Day Seventeen!

I hope your December is filled with a bit of magic and the joyous spirit!

As we enter the holiday season, in many countries, there tends to be a bit of over eating or drinking, sugary sweets and a bit heavier meals. It all sounds fabulous to me! Who doesn't love a good egg nog or hot toddy or hot chocolate? Or, wonderful hearty meals?

Today I would like to review ever so briefly, nutrition and ensuring your loved one with Alzheimer's is having proper nutrients and hydration.

What do we need in life? What do we need to be healthy?

Oxygen

Healthy nervous system

Nutrients and good nutrition.

To name a few...

Being in alignment with our breath, spinal alignment, body systems, balanced diet, nutrients, is so important. With Alzheimer's, there are limitations occurring and depending on the phase or stage of Alzheimer's and or dementia, it is important to understand what your loved one is capable of eating and how medications, nutrition, etcetera, impact health. Everything we ingest is 100% impactful in that it creates a side effect!

Now, that side effect could be on the spectrum of well-being or on the spectrum of a deficit.

A brief overview for adults with Alzheimer's (and all of us). As we age in general, our body is changing, and often drugs and medications move through the body in a different time frame, so psychopharmacological and pharmacological methods impact. What might work with a 40 year old for dosage of a medication might not work the same for someone with Alzheimer's. For example, pain medications might require a different dosage, or the doctor might titrate the dosage, as there might be a shorter span of effectiveness or a longer span depending on multiple conditions and medications and nutrition, etcetera. So, it's important to speak to your physician and understand comprehensively all that is occurring in your loved one's life.

I often ask patients to write down in different sections a more comprehensive diagram for their physician so they can understand visually what is occurring. Review their foods, meds, water, liquids, conditions, sleep habits, movement, over the counter meds, sugar intake, etc. Also, the environment as well. Is the home life stressful? Calm? All these provide comprehensive review.

The other aspect is what we call pharmacodynamics, and that is the effect of drugs or medications on the body and the mechanics. So, often with Alzheimer's, especially effects of drugs, could impact the nervous system or all body symptoms, in a different way, and we need to be very conscientious and present and vigilant with our loved ones understanding for example, when their pain returns or when they're hungry or when you see that they are lacking hydration. Whew (probably could have shortened that sentence. haha).

We have many body systems has respiratory, digestive, muscular, immune, circulatory, endocrine, and nervous system, and as we age and especially with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, we have to be vigilant of the nutrition as well as nutritional deficits that are caused by psycho-pharmaceuticals and other medications.

Many Alzheimer's patients have secondary conditions or multiple conditions such as asthma or COPD or a type of pneumonia, diabetes, or heart disease, which impacts the lungs our respiratory system (among other systems) is directly connected to the nutritional impact as it is important for a balanced diet of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids. These protect the lungs, other organs, and reduce oxidative stress, reducing inflammation.

I won't be able to review all of the bodys' symptoms in this posting however I welcome you to engage in the next webinar on nutrition and psychopharmacology.

The digestive system seems to be a great buzzword these days everybody's talking about your gut and how the gut is the second brain. In some ways it does act in a similar fashion, to a degree. Nutritional deficits, that is not having a balanced meal of fatty acids, carbs, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water, could lead to gastroesophageal reflux disease or cancer or irritable bowel syndrome or lactose intolerance, to name a few, so it's important to find a balanced meal for your loved one in any way possible.

The other system I will take a quick look at is the muscular system and oftentimes with Alzheimer's, there is enhanced falling which can be injurious, bone loss, joint issues, and even further, muscular atrophy. It's important to get vitamin D, magnesium, calcium, Omega threes, as further nutritional deficits can lead to increased delirium, falling, and injury. A lag time in recovery and skeletal muscle breakdown are impacts as well. Blood flow is compromised with dehydration so we want to not only give proper nutrition but we also want to get our loved ones bodies are hydrated, moving, and, no sitting for hours. I invite you to attend a seminar or course that we teach on keeping our loved ones with Alzheimer's strong and flexible. It's one of my favorite courses and it's interactive so it helps you as well.

Lastly and most importantly, is mental health and nutrients. Nutritional deficits can impact one's mental health and well-being. Pain can impact mental health with anxiety and behavioral changes, sleep disturbance, as well as potential depression, especially with folate deficiency. Again multiple medications, alcohol , drug on drug interactions, can also impact.

A few warning signs of nutritional deficits:

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Another area that is quite common with Alzheimer's is something we call "aging anorexia". Now, this is not intentional, this is a side effect, symptom, and is quite serious. If you notice decrease in appetite or inability to digest or nutritional deficiency or gastrointestinal changes or even more immediate cognitive changes, reach out to your physician.

?So in closing, we can begin with a few preventative measures:

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This is just a tiny bit of insight however hope it helps guide you. Reach out if you have any questions and I look forward to connecting.

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Happy holidays!

Dr Holzner

To learn more about our courses, classes, and webinars....?

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