I've been fascinated while watching and listening to the interviews in the Awakening from Alzheimer's online event, in October, and to several other online health summits in the weeks since.
I've been very heartened that there are now so many ways in which people can make simple changes in their lifestyles, and with diet and supplementation, to prevent and even reverse dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.
I lost both my father and my mother-in-law to complications from dementia, thought to be caused by Alzheimer's Diseases in both cases, and it was devastating when we lost them both, less than five months apart.
I wish we knew then what has since come to light.
Indeed, I was extremely fortunate that I was in on my then-husband's family's meetings with the doctors, when his mother Mae was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, following a bout in the hospital due to an aortal aneurysm. The doctors were wonderful, and explained to us exactly what was happening and how we could expect her symptoms to progress, which is what alerted me to the fact that my father was going through precisely the same symptoms; he was just at an earlier stage in the process.
Both my father and Mae were extremely smart people, both a tad eccentric, both had wicked senses of humor, and were a delight to be around. But as the disease progressed, there were noticeable changes in their behavior, and even in their personalities over time.
Whereas Mae had always been all about her kids, suddenly she began treating her middle son (my then-husband) with some disdain, and even coldly at times, which was very hurtful to him. I think it was his younger sister who finally stumbled upon the truth, that Mae was mistaking him for a younger version of his dad, whom she loved deeply, but with whom she had always had a combative relationship.
Shortly afterward, she began mistaking me for her daughter, although before too long even that distinction slipped away, as she began to no longer recognize those closest to her, and she ultimately sorted us all into categories of “good” and “bad.” Happily most of us remained on the good list.
My dad's Alzheimer's never reached that level, and he continued to recognize me, and to have days when he was fairly lucid. I recall one day when he advised me not to grow old, and when I asked him what he suggested as an alternative, he thought for a moment, and then just smiled; his sense of humor never left him, and he still had a sense of irony.
Although he stopped calling me by name about a year or so before he died, he continued introducing me as his daughter to the end.
Although the progression of the disease was different for each of them, there were some striking similarities, especially the fact that they both developed an aversion to water. They were both habitual coffee drinkers, both took it black, and neither liked drinking plain water at all. As time went on, both stopped wanting even to bathe, which is a common issue among Alzheimer's patients.
Interestingly, I had several conversations with my sister Carol around this time, and shared my observations with her, which led us to an interesting series of insights. We both noted that, in times when we were personally undergoing major stress, and particularly when we were feeling really down or depressed, we each stopped drinking plain water. It wasn't a conscious choice; it was simply what we did under severe stress.
I began to question whether that aversion to water alone might be an indicator of a change in brain chemistry.
I started taking to my dad's doctors about it, and questioning the people who worked at his assisted living facility, and they confirmed my suspicions, that the patients who were most averse to drinking water and/or bathing tended to have the most severe diagnoses, whether it was dementia or clinical depression, or even psychoses and schizophrenia.
Having since learned of the health benefits of structured water, which is more easily absorbed by the body than regular H2O, I was interested by Dr. Gerald Pollack's observations that water may be naturally structured while boiling or simmering, which may account for at least some of the healing properties of hot tea and/or a warm bowl of soup. Yes, the herbs and other nutrients present are clearly also of benefit to the body, but it may well be the natural structuring of the water by simmering that makes the nutrients more bioavailable to the body, on a cellular level, thus allowing the healing to take place.
This was made all the more interesting to me when Dr. Pollack, in an interview for the “Live Longer, Live Better” online summit, made a further observation that while hydration is critically important for the body to achieve and retain optimum health, hydration is often not achieved by simply drinking plain water. In fact, drinking too much water can flush out the very nutrients needed to maximize hydration, leading paradoxically to dehydration.
Many of us can relate to this personally, as when one drinks a big glass of water, only to discover afterward that they are still thirsty, though they cannot physically drink any more.
In previous videos and articles, Dr. Pollack has stated that the best structured water for hydration can be found by juicing raw plants, as plants and animals alike have mostly structured water within their cells. As the water in plant cells is already in the optimum form for easy absorption, it increases hydration far faster than does drinking plain water, and hydrates quickly on a cellular level.
This is an area in which a great deal more research is needed, and will hopefully be conducted in well-designed studies, so that we may more clearly understand all the myriad correlations that are at play.
For those interested in leaning more about Dr. Pollack's research and his findings, you can check him out here: