I'm not promoting or recommending anything here, just wanted to share some things I found.

I have added Turmeric and Vinpocetine recently to our mix of brew and I'm considering Bacopa monnieri.

Info just for consideration, open for any comments, info, research or comments you may have.

http://www.raysahelian.com/bacopa.html

http://www.healthiertalk.com/e...-about-turmeric-0998

http://www.healthiertalk.com/s...ure-memory-loss-0338 Vinpocetine

http://www.healthiertalk.com/d...nt-bet-your-life-016

http://www.healthiertalk.com/memory

http://www.raysahelian.com/index.html Supplement use and descriptions

I've used Dr. Sahelian's site a lot as a starting point for learning about herbs and supplements. I've even began using some of the things myself after reading about them on his site.

Curcumin is the extract of the spice turmeric. It's the orange pigment. Warning: It stains anything it gets on. I take it myself 3 times per week to hopefully prevent diseases. It's like eating a curry dinner 3 times a week. I give my mother 500mg 2x per day. We found, as some others have reported, that this dose will bring high blood pressure back to normal. I wouldn't throw away my blood pressure meds and depend on it to lower BP, but that's what happened in my mother's case. Her physician had to take her off the meds. We didn't know why until a physician on one of these message boards reported the same thing.

I can't comment about bacopa.

We tried vinpocetine for a while. Didn't notice any difference. I think it's supposed to help people with vascular dementia.

Thanks swarf, we've been using the Turmeric for a few months now. I did NOT know that it will lower blood pressure. I'm not on any blood pressure meds, but on a med for fluid reduction, Hydrochlorothiazide. I'll try increasing my Turmeric from 500mg once a day to twice and see what happens with my next blood work to see if it has helped with my high blood pressure.

Just the opposite for my mom who has low blood pressure. I have to watch out for things that will lower her blood pressure. She's been passing out now and again. I've been searching for things to raise her blood pressure and increase oxygen in her blood to her brain. Thus, Vinpocetine. We've been taking just one 10mg once a day, but for optimum effect will slowly increase to 10mg three times per day. Also, recently added more B supps and small amount of iron. So far so good since adding these, she hasn't passed out. She seems to be holding steady in other aspects, with a few minor improvements. I know I can't cure this nor expect a reversal, just want her and me to be the best we can.

I've found it interesting that Dr. Ray, suggests only taking supplements for five days with two days off and two weeks off entirely after a few months. I suppose that makes sense so your body won't get the immunity effect (affect) never could keep those two straight.

OK, we'll see what happens.

Oh yeah swarf, how's the broccoli sprouts working for ya. They make us both gasy and smelly. I haven't tried the supplement yet, haven't decided which one to get, but I will.

Hi, Becky. As you probably know, clinical trials on using curcumin to treat AD have been disappointing. Greg Cole told me that they think the curcumin isn't particularly bioavailable. (Either that, or curcumin may be good at preventing/delaying onset, but not at treating AD.)

I just noticed the other day that there's a clinical trial on using a combination of curcumin plus bioperine (to enhance bioavailability) for treating MCI.

http://clinicaltrial.gov/ct2/show/NCT00595582

They're also looking at the combination for treating a couple of other disorders, e.g.:

http://clinicaltrial.gov/ct2/show/NCT00113841

Thanks again JAB, always lots of info and research to study and hopefully make the right decision.

Looks like Turmeric/Curcumin can't hurt when taken in reasonable amounts. May not help my mom but maybe me.

Maybe I missed something. Who is Greg Cole?

How's the Red Yeast Rice working for ya? You must have a really open minded doc that goes along with the alternative meds. I don't, which makes it even more complicated.

Here's the post from Bud S about curcumin lowering blood pressure:

http://alzheimers.infopop.cc/e...?r=44010417#44010417

("Tumeric Extract" is curcumin.)

We're using Source Naturals brand broccoli sprout supplements, 1 per day. I don't know if it is helping. Been doing it for 2 weeks now. What I expect it to do is suppress an H.pylori bacterial infection, if my mother has one. This won't undo any damage that has already been done, so the most we can expect is to stop decline. That's a hard thing to identify.

By the way, the last time I got a cholesterol check, I had them do the H.pylori blood test. It's only about 75% accurate, but it says I'm not infected. From what I've read, the infection tends to go from mother to child.

Greg Cole is "the" person spearheading the research on curcumin for treating AD. Lots of publications on this area, pretty solid scientist, and a nice guy.

I am now up to two RYR pills a day (since Thursday), 1200mg total per day, and no signs of any problems. I may even get brave enough to try it on my husband one of these days.

FYI, I picked a formulation that also contains CoQ10.

(The doc was "open-minded", I think, because he could tell I was going to get violent if he continued trying to force a statin on us. It is not particularly advisable to insist that statins are perfectly safe to someone who ended up in the ER within ten days of starting Crestor.)

I would not like to be on the violent side of JAB, either

quote:

Originally posted by meeko11:
I would not like to be on the violent side of JAB, either

I agree Meeko! I wish I could borrow JAB and send her with my Grandma for her appointment next week. I'll try to channel a little of JAB's oomph while we're at the appointment.