Abundant Living

Alzheimer's Disease, Pt. 1

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Curtis Eakins, Paula Eakins

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Series Code: AL

Program Code: AL00136A


00:01 It's a disease of the brain, but it breaks
00:04 the heart. In fact the giddiness condition is
00:08 not good. Millions are destined to get it.
00:11 Our program today is entitled Alzheimer's
00:14 disease part one, we'll will be right back.
00:43 Hi, welcome to Abundant Living and this is my
00:45 beautiful bride Paula Eakins. How are doing it
00:48 today Honey. I am doing fine, thank you.
00:49 Oh that's great, good to see you there and that's
00:52 a nice blouse by the way is that new? No, okay
00:56 you had it for quite some time.
00:57 Yes, I had. Okay just checking. Now we are
01:00 talking today about Alzheimer's, yes. And
01:03 of course I guess people are saying is it
01:04 Alzheimer's or Alzheimer's.
01:07 Okay let's set the record straight.
01:10 Today it's going to be Alzheimer's and next
01:12 week this is part one, and now next week it's
01:14 going to be also Alzheimer's. But now if
01:16 you prefer Alzheimer's then you can say it as
01:18 well but we are going to us Alzheimer's in
01:20 today's and next week's program.
01:22 Well I guess we are. Let me first of all define
01:25 the term Alzheimer's disease what exactly
01:29 is it? Okay, Alzheimer's disease is basically a
01:31 progression deterioration of the brain
01:34 mental function. It affects the neurons
01:38 or brain cells, nerve cells there. It also
01:41 affects the access where the nerves interlock
01:46 with one and another, so that transmissions
01:48 of nerve impulses is interfered. So, that's
01:51 where you have several problems in that area.
01:54 It can be mild, it can also be severe just
01:56 depending on the type, the severity of
01:59 Alzheimer's diseases, and how long the person
02:01 has had it and diagnoses and that kind of thing
02:03 so. It's a very progressive disease
02:07 of mental function.
02:09 So, I guess we're gonna talk about the fact it
02:11 can be progressive, it can start
02:14 anytime in a person's life I guess?
02:16 Well, getting down to the statistics,
02:19 usually it starts around age of 65 years of age
02:22 but again as we grow older of course it can
02:25 be more progressively worse as we grow older
02:29 with age. And I don't want to get into stats,
02:31 but I just want to look at you know because I
02:32 there are times when I lose my keys, I can't
02:35 find them, I am going somewhere I
02:37 run down the steps, okay, and I get down to
02:39 the bottom of steps, and I can't figure out
02:40 what I was supposed to doing, so I run back up the
02:42 steps and it's somehow right in the middle of
02:44 the step you know half way up I remember
02:47 exactly what I was supposed be doing, so
02:49 that's the reason why it's kind of hard
02:50 at first I asked that question.
02:52 Okay if that's true then about 95 percent of us
02:56 have Alzheimer's disease, but Alzheimer's
02:58 disease is not when you forget where you place
03:01 your car keys, okay. Alzheimer's disease
03:03 is where you forget what car keys are used for,
03:06 I see, so there is a difference there.
03:08 There is a severe mental malfunction as
03:11 far as reasoning and that kind of thing so.
03:14 It's not just forgetting things but
03:15 it's more severe then that.
03:18 Well my daughter always says to me I am just too
03:19 busy, I guess that's the reason why I forget
03:21 things. But let's talk about the symptoms
03:24 of how does a person know that they have
03:26 contracted Alzheimer's disease? Okay,
03:28 now of course an autopsy is the most way of
03:32 determining whether a person has Alzheimer's
03:34 disease. And of course we have to have
03:35 brain tissue and looking under microscope.
03:38 Well that's best done when a person has
03:40 passed. So, when a person is alive,
03:42 a doctor will say you will have probable
03:45 Alzheimer's disease, about 85-90 percent,
03:48 it's not conclusive. But the question
03:50 is how it can be diagnosed, okay,
03:53 or the symptoms, the symptoms.
03:54 Okay the symptoms, okay, the symptoms
03:56 well first of all sometimes it first deals
04:00 with depression psychosis because we're
04:03 dealing with their frontal lobe, so if
04:05 that's the case then you have depression
04:06 and psychosis. Sometimes it deals
04:09 with the physical outburst, memory, lack
04:15 of visual perception because it deals
04:18 with also the hippocampus area as
04:20 well. So just depends on where it
04:23 deals with depending on what symptoms a person
04:26 may have. Now again you have outburst,
04:29 you have emotional outburst,
04:30 physical outburst, speech, lack of recall,
04:35 memory. This is short term memory,
04:38 not so much long term memory. So there
04:41 there are different symptoms that person does
04:43 have with Alzheimer's disease.
04:45 A short term meaning something that you might
04:46 forget or someone says something to you
04:49 at that moment and you forget it, yes, rather
04:51 then something I might know or someone might
04:54 know from the past.
04:55 Right, yeah most people who have Alzheimer's
04:57 disease will remember things 10 or 20 years
05:00 ago, but not 10 or 20 minutes ago because the
05:03 memory is not there because the malfunction
05:05 of neurons that nerve impulse simply has
05:08 not been transmitted
05:10 to the next neuron in the brain.
05:12 Now you made this comment about outbursts,
05:14 you know there's lot of people who have
05:16 outburst continuously so what do you
05:18 mean by the outburst, is it like something
05:19 that the person might be in a normalcy where
05:22 they are always okay and all of a sudden
05:25 they act out. Yeah as far as their
05:27 voice and also as far as their physical nature
05:30 is concerned, we get more to that
05:32 part two next week.
05:34 We're gonna go right into the brain and we
05:36 will look at two of the major hallmarks
05:38 of Alzheimer's disease by autopsy.
05:41 But for this week only physical symptoms
05:44 or basically outbursts and we go more
05:47 into that next week, we go into
05:48 the brain and see how that works out.
05:50 So how is it diagnosed?
05:51 Well like I said before autopsy is the most way
05:54 of confirming of Alzheimer's disease
05:57 patient. But again there are some several
06:00 tests that doctor will take and sometimes
06:02 it's based on eliminating other
06:04 probable symptoms that mimics
06:06 Alzheimer's disease such as they will
06:08 rule out stroke, okay.
06:10 They will rule out deficiency of B12
06:12 because that deals with central nervous system.
06:15 They will rule out brain tumors or cancer
06:19 in the brain and thyroid problems,
06:22 they will rule out depression.
06:24 So, what's left is usually that give some
06:26 symptoms is Alzheimer's disease.
06:29 There are also some tests a doctor will
06:32 administer to a person such as a person who
06:34 has Alzheimer's disease cannot draw a clock
06:39 and put the numbers inside the clock because
06:42 again the visual perception,
06:44 so they can't do that.
06:46 Counting backwards from 100 by 7,
06:50 okay they have a difficult time doing that.
06:53 Some people have difficult time doing
06:55 that already, but anyway and or counting
06:57 the word world backwards, alright.
07:03 They can't really have a problem doing that
07:05 as well and if you put may be a piece of
07:08 string and a coin in a person's hand
07:12 they can't tell which one is the string
07:14 and which one is the coin.
07:15 Again that visual perception this is
07:17 the brain dealing with the frontal lobe or the
07:20 hippocampus dealing with memory
07:22 and visual perception.
07:23 So have a hard time getting off the exit
07:26 or the interstate, reading signs, so these
07:28 are some of things that are hallmarks as far as
07:32 diagnosing Alzheimer's disease patient.
07:35 Again this about 90 percent because it
07:37 cannot be conclusive until an autopsy is
07:40 done, taking some brain tissue and then look at
07:42 those brain cells, but until the person does
07:45 though he passes on then they can tell with a
07:49 certain degree of certainty that
07:51 person has Alzheimer's disease.
07:53 So, there is a battery of tests then is what you're saying,
07:55 exactly. And I guess a person... I am just
07:59 thinking to myself you know what would make
08:01 me to think to even go to a doctor.
08:03 I mean is there any kind of pain
08:05 or anything that goes along with that?
08:06 See there is no pain, that's where the
08:10 person's family members, alright. When they start
08:13 start noticing some changes as I just
08:15 mentioned, okay, outbursts, depression,
08:19 they are not themselves.
08:20 This is a change of personality, so the
08:24 person is not themselves, so therefore
08:27 the family member is usually the first one that
08:29 would detect something is going on with
08:32 my husband, mother or whatever the case maybe
08:34 because the person doesn't know it.
08:36 But the family member may pick up on it first
08:39 because it's not of their normal habitat and
08:42 that's where the doctor needs to go in and
08:45 check out... like I said before they would need
08:47 to eliminate certain things because certain
08:49 conditions can also mimic Alzheimer's disease,
08:52 so they rule out stroke, depression,
08:54 thyroid and deficiency in B12.
08:57 What would be the causes then of it?
08:59 Well let's go with the stats first and then I
09:01 would go with the causes. Going to stats,
09:02 now the stats are not good folks, about maybe
09:07 65 to 75 years of age about 3 percent of
09:10 of people have Alzheimer's disease.
09:13 So, starts around 65 years of age okay,
09:15 now from 75 to 85 it jumps up
09:18 to about 20 percent.
09:20 Now folks over 85 years of age it can be up to
09:25 one half of people have Alzheimer's disease,
09:29 one half. Over 85 years of age from one third
09:33 to one half, so and that's not good and now
09:36 again every seven seconds, okay, someone
09:38 turns 50 which means that those individuals
09:42 parents are now in their 70's, right,
09:45 right. That's why and people living longer, yes
09:47 so go of course right now there are about four
09:49 million people have Alzheimer's.
09:51 At that rate when people are growing
09:53 older by 50 years there will be
09:56 quadruple 14 million.
09:59 Now hopefully by that time it would be
10:01 New Jerusalem, but as the rate goes according
10:04 to plan it's not looking good at all. And so and
10:08 once person has been diagnosed with
10:10 Alzheimer's disease they have about 8 to 20 years
10:13 of life left. They usually die within 8 to
10:16 20 years, so again you know 100,000 people
10:20 no, 10,000, no 1000 people are diagnosed
10:23 with Alzheimer's disease every single day,
10:27 1000 people and the numbers are not getting
10:31 any better. So, unless the family actually
10:33 recognizes a difference or a change in their
10:36 parent or grandparent whoever is in the
10:38 household, then basically and have the...
10:41 then see to go have the test done.
10:43 So this is kind of one of those,
10:45 what do I usually use that word,
10:47 not known or invisible kind of things that can
10:51 happen as far as since there is no symptoms.
10:54 Well it grows progressively worse,
10:58 alright, so you will notice a change in a
11:00 person's character and personality, memory
11:03 things and how to turn on the oven,
11:07 how to turn on a microwave,
11:08 how to brush their teeth, comb their hair.
11:13 These changes would be first mark, or just not
11:16 being able to memorize or remember something
11:20 that just spoken to them,
11:22 let say 10 minutes ago.
11:23 You will cite to them a paragraph, okay.
11:26 And then ask them to recite as much
11:28 as they can remember
11:30 things in that paragraph.
11:31 A person who has Alzheimer's disease
11:33 cannot do that, or do it at a very
11:36 low state of, far reciting whatever you
11:39 said in that paragraph.
11:41 So what will be the causes then?
11:42 Okay, the causes for Alzheimer's now
11:44 of course that can be a program within itself
11:46 and its not conclusive as far as aluminum is
11:49 concerned, so let's just set that to rest.
11:51 It is true though those who have Alzheimer's
11:53 disease once the autopsy is done there is a high
11:56 amount of aluminum in the brain but they are
11:58 not sure whether or not aluminum cause
12:00 Alzheimer's or because has Alzheimer's that it
12:03 will retain aluminum, so it's not conclusive.
12:06 But there is one common thread that Alzheimer's
12:10 disease patients do have and when they do the
12:13 autopsy or those who are even alive they will
12:16 have a high degree of homocysteines
12:19 that would be in their blood.
12:22 This is conclusive across the board and you
12:26 just type, do at Medline Research just type in
12:28 Alzheimer's, type in homocysteines you get
12:31 a ray of clinical studies in medical
12:34 journals about homocysteines in blood.
12:37 Now there are two ways of increasing
12:40 homocysteines in our blood stream, okay.
12:42 Number one is what we eat, there is an
12:45 essential amino acid called methionine.
12:50 Now this comes from animal products and
12:52 comes from plant based products.
12:54 Animal products have a high degree of
12:56 methionine when we take in these foods
12:58 methionine converse into homocysteines.
13:03 Now the foods that are high in
13:05 methionine is chicken, cheese particularly
13:10 Swiss and Parmesan, milk has twice as much
13:15 as methionine than soymilk,
13:17 so again these foods are when going to the
13:20 system convert into homocysteines
13:22 and this is the trademark of all
13:24 Alzheimer's disease patients.
13:26 Then of course you have high homocysteines
13:28 level. Another way of having high
13:30 homocysteines level is of course not eating
13:32 enough of the folate foods.
13:35 It's not so much what you eat but
13:36 what you're not eating as well.
13:38 Again the folate foods will bring down
13:40 homocysteines and of course you get
13:42 those in dark leafy green vegetables and
13:44 also legumes, so and of course cigarette smoke
13:48 or caffeine and alcohol will also increase your
13:50 homocysteine levels. So again there are some
13:53 other medical journals that I can cite that
13:55 those who do eat chicken or flesh foods
13:59 have a high degree rate of or risk
14:02 of having Alzheimer's disease.
14:05 Now just to isolate one clinical study
14:07 to confirm this,
14:08 the Boston University School of Medicine,
14:10 they did a clinical study on 1098
14:14 healthy elderly individuals.
14:16 They tracked them for 11 or 8 years.
14:20 Within 8 years 111 about
14:23 10 percent had Alzheimer's diseases.
14:26 They discovered that in those 111 they
14:29 had a high degree of homocysteines and this
14:32 was even recorded in the most prestigious
14:34 medial journal in United States,
14:36 the New England Journal of Medicine,
14:38 February 2002. but all medical journals will
14:42 say the same thing basically, high rate of
14:46 homocysteine levels in the blood stream.
14:48 So that's one thing that we can do to cut down
14:51 on the flesh foods, again chicken or fish
14:54 which has a lot of the methionine which
14:57 converts into homocysteine
14:58 once we eat them, and also the dairy
15:00 and cheeses as well.
15:02 I think we have a graphic lets go with
15:03 the summery of how we can also avoid
15:06 Alzheimer's disease at this time.
15:08 Alright avoiding Alzheimer's disease.
15:11 We didn't talk about this but mental
15:12 gymnastics, there has been some research
15:15 in the science of medical journal called
15:17 Neurology where those individuals who do,
15:20 let say more crossword puzzles, reading,
15:24 studying, used their brains more actively had
15:28 a lower rate of Alzheimer's disease as
15:31 opposed to those who did not do anything or
15:33 watched maybe more television, alright.
15:35 Number two a plant-based diet and we mentioned
15:38 out there getting rid of the flesh foods and also
15:41 the dairy products too, there by you get
15:43 that methionine but it's not as high
15:45 as animal products.
15:47 And in number three the increase of antioxidants.
15:50 We're gonna talk about more about that
15:52 particular one in our next weeks program
15:54 about antioxidants, how antioxidants will reduce
15:58 the rate of free radicals in the brain because
16:01 free radicals are also prevalent in those
16:03 those who have Alzheimer's disease.
16:05 Well we've talked a lot on plant-based diet and
16:08 all that is going to be things we would be
16:09 constantly saying over and over again that's
16:11 right of course here on Abundant Living,
16:13 we talk often about the plant-based diet.
16:15 How important it is because its actually
16:17 desired by the creator God himself.
16:20 That's, true, alright.
16:21 And now my next question is gonna be about the
16:24 caretaker because with all this going on with
16:27 that individual, that senior individual in our
16:28 home what kind of stress or does it
16:31 put stress on the caretaker?
16:33 Yes it does, right before this program I
16:36 called the Alzheimer's Association in
16:38 Huntsville, Alabama and I asked the same
16:40 question I said what is the main concern for
16:43 a caretaker, because remember are folks
16:45 70 percent of people who have Alzheimer's disease
16:48 are being taken care of in the home, 70 percent.
16:52 So I ask her what is the number one
16:54 concern for caretaker?
16:56 She said is loneliness and isolation, and you
16:59 can, you know assume that would be the case
17:02 because they deal with the person one on one,
17:04 this is 24 hour care, alright and they have
17:07 been diagnosed and they can do brain scans to
17:09 the brain activity whatever and so isolation.
17:14 So we suggest a person who is care taking this
17:17 Alzheimer's disease patient
17:19 to go with their Support Group.
17:21 Now let's go to our last graph and
17:22 let's highlight this.
17:24 There are some benefits of
17:25 Support Group at this time.
17:26 Number one you will discover available
17:28 resources, I didn't know this but she said
17:30 there are many Alzheimer's Associations
17:33 across the country they actually have funds
17:35 and scholarships for people can come in and
17:38 sit with that person for four hours, so that
17:41 caretaker can take of their personal needs
17:43 here and there when they need to.
17:46 So there we go for that. Learn coping skills,
17:49 sharing information how to cope with different
17:53 individuals, and you know we have what we call the
17:56 sundown syndrome where in late afternoon
17:58 is very trying for those who are care taking
18:02 Alzheimer's disease patients.
18:03 Number three also achieving emotional wellness.
18:06 Caretakers they have they go through
18:10 depression, fatigue and emotional upset because
18:14 they may have feeling some guilt and anxiety,
18:18 so again Support Groups are very efficacious for
18:22 those particularly as Alzheimer's diseases
18:24 patients dealing with those, how to write out
18:26 our living will, a power of attorney these things
18:29 need to be in place because you never know that
18:32 you will need this when a person really gets
18:34 progressively worse, so that's the one
18:37 great thing that all Support Groups can give.
18:41 Well I know we not finished with this subject
18:43 so you know we're gonna
18:44 I mean this is pretty heavy.
18:46 We gonna continue this program talking
18:48 more about Alzheimer's and what's going on with
18:50 individual and the caretaker and I know you
18:53 are trying to figure out all we gonna cook
18:54 on this program and the answer is yes.
18:56 And of course talk about plant-based foods,
18:58 so today you wanna get your paper and your pencil.
19:00 We wanna ring somebody on the phone
19:02 and knock on someone door they will know that
19:04 Abundant Living is on, and we are going into
19:06 to make a Salad Bread Bowl
19:09 with all those fixing, so stay by.


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Revised 2014-12-17