Functional Medicine in Our Mom's Alzheimer's Care: Hearing From Rose

This episode is about adding functional medicine to our mom Rosemary's early onset Alzheimer's care team, and how it's helped support her over the last year.

We start with a quick update on where things stand outside of the medical side — her disability application is still pending after ten months on the Compassionate Allowances list, we're working on getting her back into memory care therapy through insurance, and we've started filling out power of attorney and other estate planning forms now, while she's still able to participate in that process.

Then we get into the main topic: what a year of working with a functional medicine doctor alongside her neurologist has actually looked like. We talk through the diet changes she was given — cutting gluten, dairy, sugar, peanuts, and corn to manage blood sugar and inflammation — the supplements she takes daily, and the adjustments and mistakes that came with managing all of it. We share specific moments that showed us how connected her diet is to her cognition, including a stretch of months where she was unknowingly drinking a protein latte with dairy and sugar in it, and the decline in her word-finding and mental clarity during that time, which reversed within about a week of cutting it out.

We also bring our mom Rose on to share her own experience — what it's been like managing this many dietary changes and supplements for over a year, whether she can tell what's actually helping, and how she's approaching exercise, sleep, and stress a year into her diagnosis.

This episode covers functional medicine for Alzheimer's, early onset Alzheimer's care, Alzheimer's diet and nutrition, blood sugar and cognitive decline, brain health supplements, sleep and amyloid plaque clearance, power of attorney for dementia patients, and Social Security disability for early onset Alzheimer's.

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome to Conversations Through Alzheimer's. I'm Amber Marti and I'm Felicia Wood. We're sisters and daughters of Rosemary Marti, diagnosed with Alzheimer's in June of 2025. We're documenting her journey as it happens and we're sharing every resource we find along the way. This is her story and ours.

Speaker 1 0:22

Thank you so much for joining us today. Um we have been live now for a while, and um we're so thankful for everyone that's been listening. We've gotten so many comments on TikTok, especially, just saying like how relatable it is, and we're so happy that that was the goal of this whole podcast is to make sure that people don't feel alone and know that there are people out there going through the same thing. Um so we just wanted to send a thank you to everyone who's been supporting us so far.

Speaker 2 0:52

Yeah, thank you so much for tuning in and for all of the messages pouring out, supporting us and sharing your own experiences. Um it's definitely comforting. Um, and in that spirit of kind of just trying to continue, um, you know, every every week we have a topic in mind, but we also thought it might be helpful to do just like a little bit of a live check-in to bring other components of our real life experience and some of the things that we're dealing with into each week. So um I'll kick off by asking Amber the question like, How are you doing this week? What are some of the things that have been your on your mind as you um care for mom and and interact with this disease?

Speaker 1 1:31

There's three things that come to mind just in the last few days. Um we had her apply for disability last August for early onset specifically. It's on the uh compassion list for the disability. So um they're supposed to have like an expedited process, and it's been 10 months, and this is considered the expedited process. So I've been trying to follow up with her caseworker and trying to get a status update, and it's just a long process. Um, and then uh the other thing is we've been trying to deal with her insurance of getting her back into the memory care therapy that we've talked about in previous episodes. Um, and then just today I actually called the Alzheimer's Association because one of the biggest pieces of advice that I hear from um from anyone that's gone through this before when I say, like, oh my mom's still in the early stages, is fill out all the forms that you can with her right now. You know, power of attorney, uh, the most form, like anything that's relevant because it gets much, much, much, much harder when they can no longer have the decision-making skills and can sign forms. Um, but just because she has the ability to do that doesn't mean we know where to start. Like we've talked about before, there's no there's no guidebook, there's no checklist. And so I've been, I called the Alzheimer's Association today to see if they can kind of walk me through that process. And they sent me um, they we went through a bunch of the forms, and then they actually also sent me a bunch of resources in um my mom's area too for like care coordinators or elder law attorneys. Um, so just a reminder that they're always a free resource if you don't know where to begin to.

Speaker 2 3:05

Yeah, great. That's awesome. And like that's hard to follow because that's a lot of coordinating.

unknown 3:11

Yeah.

Speaker 4 3:13

Like a partner.

Speaker 2 3:14

One of the things that I've been thinking about, um, you and I were having a conversation earlier today about having my mom start to sign through some of those forms. And I know you're planning a trip out to see her in July, and you thought you suggested to me, like, hey, I'm gonna make her sit down and do that. And I kind of pushed back on you a little bit on that and said, you know, I just don't know if it's realistic that we can get through all of that in one session. Like it's clearly an overwhelming topic for her. And so we kind of were, I was trying to strategize like what is the best approach? Like, do we try like one question a week? Do we work to kind of group the questions into categories like stuff that has to do with a will, stuff that has to do with her, like medical decisions, you know? Um, we didn't land on an answer other than like we've got to try to get ahead of it versus like thinking we can do it all at once. So that's something that's been on my mind. And I think the other thing that's just been on my mind is um so the this week in in real time, our episode around the the week that changed everything, right? Like mom's get um that week that pre-diagnosis that we really knew something was wrong. And as I was reflecting back on that week and this time of year, where like we're we're almost to that year anniversary of her actually having the diagnosis, I just had been thinking about everything that's changed in the last year, like contrasting her her symptoms pre-diagnosis to like how she's been post-diagnosis, wondering about some of the things that maybe have seen like improvements, some of the ways that we've been able to tell, like maybe she's doing good, maybe there's some decline in certain areas. I don't know, all of that's just been kind of heavy on my mind today. And fortunately, that is a good segue in today to today's um topic because last week um on the podcast, we talked specifically about different kinds of ways to build out your care team, specifically, like how do you interact with your neurologists? How do you use your PCP? How do you, what else is available to you? And one of the things that was really important to me um regarding our mom's uh medical care specifically was getting her with a functional medicine doctor. Um, and I didn't really like know if it was gonna be something we would do long term. I just felt like it was something I wanted to try right out of the um gate after the official diagnosis to see what we could learn and see how it would go. And I feel like we learned a lot from that process. So we're gonna go into some of the um some of what we experienced through that process, and then we're actually gonna call mom in and um talk to her about what it's been like for her. Um, so I guess, Amber, like to begin with, I'm actually curious what was your thought when I had suggested we get her with a functional medicine doctor? Like, did you feel like that was something that was gonna be helpful? Were you open to it? And what did it take to potentially make you come around to it? Or I guess how do you feel about it now?

Speaker 1 6:21

Well, I think I was in the mindset of we'll do anything to to you know prolong her life. Like the day after, I think it was the day she got diagnosed, I was looking at clinical research studies and seeing what we can do. So, like of I was of course open to anything, and I know that like your family has has looked into it and it's helped and and everything, like, and um it can't it can't hurt, you know, eating better and sleeping and all that stuff can never hurt, which we'll go, we'll go into. Yeah. Um but um I think it's really it's it's interesting because like I didn't have any expectations. I didn't I honestly felt very like neutral about it because I didn't have any expectations going into it, but I'll just say like when I visited her in Denver in August, or no, it was May of 2025. Um I she was telling me a story about how, or maybe dad was, about how she went to the gas station. You know, you can put in your phone number to get like you know three cents off at King Supers. And um, and she got to the gas station and she didn't know her phone number, so she just went home. And dad said, Why didn't you fill up the gas? And she said, Well, I didn't know my I I don't know the phone number. And he said, You still could have gotten gas just without the discount, and it didn't even occur to her, like, oh, I could have done that because Alzheimer's. Um, you know, this was a a month before the diagnosis, so she obviously was eating, you know, high sugar, high carbs, what whatever she wanted. She was just living her her her the life that she had lived prior, yeah. Exactly. Um, not thinking there was any correlation. Um, and and but she had the point of the story is she had no idea what her phone number was, the one that she's that we've used forever for yes 40 years.

Speaker 2 8:03

Landline, right?

Speaker 1 8:04

Yes, landline phone number. Um, it's not like a new phone number she got a couple years ago. And then when I was with her in May, I was helping her fill out some forms and I asked her for her social security number, and she had no idea, you know, something you've known forever.

Speaker 2 8:19

Which so I think for us was another clue that there was something really wrong because mom is the kind of person that like could recall our social security numbers off the top of her head. Like, she grew up in a period where like everybody memorized phone numbers, so like the idea of her not having that ready to go, also not even thinking like of where that information could be stored, you know, just things like that um show how kind of I guess I mean severe is not the totally the right word, but I guess in terms of like it was that something was wrong. Exactly.

Speaker 1 8:56

Um so all that to say, we it was July when I think she saw her functional medicine doctor for her first appointment, and she recommended a handful of supplements that she starts on. She also recommended um cutting out peanuts, corn, gluten, dairy, sugar, I think are the major things. Um and she didn't say like you could never have these, but she's like you can have a cookie every once in a blue moon, you know, it's a treat, whatever. Um, my mom, just like a lot of people, it's it's much easier to just be black and white though. So like she really, really never knowingly has it. Um well, I'll I'll say this.

Speaker 2 9:35

So, like, first of all, I I don't want anyone to think a functional medicine doctor's only job is to tell you nutrition, right? Like there are other things that the functional medicine doctor looked at holistically, medically, which we'll get more into. But to your point, one of the suggestions was targeting metabolic support and nutrition, and specifically using nutrition as a way to control blood sugar and inflammation, right? So there, those are like the root causes of why the changes, right? It's not just like uh, I feel like it's very easy to be like, oh, well, somebody told me I should go gluten-free, and then I did, and you know, that's not the case here, right? Like there's there's a reason behind it. Um, but but along with that, it was very interesting and actually really complex for us with mom. And I think it's important to share this context because mom, for years prior to this, would work with her chiropractor on like a cleanse that she would do like once a year or so, specifically um to help with some arthritis and things like that. And so, right at the time that mom got her diagnosis with Alzheimer's, she decided to do this cleanse. And so then when um her doctor had made these recommendations for like specific ways she had to eat, poor mom was getting all of the list of like what she could or couldn't eat completely confused because her cleanse had like very strict things like you can't eat meat for the first 10 days, you can't have coffee, you can't have you know, XYZ, there's there was a very different kind of protocol. And so since then, mom has just from from my perspective, mom has been very black and white about it. And I think some of that people like to do just to keep the momentum going. I feel like hers, I mean, I'm not here to like try to like, I don't know, get into her like psyche or anything, but it almost has seemed like something that she's fixated on because she's like, if I do this, maybe my Alzheimer's will go away. Like she's really she kind of held on to it as a way to feel like she had control over what was happening to her. And we've really had to work with her in the past year around like what how can you think about it differently? How can you manage this differently? If you want to have a cookie, you can. If we're together, we'll say, you know, let's still get a treat or let's try to just to try to kind of lower this idea that she has to be perfect and she can never enjoy chocolate ever again, right? Like we're we're trying to get her out of that thinking. Um, and then I'll I want to get back to your part of the story, but I just wanted I just remembered something that if you don't mind me sharing this. Um, if we fast forward to our her trip here in September, she had been very good with her her eating, like very we'll just call it strict. Like she had been keeping off the dairy, keeping off the gluten, keeping off the sugar, especially. And we decided to go over to Vermont and like get a um treat from like a cider mill, because it was, you know, we had, and I think she had like a bite or two, like it she didn't even like overindulge, and it was crazy the difference in that hour or two that followed. Like she immediately said she her brain was f uh foggy and kind of fuzzy, her words were coming out like a little bit more slurred and blurred. Like it was really almost validating to be like, wow, okay, maybe there really is an actual difference when you have that junk out of your system in terms of how you're you're functioning cognitively. And for her, I think because of her Alzheimer's, her brain is even way more sensitive to any kind of um of those inputs. So let me let me pause there and hand it back to you for for where you were going with that part of the story.

Speaker 1 13:37

Yeah, so all that to say is it'd been about a month since she had uh taken on this protocol, and um I was back in back in Colorado visiting them, and I asked her again for her social security number for something, knowing, thinking that we'd probably have to look it up or something. But she just retited it immediately. When two months ago she had no idea, and like that was I was like, wow, like it's crazy, like the difference. Like that is like a big difference, and like that that's what I tell my dad, because my dad is the thing is the biggest not skeptic even now, but like he doesn't have like any of those examples like we do have seen, like, oh she I I saw her eat this donut, and and now she's having this. Like, so he's just like, well, like I don't know if there's a difference, and um, he doesn't appreciate it, like I feel like he doesn't slow down to really appreciate the differences. Um, but like I that's the example I always tell him. And the other thing, kind of similar to your other story, is my mom, just like everybody, I uh like most people use food as like a dopamine source. And so when you say no sugar, no carbs, no anything, like that's that's sad because like you know, you want to go to Starbucks and get your frappuccino or whatever. And so my mom thought she found a loophole. Um, because like the other part of this is um, you know, getting it's basically very like low everything low inflammation and high protein is kind of the goal.

Speaker 2 14:59

Yeah, um for your muscles, yeah, lower your blood sugar, lower inflammation, and really support your your body health and strength.

Speaker 1 15:06

Yeah, and so she was getting, I forget what it was, but some type of latte. We didn't know what it was. She just said, Oh, I'm going to get my drink, but it's a high protein latte. Protein, yeah, protein cold foam. And and you know, when we went to Disney World in January January, I remember her ordering this and she said no dairy. Um, and so uh we were thinking like it was fine. Um it was like a no dairy cold foam. And then we noticed, like, I don't remember, like this is like, I don't know, three months ago, maybe. She was just like, you know, nothing in particular is wrong. We just like noticed like like a lot of word finding issues and and kind of spacey and stuff, and we were like, we, you know, it's hard to fuzzy. Like that's the best word for it. It's just fuzzy, like off. Yeah. Compared to, you know, like ever anybody who has somebody who they love, um, has Alzheimer's knows like some days they wake up and they're perfectly fine, and other days you could just tell it's gonna be an off day, and that's what it was like. It was like every day was more of an off day. And then me and my mom were talking about her drink, and then I was like, Wait, what didn't you say? It's a latte, and I was like, Mom, you know what a latte is, right? And she was like, No, and I was like, It's milk. And so, and we looked up like the protein cold foam and it has sugar in it. So she'd have this like three or four times a week for two months at this point, and she was beating herself up, which we did not want. Like, that's not the point. Like, we just wanted to like, and if you if you want that as a treat every once in a while, have it. That's great. If it makes you happy and that's that's it, that's fine. But she was like, No, I want to cut it out. I want to be, I want to be doing what I should be doing. And so she cut it out, and within a week, she was back to yeah, back to it, back to back to her like more sharp.

Speaker 2 16:41

Yeah, and it's so funny because honestly, I think we take for granted um or granted some of the examples and the latte, not knowing what a latte is a great example because I worked at Starbucks for like five, six years of my life. Like, she definitely once knew what a latte was. Like that was she absolutely used to know. But to your point, like, and and those are the things I think that are really hard for us from far away, right? Like, we don't want to be, we had to really figure out this balance between our worry about what she was eating and trying to keep her clean with it, and then like how it was going at home because you know, dad's there every single day, and his attitude about it has is completely different. He doesn't give a hoot if she's following any of this, like he literally doesn't care. He can eat whatever she wants whenever she wants to. He's not making her meals, he's not helping her find the list, grocery stores, he'll of course he'll take her out to dinner and you know help her get a steak, but he's not like you know, help helping like truly support the um integrity of it, like really following it, getting creative, right? Reminding her, like, hey, you know, we can have you know taco bowls or we could have this. Like, he's not doing any of that to to help support her. And so she's kind of been more on her own with it. And especially at the beginning, I think it was really driving you and I crazy. Like, we would be like, Mom, what kind of protein bar is that? And like the protein bars are like the the worst part because um, like as a person who's been overweight and is like trying to focus on my own health and like eating low carb and worrying about insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity. Um, I'm very aware of like how many carbs are in like a protein bar, even if it's gluten-free and dairy-free and like organic and all of those things, right? It could still have 50 carbs in a little bar. And so mom would be like, Oh, I haven't really eaten all day, but I have this bar that I love. I found these bars, and then I'd say, like, mom, like the again, you the components of it can be fine, but if you're really trying to control your blood sugar, that's not the best choice. And so at the beginning, I think she started to feel kind of defensive and almost even kind of try to hide some of the stuff that she was eating from us because she didn't want to feel criticized or or worried about it. And so we had to really, I would say, like, back off kind of and just start to ask less questions, kind of, and I don't know, maybe surrender is the right word and just say, like, she's gonna eat whatever she's gonna eat, and we don't really have control over that.

Speaker 1 19:33

Well, I think with Alzheimer's, they don't, and this won't be true for every single person, like, but at least with my mom, we've noticed she she loses the ability to um like she can't go to a grocery store now and like look at the ingredients, like think through like what can I have? What's this? Like, like it's just not there anymore. And so I think what happened in in Disney's, because this was right around when we were going to Disney, um, you found a protein bar that is low in sugar, that is like does me all the qualifications, and we brought those to Disney World, and she loves those now. And so I think just ke giving something that she can have that she likes, um, same thing like the protein drinks and stuff. Uh so once we gave her those, like she still has those, you know, it's been six months since then. She's she's been better on that. Um, but I don't think she has the ability to go find something on her own now. Yeah.

Speaker 2 20:26

Because all she's worried about is, oh, this says no sugar, or this says Right. That well, she can't keep it all in her brain, you know. We we've tried so many things when it comes to supporting her with this, because well, and you you're you might be wondering, like, why are we talking so much about the nutrition when it comes to the functional medicine? But truly, I would say that is the one pillar of consistency in in terms of managing um a pillar of brain health that she's been really committed to and really feels like she can do. Um, but to your point, how she shows up on that and like what she's able to commit to her own like cognitive self of that is is more limited. And so we've tried different things. Like, I I actually went through a bunch of like the restaurants that she really likes or can order from, and like went through their menu and created like a little cheat sheet. Well, turns out that cheat sheet is not easy for her to remember to use, and so like you have it on hand. So if you're talking to her and she's getting you know she's about ready to go into that place, you can't you kind of help remind her. Nice and yeah, or like if you're talking about like what you're having for dinner and she's like, Oh, that sounds good, you'll be like, you know, mom, you can have this too. And I think that's a really important way that we can help her from afar, just trying to give her more ideas and inspiration um as they go through it.

Speaker 1 21:49

Yeah. So that's kind of the nutrition piece. The other, the biggest other piece has been the supplements, if we want to go into that topic. Yeah. Pain point for us on this journey.

Speaker 2 22:02

Well, and I'll I'll say this before we get into the topics. You know, you you just shared with you some examples about how well it's gone, like post-diagnosis, cleaning up her diet, getting on these supplements. There were also two other prescription medications that she got onto that had to do with supporting memory as well. And so we'll never know a hundred percent like what factors have gone into some of the improvements that we've seen. We don't know if it's only the prescription medications or only the supplements or only the diet change. We don't know, and we don't really care because we want to do everything we can to help her live as long of a life as she can. So we're not really interested in finding the single source of why it's been so good. All we know is we're trying to throw everything we can to try to you know plug the holes, so to speak, in in supporting her brain. Plug the holes in the roof that's leaking. That sort of analogy is what I was thinking. So um, yes, there are many supplements that she's on.

Speaker 1 23:05

Mom keeps trying to call me and I just don't want her to get worried. Sounds good. Hello, I missed your call.

Speaker 4 23:18

Yeah, I'm dead.

Speaker 1 23:20

Okay. Well, we're gonna wrap up our thing and then we'll um call you in to do it. So like five minutes.

Speaker 4 23:28

Okay.

Speaker 1 23:30

Okay. Okay, it's still recording if you want to continue on. Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:37

Um plug the holes in the roof, so to speak. Um so I think that when it comes to the supplements, it's been really interesting because she's on a wide range of supplements. We have morning supplements and night supplements. We have uh some additional um medications like support for hormone health that the functional medicine doctor has looked at too. Can you hear Oliver?

Speaker 1 24:04

Oh yeah, now I can.

Speaker 2 24:06

That's Dave, not Oliver. No, he's going like, woo! Like he's gonna have to do it then.

Speaker 1 24:16

Um if it comes on, it's gonna take a little while for mom to hop on here too, it's hopefully.

Speaker 2 24:26

Let me finish this. I just want to be able to finish this last. I'm gonna go back to the whole holes and everything.

Speaker 3 24:31

Hello! I'm recording a podcast.

Speaker 2 24:40

Okay. Um, the worst part is like it it affects your like you're on a trying to get on a roll. Um sound thing here. Log holes in the roof, so to speak. Um so when it comes to her supplements, there are a lot of different kinds of um supplements like vitamins and um nutritional type things, like I think there was like a garlic extract at one point, and and and just different things like that that all have different parts to support either the cognitive health, the brain health, the stress response, things like that. Um, there's also things that the functional medicine doctor wanted to zero in on regarding like hormone health as well, or like um inflammation pieces that have to do with her sinuses and like her like allergy symptoms and things like that. She's trying to manage as much of that as possible. And then another big piece are things like creatine to help make sure she has energy and can can build muscle and do those kind of things. So the supplements have been an ongoing saga because, as anybody who knows who's dealt with them, they can be very pricey, um, especially good supplements like a good quality fish oil. Um, it can be pretty pricey, things like that. So we've it's been an investment to get her um suited with all of that. And then the other part of the challenge is like making sure that the person, like my mom, doesn't get pill fatigue, right? When you're taking that many pills every single day, it's very easy to get completely fatigued from taking so many pills. I don't know how she does it, but so far it's been almost a year and she has not complained. Like she has been um completely committed to it. Now, we've had a few mix-ups along the way. We found out later down the road, like, oh, there was a week where you know fish oil didn't make it into her pillbox or or whatnot. But overall, she's been on um a quite a robust mix of supplements that have all been uh recommended by her physician based on what's going on for her and and what's going on with her like cognitive health, metabolic health, stress responses, and everything. And one of the things I really like about working with our functional medicine doctors is that she is taking consistent blood work before anytime she meets with her, not just the standard blood work, but a panel that looks for at a whole range of things to get a really good idea of are the supplements working and supporting everything that she um is looking to do from like a mitochondrial level or from like a very root cause level. So um, I mean that's the the high-level spiel. Is there anything that you would add about the supplements and the saga of the supplements?

Speaker 1 27:24

Well, I would just say like if this is something that like you as a caretaker and your loved one choose to do, just know like it can be challenging, like putting it together every week, and we had to buy like an extra, extra large pill box and um all this stuff. Like we've had many convers, like like Felicia has like a whole uh you know, Word document with the picture of the pill and how many and all this, and they just go line by line, and it's and it also includes why she's taking it because I think that's a really important part of like keeping up that motivation.

Speaker 2 28:01

Like, why am I even doing all of this? You can have highs and lows, and when you're low and you want to kind of give up, it's a really good reminder of why.

Speaker 1 28:09

Yeah. Well, with that being said, let's call mom in and get her perspective on everything and and see how she's been feeling over the last year doing this.

unknown 28:18

Sounds crazy.

Speaker 2 28:18

Hi, mom. Hi, girls.

Speaker 1 28:23

Thanks for joining us, mom. Um, so we've already given our listeners kind of a brief overview on functional medicine. Last week we went over like, you know, neurologists, what neurologists can help with versus you know what um functional medicine doctors can help with. And before this, we were talking about all the diet changes you've had to do over the last year and the supplements you're on. So we just wanted to ask you your perspective on some of these things. And um, I guess my first question is like, how have you felt over all the last year? Like, not just like health-wise, but like how have you felt the functional medicine piece has been working since you started with the with a functional medicine doctor well um so before the diagnosis and whatnot, um, because I couldn't get in to see a uh neurologist, um we Felicia um told me about a functional doctor here near where I live, and um sh she's she's been great.

Speaker 3 29:33

Um there's a lot of supplements that I take, and um even though that's it's it's a lot, it's really helped me.

Speaker 2 29:44

And yeah. What did you think when you first were told how many supplements you were gonna have to take? What went through your mind?

Speaker 3 29:53

I thought, oh my god. And even now, over what a year, a little a little over a year, is as you know, your dad has to help me because it's just overwhelming.

Speaker 2 30:11

Yeah, mom actually, um, sorry, Amber, I know you had a question, but I just wanted to ask mom. Mom, when you first had to start, you know, getting your pills sorted out and having dad help you, was that hard for you? Tell us a little bit about what that was like in the beginning.

Speaker 3 30:31

It was really hard because I don't like the people to help me. Okay, you know, and pretty independent, and and then you know, he doesn't like to be told what to do either. Why are you doing that?

Speaker 1 30:44

And you just have different ways of doing things, so now that you're so I can tell you from from the start of that to now, I just keep my mouth shut.

Speaker 2 31:00

Has he ever messed up? Has he ever messed up?

Speaker 3 31:08

Uh yeah, he has not been ordering some supplements. Like he should have.

Speaker 2 31:18

Yeah. Well, is it his job to order them or like whose job is it? It's his job.

Speaker 3 31:27

Yeah, and also we have the helper Amber.

Speaker 1 31:33

We're all helpers. Flacia has to update the chart. I have to order, like, so what will happen is like if mom like mom texted me last night and says, like, oh, I'm out of estrogen, by the way. So like then I go in the pharmacy the the that she orders it from and request it, and it's it's a whole it takes a village. Yeah I'll tell you that. It does. Um, yes, indeed. Well, um, mom, what is the has there ever been a time, like I know it has been really hard. Is there ever been a time where you think like this is too hard, I don't want to do this anymore, I don't want to do the putt supplements, I don't want to do the food.

Speaker 3 32:10

Well, I actually was thinking about that this morning before I got up, because you know, it's like oh I gotta take my pills, and and I think after this long, it's just like it's just the way it is. You you just accept it and you just do it even whether you like it or not. But if I have to get one more pill.

Speaker 1 32:33

Um do you feel like it's helping you? Like do you feel like there was a noticeable difference at all? Can you think of anything?

Speaker 3 32:41

Well, uh I wish I could tell you I wish I knew what ones are really helping, but I can't because I take them all at one time. Not at one time, but in a matter of twenty twenty minutes. Yeah.

Speaker 2 32:59

You take them consistently every day, so you can't pinpoint which one maybe.

Speaker 3 33:03

Yeah, I mean I we we can read on the bottles and stuff, but uh uh yeah. It's all good.

Speaker 1 33:10

Well, mom, you were telling me the other day about your neighbor who stopped doing was so excited that you're planting zinnias again.

unknown 33:17

Yeah.

Speaker 1 33:17

Do you want to tell that story to everyone?

Speaker 3 33:20

Well, um I was we always plant have planted zinnias out to the west and they get some good snow sunshine there. And so anyway, uh last year we we didn't get have any there, and so um a lady that lives in the neighborhood stopped and asked me, you know, if I was doing the zinnias this this um year, and yeah, that was pretty interesting. And why didn't you do it last year? Because it was too hot or something, I don't know what happened. Dad planted them, not me. Well dad's the planter, I'm just the waterer.

Speaker 2 34:12

That's not true. That is not true at all. You are the person who wanted to plant the zinnias, you are the person who does plant them and waters them. No, but last year you didn't want to. Oh.

Speaker 1 34:31

Yeah, you were just telling me the other day that you think um it was your Alzheimer's, that you just you just didn't think about it, or it just didn't cross your mind. And so that's kind of why I bring it up in this episode, because you're we were talking about like how the function the functional medicine, you know, everything that you've you've done within those the brain health pillars has gotten you kind of back to where you were of wanting to plant flowers again and and having some some initiative. And yeah, initiative there. And you're like, we are so you're so happy that you've been doing that. Does that ring a bell?

Speaker 3 35:04

Yeah, that that that makes sense.

Speaker 2 35:07

Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's um it's interesting because I always I also can think about Christmas. Um, you know, the last few years for a variety of reasons, it seemed like you kind of lost your desire to really celebrate Christmas. You've kind of been like bah humbug, I want stuff minimized, I don't want to put up a Christmas tree and stuff, but it seemed like this Christmas you got a little bit more pep in your step again when you were, you know, going through the Christmas stuff. You guys did the Christmas tree earlier than normal. You seemed a little bit more into it this year. I wonder if that has to do with the same thing. Probably.

Speaker 1 35:50

Yeah. Yeah. So do you feel like you can still go to restaurants and have a good time? Um, or do you feel limited?

Speaker 3 36:04

No, I can go to a restaurant, but there's only a couple of them that I a couple of them I like.

Speaker 1 36:12

Yeah. And so do you ever feel like you don't know what to have there? And like what goes through your brain um when you go to a do a restaurant?

Speaker 3 36:23

What happens when I go to a a restaurant? Yeah. I well, it's fine. I can I can um I can still read mostly. But um I can converse with the not the stewardess, but the people that takes your order.

Speaker 1 36:52

Yeah. I more mean like when you go to like Kava, for example, like do you just know what you're gonna get, or do you have to call me? Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 36:59

Um yeah, I call you, Amber, and say, what can I have? Because with a functional uh doctor, it's well not a diet, but it's just it's kind of a diet. No, it's not a diet.

Speaker 2 37:18

Well, it is, because a diet just means what you choose to eat.

Speaker 3 37:23

Right. So um anyway, there's some things I can eat and some things I can't. I won't.

Speaker 2 37:33

Is there anything that um you've noticed when you like choose to cheat or have something kind of fun? Like, do you notice any physical symptoms afterwards of how you like how you feel or don't like how you feel?

Speaker 3 37:47

Um I um I didn't sense any of that, but I don't cheat very much.

Speaker 2 37:57

What about when you were um accidentally doing those Starbucks drinks?

Speaker 3 38:04

Oh, yeah. That was not good. Um was it not good? I think looking back that I think some of my memory stuff was kind of more different. Do you would you agree?

Speaker 2 38:22

Yeah, I think we kind of felt like you were a little bit off, like we could just sense that you're having maybe more bad days than good days, felt a little bit more fuzzy, or things seemed a little bit more stressful, or harder time finding words. That was a little bit more common during those weeks. But it's probably hard for you to really feel it when you're in it.

Speaker 1 38:48

I just remember, mom, when you when you stopped those drinks, even uh like you know, within a week, you were like, I can't believe what a difference I'm feeling. You may not remember that now, but you were telling me, like, I I am I feel so much better, like it's just crazy, like what that drink did to me. I didn't even know.

Speaker 3 39:05

Right.

Speaker 1 39:07

Yikes. No more. So, mom, you know, you you've been having basically the same meals every day for like the same five meals every day for a year. And the other day we were talking, I was talking about how I um were was making like tacos or burritos, you know, man. I wish I could have those again. And I was like, well, you can, you know, you can't have like flour tortilla, but you know, there's the siete brand of the almond flour um tortillas, and so you went and bought that and stuff and made burritos for the first time. Um, how was that? Did it was it good?

Speaker 3 39:40

It it was good, it was different. Yeah. I mean, it but yeah, it filled me up and uh it's easy to make. Very easy.

Speaker 1 39:52

Good to have variety. Yeah. It's like that's the hardest part in the last year is not being able to have variety of of a lot of foods.

Speaker 3 40:04

Right. I didn't I just don't really have the um to cook a lot of food.

Speaker 2 40:14

It's hard. But you still uh grill, right?

Speaker 3 40:20

Well, I haven't dad uh he grills. Okay, nice. I mean I could. I could. I just don't want to.

Speaker 1 40:31

But tonight you made hamburger. Uh-huh. And did you like that siete taco seasoning? Was that easy to just throw that in there? Measuring out, you know, paprika and salt and pepper. Yeah. Exactly.

Speaker 2 40:46

Uh-huh. Mom, do you have anything that you feel like maybe a doctor has recommended to you for part of your overall health that you feel like you haven't really been able to get to or that is a little bit too hard to do? Hmm. Maybe I give you some examples and you can think of some. So some of the things that um the doctors have recommended are things like, you know, keep your inflammation down, get good sleep at night, get ex do exercise, um, keep your stress down, those kind of things. Like, do you feel like you've been adequately able to do all of those?

Speaker 3 41:34

Um well uh I probably should in each of those categories I should probably do more. But um, I do take the dog for a walk. So, you know, and I I do um I don't know. I I I think I can do more.

Speaker 1 41:59

I think um me and Felicia were talking earlier. I think you do get good sleep, like you do sleep for a long time, but I also know that Bella wakes you up multiple times throughout the night to go to the bathroom. So that's probably not very good for you.

Speaker 3 42:15

Yeah. She's lately she's only doing it a couple times a night. Yeah. But and she comes right back in.

Speaker 1 42:24

And I know um, you know, we've we've discussed before, like with the exercising, walking your dog is is wonderful. Don't stop that. But um, you know, I think when doctors recommend exercising, they're talking about getting your heart rate up to almost its max for like 20 or 30 minutes. Like maybe that's something that we've talked about, like maybe going to the gym and trying to get you on an incline walking at an incline to get your heart rate up, or walking in the hills in your neighborhood, or something like that.

Speaker 2 42:51

Um or uh doing a Zumba class. I think somebody asked you to go try Zumba with them.

Speaker 3 42:56

Oh yeah, I think so too.

Speaker 2 42:59

Do you really?

Speaker 3 43:01

I think I should get back with that person.

Speaker 1 43:04

Yeah, probably. So those are some examples of of that. Um like stress, how do you feel like your stress level has been?

Speaker 3 43:16

Um good. I think that um I think over the months I've just like, you know, I can only control certain things. I can't control other people.

Speaker 1 43:34

I think I've noticed your stress level be down when you don't have as many appointments. Like when we had a lot of appointments back to back, you were more stressed out, but now that things have kind of like calmed down totally and a little bit better.

Speaker 4 43:47

Yeah.

Speaker 2 43:49

Well, I have to say, Mom, I think you've done an amazing job, you know. I think getting a diagnosis like this is it's not only stressful, it comes with a Ton of baggage and grief and complex emotions, and and then on top of it, you have to modify how you're eating and worry about all of these different things. You know, like you've just been amazingly courageous and tough, and you've done an amazing job, and I hope that you give yourself all the credit. Thanks. You're welcome. Is there anything else that you would want people to know about either functional working with a functional doctor or just approaching something like this?

Speaker 3 44:42

Well, I just want to say that a few people that I know will say to me, Oh, those functional therapists or doctors don't work. And you know, I I they do work. Yeah.

Speaker 2 45:05

I mean, not everybody is the same thing, but um, I I definitely think people hear the word functional doctor and they have no idea what that means. They think of it as like a naturopath or you know, somebody who's just a nutritionist, or they I mean, I don't even know what they think of in their their minds. They just have an idea of what it is. But if you um look up the definition of a functional medicine doctor, you find out that they're a complete doctor that's gone through all the same medical training as anyone else. And it's really their approach to medicine that's different, right? Because they're more concerned with the root cause. And um, I think you are definitely proof that when you look at somebody's entire system and you really figure out what's going on for them, um, that they there can there's things you can do that can make you feel better as much as you can. But it's not a an overnight miracle, is it? No. You all wish that could be the case.

Speaker 3 46:14

Well, and it it will never be a miracle.

Speaker 2 46:20

You know, that's true. And I think that's something that you know you've had to have hard conversations with your doctors about. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing your experience with us and with the people listening in. Welcome. Thank you.

Speaker 3 46:44

Bye-bye.

Speaker 2 46:47

It's always fun to listen, Mom, and hear her perspective on things. And I really do mean it. I think she's done an amazing job with um the supplements and her what she's been putting in her body specifically. Um, you know, there are there are pieces of the puzzle that I'm still concerned about, right? That you can encourage for your loved one and hope that they, you know, maybe can choose to focus on different things. Like I would love to see her get a little bit more active and and do more exercise. Like, as you know, um and we've talked a lot about like building muscles, a really important thing as you age. And it's that was another recommendation from the functional medicine doctors like start doing weights, start walking with like um what do they call it? Yeah, weighted fast. Um, you know, get out, get your heart rate up, do the exercise. Um, even things like doing sauna, that's a really big thing to help with cognitive um health. And then, of course, that's sleep. And it's so funny because she's like, oh, you know, the dog doesn't get up that often throughout the night. Um, as somebody that has a toddler and who gets woken up and who has tracked their sleep, you have your deepest sleep in the beginning of the night, and it it doesn't matter if it's only one or two times, like it can shorten your deep sleep. And deep sleep is one of the most important and restorative pieces for your brain, and that's when it's clearing out amyloid plaques. And so um, that's one of the reasons why if you start to look into the research, uh, treating sleep apnea is one of the most important things to completely resolve and catch really early in order to prevent um Alzheimer's disease and different kinds of dementia. So that's another pillar, and that's something that um the functional medicine doctor has helped bring to the surface as well. So I don't know, there's there's lots of things, and as I'm sure you guys can all imagine, if you haven't listened to this entire episode and once thought about your own brain health and your own risk factors, like I would be shocked because every time we talk to my mom about her, her Alzheimer's and and her brain health, you know, I can't help but think about mine. And so um, you know, at some point down the road, we'll probably do an episode that is a little bit more on like the things that we've done to start to take care of take care of our brains. Um, but I think that overall I'm really grateful for the kind of information that we've the and the picture of mom's health that we've gotten from the functional medicine doctor. Um, I would say there were things that were surprising. Um, like no, I'm I'm getting on another tangent, so I'll cut that part. Um, so yeah, is there anything else that you would add? Nope.

unknown 49:39

Okay.

Speaker 2 49:40

Well, with that, um, thanks for joining us today, and um, we'll be back next week. Thank you so much. Bye bye.

Speaker 1 49:50

If this episode resonated with you, or if someone you love is navigating an Alzheimer's diagnosis, please know you don't have to fight it alone. The Alzheimer's Association is a free 24 7 resource available to anyone who needs their support. Whether you're newly diagnosed, deep in caregiving, or just trying to understand what comes next. You can reach them anytime at 1 800 272 3900. You can also reach them online at alz.org.