Meds for dementia

[Mjm012649]

Are there any meds to help with beginning dementia in PD? My husband was diagnosed 5 years ago. His memory is poor and cognition is slow. This seems to be very slowly getting worse.

[park_bear]

I am sure others will have positive recommendations. Nuplazid

is most likely best avoided:

healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

[Mjm012649 in reply to park_bear]

Thank you for caring😘

[chartist]

Mjm012649,

There are several things that have shown modest benefit in terms of anecdotal reports, but as far as actual human studies, not much. In terms of prescription meds for AD, the existing ones seem to be not very effective and benefits seem to be short lived.

One human study that I have mentioned before and would be considered fairly safe is a human probiotic study that used 4 very common bacterial strains at high dose and mixed into a small amount of milk that was taken once daily. Although the improvements were modest, there are several important considerations. One, the patients were at advanced stage of disease progression, two, the study was only 12 weeks long, three, they did not use a prebiotic in conjunction with the probiotic and prebiotics tend to be additive to the effects of probiotics and this is the reason why most commercial products generally have at least a small amount of prebiotic in them. Here is a link to that article :

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

Although this study was done in 2015/2016, there were no direct followup studies, leaving many unanswered questions such as, might the results have been better had they used a patient population that was not at such an advanced disease state, would the results have been even better had they included a prebiotic in the formulation, if the study had been longer than 12 weeks would the improvements continue to accrue and lastly, was the dose used the most effective dose? Lots of questions!

The main positives were that probiotics in general are considered to have a good safety profile, positive results were seen in just 12 weeks with a fairly advanced patient population and they used only 4 strains of bacteria which are very common and relatively inexpensive as opposed to the "specialty bacterial strains" that are patented and sometimes impossible to find or are expensive!

On a related note, there seems to be some anecdotal evidence for "very low dose lithium orotate" (LO), which is a non-prescription over the counter supplement with a good safety profile at the very low dose of less than 21 mg per day. I wrote a post about LO here :

healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

There are a few more things that may help, but they only have animal or rodent studies so far. On the positive side, some of these already have established themselves as having a good safety profile in humans such as melatonin which is commonly used as a sleep aid but offers so much more in terms of multiple health benefits for the body as a whole while offering potential neuroprotective qualities! Here is an article about melatonin and dementia :

discoverymedicine.com/Kanna...

Good luck !

Art

[Mjm012649 in reply to chartist]

Thank you for taking the time to share this.

[chartist]

Mjm012649,

In my previous reply to you, I forgot to mention Thiamine/B-1 as regards AD/dementia. On this forum, B-1 is typically discussed for its potential benefits in PD, but we almost never discuss its potential in AD/ Dementia and I suppose that is mainly because this is a PD forum.

It is well known that thiamine deficiency in the brain causes neuroinflammation which leads to neurodegeneration. By improving thiamine sufficiency in the brain, the neuroinflammation is reduced and consequently the neurodegeneration is reduced.

AD/ dementia also have neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration as a major factor and many symptoms of dementia are remarkably similar to thiamine deficiency. For this reason it might be worth considering B-1 as part of an AD regimen. There are other reasons to consider thiamine, but I just wanted to bring the point up. If thiamine can be beneficial for AD I suspect that benefit may come slower than in PD due to the amyloid beta deposits. Here are a few studies out of many that discuss the relationship of thiamine and AD :

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/305...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/298...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/297...

As in PD, I think it is possible that the whole B-vitamin group may offer benefit in AD.

Art

[Mjm012649 in reply to chartist]

Thank you!

[bepo in reply to chartist]

Also. Change the diet. Avoid anything sweet or those foods that turn into sugar, once consumed, such as pasta, breads, pastries, rice, etc. Focus on vegetables and low glycemic fruits. No fruit juice. Eat pasture finished protein, if you are eating beef, chicken or pork. Dr. Dale Bredesen has written a book on how to reverse AD, but you have to be willing to change. A lot of people aren't.

[Mjm012649 in reply to bepo]

Thanks for your thoughts!

[rebtar]

As far as I know, there is no drug that will be effective. However, there is a doctor named Dale Bredeson who has developed a protocol that successfully reverses cognitive decline. It is not a simple "pop a pill" solution. Rather it is a comprehensive and intensive lifestyle program that requires dedication. Here's research and his website:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/272...

omicsonline.org/open-access...

apollohealthco.com/dr-brede...

Best of luck...

[aspergerian13 in reply to rebtar]

As rebtar mentioned , researcher Dale Bredesen's method and findings are important. Start by reading his 2014 study.

Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program.

Dale E. Bredesen.

2014.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Mjm012649 in reply to aspergerian13]

Thank you!

[bepo in reply to aspergerian13]

I should read all the responses before responding myself.

[richardo123]

I am on 9.5 mg Rivastigmine patch for memory . Will be moving up to higher dose once these are gone. It is a 24 hour patch . I think it is working. I also spend an hour a day doing word puzzles like word find and lexicon. My wife says she is noticing a difference in me. Good luck

[lenamm]

Consider citicoline and exogenous ketones like the KE4 product, also get his vitamin B12 level checked