Brain Degeneration

 "The Chief function of the body is to carry the brain around. " - Thomas Edison

The latest statistic is that 45 million people worldwide are affected by some diagnosed version of a degenerative brain disease. These often include Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington disease, Parkinson's and many others.

The problem with this low number is that these are confirmed diagnosis cases only. This does not include all those cases of brain fog, poor memory, mood swings (non- hormonal), sluggishness, insomnia, etc. These are all common symptoms of brain deregulation occurring.

There are many estimations indicating that the real number of people that suffer from brain degeneration is up to 10 times that number. As you read through this page just make a mental note to yourself how many of these symptoms you may have, however slight they may be.

Our current healthcare system has come a long way in helping us live longer lives. But living longer lives doesn’t always translate into living better lives. Many patients over the age of 50 are not living well due to progressed brain degeneration.

There are many different parts of the brain, and each area is involved with different functions. When there is degeneration in certain areas we develop certain “conditions.”

Below, I will highlight the main areas of the brain and some of the most common signs and symptoms that clients often present with.

Brain Degeneration

  • Poor memory

  • Difficulty hearing background noise

  • Episodes of Tinnitus

  • Abnormal shifts of fatigue throughout the day

  • Ongoing episodes of insomnia

  • Depression

  • Mental sluggishness and laziness

  • Poor muscle control and handwriting

  • Poor social behavior and judgement

  • Poor cognitive function and learning, such as math

  • Poor muscle coordination

  • Difficulty recognizing shapes, colors, motion

  • Hallucinations

  • Visual floaters

  • Image persistence after it is no longer there

  • Perception issues

  • Shakiness at the end of a movement

  • Cannot handle consumption of alcohol

  • Dizziness/ vertigo

  • Car sickness

  • Poor balance

  • Circadian rhythm/ Sleep wake cycle

  • Insomnia

  • Irritability in the AM

  • Crashing in the afternoon

  • Poor energy production

  • Feeling unstable in darkness or with thick shoes on

  • Misjudging where your body is in relation to your environment

  • Unable to recognize objects through touch

  • Difficulty perceiving where your limbs are

 

The Amazing Brain

The brain is an amazing piece of machinery. It literally controls everything in our body. We often hear or talk about how many brain neurons we lose every day when we do certain things. While the number of neurons is important, it is not the sole determining factor of brain health. What is more important than how many neurons you have is how well they communicate with each other. This is often referred to as brain plasticity. In order to maintain brain plasticity, you need to be a scholar, an athlete, or both.

Many times, the biggest issue with brain degeneration is that it happens so slowly as it happens to us, that we often don’t realize what’s occurring. Sometimes, it's too late.

There are many different causes, contributing factors, and symptoms that must be addressed when dealing with the slow killer that is brain degeneration. All of these come back to the basic rule that the brain needs three key things to maintain health and plasticity:

Maintaining proper oxygenation level to the brain isn’t always as easy as it seems. These levels can be affected by many different factors including circulation problems, certain autoimmune diseases, bad lipid levels in the blood, muscle tone, heart health, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, anemia, and many other issues. The point is that the entire body must be considered when looking to address the issue of brain degeneration.

There are many different approaches we can recommend that will help increase oxygenation to the brain. These include increasing circulation, optimizing circulation, increasing oxygen capacity of the blood, and increasing perfusion of oxygen from the blood to the brain.

There is no such thing as brain food. The only “food” that the brain uses is glucose.

That being said, there are certain foods that can act in a beneficial way to increase one or more of these three aspects of brain health. Alzheimers is often referred to as type 3 diabetes. This is because glucose is so important for brain function — it is the only form of energy that the brain uses. As such, the brain is one of the most sensitive organs to glucose dysfunction; and in diabetics, the body does not properly utilize it. There are many reasons why the brain may not be getting enough glucose, but being a diabetic or on your way to being a diabetic is one of the most common causes. In order to optimize proper brain function, we will address glucose metabolism and utilization in every single client that our office sees.

One of the main approaches to dealing with this imbalance is in optimizing diet and supplementation with nutraceuticals that increase glucose utilization as well as insulin production and utilization. There are many routes we can take to improve the function of the brain through proper glucose control.

Brain stimulation is a very broad term. It includes anything from actual stimulation such as reading, learning, or playing a game, to athletic activities.

But just as importantly, it includes stimulation through neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are those little chemicals that allow each neuron to communicate with each other. It is when these transmitters get out of balance that we can experience many of the symptoms of brain degeneration such as anxiety, depression and mood swings.

By looking at each person’s set of symptoms, we can assess what areas of the brain may be degenerating and what neurotransmitter may be out of balance. With this information, we can correctly assess where in the body needs balancing and where you might need support.

With this aspect of the brain, the saying “use it or lose it” is very true.

 Contact us today to schedule an appointment.