is to keep people away from you, right? You don’t let them across the wall. Well, his assistant was fabulous. She kept me at the door for months and months. And, finally, one day she said, “Okay, you can talk to him, but you better know what you want to say because he’s the busiest doctor on the planet. Everybody in the world wants to talk to him. So you probably won’t get more than five minutes.” And I was expecting some arrogant jerk. We all know a lot of doctors are arrogant, right? Maybe not a jerk, but they’re arrogant. And any of you guys that know Dr. Bredesen the last thing in the word he is arrogant. He’s down-to-earth. He asked me more pertinent questions about myself on that phone call than most of my doctors ever had. We spoke for over half an hour, and he invited me to come to his lab in May of 2015. I didn’t have enough money to have my wife come with me. It was a really big deal for me to fly from Mexico to Northern California. On the way I managed to get on the wrong flight in Texas. I was one of those guys were just before they take off, the stewardess comes down the aisle with somebody else that’s looking for their seat and says, you’ve got to leave. Well, that was me. I lost my favorite hat I left it in the seat, but I got to California and I met Dale. Not only did I meet Dale, I got the opportunity to listen to Julie. And Julie was the first person that I had ever heard that had the same symptoms as me, same symptoms. Like I lived on an island for 35 years, and I would get lost driving around. And Julie had a similar experience in another small town, but before I actually met her, I listened to her give a presentation for about, I don’t know, 20, 25 minutes maybe. And she was sharp as a tack. She was like just like she is right now she was sharp. And that really got me interested in the protocol. So I met with Dale after all that. He laid out the whole protocol, the 36 points, the holes in the roof, all that stuff. And I really understood it. And I went home, and I started practicing it. I had already before I even met Dr. Bredesen, I had improved a little just from like duplicating his original case studies, but I improved relatively quickly. That was in 2015 and ’16. I think it was in 2017 I had a relapse. I decided I needed to gain a lot of weight really quick. I was really skinny. Some lady insulted me and got to my ego. So I decided I was going to gain five pounds in five days. And I ate a million sweet rolls and milkshakes. And I got a giant jar of peanut butter, and a three pound bag of licorice. And I used licorice as my spoon, and I gained the five pounds. And I went home, and I don’t know what happened, but simultaneously I just dropped the protocol. I don’t even know how. I stopped doing my exercise. I wasn’t taking my supplements as regularly. I was eating well. God bless my wife. My wife, I’ve got to say, I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for my wife, I never could have done what was involved, and totally changing my entire diet without her, that’s for sure. And I never would have remembered to take the supplements all the time, but anyway, I did have a relapse. When I caught myself, I was scared shit-less. Excuse me, I was scared. I couldn’t hold a thought across the room. And I met somebody, a guy named Tom that Dr. Bredesen used to do business with. And he knew a lot about the deal. And he said, “You can recover, just get back on it.” He said, “Everybody relapses at least once.” And that was like, I was so grateful to hear that. And I did get back on it. And I haven’t had any relapses since. I’m no longer afraid to go out. I’m no longer afraid of what’s going come out of my mouth. I’m no longer afraid of who am I going to meet that I’m supposed to know. I met a guy in a shopping center one day, and he realized that I didn’t know who he was. And he said, “You don’t know me do you?” I said, “Give me a hint.” He said, “All right, I’ll give you a hint. I’ve housesat for you about 10 times in the last five years, taking care of your dogs, fed them, walked them. Does it ring any bells?” And I was like, oh my God. It was scary, it was scary. I don’t worry about that anymore. I’m enjoying my life, I really am.

Dr. Bredesen: Frank, you’ve written a whole book about this. Tell us a little bit about your book.

Frank: Well, when I first realized that I was getting sick, I started writing it, but I am a writer and I started writing a book, and it was going be called Descent into Dementia. And every time something horrible happened, I wrote it down immediately. And I was keeping all these notes, right? And I eventually got to the point where I realized it was going be the most depressing book in the history of literature. I put it on the shelf. And then when I heard about Dr. Bredesen, and when I met him, I said, I can still write this book and it can have a happy ending. And I did it partly because I didn’t want to fall into self-pity. For me it was a service project because I’m going to help other people not spend years denying that they’re sick, not trying to work when they’re incapable of performing, and do this thing. And so I did write a book, and Dale was kind enough to review it on the cover. And, yeah, I’m writing another one now about caretaking.

Dr. Bredesen: Fantastic.

Frank: I was my wife’s caretaker 30 years ago. She had a massive stroke and I took care of her for years. And then 30 years later, I get sick and she was my caretaker. So I got a lot of empathy for caretakers, and I think I got something to share with them. So that’s what I’m doing to keep myself busy.

Dr. Bredesen: Fantastic.

Frank: I probably went over my time.

Dr. Bredesen: That’s fine, and I should mention Judy, aka Kristin, the patient zero, also writing a book about her experiences. So I think it’s just fantastic. And, again, I thank all of you for just fantastic stories. Let’s talk to Julie. And, of course, Julie does the Facebook lives with us every couple of weeks. And she is dealing with thousands of people who are APOE4 positive. She is at a very, very high-risk with two copies of APOE4. So in that group, as we know, more than 50% of people, in some studies up to 90% of people, will go on to develop dementia. So very, very happy that she’s done so exceedingly well. And she’s also been dealing with issues for over nine years. And you’ve got a beautiful story in the book as well as everyone here does. So as I mentioned to people before we started a number of people have told me that when they read your stories they cried. So you’ve really, I think, touched the heartstrings of many, many people. So, Julie, please tell us a little bit about your own story.

Julie: Yeah, so I took part in genetic testing when I was turning 50, and that’s when I learned I carry two copies of the APOE4 allele. And my story is a little different than everyone else’s because I didn’t have the luxury of the blueprint of Dr. Bredesen’s protocol. This was back nine years ago. So when I realized I was at high-risk for Alzheimer’s, I took a hard look at my cognition, and I realized that I had been struggling for quite a while. I had started getting lost in very familiar places. I had incidents where I ran into people that I should have known, and I didn’t know them. I struggled with simple paperwork, with balancing the checkbook, with calculating a tip. My personality was changing. I was very frustrated. I’ve been a lifelong reader and I was struggling to read. It wasn’t enjoyable anymore because I couldn’t remember what I had just read. So I decided to do some cognitive testing. I did, and I learned I was in the mid 30th percentile for my age group. I was only 50 years old, and I just still couldn’t believe it. So I repeated the cognitive testing, and I got the same score. That’s when everything really came home to me. I looked into Alzheimer’s to try to figure out what I could do. At this point, I was very naive. I thought I could take a pill, or something. I went to the Alzheimer’s Association website, and they said it was not preventable, it was incurable, untreatable, and progressive, and most people are dead within 10 years. So I was already very frightened. And at that point I was truly terrified. Luckily, 23andMe provided forums where I could engage with other APOE4 carriers, and I did. And we created a community and a family, and we very quickly turned to the science. And we began reading every journal article we could find, every medical paper we could find, every specialist we could talk to, to try to figure out what we could do to mitigate the symptoms of our high-risk allele. And as I began learning about all of these strategies, I began applying them. So I dramatically changed my diet. I changed the way I exercise. When I learned I had two copies of APOE4, I realized I was very fragile, and I had been leading a very stressful, high-paced lifestyle. And I learned I couldn’t do that anymore. So I began to prioritize my sleep. I began to meditate. I did daily brain training, and I did something sort of stupid there. If I didn’t beat my score from the day before I stuck with it until I did, which is something I don’t recommend because it’s very stressful. I also started taking targeted supplements. I started following various biomarkers, as I learned about their relevance to cognitive decline. I started tracking my fasting glucose, my fasting insulin, my HbA1c, my vitamin D, my homocysteine, and so on. I also paid attention to toxins in my environment. I made sure the water that I drank was clean. The air that I breathe was clean. Even the toiletries and cosmetics I put on my skin, I made sure they were as toxin-free as possible. I used the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep database to identify the cleanest products. And I did this protocol that I put together; I call it the kitchen sink approach. And after a year I repeated cognitive testing, and I was in the mid 90th percentile for my age group. I then found Dr. Bredesen’s amazing paper that he published in 2014, with the 10 case studies. I contacted Dr. Bredesen by email, shared my story. I also founded a nonprofit called APOE4.info along the way where all these APOE4 carriers can gather. I’m still serving as president. And that organization is thriving, and we’re learning so much together. I was stunned when Dr. Bredesen reached out to me. We spoke on the phone that same day, and we’ve been working together in some capacity ever since. And my story isn’t over, I’m on my journey. And Dr. Bredesen helped me identify other contributors that I never would have found on my own. I learned I had a very acute Lyme disease co-infection that was driving much of my pathology. In many ways, my case was the perfect storm. I became insulin resistant as I approached menopause. I had an abrupt onset of menopause. I had a head-on motor vehicle crash 20 years before. Several, two or three surgeries with general anesthesia. And then you layer all of that on top of the APOE4 homozygote status, and the Lyme disease co-infection. And it was just the perfect storm. And I’m so blessed to be doing as well as I am now. I’m so blessed to be with all of these amazing people. All of your stories brought tears to my eyes.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, that’s just fantastic. Thank you so much, Julie. And, yeah, we’re all learning. This is evolving we’re learning as I mentioned. The next trial we’re learning things that we didn’t know even in the first trial. And, of course, you’re all part of the solution, finding the things that are actually doing the best, so thanks to all four of you. Let me also mention the other three who wrote stories. Also, thank you to Deborah, and thank you to Marcie, and thank you to Edward. Seven absolutely fantastic stories. And I want to thank everyone for their courage, and for the hard work. This is, I recognize not an easy thing to do. It’s not just you take a pill. It actually is addressing the things. And first finding the things that are actually causing the problem, and then addressing the things. And then, of course, staying on it as we all know.

So we’ve got some great questions here. Let me go through these questions so we can answer them. So let’s see. Well, let’s see. So Marley is asking a little bit about COVID exposure. And, yes, I think we’re all kind of waiting with bated breath. And I should say my wife and I developed the Delta variant. She did have a little brain fog, initially. I may not have noticed mine I don’t know. I had more exercise intolerance, but we’re all concerned about the future. We already know there have been a few cases of Parkinsonism that have been published in association with COVID-19. It does affect your brain in multiple ways. It does affect the blood vessels, for example, that run to the brain. And, of course, that’s part of Alzheimer’s. So we’re all concerned about whether this is going to lead to a future increase in cognitive decline.

Trish is asking about how does someone get on the trial? So we’re planning that now. There will be an announcement toward the end of this year, and it will be similar in that it will be people with MoCA scores of 18 or above. The other one was 19. We’ll probably go down a little bit on this one. Let’s see, and Mike is saying question for the panel. Love everything about the protocol, but how do we convince a reluctant loved one who says this is not mainstream, or the Alzheimer’s Association that doesn’t yet approve of this? So that is a great question. And I think a very relevant one. So let me throw that open to the panel. What did you tell your loved ones when they said, what the heck are you doing? This is not recognized by mainstream medicine yet.

Sally: I would encourage you to try it, any and all parts of it, and have some objective way where you measure your cognition. In my case, it was subtracting seven from 100. And you can quickly tell that it works if you follow it.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, this is a good point. And then I know the argument for many is, well, there isn’t anything else, I mean, and that’s been the problem. And so even with the new recently approved drug, it doesn’t make people better. In the best case scenario, it will slow the decline slightly. And then, Kristin, you want to talk about how did you convince people that it was the right thing for you?

Kristin (Judy): Well, I think for me, I was so convinced myself that it probably wouldn’t have mattered if the other people were convinced, but I think in my coaching work now, I often run across patients, or clients of mine, and they will have their neurologist say, well, this is not going to work. And I just say, well, ask them do they have the magic pill? Do they have something better? This is already we’ve seen that it does work. We have the cases, and now we have the trial and the results, the additional results of research. So I think they just have to look at try it. I mean, go for it. You see from the people in front of you now, and for many, many others that it does work. I mean, we can certainly say it turned around. And I mean, the other good thing that nobody’s really said yet is doing all these things, exercise, diet, better, sleep, less stress, everything in your body changes and gets better. I mean, I’ve never felt more energy, and vibrant and sharper. My brain I feel works better now than it did when I was in my 20s and 30s when maybe I was drinking too much wine or staying up too late. I am trying every day to optimize. And I think that’s what the protocol does, allows us to optimize. And you realize it’s not just your brain, it’s your whole being. And that’s what I say to people. And, also, I don’t have to convince anybody who knows me because they all see. They see the results from what I was then and what I am now. So I think the proof is in the seeing and the knowing.

Dr. Bredesen: You brought up one of the common things we see is people are able to get off their anti-hypertensives. They’re able to get off their statin drugs. They’re able to get off their anti-diabetics, things like Metformin, and things like that. And so, in fact, they improve their metabolic status. They improve their resilience. They improve in multiple ways, as well as improving their brain. It’s not something like you go on cancer chemotherapy, you’re going to lose your hair, quite the opposite. You’re going to look better, feel better, do better, and, hopefully, live longer and healthier. So I think that we’re slowly seeing this, but you’re right, the mainstream medicine has been a bit slow on the interest in this sort of approach. There’s a next one here from Dr. Garland Glenn, who says, I see general anesthesia as a trigger in many of my patients. Yeah, very good point. And, absolutely, I think this is a very common issue. And, again, Julie wrote a very nice piece in “The End of Alzheimer’s Program” about what do you do if you do have to undergo general anesthesia. You can get ready for it. You can also deal with it afterward. Of course, it is a toxic burden. It can also be accompanied by hypotensive burden, and a hypoxic burden. So it really can give you multiple problems. And I think that’s one of the reasons that we see this so commonly. Let’s see, Huma says in my hospital practice, I see that anything that disrupts homeostasis causes a decline. Yeah, absolutely. And, again, as I mentioned earlier, Kristin talked about she came off things at times things got worse. Frank had a step back. Everyone can have a step back. Julie noticed until she got her tick-borne associated illness diagnosis things weren’t quite as good as they had been, so absolutely. And this is why we always emphasize, keep optimizing, keep optimizing. People will go back in sometimes into water damaged buildings and just get an exposure. So it’s easy to go backwards sometimes.

And then Dan asks, is this Francis McNear the author of “Defeating Dementia?” Yes, this is Francis McNear. We call him Frank, but yes, this is the famous author of “Defeating Dementia.” Thank you, Frank, for that excellent contribution.

And then Beth asks, when I was told my then 96-year-old mother had MCI, I thought it was a description not a diagnosis. Yeah, this is a really good point. And it is true, MCI is simply saying that you’re in it. It means that you’re at a point where your cognitive change is enough that you can actually measure on cognitive tests, but as I mentioned it’s actually the third of four steps of the underlying pathophysiology. So by the time you have MCI and really it should be called late-stage Alzheimer’s, or relatively advanced, it’s the third of four stages, and really something you want to jump on and treat. So, yeah, please get in there. Please get this person on appropriate treatment. And, again, if the person’s late, please get all of the sons and daughters on appropriate prevention and analysis. Get a cognoscopy because we really can’t end it with the current generation. And this is something we talked about in Deborah’s story where it was passing down from her grandmother to her father to herself. And then, of course, she looked at her children and said, “Oh my gosh, are they headed for the same thing?”

Let’s see, Maria says, yeah, I’ve been following Dr. Bredesen, and Dr. Perlmutter. Diagnosed with, yeah, and she was diagnosed with young onset Alzheimer’s at 48 years old in 2016. I have improved, fantastic. My neuropsych scores have all increased. My life was saved, thankfully, fantastic. Also, an advocate early-stage advisor for Alzheimer’s Association, working on with many others to reduce the stigma. So we’re getting there. This is the best thing. I thank you so much, Maria. I look forward to the day when the Alzheimer’s Association, and the various memory centers, et cetera, are all on the same page. Of course, we all want the same thing, which is best outcomes. I should mention there’s now a wonderful assisted living facility called Marama down just outside of San Diego, run by Dr. Heather Sandison. And she’s getting very good outcomes for people in assisted living. It’s just really wonderful to see.

Let’s see here, RL Optimal Health. This is so encouraging and real. Absolutely, and thank you. And this is exactly why I wanted to talk to everyone. And she says you’re so courageous to share your stories. So, again, thank you to everyone. This is my favorite Facebook Live of all time. So thank you very much. It’s so great to see what you’re all doing. It’s so great to see all of your faces and see and hear about what’s up. Let’s see,

Maria says, Frank, I can so relate to everything you’re saying. Laughed out loud when you talk about trying to contact. Okay, sorry about that. I’ve been there and thanks to the silver linings of COVID, I and many others have thankfully been able to connect with Dr. B., his PA, and Julie G. Fantastic, yeah, please, everyone keep on optimizing. Maria says, can you share Frank’s book please? Yes, it’s “Defeating Dementia.” It’s available on Amazon and I believe other places as well. Maria says Julie G. has been my heroine inspiration. She really has helped me for so many years. So forever thank you for finding her and honored to call her friend. So thank you, Julie, from thousands and thousands of people.

Frank: Me, too, I feel the same way. I want to put that on the record.

Dr. Bredesen: Yes, and you guys are all through your activities, making life better for many, and for generations to come, people will have you to thank for what you’ve done. Jim is saying he lost his mother to Alzheimer’s, and he believes that the major cause was mold. And he says he misses her every day. And I think that’s something we can all understand.

Matt says, let’s see, when is it too late to treat someone? And it’s interesting. This is something that Dr. Sandison mentions in hers because she had someone sent to her assisted living facility with a MoCA score of zero, and she didn’t want to take the person. And she was surprised to see that the person actually did get better. Now, we haven’t seen people go from zero to 30. That’s important to point out, but clearly reading again, talking to people again, being verbal again, this was someone who was non-verbal. So, again, the earlier the better. And so I think that’s something we can all agree on.

Let’s see, and then Robin says so important for prevention, and PreCODE allows you to do it. Yes, so we developed PreCODE specifically for prevention. And I know for everyone here, we didn’t know about. We didn’t do that back then. And so all people had symptoms, but certainly I would agree. And I guess, let me throw it open to everyone. If you could go back, and you had a chance to get on prevention, what do you think?

Kristin (Judy): Absolutely.

Frank: It would have been a lot easier.

Sally: Yeah.

Julie: You know what? I would also recommend that everyone learn their APOE status. 25% of the world’s population carries at least one copy of APOE4 putting them at higher risk. And 2% of the world’s population carries two copies. So knowing you’re at higher risk is extraordinary motivation.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, yeah, that’s a good point. And, I think it was, we’ve talked about before. 75 million Americans are APOE4 single copy, about seven million have two copies, and most people don’t know it. So we recommend everyone get checked. I mentioned this in the new book. We used to be told don’t bother to check because there’s nothing you can do about it. Of course, we all now know there’s a tremendous amount you can do about it. So please everybody check your APOE status, and also check your biochemical parameters. Check to see if you have ongoing inflammation. Check to see if you’re insulin resistant. Check to see if you’ve been exposed to mold and mycotoxins. All of these are absolutely critical.

The next one here is from Diana. She says that she had a SPECT scan showing hypoperfusion in frontal and temporal lobes. And that neuropsych evaluation ruled out frontotemporal dementia. Also diagnosed with Lyme and co-infections. How can I address the hypoperfusion? Great point, and, yes, the hypoperfusion in frontal and temporal is characteristic of frontotemporal dementia. So something else may be going on. And so please get additional evaluation. You want to look at the various biochemical, and genetic parameters this may tell you more. Please see someone who’s been trained in this area.

Next one is Gary asks, how about getting his sister in the trial? So, as I mentioned, there will be an announcement later this year, but please don’t wait. If the person is already symptomatic, please, there’s no time to waste because when you get symptoms, this has been going on for a while. Rajia says, sign me up for the new study, please. Okay, so, yeah, we’ve got, again, coming up later this year.

Kristin (Judy): Dale, I’d like to suggest that you tell them how they can find someone who’s been trained in ReCODE.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, that’s a great point.

Kristin (Judy): I go in through the Apollo site.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, that’s a great point. So you can go to apollohealthco.com, or you can go to dr.bredesen.com, and you can look to see who is trained. Now, please be careful. We have people where they essentially don’t do the right things. Make sure you have someone who’s actually trained, who’s doing the appropriate testing, who’s working with you to get the optimal results. And that’s the best way to go, to get the appropriate report, to look to see what’s actually driving the problem.
Let’s see here. Dr. Glenn says there was a time when intelligent men thought the earth was flat and they were wrong. Yeah, so there are a lot of things we haven’t known about before. It takes a while to change things, but, yes, in fact, having the four of you here is helping to change things.

Frank: Dr. Bredesen?

Dr. Bredesen: Yes.

Frank: Could I say something about the importance of the genetic testing that Julie was talking about?

Dr. Bredesen: Absolutely.

Frank: I started taking vitamin B12, and all the other B vitamins in 2015. And when I had all my blood work done that you did in Dallas two years ago, everything was good except my vitamin B. I was totally deficient in vitamin B’s, B12 in particular. And I also had my DNA done and it turned out I was APOE-3/4. And I found out that if you’re APOE-3/4 regular vitamin B doesn’t work, you have to have methylated vitamin B. So I don’t know how many dollars and pills I wasted taking the wrong stuff, but that’s what happens when you don’t get tested. So don’t do what I did and throw the kitchen sink at it get the testing done.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, it’s a very good point. Yeah, it’s a very good point. The bottom line is human physiology is incredibly complicated. So we’ve gotten away over the years with just writing simple prescriptions. This is a new era. There’s more and more we can do to understand what’s actually driving this process.

And then Dave is saying, why not try the protocol? A drug was just approved it cost a lot of money, and it doesn’t work that’s a good point. And, hopefully, again, I think in the long run, optimal drugs with optimal protocol, we’re going get the best outcomes. Things are still evolving, but the reason for the approval was largely because, quote, there wasn’t anything else, and so let’s do something. Unfortunately, many, many, many thousands of dollars to do something that really doesn’t help. Sorry, go ahead, Kristin.

Kristin (Judy): Yeah, I wanted to say too, that, I mean, it’s exciting that you keep writing books, and each one gives us more information. And I think, too, the hopefulness about it is that so many people are working toward this. There’s so many new things that we can try. Like the photobiomodulation that I’ve been doing a lot. I’ve been doing a lot with my coaching clients that really is stimulating. And I won’t go into the science of it because that might be beyond my qualifications, but it really seems to help a lot of people. And there are just new things that are coming on. So when you use them in conjunction with the protocol, and all of the other things that we’ve talked about, you really are seeking an optimum state of health. And I think it’s very encouraging. It’s optimistic to me that this is happening. I’m really excited that you did the third book, and I’m looking forward to your fourth and fifth books.

Dr. Bredesen: Thanks very much, thanks Judy. So I know we’re running out of time here. So, again, I just want to express my heartfelt thanks. Julie, Sally, Judy, Francis, Frank, all the great things you’ve done really is you’re helping many, many people for generations to come. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for coming on today, and for going public. So thank you very much for so much you’ve done. And I hope that altogether, we’ll continue to make improvements for many years to come. Thank you so much.

Sally: Thank you, Dale.

Frank: Thank you.

Julie: Thank you for having us.

Dale: Maybe we just go quickly through final words. Julie, you want to say anything for final words? And then we’ll go, Julie, Sally, Judy, Frank.

Julie: I do, some people accuse you of providing false hope, but I think the mainstream needs to watch it because they’re providing false hopelessness. I once gave a talk at one of the physician trainings. And, as I was speaking, there were two women in the front row, and one of the women was sobbing throughout my talk. When I finished speaking, she came up to me, she said, “I’m a physician and I’m currently experiencing symptoms of cognitive decline, and I was planning to kill myself. But now that I’ve heard your story, and I know that reversal is possible I’m going to fight.” So that’s why I think we’re all here today to break the stigma and share the truth. I mean, we need to turn this paradigm around. Alzheimer’s is preventable, and in early stages it certainly is reversible.

Dr. Bredesen: Yeah, I love your term “false hopelessness”. I think that’s a really, really good term, thank you. Sally, let’s go to you.

Sally: My brain is the best it’s been in 21 years. ReCODE works, do it, you will not regret it.

Dr. Bredesen: And I know you have started telling jokes. You want to tell us a quick joke.

Sally: I’ll tell everyone the one I told at first because it’s a good clean joke for the public air. It’s a true joke, too. Abraham Lincoln was once told by a politician that he was two-faced, and good old Abe replied. If I had two faces, do you think I’d be wearing the one I’ve got on now?

Dr. Bredesen: That’s great, thank you. All right, and then Judy.

Kristin (Judy): Well, what everyone has said I second. I think that it’s exciting, it’s hopeful. Don’t give up, and don’t buy the general publicity that it’s a fatal disease because I think we are clear evidence. There are many, many more than what you see today, and you just do it. Do the work and fantastic results will happen. And I think it’s just so exciting to be part of it. Thank you.

Dr. Bredesen: Thank you, thanks Judy. And, Frank, you have the final word.

Frank: Well, the first thing I want to say is it’s almost impossible for me to express the extent of my gratitude to you, Dr. Bredesen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And the other thing I just want to say. I was chatting with a woman in Australia the other day. She’s a nurse, and she calls herself an Alzheimer’s nurse, whatever that is. I guess she’s a nurse in an Alzheimer’s clinic, or something. She got so angry that I said that reversal was possible. You can reverse the symptoms, and she said, “I am a nurse, and I’m an Alzheimer’s nurse.” And it’s like, I’ve encountered that as long as I’ve been doing this. Just don’t listen to it, don’t listen to it. I’m just really glad that we did this today. I’ve been looking forward to seeing some of my other survivors. We belong to one of the most exclusive clubs in the world, I think, the luckiest guys on the planet club, so, anyway, thanks, and thanks again to you.

Dr. Bredesen: Thank you. Again, thanks to everyone, and we’ll end there. Everyone please stay safe, take care.