Alzheimer’s and Functional Medicine !
Alzheimer’s Disease, a progressive neurologic degenerative disorder is common these days, which initiates tailing off of basic brain function by causing plaques and tangles of brain cells and eventually initiating their death. It starts with a slow disruption of memory and a continuous diminishing of thinking, behavioral and social skills that affects a person’s ability to carry out basic life functions. It is the most common cause of dementia in older adults. Dementia is basically the loss of cognitive functioning like thinking, learning, logical reasoning, and also behavioral dysfunction.
Some of the contributing factors for this disease are inflammation, insulin resistance, toxins, infections, glucotoxicity, heavy metal toxicity, and inadequate levels of nutrients, hormones, and growth factors. Low levels of testosterone hormones in males are likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
Manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease can be the mental decline, aggression, agitation, apathy, difficulty with self-care, confusion, delusion, disorientation, inability to recognize common things, senseless repetition of own words, general discontent, loneliness, mood swings depression, hallucination, paranoia, inability to combine muscle movements, jumbled speech, and loss of appetite.
The functional medicine approach tries to address the cause of Alzheimer’s disease at the cellular or root level by identifying underlying insults like toxicities, hormonal imbalances, lifestyle and environmental factors, etc. Immense laboratory testing is done to detect the inflammatory markers, specific nutrient markers, oxidative stress, atrophies, nutrient deficiencies, heavy metal toxins, etc.
Change your lifestyle to prevent Alzheimer’s!
- DIETARY MANAGEMENT- Taking diets rich in antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene are beneficial. Also avoiding sugary products and taking a Paleo diet can improve your brain’s condition.
- GUT HEALTH- Your gut health is directly linked to the nervous system. Therefore, consulting your functional medicine doctor for the restoration of your gut may also be very helpful.
- STRESS MANAGEMENT- Introducing yoga, meditation, and exercise into your lifestyle and optimizing your sleep can be very beneficial.
- SUPPLEMENTS INTAKE- Taking nutraceuticals and High dose vitamin C drip as per your functional medicine doctor’s advice can also help.