Dr. Bredesen and Functional Medicine Practitioners have divided Dementia into four types:
Inflammation (Hot) – Caused by anything initiating acute inflammation or continuing low chronic inflammation in the brain
Glycotoxic (Lukewarm) –Caused by an imbalance of glucose/insulin usage in the brain
Metabolic/Trophic Losses (Cold)– Caused by imbalances in the hormone systems, nutrient depletion, and/or neurotropic loss (brain breaking down due to normal functioning response)
Toxins/Infections (Vile) –Caused by environmental toxins
How do we modify Alzheimer's?
What we need to do is modify the above identified "triggers" and this is what the goals of the Bredesen's Protocol do:
It's not that Traditional Medicine Practitioners cannot do this, it's that they have to change the way they think about how they do this.
Usually, they want a drug to prescribe but there are no drugs to prescribe; however, they will continue to use useless drugs until one is developed.
A Functional Medicine Practitioner will set up a protocol that takes the identified offender(s) into consideration and influence those offenders
in way that normalizes their effect. We try to bring the body back into a homeostatic balance.
Thus we:
- Identify and Eliminate Inflammation and Infections
- Optimize Glucose Metabolism
- Reteach the body to become Metabolically Flexible
- Rebalance Hormones, Nutrients, and Trophic Factors
- Identify and Eliminate Toxins be they Chemical, Biological or Physical
- Restore and Protect Upregulating Neuronal Synapses
To me, what we really have going on between the Traditional and Functional Physician is predominately a utilization of time vs generation of finances that are limited by either the government or insurance companies.
The Traditional Medicine person wants a drug that they can prescribe within 5 minutes of seeing the patient. It will be simple to use, and all the bad symptoms will go away.
Then on to the next patient.
The Functional Medicine person will use a medication if there is one but will also plan for a harder road to travel that will encompass the "triggers" and neutralize their effect.
That takes time and education of the patient for which insurance doesn't pay for!
This is why many Functional Medicine Practitioners are "out-of-network" and the patient has to pay for the time taken.
It sometimes takes a lifetime walking into a disease, so why do we expect that one drug, or one surgery will cure it?
But also, why won't insurance pay for the time taken to instruct patients properly?
This is just one example of how our medical system is broken.
The physician may set "fees" but what the government or insurances pay physicians is anything but the set fee.
However, this is another blog for another time.
The big question is "since Alzheimer's seems so hard to treat, why not prevent it?
When your thought process is to find the "trigger(s)" and not memorize drugs to use for a diagnosis, you don't need to wait for the patient to develop Alzheimer's before you do anything.
You learn the "trigger", look for the "triggers" and set up protocols to neutralize the "triggers" in order to prevent the eventual diagnosis of Dementia.
We need to get ahead of the diagnosis, but how?........."Find the triggers!"
NEXT ARTICLE: How do we Prevent Alzheimer's? - Part 4
