Awakening From Alzheimer's Series

This is a very helpful and informative FREE web series currently in progress with a new episode each 24 hours. The entire series will be repeated on October 6 through 9. I am one of the speakers. Other featured speakers are Dr. Dale Bredesen, who has a studied protocol for Alzheimer's that has put some people in the earlier stages back to work, Dr. David Perlmutter, a neurologist whose neurosurgeon father suffered from Alzheimer's, and has written excellent books on the microbiome and effect of gluten on Alzheimer's and other disorders.  Dr. Dominic D'Agostino and Dr. Angela Poff, who study many aspect of ketones including cancer, and many more...

Watch as the world’s leading experts in Alzheimer’s and dementia share their most effective breakthroughs and discoveries after decades of grueling research in this groundbreaking series.

Join hundreds of thousands of people and watch the series trailer here ► https://wr374.isrefer.com/go/trailerfba/marynewport

USING PRUVIT KETONE SALTS IN THE ELDERLY AND PEOPLE WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS

by Mary T. Newport, M.D.

I receive emails and Facebook messages from many people who are using or want to use ketone salts for themselves or their loved ones, many of whom are elderly or may have medical conditions and want to make their life better.  Here is some guidance for how to get started with ketone salts:

HOW KETONES COULD HELP

Pruvit ketone salts are nutritional supplements and have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA to treat any medical condition.  On the other hand, there is plenty of scientific evidence that raising ketones can provide alternative fuel to the brain, reduce inflammation, and burn fat.  Many people report increased energy, endurance, focus and mental clarity, improved mood and sleep, fewer aches and pains, and fat loss.

TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR

As with any nutritional supplement, it is important for elderly people and people with medical conditions to consult with their physician before using ketone salts.  The doctor could monitor your blood pressure and check blood levels of electrolytes, glucose and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium) before you get started and after 3 to 6 weeks or so.  Pruvit ketone salts are the first product marketed widely to the public that contains the actual ketone body betahydroxybutyrate attached to the mineral salts sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium.  Many people need to watch their sodium intake, may be on diuretics that may cause loss of minerals from the body, and/or may be taking potassium.  Keto//OS 2.1 and 3.0 have 1400 mg to 1600 mg per serving packet (or full scoop if you have a can of product).  Keto//OS 3.0 (chocolate swirl) also has 490 mg of potassium, compared to just 47 mg in Keto//OS 2.1 (orange dream). 

                

Another option to reduce sodium and potassium intake with ketone salts is to use KetoMax, which contains much less sodium per full serving at 925 mg and minimal potassium at 75 mg.  Another great reason to use KetoMax is that it contains a higher percentage of the circulating form of betahydroxybutyrate and may be even more effective than Keto//OS.  I recommend KetoMax especially for people with medical and neurologic conditions such as Parkinson’s, dementia, and Alzheimer’s. It costs more but the value is there. Your doctor or a dietician can help you factor the mineral salts into your diet and adjust, for example, your potassium supplement to account for the amounts in ketone salts.

                

People with diabetes taking medications and/or insulin need to be aware that raising ketone levels with ketone salts may result in a significantly lower blood sugar along with a drop in the amount of insulin the body produces. To avoid abnormally low blood sugar, I recommend that you monitor your blood sugar closely and work with your doctor to make changes in your medications.  Many diabetics report that they are able to reduce their medications, including insulin, rather quickly over days to several weeks, especially if using ketone salts is combined with a low carbohydrate diet. Pruvit ketone salts contain minimal sugar and are sweetened with stevia and/or erithritol, a sugar alcohol.

Regarding diabetic ketoacidosis, this is an abnormal condition that occurs with very elevated blood sugar and inadequate insulin.  Levels of ketones are many times (20 to 50 times higher) than the levels you would get by taking a serving or two per day of ketone salts.  The risk is extremely low, but could be a problem for someone on the brink of diabetic ketoacidosis.   Ketone levels can easily be monitored with a Precision Xtra or NovaMax glucose/ketone monitor using ketone strips, available online without a prescription.  Ketone salts usually produce betahydroxubutyrate levels in the 0.5 to 2 mmol range, compared to 10 to 25 mmol in diabetic ketoacidosis.

START SLOWLY AND INCREASE AS TOLERATED

While it is tempting to start with a whole serving in hopes of seeing maximum benefits right away, I recommend in elderly people and those with medical conditions, to start with 1 or 2 level teaspoons per day, which would be equal to about 1/8 to 1/4 of a serving, and if there is no issue, such as intestinal distress, you could increase by the same amount every few days until arriving at ½ to 1 full serving per day.  The total amount could be divided into smaller portions throughout the day.

                

Also, it is very important that the person taking ketone salts take plenty of water and other clear liquids.  Ketone salts can have a dehydrating effect in some people, especially in the beginning.

                

Ketones can suppress appetite, which is great if you need to lose weight.  If you are very thin you might consider adding more calories to your diet with calorie dense foods such as coconut oil, olive oil, butter, cream, avocado and nuts.

BRING THESE GUIDELINES TO YOUR DOCTOR

Ketone salts are so new that most doctors don’t know about them yet much less the potential of ketones to provide alternative fuel to the brain and other organs, reduce inflammation, and burn fat.  I suggest that you take a copy of these guidelines to your doctor.  Many doctors decide to pass this information on to other patients when they see improvement in just one of their patients.  Some doctors may even decide to help their patients by providing ketone salts as samples or ordering them through their office.

                

For more information see:  www.coconutketones.com and www.marynewport.pruvitnow.com. 

Fourth Anniversary of Steve's Ketone Rebirth (May 21, 2012)

Yesterday, May 21, 2012, was the fourth anniversary of the day Steve started taking coconut oil to provide ketones as an alternative fuel to glucose for his brain, with very positive results.  He is now 62 years old and in his eleventh years of symptoms related to early onset Alzheimer's disease.  Much has happened in these four years, both setbacks and recoveries. Fortunately, we are in a recovery phase.  We have surprises all of the time that lead me to believe that everything he was is still in there, but he has a problem getting access to it.
I will post a point by point update in the near future.
In the meantime, here is a little bit of my funny old Steve coming out to visit yesterday:

Great New Book for Caregivers

I want to recommend a wonderful new book for caregivers of people who have AD or other forms of dementia. The book is called Staying Afloat in a Sea of Forgetfulness: Common Sense Caregiving. It is written by Gary LeBlanc who lived with and cared for his father 24/7 for more than 3000 days until he finally passed away. Gary writes a column with tips for caregivers that appears in the Hernando Today section of the Tampa Tribune. This is a very practical book, written from caregiver to caregiver in a very down to earth style and injected with humor when appropriate. He addresses a variety of problems that arise on a day to day basis and ways that he found to deal with them. This is very helpful in that people who are newer to caregiving won't have to reinvent the wheel. I can totally relate to so many of the issues he discusses in this book and find his advice very useful. Between each section there is a short piece called "Dear Caregiver," usually a meaningful or humorous quote from a famous person that we will all appreciate.

If you want to learn more about this wonderful new book the website is: www.stayingafloatbook.com .

Update about Steve, Greece, the ketone ester, IVIG

I have been delinquent in keeping up with this blog the past few months and must apologize. There are not enough hours in the day!

Our trip to Greece was quite an adventure - our younger 24 year old daughter Joanna came with us to stay with Steve while I attended some of the meetings at the conference. My presentation went very well and was well received. There were researchers and doctors from around the world, so I am hopeful this will get the message out to many more. Steve held up amazingly well. I took him by the hand when getting off and on public transportation to make sure we didn't lose each other. We got to see some wonderful sites in Athens, London and NYC, but in the end we were all very happy to be home.

This May 21 will mark two years since Steve started taking coconut oil. He had many improvements, some immediate and others more gradual that became obvious over several months or even longer. In many respects he is still doing better than two or even three years ago. None of the physical symptoms or visual disturbance have returned. His has retained many memories of events that have taken place in the last year or longer. He continues to volunteer in the warehouse at the hospital where I work, putting stickers on supplies and moving boxes. He has also gotten his riding lawn mower out recently several times to cut the grass and had no trouble working it. For those who don't know, there are several controls that need to be operated simultaneously to get it running. There is no need to cut grass in our area from November to March, so I was biting my nails wondering whether he would remember how to operate the tractor this year and, alas, he does. On the other hand, we have seen some new problems since the last update. He has had setbacks when he has an illness, with more confusion. This has been most obvious to me when he has a fever blister. I always worry that "this is it," but he manages to bounce back, although not always completely. He has developed a problem in recent months at times with understanding the relationship of where we live to where the rest of his family lives. Usually after I explain this to him, he gets it. I do believe that overall, the use of coconut oil/MCT oil has taken us back in time at least two years and in many respects even longer. I don't know if we will beat it, but we have at least gotten a reprieve from this disease.

A pilot study for Parkinson's disease, using Dr. Veech's ketone ester, will soon begin. since the symptoms of this disease are more consistent from person to person and many are measurable physicla symptoms, he believes they will be able to know within one month if the ketone ester is effective. Clinical trials for Alzheimer's typically last 12-18 months or longer, due to the nature of the disease. We can be hopeful that if the results of the Parkinson's study are positive that more funding will be forthcoming for producing and studying the ketone ester.

Another promising treatment is IVIG (Gammagard and other brands). A pilot study for Gammagard was recently completed showing that there was no worsening of brain scans and there was improved mental function in people with AD over an 18 month period. IVIG has been used for people with immune deficiency for decades. It is pooled antibodies to many different types of infection from 100s of people and is given intravenously usually every two weeks. The company believes that it works by removing beta-amyloid plaque. Another possibility is that it controls a chronic or recurrent infection in the brain, such as the herpes simplex virus type 1 that causes fever blisters - work has been done by Dr. Ruth Itzhaki and others in England showing that this virus is present in the brains, and even within all of the beta-amyloid plaques they have looked at, of people with Alzheimer's who are APOE4+. The virus has also been shown to cause this plaque and also the classic tangles to form. For those who want to screen for the study look at www.clinicaltrials.gov and so a search for Alzheimer's and IVIG. There will be a list of centers who are recruiting now for the IVIG clinical trials.