Hello everyone: Today I want to highlight an excellent newsletter by Dr. Mercola. What makes it so good is that it covers a lot of ground about the early warning signs that alert you to the fact that you, or someone you know, has a brain that is losing health and function. I simply cannot stress how supremely important it is to catch brain decline EARLY on, when it is far easier to slow, stop or reverse. When I work with someone that has brain inflammation, experience has taught me that it is easiest to work with when we can start working on it when it is in the earliest stages. Once it gets more entrenched, it requires a lot more effort on everyone’s part. Read more

Hello again everyone: In a recent article and press release, the American Academy of Neurology now recommends annual cognitive screening for adults 65+ as well as those with any cognitive symptoms. Cognitive symptoms include such things as brain fog, post-concussion issues, and more…especially any early life changes in cognitive function as these changes are known to precede dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. Quality health care must include patients being able to know whether or not they have cognitive problems. Cognitive decline has several gradations: ·        MCI or mild cognitive impairment: this is when only you notice the changes and no one else does. It could be memory changes, changes in recall of procedures or location or why you walked into the room etc. If they are becoming frequent enough that you notice, then get checked. ·        Moderate cognitive impairment ... Read more

Hello again everyone: As you know, I talk about inflammation quite a lot. The reason is that inflammation can cause, aggravate or perpetuate ANY illness, disease or condition. However, it used to be thought that inflammation in the body did not bother the brain because of the blood-brain barrier. Until pretty recently, neuroscientists thought that the brain was ‘privileged’ and not susceptible to negative influences from bodily problems. Well…it turns out that inflammation from chronic illness drives brain degeneration strongly. People with chronic conditions, metabolic disorders (such as being overweight, having blood sugar instability, normal aging, sleep deprivation, stress, not exercising etc.), infections (Lyme, Mono, Herpes, Shingles, etc., and this includes chronic background viral and any other pathogen burden), allergies, gut disturbances, autoimmune conditions, chemical ... Read more

Hello again: Here are two links to papers that reveal that food is essential for brain health, maintenance and the prevention of brain-based disorders. Indeed, the authors state: “Brain diseases, especially during aging, can be due to dietary deficiencies.” This is way too simple and often goes right over our heads. One reason is that it is the long-term consumption of these poor dietary habits that leads to brain malfunction. This means, that the negative effects are unseen until the damage is done many years later. To avoid this catastrophe, it is important to understand that brain health is dependent upon high quality, non-processed, organic foods with as great a variety as possible. Part one: Micronutrients Read more

Hello everyone: Here is some great news about exercise and brain volume. Please recall that any loss of brain volume is NOT a good thing, as it is associated with brain fog, progressing to cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. So some smart folks decided to figure it out for us: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2730790?guestAccessKey=dbc8a200-1cef-4c35-baef-1f985d6db75c&utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert-jamanetwork&utm_content=weekly_highlights&utm_term=050419 Importance: Dementia risk may be attenuated by physical activity (PA); however, the specific activity levels optimal for dementia prevention are unclear. Moreover, most older adults are unable to meet the nationally recommended PA guidelines, set at 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA per week. Conclusions and Relevance: Every additional hour of ... Read more

Hello everyone: This is a pretty astounding paper that reveals how certain B vitamins slowed brain shrinkage and cognitive decline, plus they went even further with great results: https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/110/23/9523.full.pdf “Is it possible to prevent atrophy of key brain regions related to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease (AD)? One approach is to modify nongenetic risk factors, for instance by lowering elevated plasma homocysteine using B vitamins. In an initial, randomized controlled study on elderly subjects with increased dementia risk (mild cognitive impairment according to 2004 Petersen criteria), we showed that high-dose B-vitamin treatment (folic acid 0.8 mg, vitamin B6 20 mg, vitamin B12 0.5 mg) slowed shrinkage of the whole brain volume over 2 y.” If that was not enough, look what else they did!! “Here, we go further by demonstrating that ... Read more

Hello All: Saving our brain is a major focus of my practice, so I was really intrigued by this study that focused on what happens to our cognitive abilities when we watch TV. Most earlier studies focus on the younger age groups, but this study involved older folks. Here is what they found: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39354-4 “Watching television for more than 3.5 hours per day is associated with a dose-response decline in verbal memory over the following six years, independent of confounding variables. …… Overall our results provide preliminary data to suggest that television viewing for more than 3.5 hours per day is related to cognitive decline.” Bottom Line: There are several things we can do to combat this decline. · Reduce your total time and choose to read, or go for a walk, or learn a musical instrument or play music…find something else to do that you ... Read more

What is Functional Neurology? Functional neurology is the practice of neurology without drugs or surgery. Our brain will give off signs and symptoms of dysfunction called either ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ neurologic signs. We assess these signs in our examination by using non-invasive diagnostic tools. By revealing how your brain and nervous system are functioning, we then know what neurologic imbalances are contributing to your condition. This knowledge can then allow us to rehabilitate specific parts of your brain with individualized exercises. Brain rehabilitation strategies offer real hope to those suffering with behavior, mood, movement and other cognitive disorders. Functional Neurology isn’t just for those looking for answers because of symptoms of an apparent neurologic condition. A great many patients are surprised when their exam reveals a lot of neurologic soft signs and that their ... Read more

The three fundamental types of brain conditions. 1. Functional issues 2. Pathological issues 3. Both together 1. When the brain has functional or developmental problems, these conditions have been called by various names such as: Functional Disconnection Syndrome, or Functional Neurologic Disorders to name two. Or neuroscientists may say that the brain has lost functional connectivity, or it lacks temporal coherence, that development has stalled or accelerated in some areas, or the brain is uncoordinated, or desynchronized. In any case, when functionality is impaired it results in soft and hard signs. Examples of functional disorders are things like depression, anxiety, ADHD, learning disorders, memory loss, math problems, problems with focus and/or concentration, irritability, anger control issues, insomnia, balance problems, brain fog and more. For a more comprehensive list see ... Read more