Definitely have him draw the clock and sign his name. I just did another clock test and my daughter, and him and I are absolutely amazed. His clock today looked just like the Doctor's third drawing by her husband and it has been less than a week. I am trying to get the pictures scanned so I can e-mail them to Joan. I also am sending the same and a letter to our Neuro at WVU. I am just doing 1 tsp twice a day along with the flaxseed oil and fishoil.
Remember 2 weeks ago his signature and clock were unreadable scribbles.
ok, heres another one, and NO i am not looking for miracles but i swear i cant ignore some of these new revelations- i was pulling out of the driveway and looked left /right /and again then pulled out, DH in the back seat , Watch out, red car! crickey!!!!!!!! he doesnt know his colors!-i was so dumbstruck i pulled over and asked him what color my purse was, (black) he mumbled jumboeed and couldnt say...i started pointing out the colors of the cars as we stopped at lights. i will test again in a few days and have him try to sign his name again which he hasnt been able to do -divvi.
husband signed his full name with middle initial -good enough to pass on a document. saving to compare with the one dated 11/4/08 where he had incoherent scribbling. divvi
This evening I gave him his cocanut spread on a half slice of bread with peanut butter and I ate one too. Works great and would work with jelly or whatever.
sunshyne i posted a few minutes ago and was so tonguetied i had to edit 3times and finally just erased the whole thing== and just wrote what i posted very orderly and in a rational mode. i am upping our doses to 3tsp xday.
divvi - isn't it wonderful and I hope it lasts. My daughter was absolutely flabergasted when I showed her the clock and his name. He has been unable to write his name legible for a couple of years and now it looks just like his old signature. I hope some of you others trying the oil have similar response. We all know it is not going to show improvement in everyone because everyone has different molecular structure, but just hang in there.
He is talking today that maybe we should have a gun dealer sell his guns but he would like to keep his BB gun. I told him I thought it would be a good idea. He said lets think about it a few days first so end of conversation. Ex-son in law has his guns locked in his gun safe. Taking his guns was as big an issue as the driving was for some of you.
imohr i am hopefully optimistic as well and not holding too much hope that there could be dramatic improvements but have to admit what i have seen lately is making me smile. esp the signature today..i am blown away. i know it could all be just hype too and coincidence so i am trying to document like you and have realtime documents to prove any changes. divvi
Hubby and I started adding a 2-teaspoons to our oatmeal along with wheat germ and raisins (serving for 2) and are now up to 1 T. per bowl. Have seen small improvements and figure it can't hurt. I made my pina colada smoothie with low fat ice cream.
I live in a pretty small town, the "local" health food store didn't have any coconut oil. But I do have the order in, waiting very Impatiently for it lol. Divvi, I bought the same brand as you, figured it was helping your husband, I wanted that one LOL. It should be here tomorrow or monday at the latest. I might make it *Grin. I am so excited!!
Nikki good. it cant hurt and i swear its cut my flashing down quite a bit and made my life more tolerable if nothing else:) this stuff is in solid form and has to be refrigerated after opening and its a pain in the butt to have to microwave each lump for dosing -but within the spectrum of things a small challenge i guess -if sunshyne says the other oil may be ok and easier i may try that at some point but so far i think it is giving me some inspiration to carry forward. i have heard words out of DH mouth, in the past few days i had no idea he still knew. sweetheart, baby, RED car, pardon me, thank you for just about everything:)and a real honest to goodness signature like before some shakiness but would pass - its a good thing- i just dont want to have the big bubble burst either so keeping expectations to a minimum...we must remember not to be too gullible like sunshyne says:) divvi
Hey, divvi, my jar of coconut oil doesn't say it has to be refrigerated. What kind do you have? One kind at the health food store had trans fats. I got the trans fat free kind.
I'm waiting for mine to be delivered. Whenever you're waiting for something it takes forever to arrive. But yesterday my DH actually got up, ate, went on the deck to sweep away the leaves, then went to sleep, and got up again and moved the furniture in his den around. It must be because I ordered the stuff, right? (grin)
i got the Jarrows extra virgen unrefined cold pressed kind. it says to store for freshness in frige after opening. i would do that to keep it intact and not rancid. maybe you can look your brand up on the web and read about its properties to be sure. yes i sometimes think its in my mind and 'seeing' things that arent there as well. sigh. but i have in my grimey little hands a paper with a REAL signature just yesterday so i am not dreaming yet. divvi could be to we will be all over the LOOKING for positive input to where we did not as much before so it may be more noticeable..:) divvi ps i did our egg/sausage/cheese omelets in 2tblsp this am and it was delish!! i may never go back to canola or margarine:)
LOL............ My DH was so bad for a few weeks with agitation, delusions, anxiety, doing less for himself. Got so bad I contacted the doc and took him in. By the time we got calls back and made ANY changes at all......DH suddenly starts calming down, and mellowing out. The neuro had a UA done anyway, (apparently no infection), and we've upped the Risperdal from 2 mg to 3 mg per day. I even told the docs that maybe sometimes all I need to do is "make" an appt., and Murphy's law will make him better before we even get there.
BTW, still not sure I want to put stock in coconut oil for DH's AD, but I have been reading up. It says it helps with digestive issues too, which we both have, so last night I began "Considering" using some for us both to see if it helps with that. THEN, that is where my focus will be...........and if we get cognitive improvements for DH that'll be our "Big Bonus."
this is one of the added benefits i am looking for too new realm, my DH suffers acid reflux for yrs and its bad without prilosec he cant get food down so i am optimistic. he has had no issues since starting the oil and i have been observing. divvi
I have Emerald Laboratories coconut oil and the label says it does not need to be refrigerated.
As Imohr suggested, I had DH draw a clock yesterday before starting coconut oil. He drew it and put all the numbers in the right place. I told him to put the hands at 11:15. He put the little hand on 11, drew an X on the 3 and said that's where the big hand goes. This is even better than he did when he was first diagnosed at the beginning of this year. At that time, he drew all the numbers in but when they told him to put the hands at 2:45, he put the little hand on 2 and drew two long hands, one at 4 and the other at 5. I guess the Aricept, Namenda and Cinnamon capsules have helped.
I thought I was going to join the coconut oil group. I went to our local mall and went to where the Natural Food store was. Notice I said was...gone, gone, gone. I knew the mall was having problems and a couple of stores had closed down but I had never seen anything about this one going out of business. I will see if I can find one locally and if not I will order from the internet.
If you want a huge selection of coconut oils, even including two or three brands of softgels, go to
http://www.vitacost.com
This is where I get my husband's huperzine A, and now a bunch of our vitamins/calcium etc etc. Very good prices, very prompt delivery. Several other people I know love vitacost.com.
Diana, I'm more comfortable with products that tell you clearly what's in them. Also, the MCT that Accera tested was caprylic acid (they've also done a little bit of work with a mixture of caprylic and capric), so I'm looking for formulations that are highest in the MCTs in that size range. Right now, although it is certainly more expensive than Jarrows, I'm favoring Olympian Labs virgin coconut oil.
Unless, that is, I decide to try MCT oil instead. Or in addition to (alternating with). Vitacost.com only has one MCT oil, no info on contents, though, so I may have to look elsewhere for that. I did find a good MCT oil at the online shop I think divvi mentioned, www.healthsuperstore.com. It's the one from Ultimate Nutrition. (They also have Olympian Labs, only a smidge more expensive than at Vitacost.com.)
I haven't ordered coconut oil from vitacost, but have ordered my fish oil from them multiple times. My daughter also uses them. They are good people to do business with.
Sunshyne, I always look forward to reading your research. If you decide to go with MCT oil instead of the coconut oil, would you mind letting us know why? I am starting with jarrow coconut oil, but if you find the MCT oil to be better, I would switch. Lynn's primary care doc, said its natural and he sees no harm in trying it. I see my neurologist in a couple of week, I plan on talking to him about it as well. Not in the mail today. grrrrrrr.
Also, I saw the softgels too, but wasn't sure if they would work as well. Any ideas? A pill would be easier for Lynn. Thanks in advance :)
The easiest way for us to take the coconut oil is to spread it on bread like butter and top with your favorite jelly, peanut butter, apple butter, etc. Absolutels you cannot tell you are taking it. I am ordering a liquid form to use to make oil and vinegar dressing for salad and between the two use instead of my usual canola or olive oil.
Awk!!! Have I just seen that someone actually TALKED with the DOCTOR first???
Three reasons for choosing MCT oil:
(1) I like knowing exactly what's in the supplement I'm using. Coconut oil composition can vary from batch to batch, depending on the coconuts that are used. There are several other things in the coconut oil besides MCTs, and the relative amounts of the MCTs can vary. From what I'm seeing, I'm beginning to think that the cheaper brands of coconut oil cost less because they use multiple pressings or extractions of the coconut meat, and end up with less of the lower-weight MCTs. And nutrient supplements are not regulated or even monitored by the FDA, so you have to rely on the company that produces them to be honest about what and how they're producing.
I'm fairly comfortable with the Olympian Labs, both because they provide detailed information on the fatty acid profile, and because it is somewhat higher in the lowest-weight MCTs.
But MCT oil is more pure, and you know what you're getting.
(2) We know that caprylic acid works, because that's what Accera has tested in double-blind, placebo-controlled trials using (ahem) objective evaluators. We can be fairly confident that a mixture with capric acid works, because Accera did a little bit of testing with that, too, and got similar results. The MCT oils that I've seen (that list their components) have different ratios of the two, but are almost entirely caprylic and capric acids, with the bulk (as much as 2/3) being caprylic acid.
(3) It is my understanding that any of the lower-weight MCTs are metabolized to the same end product (beta-hydroxybutyrate, BHB.) So if you consume a higher-weight MCT (lauric acid, for example) you have to consume more of that to end up with the same amount of BHB.
Now, the only reason that I'm not totally sold on nothing but MCT oil is that I did see some references to lauric acid as having unusual properties (antibacterial, for example) ... and I don't know yet how solid this evidence is, or if it's relevant at all to AD, or if it's actually unique to lauric acid. That will take more digging.
I don't see any reason why the softgels wouldn't work the same as the free oil. Olympian Labs sells those, same active ingredients as their liquid product.
Oh -- but with regard to lmohr's comment that you can't tell you're using the coconut oil ... it depends on how the oil is produced. Some of the coconut oils are tasteless, some still have the scent and taste of coconuts. I had been under the impression that expeller-pressed oil was tasteless, but that's the way Olympian prepares theirs, and they talk about their oil containing "only the natural taste of coconuts." So if you're going with oil, which one you prefer can depend on how you intend to use it and whether you like coconut flavor.
i saw on the jarrows info it says contains medium chain MCT,lauric acid c-12/caprilic acid c-8/ from what i read the antibacterial properties from the lauric acid because it has some of the same properties found in lactating mothers milk, and we all know thats best for those same reasons. SS just expalined caprilic acids..for a start i think i am good with this jarrows -i have seen some improvement and will take SS word about the MCT oil after i finish this one batch. by the way, the aide was here from the agency for 4hrs today and i showed her DH first signature 11/4 compared to the one yesterday. she was astonished and said ,, big improvement. i will wait a few more doses then try something more...and another by the way, just got back from my Mammogram! whohoo...i did it -Divvi
I just got home from visiting my local family owned health food store. Their knowledge and inventory of products and books is incredible. They failed me today. Couldn't help me compare products. I came home with Spectrum expeller pressed organic coconut oil. It does not need refrigeration and can be used for medium high heat for cooking. I was disappointed when I opened the jar-no lovely smell of coconut. This product is odorless and tasteless. I'll try it on veggies for myself before asking Bill's facility if they will give it to him.
Sunshyne, you've got me reading labels. Mine came from Emerald Laboratories but has a sticker on top that says Ultra Laboratories. Caprylic acid is listed as the first ingredient, then capric acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, olenic acid and linoleic acid. Is this too big of a mixture? it does have the smell and taste of coconut and would probably taste good spread on toast with jelly or peanut butter like Imohr suggested. If I'm going to do this, I want the right kind.
I will go back and read what you said earlier about MCT's. I think most of it went over my head. After all your research, please tell us which kind and what brand you decided on. I've only got a 16 oz. jar so I can order something else if there's a different kind that's better.
Dazed, if you like what you bought, if it tastes good to your husband so you can get him to eat it, it's probably just fine.
The mixture listed is apparently in alphabetical order. (Usually, they list the constituents in the order of their concentration/content, with the constituent that is most concentrated first, but in coconut oil that's going to be lauric acid no matter what.) Anyway, that's a perfectly standard set of constituents for coconut oil.
What I've been looking at is the relative proportions of each, looking for oils that have more of the caprylic and capric acids.
Now, the reason that I'm waffling over what I'm going to try (after I talk to the doctor who, I'm fairly sure, isn't going to have a clue and will respond the way Nikki's did), is because Accera has NOT tested anything except caprylic and a mixture of that and capric ... so there's no way of knowing if, say, lauric acid might be more effective for some reason -- or if all the MCTs are equally effective, once molecular weight is taken into account. Hence the need to dig ever deeper.
See, one of the things that's bugging me is that Accera showed that, ON AVERAGE, patients without the APOE4 allele improved while those with the allele just held steady. This was better than any of the patients (with or without the allele) on placebo, but still, we'd like our spouses to do improve as much as possible. But the good Doctor Newport says her husband improved noticeably on coconut oil, and he carries the APOE4 allele.
She thought maybe it was because he's already on Omega-3 supplements. (Fish oil.) That's an entirely different type of fat, and Dr Henderson's hypothesis agrees that it's good for AD patients in addition to MCT oils, so maybe that is why her husband improved. But maybe lauric acid works better than caprylic acid in some (or even all) patients. Or maybe her husband is simply one of the APOE4 patients who does better than the average APOE4 patient, for whatever reason.
I've gone over many, many pages of anything I can find from Accera or written by Dr Henderson, and as far as I can GUESS, they picked caprylic acid to test simply because they had a source of the pure compound. And Guy can testify that I've read until my eyes glazed over, since he asked me for some of the references and knows how long and detailed they are. <grin>
I have been lurking on this thread, voraciously reading every post and web link. I was in New Orleans today, so I took the opportunity to go to Whole Foods and compared various Coconut Oils. I came home with Nature's Way EfaGold Coconut Oil. Lable says it is certified organic, pure extra virgin with 62% MCTs. (All other brands had 60% MCTs). Label also said it was cold pressed, Hexanne-Free, Zero Trans & Hydrogenated Fat, Unrefined and non-bleached. It has 7 grams of lauric acid, 1 gram of caprylic acid and .994 mg of capric acid. Under the ingredients the only thing listed is Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. The label said it does not need to be refrigerated, even after openning. It was $9.99 for 16oz jar. Did I get the right thing?
Sounds like your typical coconut oil to me. Does it taste good???
(The other thing I'm waffling about trying is coconut cream concentrate, which sounds yummy enough to just eat by the spoonful. Just to further confuse the issue. <grin>)
I chipped off a small bit and popped it in. It has a slight coconut taste. I haven't melted it yet. Maybe when it is heated it will be more fragrant. I'll let you know.
Thought I was done reading about coconut oil. I tried a small amount on myself last evening and within an hour felt queasy. Normally nothing bothers my GI system. This morning I drizzled a small amount on my salad. I was briefly distracted and when I went to eat my salad I found the liquid oil had solidified into a hard white coating-ugh! Glad I tried it on myself first.
For the past 2 days I have given my wife 1 teaspoon of coconut oil on her English muffins for breakfast. She seems to like them this way and has had no side effects. I can't see any improvement as yet, but it is too early.
Also, I contacted a friend who is a retired professor of Neuropharmacology at Yale. He was not familiar with the journal containing Dr. Henderson's article, but is going to read the article and let me know what he thinks. I'll pass this information on when I get it.
My wife's doctor also is reading the article and said that he was familiar with some of Dr. Henderson's writings.
bluedaze - I am ordering a liquid form to use in salad dressing. I don't think the solid form would work well (as you found out). Do like Marsh and spread it on bread. Works great that way.
Marsh - try your wife on drawing the clock face and signature. That is where I noticed the big improvement. He hasn't made significant progress in other areas. And by the way what does the clock face and signature mean in terms of brain usage? What function am I showing improvement in? Not sure you can understand what I mean but the drawing would signify something different from counting backwards from 100 (which he cannot do). However, he is more alert and sleeping less during the day.
I am cutting back on DH to only 1tsp today as he has bm accident over the nite. he has this anyway so not sure how it relates to the COil. but just in case i am cuttin gback on him some-i am taking the 3teasp /day and see moderate improvement in flashing for sure. less severe and farther apart. i also found it solidifies in anything cool like pudding or yougurt and gets crunchy but its ok i eat it anyway. the MCT oil may be the best choice if its more concentrated. DH is resting we had 2 baths during the nite and he was quite calm about getting into the shower that those odd hrs. thats good on its own. he is tired and nappy today -anyway update are appreciated by others who are using. just take it slowly, body needs to adjust..divvi
I also found that it turns hard and solid in something cool. Best way I've found is to stir it into hot oatmeal or other hot cereal. I tried it and it tastes good. I'm giving DH 2 teaspoons a day. Haven't seen any changes yet. He could draw the clock, put numbers in and the hands where they're supposed to be before starting the coconut oil. Hoping it will help with short term memory and asking the same questions several times. He can't remember the 3 words after 10 minutes and sometimes asks "what did we do this morning or have I had breakfast yet?"
I wish the Axona was available now because we don't know if we have the right combination of acids in the coconut oil.
We took our first doses of Coconut Oil this morning. Had the same experience of melting is in the microwave only to have it solidfy in the yogurt and juice...I had a "well, duh" moment there...lol. The next time I'll try spreading it on toast or oatmeal. We need to eat more oatmeal anyway. DH very open to taking it. He said he didn't mind the taste and even "drank" it down with his juice. We both had a chuckle over this.