HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Thank you all for your support this past year. My business continues to grow and the success I have achieved in part belongs to my friends who have been so supportive.

I wish you all the happiest holiday season and continued blessings in the coming year.

HOLIDAYS QUICKLY APPROACHING

Now that the holiday season is knocking on our doors, I would like to remind those of you who will be visiting your aging parents to pay a little extra attention to their situation. For example: Is there mail all over the house that remains unopened?
Is their house not quite as clean as mom used to keep it?
Are there bills that haven't been paid or notices of termination of utility service?

These are signs that things may be getting overwhelming for your aging parents. Don't confront them directly but gently suggest that you may be able to help or you know someone who can help them with day to day money management. Often your parents don't want you to know how confusing things have become for them. It's important, however, that they get some assistance or at least have access to resources for when they do need it.

ALONG LIFE'S PATH can help. Even if they don't want my services (per se), I can direct you or your loved ones to just about every kind of resource available to seniors. I am more than happy to assist in any way I can. I know what it's like to struggle with running your own life and trying to stay up with Mom and Dad's personal business.

What this means for you is that next holiday season you can spend time with your family without the stress and anxiety of worrying about Mom and Dad.

FALL AGING CONFERENCE

The Annual Fall Aging Conference sponsored by the Minneapolis and St. Paul Area Senior Workers Association will be held THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008. It is held at Earle Brown Heritage Center, Brooklyn Center, MN.

This conference is geared to all workers in the senior industry. There will be a large vendor fair as well as interesting speakers. This year's theme is: "THE INVISIBLE ELDER" The cost is $60 for members and $75 for non-members. You can join MASWA at the Conference.

For more information you can link to www.seniorworkers.org and register online.

Scott County Senior Expo

Reminder: The Scott County Senior Expo will be held on Friday, October 17, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the (new)
Shakopee Senior High School.
1000 17th Avenue West
Shakopee, MN

Many vendors, such as myself, will be there with information and resources for our aging parents, spouses and family members. They will be able to answer questions on services available to the senior community. Please stop by the booth for "Savvy Seniors" where we will be handing out the guidebook with a wealth of information.

Door prizes will be awarded at lunch time.

A Shining Star

"Strictly Seniors" a cable TV show on Channel 6 locally, will have me (Barb Grimm) as the guest on an upcoming show. The air date is Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. It also airs on the following Wednesday morning but the time is to be announced.

I hope you will tune in and let me know what you think about my stellar performance. Just kidding.

Roland Minda is the host of the show and his website is www.strictly-seniors. com Feel free to check out the website for other interesting appearances by people in the senior industry.

It's State Fair Time- Financials on a Stick

A very good friend of mine and my best referral partner is hosting seminars at the State Fair this month. Don't miss this opportunity to hear him speak, especially if you are caring for an aging parent locally or from afar.

Just when you thought everything at the State Fair was already on a stick, there’s a new “stick” at the 2008 Minnesota State Fair—financials served, yes, on a stick.

The Ramberg Senior Center is hosting financial information workshops for fair goers. The 15 minute workshops feature Jim Bear, president and founder of J. Alan Financial in Champlin, Minnesota. Jim is a regular columnist for Minnesota’s Good Age magazine.

Jim made financial planning his career choice somewhat accidentally about 21 years ago after a family member was financially hurt based on poor investment advice. Today, “Safe Money” is Jim’s specialty--focusing his efforts to people over 50 years of age and their need for income, safety, and reduced taxes and risk.

You can attend Jim’s workshop on “5 Mistakes IRA Owners Make…and How They May Cost You” by visiting the Ramberg Senior Center booth located on the corner of Judson Avenue and Underwood Street.

Jim will present on Monday, August 25^th and Thursday, August 28^th at 11:20 a.m. and 12:35 p.m.

Get your 5 Mistakes on a Stick by attending one of Jim’s workshops.

Financial Mistakes on a Stick might be the easiest “on a stick” item to keep. It won’t smell bad after a week!

To receive a full copy of Jim’s report on the 5 Mistakes, contact Jim at 763-746-0829 or Jim@SafeMoneyAdvisorMN.com

Website www.SafeMoneyAdvisorMN.com

First Diagnostic Test For Alzheimer's

First Diagnostic Test For Alzheimer's & Parkinson's Disease On The Horizon

ScienceDaily (Apr. 7, 2008) — A new blood test that can give an early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease and distinguish between Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease could be launched this summer, reports Marina Murphy in SCI's Chemistry & Industry magazine.

Manufacturer, Oklahoma-based proteomics company, Power3 Medical Products, said it plans to sell the test, NuroPro, which would be the first diagnostic test for neurodegenerative diseases on the market, in Greece by Q3 with further plans for it to go on the US market by late Q3 or Q4."

"There is currently no diagnostic test for any neurodegenerative disease on the market -- diagnoses are currently based solely on a clinical diagnosis of symptoms," said chief executive, Steve Rash.

Power3 has identified and patented several blood proteins⁽¹⁾ associated with neurodegenerative disease. The test NuroPro measures a suite of 59 protein biomarkers, the relative levels of which, they say, can help distinguish between Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease or tell whether a patient is disease free. The test is highly accurate with a specificity and sensitivity in the high 90s, according to Rash.

Although the test has been welcomed by Kieran Breen, director of research at the Parkinson's Disease Society, as being particularly useful for monitoring the progression of disease and assessing the effectiveness of drugs, he urged caution saying: "While the test seems promising, larger studies need to be conducted before it can be confirmed as being helpful in making a diagnosis."

Susan Sorensen, head of research at the UK Alzheimer's Society said: "There are 700,000 people living with dementia in the UK, 62 per cent have Alzheimer's disease and this will rise to more than a million in less than 20 years. An effective blood test would present those diagnosed and their families with an opportunity to prepare for the impact of this devastating illness and make crucial decisions about their future.

"The method, known as proteomics, involves analysing proteins in the blood although it remains unclear which group of proteins gives the definitive signs of Alzheimer's disease... Some suggest Alzheimer's, for example, is too complex to be identified in this way."

Two clinical validation studies are currently underway at the Cleo Roberts Center of Clinical Research in Arizona, US, and the Research Institute of Thessaly in Greece.

Note: (1) Expert Review of Proteomics 2008, 5(1), 1-8; Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 2006, 342, 1034-1039

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Adapted from materials provided by Society of Chemical Industry, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Here is information about an upcoming NORC Health and Wellness lecture. NORC is a project of Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis funded by grants from the Administration on Aging and the Minnesota Department of Human Services

Free NORC Health and Wellness Lecture

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

2:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Lenox Community Center

6715 Minnetonka Blvd.

St. Louis Park, MN 55426

Money Management for Seniors

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.

Presented by Barbara Grimm, Daily Money Manager and Certified Therapeutic Coach

"Learn techniques to manage your financial information, keep your money in safe places, transfer assets, and find resources to assist you along life's path."

TIPS FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT

SOME WAYS FOR DEALING WITH STRESS:

1 * Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue

2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

4 * Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5 * If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8 * Never buy a car you can't push.

9 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

10 * Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

11 * Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.

13 * When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

15 * You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

16 * Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

17 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

18 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Statins and Memory Loss- Discuss with your doctor

CHOLESTEROL DRUGS CAN CAUSE MEMORY LOSS-Why Statins are Bad for the Brain

by Julian Whitaker, M.D.

A retired professor of business law and computer science who was taking Zocor to lower his cholesterol was diagnosed with rapidly progressing probable Alzheimer’s disease. It got to the point that he had trouble carrying on conversations and recognizing people he’d known for 20 years, and long-term care was looming. After hearing about the association between statins and memory loss, he stopped taking Zocor, and over the next few months his cognitive function returned to normal.

A successful 50-year-old business owner started taking Lipitor in 1998. Within three years he was wracked with pain and weakness, and his memory and concentration were so poor that he was forced to close his business. Although he’s improved somewhat since getting off Lipitor, he continues to have severe cognitive problems.

Seeing split wood scattered all over her porch, strange footprints in the snow, and a plate of partially eaten food in her kitchen, a 69-year-old woman became convinced that someone had broken into her house. The next day, she realized that the footprints were hers—but she had absolutely no memory of what happened. After stroke, blood clots, and other causes were ruled out in the ER a few days later, she was told she had experienced temporary loss of memory, or transient global amnesia (TGA), of unknown origin. She had started taking Lipitor four months before.

A woman reports, “My husband has been on Lipitor for years, and I/we have noticed that more and more his memory and focus have been impaired. We are told that there is no such evidence that Lipitor could cause this. I have watched my husband change from a Harvard Business School graduate who could accomplish more in four hours than most could in four days to someone who has already had a TGA attack and, in the two years since, has become more forgetful, unable to complete tasks, loses track of time...”

Statins’ Second-Most Common Side Effect
These are not isolated incidents. After muscle pain and weakness, cognitive problems are the second-most common side effect of Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Mevacor, and other cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Hundreds of cases of statin-induced memory loss and TGA have been reported to MedWatch, the FDA’s system for filing adverse drug events. And these are just the tip of the iceberg.

That’s because people taking these drugs—more than 12 million in the United States—who develop memory problems are unlikely to put the two together. They aren’t warned sufficiently on drug labels or inserts about this adverse effect, nor do they hear about it in TV, newspaper, and magazine ads. Doctors aren’t telling them about it either, largely because they don’t know about it themselves.

Doctors: Don’t Know, Don’t Tell
Take Lipitor, for example, the best-selling drug in the United States. The Physicians’ Desk Reference includes reasonable mentions of the potential for liver toxicity, muscle aches, and weakness. However, nowhere does it allude to Lipitor’s cognitive side effects other than a one-word mention of “amnesia” in a long list of things purported to have occurred in less than two percent of patients. And in the clinical studies on the drugs—virtually all of which are funded by drug companies—benefits are emphasized while adverse effects are downplayed. To make matters worse, government and cardiology “opinion leaders” are so conflicted by drug money that they ignore the obvious red flags.

Without this awareness, physicians and patients alike are much more likely to attribute declining memory or blackout spells to dementia, stroke, or just old age than to cholesterol-lowering drugs. In fact, if a patient complains about memory problems related to the drugs, the doctor will almost always discount it.

But the word is getting out, thanks to people like former astronaut Duane Graveline, MD, MPH, and researcher Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD.

Lipitor Caused Complete Amnesia
In 1999, Dr. Graveline was put on Lipitor to lower his moderately elevated cholesterol. Six weeks later, his wife found him wandering around their driveway, unable to recognize her, or his surroundings. She managed to get him to his doctor, who was perplexed by this episode of severe memory loss, which passed after a few hours. Dr. Graveline, who was in excellent health, had a hunch that Lipitor was involved because he had just started taking it, and it was the only drug he was on. His doctor disregarded his concerns and, a year later, talked him into getting back on the drug. Sure enough, he had another episode of TGA, this one lasting 12 hours.

Despite his physician’s naysaying, Dr. Graveline was convinced that Lipitor had caused his problems. When he came across the Statin Effects Study, headed by Dr. Golomb of the University of California, San Diego, he was vindicated. Since 2000, Dr. Golomb has been gathering case reports of patients who have had changes in thinking, mood, and behavior while on statin drugs.

I recently interviewed Dr. Golomb on my radio show, and she told me that while physicians might not make the association between memory problems and statin drug use—or take the time to report adverse events—patients trying to get to the bottom of their problems have a vested interest in doing so. So far, she has received more than 4,000 reports of cognitive dysfunction—some of them so severe they were diagnosed as rapidly progressing Alzheimer’s disease.

Once Dr. Graveline made his experience public, he, too, was inundated with reports of statin-related amnesia, forgetfulness, disorientation, and other memory problems. His Web site, spacedoc.net, and message board contain nearly 10,000 accounts of statin damage, plus a plethora of information on the adverse effects of these drugs.

How Statins Harm the Brain
When you really think about it, it’s obvious that these drugs would adversely affect cognition. Your brain contains an abundance of cholesterol, much of it in the myelin sheaths that insulate the neurons and speed up nerve conduction. Recent research reveals that cholesterol is also required for the formation of synapses, the areas between neurons where nerve impulses are transmitted and received. In fact, cholesterol is so important that it is manufactured by the glial cells in the supportive tissues of the brain.

Curbing synthesis of such a crucial compound has an inevitable downside. Suicide and violent behavior have long been linked to very low cholesterol levels. Now, data from the ongoing Framingham Heart Study demonstrates that older people with low total cholesterol (under 200) are much more likely to perform poorly on tests of mental function than those with high cholesterol (over 240).

These drugs harm the brain in other ways as well. As you may know, the enzyme pathway that statins disrupt in order to suppress cholesterol production is also involved in the synthesis of coenzyme Q10, which is required for energy production in the mitochondria of the cells. When you block that enzyme, cholesterol goes down, but so does CoQ10—by as much as 50 percent in some patients!

Low CoQ10 Levels = Bad News
The brain, heart, and skeletal muscles are the body’s most voracious consumers of energy, and it’s only natural that these are the systems most acutely affected by inadequate stores of CoQ10. Deficiencies in this essential compound are known to underlie the muscle problems and heart failure so often linked with statins. It’s high time we recognize that CoQ10 depletion is also a factor in cognitive dysfunction and other neurological consequences of these drugs.

Statins also appear to adversely affect tau, a protein made by brain cells that helps maintain their structure. Abnormal tau proteins promote the formation of the neurofibrillary tangles that appear in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Abnormalities in tau proteins are also linked to other neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease). Among the thousands of patient stories Dr. Graveline has amassed are a disturbing number with these and other serious neurological problems. He, I, and others believe the link with cholesterol-lowering drugs is clear and unequivocal.

More Reasons Not to Take Statins
Besides their serious side effects—cognitive problems, muscle pain and weakness, fatigue, liver damage, and even heart failure—these drugs are just not all that helpful. Yes, they lower cholesterol, but lowering cholesterol should not be an end in itself; rather, it should be a means of reducing risk of heart attack and death from heart disease. In this regard, statins fail miserably.

Not a single study shows that statins are beneficial for women. Not one! The largest randomized clinical trial of statins in women found that those who took Lipitor actually had 10 percent more heart attacks than women taking a placebo. Nor is there any research suggesting that these drugs prevent heart attacks or extend life for anyone over age 70—women or men—including those at high risk of heart disease.

The same goes for younger men who have a high cholesterol level but no other significant risk factors for heart disease—statins just don’t help. In fact, potential cardiovascular benefits are counterbalanced by equivalent increases in death and debility from other causes. Yet millions of low-risk men, older men, and women of all ages take these drugs daily.

The only people ever shown in clinical studies to benefit at all from these drugs are middle-aged men at high risk of heart attack (high risk being defined as having existing coronary artery disease, diabetes, disease of the blood vessels to the brain or extremities, or two or more risk factors, such as hypertension and smoking). But even for this group, there are far safer and more effective ways to lower risk than these very dangerous drugs.

Recommendations:

• If you are taking a cholesterol-lowering statin drug, discuss this information with your physician—or find one who is willing to by visiting acam.org or calling (888) 439-6891. To schedule an appointment at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, call (800) 488-1500 or visit whitakerwellness.com.
• I highly recommend Dr. Graveline’s books, Lipitor, Thief of Memory, available at amazon.com, and Statin Drugs Side Effects, sold at spacedoc.net. To order CDs of my interviews with Dr. Golomb and Dr. Graveline, visit healthytalkradio.com.
• If you or someone you know has had an adverse reaction to a statin drug, report it on statineffects.com and spacedoc.net.
• To learn more about safe, natural therapies for preventing and treating heart disease, read Reversing Heart Disease, available at (800) 810-6655, or visit the Subscriber Center at drwhitaker.com.

References

• Elias PK et al. Serum cholesterol and cognitive performance in the Framingham Heart Study. Psychosom Med. 2005 Jan-Feb;67(1):24–30.
• Golomb BA. Impact of statin adverse events in the elderly. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2005;4(3):389–397.
• Muldoon MF et al. Randomized trial of the effects of simvastatin on cognitive functioning in hypercholesterolemic adults. Am J Med. 2004;117(11):823–829.
• Pfrieger FW. Role of cholesterol in synapse formation and function. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2003 Mar 10;1610(2):271–280.
• Physicians’ Desk Reference, 61st Edition. Montvale, NJ: Thompson PDR; 2007.
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Julian Whitaker, MD, has practiced medicine for more than 30 years, after receiving degrees from Dartmouth College and Emory University. In 1979 he founded the Whitaker Wellness Institute, located in Newport Beach, CA. For more information on the clinic, call (800) 488-1500 or visit www.whitakerwellness.com.

Dr. Julian Whitaker is the author of 13 health books, including Reversing Hypertension, The Memory Solution, Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks, The Pain Relief Breakthrough, Reversing Heart Disease, Reversing Diabetes, and Dr. Whitaker's Guide to Natural Healing.

Dr. Julian Whitaker's Health & Healing¨ (ISSN 1057-9273) is published monthly by Healthy Directions, LLC, 7811 Montrose Road, Potomac, MD 20854-3394, telephone (800) 539-8219, website www.drwhitaker.com.

© Copyright 2007, Healthy Directions, LLC. Photocopying, reproduction, or quotation strictly prohibited without written permission of the publisher. Subscription: $69.99 per year. To learn more about safe, natural therapies for preventing and treating heart disease, read Reversing Heart Disease, available at (800) 810-6655, or visit the Subscriber Center at drwhitaker.com.

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