Are you troubled by Brain Fog? Too 'foggy' and tired really even to think what to do?

Are you troubled by Brain Fog? Wish you could counter it but don't know what to do? Too 'foggy' and tired really even to try to think about what to do? Well I offer some simple  suggestions.

First off I'd recommend cutting down on salt and salty food. People who try this are commonly amazed at how much better they feel, and how much brighter, happier and more energetic. Even in just a few days.

Secondly, cut down on sugar and sugary food, and on bread/biscuits/wheat. These are notorious for causing fluctuations in blood sugar levels, which can lead on type 2 diabetes, with its attendant health problems of overweight, tiredness, vision damage/possible blindness, cognitive decline, impaired mobility, depression and many more, including premature death.

Improve your nutrition. - You're tired and you can't think straight and that makes processed ready meals/convenience foods a big temptation. Try hard to overcome this temptation because this sort of food is usually high in salt and sugar, the baddies I have already indicted, and very low in nutrients that your brain and body need. They are nutrient-poor and baddie-rich. Instead of taste, they offer addictive saltiness and sweetness, with the added harm of artificial colours, artificial toxic garbage like MSG (monosodium glutamate), synthetic transfats to lengthen 'shelf life', etc. (Note: if an ingredient lengthens the shelf life of a food product, it's a pound to a penny that it shortens the longevity of the person who eats the product!)

Vitamins that are especially helpful for brain fog are Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. - If you click on the Vitamin D label beneath this blogpost you can read some of my earlier blogposts that go into more detail about this very important vitamin. See also this related page with more info about Vitamin D and other essential nutrients.) Similarly you can read further about Vitamin B12 by clicking on its label beneath this post.

Avoid taking anti-depressants, the ultimate in pharmaceutical junk! Tricyclics and any other drugs that have anticholinergic properties cause memory loss, cognitive impairment/decline and can lead eventually to dementia. You've only got one brain and one body. Don't damage them with pharmaceutical junk.

As you gradually improve your health in the ways - or at least some of the ways - I have mentioned - you will hopefully soon have the energy to do a bit more and take a bit more exercise than you can manage at present. Exercise will in turn add to the virtuous circle and reduce your brain fog and ill-health even further.

And here's a more authoritative and much more detailed webpage about clearing brain fog for when you can cope with reading more demanding reading material than my little effort.

Was it the medication prescribed by your doctor that made you fat?

Maybe you've sometimes wondered whether it was the medication prescribed by your doctor that made you fat. Check out the prescription drugs mentioned on this page and on this. If you conclude that your weight gain may have been caused by one or more or these drugs, then you can easily reduce that excess weight by cutting down on salt and salty food. - Why not try it? It is a safe, fast, effective way to lose weight, lower high blood pressure, reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, of stroke, of heart attack and heart disease, reduce your risk of most cancers and of depression, cognitive decline/dementia/senility, frailty, falls and fractures, and a host of allied health problems. - What's not to like? - You will feel sooo much better!

Anti-depressants increase the risk of falls for elderly people with dementia

BBC News reports that anti-depressants increase the risk of falls for elderly people with dementia. "Many dementia patients also suffer from depression and drugs known as selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently prescribed. But the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology reports that the risk of injuries from falls was tripled."

Now that's a real shame, because anti-depressants should not be being prescribed at all, since research has shown that Anti-depressants are 'no better than dummy pills'. People who are suffering from dementia have enough to contend with, without having to cope with an increased risk of falling and all the other adverse effects of anti-depressants. - Rather than these unhelpful, harmful meds it would be better to try to improve the nutritional status of dementia sufferers. I suggest, for example, making sure they are not deficient in vitamin D. An adequate level of vitamin D would strengthen their muscles and bones (and immune system) and would render falls from any cause less likely to result in hip fractures and other broken bones. It's well past time that prescribers read the relevant research and acted on it, instead of carrying on in their own sweet uninformed way regardless.

Study links high salt intake by elderly people with increased risk of dementia

A Canadian study links high salt intake by elderly people with increased risk of dementia, as the Daily Mail reports. So salt can impair brain power and memory, as well as increasing blood pressure, risk of stroke, heart attack, heart disease, diabetes, depression, arthritis, asthma, kidney damage, liver damage, most cancers, osteoporosis, increased risk of fractures and many other degenerative health conditions.

The good news is that if you have had your health damaged by eating too much salt, you can immediately, dramatically and safely improve every aspect of your health and every organ of your body by seriously cutting down on salt and salty food. - And if you are overweight or obese you will also lose weight when you reduce your salt intake. - Go on! - Try cutting down on salt and salty food! - You will feel sooo much better...(o:

Antipsychotics kill five UK dementia sufferers every day

The Telegraph reports that antipsychotics kill five UK dementia sufferers every day and that at last meaningful action is being proposed to instruct doctors to review all antipsychotics prescriptions and to seek to reduce them by finding “therapeutic alternatives” to these harmful drugs.

Mitochondrial damage caused by some anti-retroviral drugs commonly used to treat HIV, study shows

A class of anti-retroviral drugs commonly used to treat HIV, particularly in Africa and low income countries, can cause premature ageing, according to research published in the journal Nature Genetics. The study shows that the drugs damage DNA in the patient's mitochondria – the 'batteries' which power their cells. The findings may explain why HIV-infected people treated with antiretroviral drugs sometimes show advanced signs of frailty and age-associated diseases such as cardiovascular disease and dementia at an early age.
Read article at medicalxpress.com

Harmful antipsychotic drugs are still being wrongly prescribed to dementia sufferers

BBC News reports that harmful antipsychotic drugs are still being widely and inappropriately prescribed to elderly dementia sufferers. "More than 50 health and social care organisations are calling for fresh action to cut the prescription of "chemical cosh" drugs. Around 180,000 people with dementia are thought to be prescribed antipsychotic drugs in the UK. But 80% of those prescriptions are said by critics to be inappropriate. Long-term use of the drugs can make dementia symptoms worse, reduce the ability to talk and walk and increase the risk of stroke and even death."

The appallingly poor treatment, including being left to starve, of thousands of elderly dementia patients in UK hospitals

See this report in the Telegraph. - Doesn't it shock you and make you feel ashamed of the NHS? Why isn't something done about it? We will all be old one day unless we die before our time. Is this the way you would be happy to be treated if you ever suffer the misfortune of developing dementia and going into one of these uncaring hospitals? Why don't staff who are maltreating patients in these ways get identified and punished? - Why are they allowed to get away with it, since this clearly encourages them to continue in the same cruel way?

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with risk of cognitive decline in the elderly

A research team from the Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, has established the first clear link between vitamin D deficiency and the development of cognitive problems that are a key feature of dementia. Findings from the study led by Dr. David J. Llewellyn are being published in the prestigious journal Archives of Internal Medicine, and are the result of an international collaboration involving researchers from the University of Michigan, the UK Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit, the Perugia University Hospital and Medical School in Italy, and the US National Institute on Aging.
Read article at physorg.com

Chemical cosh to be used less on dementia sufferers in Scotland

See Telegraph report. I've been urging for a curb on the use of anti-psychotics on elderly people for a long time. The declared intention to reduce their use now though seems less to be motivated by humanity than by a desire to cut costs!

Concern about growing incidence of dementia and its cost to UK economy

The number of people with dementia in the UK is higher than was previously thought, as BBC News reports here, and it is expected that before 2025 the number will exceed one million.

"Researchers from the University of Oxford compared the cost of caring for a person with dementia to the cost of dealing with cancer, heart disease or stroke - the three main causes of death in the UK.

As well as immediate health care expenses, they looked at the costs of social care, unpaid carers and productivity losses.

Every dementia patient, they found, costs the economy £27,647 each year - nearly five times more than a cancer patient, and eight times more than those with heart disease."

Obviously, with degenerative diseases, prevention is a far cheaper and better option than treatment/cure. Happily, the risk of developing any or all of these degenerative conditions - dementia, cancer, heart disease and stroke and many more - is significantly lowered by cutting down on salt and salty food, because obesity is a common causative factor in all of them, and obesity itself is reduced by eating less salt and salty food.

The need to rein in the continual increase in pharmaceutical drugs being prescribed by NHS doctors is ever more urgent, since scores of prescription drugs cause obesity by weakening the blood vessel walls and thus causing sensitivity to salt. The blood vessels become distended with sodium and water retention and the increased blood volume raises blood pressure as well as weight. Prescription drugs are the major cause of the most serious cases of obesity, namely morbid obesity. - Ironic, isn't it? - The NHS pays loadsamoney for prescription drugs, many of which do serious damage to the innocent patients who take them. (The 'guilty' drugs include steroids, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and many more. It's best only to take pharmaceutical drugs if you really need them.)

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteomalacia, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!

See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Sodium in foods

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

Further severe criticism of poor NHS treatment of elderly patients and dementia patients

BBC News reports further severe criticism by the Alzheimer's Society of NHS treatment of elderly patients and dementia patients. Half of all dementia sufferers leave hospital in a worse state than when they arrived.

"The Patients' Association said it was a "sad indictment" of the priority our society gives to elderly people.

"There is now an overwhelming amount of evidence that elderly patients are being neglected in hospitals across the NHS.

"Whether they have dementia or not, if they are in need of help with personal care many of them won't get it. Time after time the issue is raised, but the problems continue.""

And of course NHS Complaints Procedures are Orwellian in the extreme. Nothing gets improved.

The NHS is extremely expensive and so much of the vast expense is wasted and compounded by providing poor and damaging treatment for the most vulnerable patients, who are most in need of care and compassion. - And heaven help you if you haven't any family to visit and stick up for you!

The treatment of Alzheimer's disease patients in UK hospitals is a 'disgrace'

The Telegraph reports that the treatment of Alzheimer's disease patients in Britain's hospitals is so poor that many relatives are driven to complain, and many more would like to complain. Some patients are going hungry because they were not helped to eat or drink and many are generally treated with a lack of basic dignity and respect. The Alzheimer’s Society has said that the situation is a “disgrace”.

Dementia is by no means an inevitable consequence of aging. You can reduce your risk of developing dementia or any of a host of illnesses commonly, but inaccurately, attributed to aging, by avoiding dieting, by avoiding taking prescription drugs unless they are absolutely necessary, and by seriously cutting down on your intake of salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

Reckless over-prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs (so-called chemical cosh) to care home residents continues.

The Telegraph again carries a report on the reckless overprescribing of anti-psychotic drugs (so-called chemical cosh) to care home residents.

That many of the residents suffer from dementia is no excuse for dosing them with these harmful drugs, because anti-psychotics are rarely appropriate for dementia. The article says that, "Only around 36,000 of the 180,000 people on the drugs in the UK derive any benefit from them," and that "Over-prescribing of the drugs is linked to an extra 1,800 deaths a year among elderly people."

The matter was being reported and discussed on the radio today and I heard a medic blaming the care homes for this scandalous practice, and a care home spokesperson blaming the GPs. - Well there's a great deal of blame to share out! - While it's clearly the prescribers who are mainly to blame, there is equally clearly no proper regulation of this dangerous prescribing. - and here surely blame lies with the government for giving doctors a pretty free hand (misnamed 'clinical judgment!) in their reckless prescribing habits. Blame also lies with the Department of Health and the NHS. And a whole heap of blame lies with the drug companies, who are the main beneficiaries of this wicked, cruel perversion of health care.

It isn't as if they don't know about the harm done. - To quote further from the article:

"Paul Burstow, a Liberal Democrat MP who has led a 10-year campaign highlighting the risks of over and inappropriate prescribing, said: "This review comes much too late for thousands of elderly people whose lives have been cut short by the reckless prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs.

"The evidence that anti-psychotic drugs do more harm than good has been mounting for years. There is next to no benefit for the older person and prolonged prescribing can lead to premature death.

"The Government has sat on this review for long enough. What is needed now is leadership and a relentless drive to end abusive prescribing.""

It is my considered opinion that many of these avoidable deaths should be regarded as manslaughter, and that the harm done to health not resulting in death should be regarded as actual or as grievous bodily harm, i.e. crimes have been committed.

Sort out the blame. Get the offenders tried in court. Some of them surely would warrant custodial sentences. Most should never be allowed near a prescription pad or a patient again.

A few doctors and drug company executives in prison would ensure a rapid reduction in this terrible cruelty inflicted on vulnerable people by the medical profession who often claim that they 'first do no harm'.

The Telegraph reports that care homes are still administering anti-psychotic drugs to dementia patients.

The Telegraph reports that care homes are still harming dementia patients by administering 'chemical cosh' drugs (aka anti-psychotic drugs) to them.

Eli Lilly Urged Doctors to Prescribe Zyprexa Inappropriately

Bloomberg reports further on the Eli Lilly/Zyprexa scandal.

Doctors were urged to prescribe Zyprexa for elderly dementia patients, even though it was known that the drug would not help with that condition.

I urge you to read the Bloomberg article.

This is yet another horrifying example of deliberate wrongdoing by drug companies, with the result in this instance that "death rates among older dementia patients taking Zyprexa were “significantly greater” than those who didn’t get the medicine."

I believe that the only health in which drug companies are interested is the health of their own financial profits.

For your own health's sake it would be better to avoid taking pharmaceutical drugs unless they are absolutely necessary.

Harmful side-effects are associated with dementia drugs

Harmful side-effects are associated with several dementia drugs commonly prescribed for elderly people.
Read article at sciencedaily.com

Dr John Zeisel has a kinder, safer, drug-free alternative to offer for elderly people with dementia. See http://www.imstillhere.org/

I welcome Dr John Zeisel's advocacy of non-pharmacological treatment for people with dementia.

The Telegraph reports that Dr John Zeisel, president of Hearthstone Alzheimer Care, an international provider of non-pharmacological treatment for people with dementia, is advocating a change of attitude and policy toward people suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. He states that his research and practice "has proved that non-pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer's, such as environmental design responsive to their capacities, caregiver education, and visits to museums with research-based selection of art works and specially trained guides, can be just as powerful as other medicinal treatments in reducing symptoms of dementia and the big four A's of Alzheimer's: agitation, anxiety, aggression, and apathy."

He is against dementia sufferers being confined to their homes, to hospitals or to care homes, and says they should be treated as and recognised as real people who are "still there".

This is surely the way to go, especially as so frequently in this country (the UK) psychotropic and other prescription drugs are often used for the convenience of the staff in old people's homes, rather than to be helpful to the residents. See the Telegraph articles: Half of nursing home residents wrongly drugged, study shows and One in five care homes lacks respect for elderly

You can reduce your risk of developing dementia by improving your nutrition and avoiding salt and salty food.

Millions of workers are being put at greater risk of dementia by Britain's long working hours culture, research has found.

Long hours put workers at risk of dementia, according to research into damage to brain
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Extreme tiredness and stress could be as bad for the brain as smoking, according to the study.

The report, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found middle-aged workers clocking up more than 55 hours a week have poorer mental skills, including short-term memory and ability to recall words, than those working fewer than 41 hours.

The findings suggest the long-term damage to the brain caused by excessive time at work has been underestimated.

One in eight British workers puts in more than the supposed European maximum of 48 hours a week.

Researchers, led by Dr Marianna Virtanen from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, monitored 2,214 British civil servants from the 1980s."

You can reduce fatigue, improve memory and concentration, and lower your risk of developing dementia by avoiding salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free. I am not a doctor or a dietician or a nutritionist. My website does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Low Levels Of Vitamin D Link To Cognitive Problems In Older People

Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School, the University of Cambridge and the University of Michigan, have for the first time identified a relationship between Vitamin D, the "sunshine vitamin", and cognitive impairment in a large-scale study of older people. The importance of these findings lies in the connection between cognitive function and dementia: people who have impaired cognitive function are more likely to develop dementia. The study was based on data on almost 2000 adults aged 65 and over who participated in the Health Survey for England in 2000 and whose levels of cognitive function were assessed. The study found that as levels of Vitamin D went down, levels of cognitive impairment went up. Compared to those with optimum levels of Vitamin D, those with the lowest levels were more than twice as likely to be cognitively impaired.
Read article at sciencedaily.com