Feeling Overwhelmed by Cognitive Decline? Start With THIS | Dr. Dale Bredesen

0:00 What do you say to that person who is feeling the overwhelm

0:03 right now but knows they need to go in and do this work

0:07 given how extensive it is?

0:10 It's a great point and it's very simple and that's why I wrote the the books.

0:13 So if you are under 40 and you're and you're

0:17 asymptomatic um I would read the ageless brain because that is

0:22 is really about how do you how do you make it

0:24 so that your brain span is as long as your lifespan.

0:27 You know, you don't want to live to a hundred

0:29 and have the last 20 years in a nursing home.

0:32 So that that's for the people who are asymptomatic.

0:34 If you have any symptoms or a strong family history,

0:38 then I would read the end of Alzheimer's or the end of Alzheimer's program.

0:44 Uh the the first one is more about how it works.

0:47 The second one is, you know, what do you buy at the store?

0:49 That sort of thing.

0:50 You know, how do you what are the critical, you know, dietary issues, etc.

0:55 Um, and then if you just want to be

0:56 inspired by people who reversed their cognitive decline,

1:00 uh, read the first survivors of Alzheimer's.

1:02 Um, these are amazing people and they actually

1:04 have their own support group where they meet

1:07 monthly now and they're and they're sharing

1:08 their secrets and and really it's it's fantastic group.

1:12 Um, and it's been impressive to me when you when you talk with them.

1:16 Uh, they're all kind of get it done.

1:18 you know, they they all had significant cognitive decline,

1:22 got on treatment, reversed their decline, and they're doing really really well.

1:27 And I think it's important to point out,

1:29 which people are probably gathering from listening to this, that everybody's

1:34 protocol is going to be a little bit different.

1:37 And just because something worked for somebody,

1:40 it's not necessarily going to work for you.

1:43 If you're metabolically healthy and your whole focus is

1:45 on that, but you have a heavy metal problem,

1:49 you could be banging your head against the wall

1:50 for years trying to work in that area.

1:53 So, I think it's just so important for people,

1:55 and I'm sure at this point people are getting this.

1:58 You need to really zoom back at the beginning

2:02 and see where your holes in your bucket are.

2:05 And just because you're hearing success for somebody in one area,

2:09 your success may come from a different one.

2:12 You know, and maybe it's worth spending just a minute on what

2:15 are the things that are associated with great success and what are

2:18 the things that are associated with less success because we've seen this now

2:22 over 10,000 people have been on this protocol at one point or another.

2:26 So, we've seen a lot.

2:27 We've got a lot of follow-up data uh with a number

2:30 of published papers on on these things and we see patterns.

2:34 So, here are the things people who do spectacularly well.

2:39 the ones the earlier you start as I mentioned the better

2:43 as you said find out what those 36 holes are for some people

2:46 it's going to be more about blood flow for some people it's

2:49 going to be more about methylation or it's going to be about uh

2:52 thrombotic propensity or it's going to be about messed up oral microbiome

2:56 or what what have you sleep apnnea what have you find out about

3:00 those and then uh address those work with a uh work

3:07 with a uh work with a well-trained uh person who's gotten good results before.

3:14 Ask about it, find out.

3:16 Um these are absolutely critical.

3:19 Having supportive partner, spouse, family, that's very very helpful as well.

3:25 Um having, you know, don't give up.

3:27 Just take it.

3:28 You don't have to be overwhelmed.

3:30 Start with one thing.

3:30 You have to remember this is a chronic problem.

3:33 It's not an acute problem.

3:34 So you know if you don't treat numaccoal pneumonia you could die within hours.

3:39 That's not the way this works.

3:40 This takes this is a chronic issue.

3:42 So start with the basics and then just add as you feel comfortable doing it.

3:47 Um and there's so much that can be done.

3:50 Uh and so the you just take these one at a time.

3:54 Get your you know find I always ask when

3:56 people say well this is not working for me.

3:58 I say okay you know what was your ketone level this morning?

4:00 Oh I I don't look at that.

4:01 Well, okay.

4:02 You're really not addressing the things that are key here.

4:05 Get the foundations in.

4:06 You know, how was your sleep last night?

4:08 Oh, I don't I don't check that.

4:09 Well, okay.

4:10 Let's find out.

4:11 Um the we get the skeptical spouses also who say,

4:14 I don't believe they're they're told

4:17 by someone who's practicing antiquated medicine,

4:21 there is nothing that will prevent, reverse, or delay cognitive decline.

4:24 That was the kind of the the the classic line.

4:28 uh and we're showing that that's just no longer the case.

4:32 And so uh those are the characteristics of people who are doing better.

4:36 And again, they they'll have people where well they start to slow the decline,

4:40 but they're not quite there yet.

4:41 And now, okay, you add the next thing,

4:43 you now add the next thing, you start turning things around.

4:46 Remember that this is a threshold.

4:49 It's just what Dean Ornish found years ago for cardiovascular disease.

4:53 when you do the right things your cardiovascular

4:55 disease starts to lessen instead of increasing.

4:58 Now on the other hand the people who have

5:02 said well gee thing you know things haven't turned around.

5:04 Okay they are number one they're working with a practitioner who

5:08 doesn't know what he or she is doing they're number two

5:10 they don't they may not do extensive enough testing number three

5:14 they may not have found the things that are driving the problem.

5:18 Um, number four, they're they're often working with, you know,

5:21 the the spouse, the family is like, "No, we don't we don't believe this is,

5:24 you know, we're not going to work with you.

5:25 We're not going to help you." Um, those are all the things that are kind

5:29 of typical for we're not going to do this.

5:30 And yes, the people who are waiting until uh they are very late.

5:35 Now, with that said,

5:36 I have to mention that I did get a letter a few years ago from a guy who said,

5:41 you know, how dare you tell people only to come in early.

5:45 He said, "My wife had a mocha score of zero.

5:48 She's in a nursing home.

5:49 We started doing this uh this protocol and he

5:52 she's so much better." So, yeah, we do see it,

5:55 but as you get later and later, it's not that there's a just a cut off.

5:58 It's that the farther you go,

6:01 the more you have to do and the less complete the improvement is.

6:05 Now, having said that, people will talk again.

6:08 We have one person who literally when she goes on the protocol

6:12 she is continent and when she goes off the protocol she's not.

6:16 So it makes a difference.

6:18 Um again speaking dressing yourself taking care of yourself

6:21 these things uh can can often come back.

6:24 So that's I think those are the the key things to know.

6:27 If you can do as many of the things as possible

6:30 on the great outcome side the vast majority of people do well.

6:34 And as I mentioned, um, at some of the sites and and one in particular

6:37 where we where I have all the data back,

6:39 every single person improved at that site.

6:41 So that's that's a striking record

6:44 for somebody tuning in today who is a concerned partner.

6:49 Mhm.

6:49 What do you find with the cases you've worked with is

6:54 the best way to be that supportive person to help

6:58 somebody who hasn't heard what we're talking about today and maybe

7:02 even has some resistance if you bring it up to them.

7:07 Yeah, this is a really good point.

7:08 I think you know what I would argue

7:11 is without a brain life is pretty meaningless.

7:16 So give it a year, you know, g give it your best shot.

7:20 If things haven't turned around by that time, okay, then maybe maybe you say,

7:25 well, okay, this is not worth my time and effort.

7:28 Give it some time.

7:29 Give it that year and just take it, you know, one at a time.

7:33 If you have the time to be a caregiver, great.

7:36 We have some just remarkable caregivers who are with their spouses, for example.

7:42 If you don't, okay, if you've got,

7:44 if you're, you know, working full-time, no problem.

7:47 There are excellent caregivers that you can hire.

7:50 Uh, we just keeping the person out of memory care is

7:55 going to pay huge dividends for the person for their interaction.

7:58 One of the most common things I hear is,

8:01 "Wow, she or he is so much more engaged.

8:04 They're interacting with their families more.

8:06 They're being part of the conversation." All these sorts of things.

8:09 That's typically the first thing I hear from people like,

8:12 "Wow, this person's getting better.

8:14 They're more engaged.

8:15 They're more part of the conversation, part of the family.

8:18 They're now, you know, doing things again, cooking, you know,

8:21 do whatever you whatever you want to talk about." Uh,

8:24 so, so that would be one thing.

8:27 Uh, and you have a positive attitude that hey,

8:31 there are a lot of people and often to me if you don't believe it,

8:35 talk to a few people.

8:36 I think that's the easiest thing.

8:39 Um, when a New York Times reporter was doing a story about this uh,

8:44 a year ago, we spent eight months and I had I said,

8:46 "Look, I'm not going to do this with you unless you will

8:48 talk to a dozen different had six people who had all improved dramatically.

8:54 Six physicians who had all been uh,

8:57 working with people who had improved and had gotten that." She said,

8:59 "Okay." She said, "Well, this is in my family.

9:02 I'm really interested in this.

9:03 I will do this." Um she talks to all

9:06 she spent many many hours talking to all of them.

9:08 She left all of that purposes as it turned out purposefully.

9:12 She was there essentially to do a hit piece on behalf of pharma.

9:17 Uh and so she left out all the stuff from all the people

9:20 who had improved all the doctors and just said you know this is ridiculous.

9:24 She she went out and found someone who started it

9:27 at end stage and gave up after a few months.

9:30 I mean interestingly which she didn't even mention that person had had

9:33 a little improvement over the first few months but then gave up.

9:36 So you know it was unfortunate um and I think

9:40 the people who read it like what what is going on here?

9:43 Read the published data.

9:44 We have multiple papers in addition to the 240 um

9:49 that we published from the basic mechanisms leading up to this.

9:53 um and talk I if you're discouraged,

9:57 talk to a few of the people who have done really well.

9:59 Go on apoe.info and look at some of the wonderful stories there.

10:04 So, I think those things can all be helpful.

10:06 For somebody that's tuned in to this point,

10:09 maybe they've tried some conventional treatments.

10:14 Yeah.

10:13 And they're losing hope.

10:15 They're seeing their cognition decline over time.

10:19 Given what you shared today, their interest has peaked.

10:22 What would you say to them?

10:24 Yeah, first of all, I understand that there

10:27 will be people who will wait, you know,

10:28 until, you know, end stage and there yeah, there are some benefits to be gained,

10:33 but what I always recommend for people

10:35 that where there's someone in the nursing home,

10:37 please end it with this generation, um,

10:42 everybody who's 35 or over from that family, get checked,

10:46 get on active prevention so that you'll never have to worry about this again.

10:51 For the person who's already very far along, please don't give up.

10:54 There are things that can be done.

10:56 But again, make sure that you've at least ended it with this generation.

11:00 And don't get discouraged because there are people who are who

11:04 are getting things turned around and having much better lives living.

11:07 There's one of the people who's who started in in very very late stage.

11:13 Uh she's fortunate to have a wonderful

11:16 wonderful husband who takes great care of her.

11:19 And as he's pointed out, she's been on for five years.

11:23 She was endstage to begin with, and she's still quite functional.

11:27 She hasn't had, now she hasn't had a dramatic improvement.

11:30 She's had a little improvement, but she's never progressed,

11:33 which is unheard of for someone who's at that late stage.

11:36 They're still going on vacations together.

11:38 They're still having a loving relationship.

11:40 They still have a lot of good things in in the family.

11:44 So there is a lot to be done but please for preventing

11:49 for the future uh recognize that yes there is something that can be done.

11:54 We're out of that era my my era you know from my generation

11:59 where the number one concern was that we would develop Alzheimer's.

12:03 We would be told we don't know where it comes from.

12:06 We don't know why you got it.

12:07 There's nothing to do about it.

12:08 You're go it's going to kill you.

12:10 um about 15% of our population dies of Alzheimer's.

12:15 So about 45 million of the currently living Americans will die of Alzheimer's.

12:22 We can reduce that number dramatically if people would just get checked early,

12:28 get on prevention or treatment if they've already started to have symptoms.

12:32 Um it is available.

12:34 It's happening every day.

12:36 Um, this is this is really changing uh

12:38 the paradigm when it comes to cognitive decline.

12:42 Dr.

12:42 Bredesen, you've been doing this work for a long time.

12:46 It's groundbreaking.

12:48 It's changing a lot of lives.

12:50 Before you hang up your hat and retire, where would you like to see all this go?

12:56 Yeah.

12:56 You know, so my bucket list, I mean, I'm in my mid70s now.

12:59 So my hope and and you know one

13:01 of my very favorite sayings was actually from a rabbi who

13:05 said uh you are not expected to complete your life's

13:08 work during your lifetime neither are you excused from it.

13:13 I love that quote.

13:14 I think he's right on.

13:15 And so yeah, I want to get as much done as I can.

13:19 Um but I'm not going to be around for that much longer.

13:21 Okay.

13:22 So we want to train.

13:23 We've trained over 2,000 physicians from all around the world to do this.

13:28 uh and what I'm trying to do is we want to see with this current

13:32 randomized controlled trial okay as you said earlier now this is the gold

13:36 standard now what we want to do is can we adapt it to other

13:41 chronic degenerative conditions Parkinson's Louisbody all

13:44 these things we're just collecting single cases

13:47 just as we started with a few cases with Alzheimer's we now have

13:51 single cases of uh PSP never before been treatable in fact we got two

13:56 cases of PSP P that have reversed and and actually one from a a wonderful

14:02 podcaster and influencer uh who who

14:04 brought this to my attention really exciting.

14:07 Um you know when I saw people with PSP there was nothing that could be done.

14:11 We have some cases of Louisibody that have improved u there's

14:15 a few cases of ALS that have improved macular degeneration that improved.

14:19 So my hope is that we'll adapt this to these other things.

14:23 What we're also trying to do is what if you have someone who is later stages?

14:28 Can we do better and better with people who are really late stages?

14:31 As I mentioned, we can see small impacts.

14:33 Can we really bring can we get someone

14:35 from mocha of zero to a perfect score of 30?

14:38 It's never happened.

14:39 We we see people from 18 to 30.

14:42 We see people from 0 to 9.

14:44 We've never seen 0 to 30.

14:46 So getting this to be better and better as I mentioned

14:49 earlier partnering so that we can

14:52 actually know here's some targeted therapeutics.

14:55 We have a very exciting therapeutic we developed in the lab called

14:59 DDL28 which negates the effect of APOE4 to the pro Alzheimer effect.

15:06 I'm very excited and right now we are trying

15:09 to raise support to get that drug into trial.

15:12 If we could give this to everybody who's APOE4 to to negate

15:17 the impact their risk for Alzheimer's or to treat them if they need it,

15:21 wouldn't that be great?

15:22 So, those are the things that I would like

15:24 to see done as much as possible while I'm still around.

15:28 Since you made it to the end of this clip,

15:30 I know you're going to love the full episode.

15:32 Click here to watch.

15:33 I'll see you over there.

15:35 About 15% of our population dies of Alzheimer's.

15:39 About 45 million of the currently living Americans will die of Alzheimer's.