| True preventive health care is nonexistent for | | | | corporations and advocacy organizations continues |
| most Americans. That's because traditional | | | | to fund the same unproductive "plaques and |
| medicine focuses on treatment of symptoms, | | | | tangles" theory as the cause of AD. |
| and that's not prevention. Our health care system | | | | At the same time, credible Alzheimer's research |
| operates like the old barn door - it's left open and | | | | at universities (with the help of government |
| then the farmer tries to figure out why the | | | | funding - not usually the pharmaceutical industry) |
| horses ran off. | | | | clearly shows there is a probable answer to AD |
| Preventive or "alternative" medicine is available, | | | | but more research needs to confirm preliminary |
| but it's not the norm. You have to be informed | | | | findings. Why isn't promising research followed up |
| enough, open minded enough and have enough | | | | by the entities that claim to want prevent or cure |
| money to get it. If you find a traditionally trained | | | | AD?This brings me to a true story. The husband |
| physician who integrates alternative medicine into | | | | of a close friend, Mary, was diagnosed with |
| his or her practice, and still takes your insurance, | | | | Parkinson's disease. In the early stage, he had |
| you are in luck. | | | | some hand tremor but what was most disturbing |
| Most often you will not be in luck because | | | | to Mary was evidence of cognitive decline. A |
| alternative practitioners are usually fed up with | | | | math whiz, her husband now had difficulty with |
| the traditional system. Part of their gripe is dealing | | | | simple arithmetic. |
| with insurance providers who dictate what | | | | The doctor said medication was not yet indicated. |
| medications the insurer will pay for. So doctors | | | | He could offer nothing to help the cognitive |
| stop taking insurance. The result is that patients | | | | problem. Mary asked if I knew anything that |
| seeking alternative medicine must either pay the | | | | might help. |
| entire cost of care or do without. | | | | I had recently seen research that showed |
| Our overburdened health care system is | | | | progression of Parkinson's could be slowed a |
| controlled by the pharmaceutical and insurance | | | | staggering 44 percent by taking 1,200 mg. of |
| industries. The pharmaceutical industry holds the | | | | CoQ10 a day. (Normal daily dose is 50-150 mg). |
| "solution" (prescription drugs) to medical problems. | | | | The Life Extension Foundation protocol for |
| That prescription drugs usually don't cure a | | | | treatment of Parkinson's indicates up to 3,000 mg |
| condition doesn't matter. Drug companies are not | | | | daily. There are no known side effects or |
| interested in finding cures. A cured condition does | | | | contraindications for high doses of CoQ10. |
| not require medication. No profit it that!However, | | | | Mary started her husband on 1,200 mg a day and |
| it is profitable just to manage symptoms (high | | | | about two weeks later bumped up the dose up |
| blood pressure for example) with medication for | | | | to 2,400 mg. |
| years, or until the patient changes lifestyle habits | | | | Within a month, her husband's cognition was |
| or the patient dies. | | | | almost back to normal. Was it luck? Was it a |
| If you think about how long it is taking to find a | | | | "miracle" that would have occurred without the |
| cure for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and other | | | | CoQ10, or was it the CoQ10 that produced the |
| devastating diseases, you must conclude that | | | | benefit? Will the improvement last?Shall we wait |
| something doesn't add up. We are the most | | | | for Alzheimer's advocates or the pharmaceutical |
| technologically and scientifically advanced country | | | | industry to fund adequate trials of CoQ10? We |
| on the planet and it still takes forever to find | | | | should not hold our breath. CoQ10 is not |
| cures. | | | | patentable. |
| Take the amount of time and money spent over | | | | When the traditional health care system fails us all |
| the years to find a cure for cancer. Yes, there | | | | we can do is take personal responsibility and act |
| are cures (which often become relapses), but | | | | on our own behalf to the best of our ability. |
| treatments that poison the entire body in an | | | | Taking personal responsibility includes developing a |
| effort to get at the cancer and usually end up | | | | prevention-oriented mindset - learning how to |
| killing the patient are barbaric. There has to be a | | | | stay well without reliance on a health care system |
| better way. | | | | that talks a lot about prevention but doesn't seem |
| Look how long we have been dallying with | | | | to know how to provide it. |
| Alzheimer's disease. Research money provided by | | | | |