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Seniors
Brain Based Issues

Stroke - Treatment for strokes has two goals. One is to reduce the amount of damage and loss of function from the stroke that has already happened and the other is to prevent any more strokes from occurring.

Strokes happen when the brain can't get enough oxygen, nerve cells die, and the parts of the brain affected can't work as well. When a stroke happens, the person usually loses function in the areas controlled by both the brain cells that die and an area around them called the penumbra. The penumbra is like the area of swelling and inflammation that happens around other kinds of injuries. Once the brain cells at the center of the stroke die, there is little that can be done about them, but that's not the end of the story. The body has a tremendous ability to compensate or learn new pathways to do the same things it depended on the damaged area for. Using drug-free functional neurology tools, we often see some of the worst losses improve by teaching the brain how to work around the 'broken' areas. By using various technologies we can greatly reduce the penumbra so that all the functions that the penumbra area was responsible come back, often entirely. There are two main reasons for strokes. One is a blockage in the brain's arteries and the other is hemorrhage or bleeding in the brain. Once the cause of the stroke is identified, it is a lot easier to know how to prevent more strokes from happening.

If the stroke resulted from a blockage, then we want to reduce the sources of clotting that caused the blockage. From the realm of clinical nutrition, this includes the use of essential fatty acids including fish oils, antioxidants like Vitamin C, and enzymes like nattokinase that keep blood cells from clumping. These remedies are many times more effective than aspirin without causing the unpleasant and destructive digestive system problems that come from long term use of even half an aspirin a day.

If the strokes come from hemorrhage or leaking from the blood vessels, then the most important concern is to strengthen the arteries, veins, and capillaries so they won't be so fragile. Collagen building compounds from amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and some herbs like those found in Venocap and some of the other cardiovascular products we carry can increase the elasticity and strength of the blood vessels so that they are far less likely to break or leak.

Parkinson's - The tremors, difficulty initiating or terminating intentional physical movements, the decline of social behaviors and expression, physical and intellectual self-control, memory, and general dignity of life can all be tied to the loss of activity of specific, interconnected, and interdependent areas of the brain.

The principal area discussed in Parkinson's literature is part of the midbrain or basal ganglia called the substantia nigra. When the substantia nigra is stimulated, it produces a chemical called l-dopa that gets turned into another neurotransmitter called dopamine. When we move our muscles, we activate part of the brain called the cerebellum which stimulates the substantia nigra to turn l-dopa into dopamine. The substantia nigra in turn stimulates the frontal lobe of the brain which is responsible for so many of the behaviors which are not working properly in Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonian Syndrome.

Depending on how far damage to the substantia nigra has advanced, we can often restore much of its function along with that of the cerebellum which turns it on and of the frontal brain which it activates in turn. Between the use of specific neurotransmitter- building nutrients and carefully chosen and administered physically-based functional neurology therapies such as sensory based therapies, we may be able to restore much of the function which has been lost.

To date, we have not learned how to completely stop the progression of Parkinson's, however our therapies have successfully turned back the clock for some Patients, giving them that many more months and years of functional life to enjoy with their families and friends.

Small Vessel Disease - Often called "senile dementia", Small Vessel Disease occurs when the small and finer vessels which feed the brain become partially clogged with atherosclerotic placque and the brain gets less nutrients and oxygen than it needs.

Typical symptoms include poor judgement and less than rational thought processes leading to bizarre or peculiar behavior, loss of memory, especially short-term memory, which may result in risky behaviors (e.g., forgetting that they turned  the stove on), and decreased physical functions including balance, gait, and reaction time. Add to this an elder's concern over loss of freedoms and one may also observe secretive behavior and denial of the obvious.

While small vessel disease is typically a progressive disorder, it does not have to become debilitating in many cases and can be dramatically slowed down in others.

With the availability of substances like nattokinase which can reduce placquing in the arteries and veins so the brain gets more oxygen-carrying blood, vinpocetine and bacopa monneira which improve the brain's efficiency in using the oxygen which is available, phosphatidylserine and gangliosides which actually reduce the damage to the brain and rebuild its substance, there are many non-drug biochemical tools from the realm of clinical nutrition which can significantly improve elder (and younger) brain functions.

One of the most powerful ways to reduce or prevent small vessel disease is to keep one's brain active with new physical and intellectual challenges throughout life. Like any other part of your body, the more intensively it is used, the more oxygen-rich blood your brain demands. When the symptoms of senile dementia develop, therapies which increase the blood flow to specific brain areas can make a big difference in reducing the emotional, intellectual, and physical symptoms and buying families considerably more quality time with their elders.

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