My dad is 73 years old, lately he constant feel head tension, numb. Recently he was diagnosed with brain shrink. I read an article from your website about Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t know if Brain Shrink will eventually lead to have AD? Is AD and brain shrink are totally different disease?

Right now, my dad can’t even watch TV as he feel tension and numb in his head. What is possible treatment or medication for his symptom?

Brain shrink is a clinical condition that is used to describe the reducing matter in the brain which the doctors really don't know the exact mechanism yet. There is a variety of reasons, and there are numerous studies to show correlation between such things as aging, back pain, depression, learning to brain shrink. Anytime your brain matter is reduced, the ability to process information is reduced. Naturally you would expect that memory lost will be part of the symptoms. Alzheimer's Disease, on the other hand, is a distinct pathological condition characterized by specific plaques in the brain, with symptoms of memory lost plus others. There is obviously some correlation between the two states, but at this time, science has not been able to clearly establish the correlation.

Treatment of the condition is dependent on the cause of the state. Check with your doctor as to the reason is the first step. It is not uncommon for your doctor to say "I don't know", in which case you will have to look at natural supplements to:

a. enhance membrane stability and electrical conduction with phosphatidyl serine and vitamin E in high dose
b. reduce oxidative stress with high dose melatonin and CoQ10 and fish oil.
c. reduce toxic chemicals with Magnesium dipotassium oral chelation
d. Increase oxygenation to bring nutrients to the brain. Moderate exercise will do.
e. Increase blood flow to increase oxygenation with gingko, for example.

Note that promoting brain health is a long process that requires time. There is no quick fix. But in my view, its better than any thing prescription drugs can offer.

Is there such a thing as having too LITTLE cholesterol? A good friend has written to me to say that he has a Total of about 118, and his TG and LDL are well under 90, and his HDL is only 31. That doesn't sound good to me, especially since I've read where hypocholesterolemia could be a marker for cancers.

If he's having a problem with too little cholesterol, what can he do?

Too low a cholesterol ( under 150 mg/dl) have now been associated with some forms of brain cancer. Our body needs cholesterol to think, act, and react. It is an absolute necessary macronutrient. As long as the ratios are good total chol /HDL under 2.5, CRP under 1, Lp(a) under 10, and homocysteine under 8), I am very comfortable with high cholesterol and I refuse to treat with natural supplements (which is very effective by the way) some of my cholesterol ladden physician who happen to be my patient as well. They are doing very well with total cholesterol in the upper 200s and no meds at all, as I do not believe it has to be lowered when the rest of the picture is good. You have to look at the whole body and not just the total cholesterol, which out of 8 indicators of cardiovascular health, ranks very low.

Can you give me other names of food supp. Beside Co Q 10 to improve gum problems? Or improve healthy saliva glands?

Yes, CoQ 10 is a key and important proven nutrient that enhances gum health. Besides that, vitamin C/lysine/proline/ascobyl palmitate with bioflavonoids is excellent combination. I would do two together. The dosage of Vitamin C blend has to be quite high (about 5 grams) a day in divided dose, This is available in the powder product called Matrik which is already pre-blended. Matrik goes to built connective tissue to strength gum tissue. Start with one scoop (one gram) two times a day, and scale up slowly over 1-3 months so that you achieve 2.5 scoops two times a day for a total of 5 scoops (5 grams a day) . Back off 1/3 if there is signs of diarrhea, indicating that cell saturation has been achieved, and scale back up again in a few days until the dosage is achieved where there is no diarrhea. Grape seed extract, vitamin B complex, selenium, and Vitamin E is also needed. These are in the eAA nutrients.

I have been prescribed a supplement called Arctic Omega. This is Omega 3 fish oil. I have read the Warning at the bottle saying"Do not take this product if you are using blood thinners". Since I am taking one daily Aspirin (325mg), should be safe for me to take the above supplement?

Studies have shown that 5 grams of fish oil is equivalent in blood thinning activities as 325 mg aspirin tablet. That 5 grams is 5 grams of DHA and EPA, not 5 grams of fish oil. Depending on the grade of the fish oil, the % of DHA and EPA is anywhere from 30% to 60%. If you need fish oil, get the pharmaceutical grade liquid is best, where one teaspoon will give you 2.7 grams of combined DHA and EPA. Do note that many people cannot take fish oil in liquid form because it can make your burp and that can be unpleasant. In that case, you can go with flaxseed oil.

I have peptic ulcer. what kind of food and fruit is good for my stomach? and what about "Creatine Mono Hydrate"? dose it has any negative effecton my stomach acid?

Here are my thoughts on a diet for you:

Eating 5-6 small meals is recommended, do not overeat or let your stomach go without food.

Drink at least 8 glasses of filtered water.

Almond milk made from balanced almonds in a blender is very beneficial as it binds the excess of acids in the stomach and supplies high quality protein.

Raw fruits and vegetables should be avoided for a few weeks, as many of these are especially irritating. Potatoes, squashes, yams and raw bananas are, however, well tolerated. All sour fruits should be avoided, especially citrus fruits.

Certain foods definitely do not agree in cases of gastric complaints and should be completely eliminated. These include fried and greasy foods which are always difficult to digest and require very efficient stomach and liver action ; animal protein foods require a high amount of acid in the stomach for their digestion and acid causes more pain and flatulence in the sensitive stomach ; condiments, preservatives and sugar are stomach irritants .

Although milk protein has an initial neutralizing effect on gastric acid, it is also a very potent stimulator. Hourly feedings of milk have been shown to produce a lower pH than three regular meals.

Caffeine-containing beverages (coffee, tea, and cola drinks) and decaffeinated coffee cause increased gastric acid production but may be taken in moderation at or near mealtime, if tolerated.

Creatine monohydrate has not been shown to have any effect on Peptic Ulcer.

I am a 56 y.o. male with no signs of heart disease, a bp of 130/80, a resting pulse of 56, both parents lived into their 80's. Because of a total cholesterol which hung between 200-220 my doctor put me on 10 mg. of Lipitor last July.

Last week my doctor was out of town, but I was feeling terrible--I felt weak, felt somewhat confused, and for several months my left Achilles tendon felt as if it would rupture at the slightest exertion. I also felt I might be getting depressed (While I've had several episodes of depression before, they have always occurred during the winter and lifted in the spring (not started).

The only thing that was "new" in my life was Lipitor. My wife had told me that it could deplete CoQ and I wondered if that had happened. I told my doctors office that I was going to stop the Lipitor regardless, but wished to have some lab data taken before I did. I went in the next morning to have fasting cholesterol taken along with some other tests.

A week later, when my doctor returned, I saw my lab data. My total cholesterol had been down to 128. My SGPT was also somewhat high, but none of the other liver function tests were abnormal.

My question is, if my Cholesterol returns to 200, should I try another statin--or is 200 okay if I have no other risk factors. (As far as I know there is no hospital assay for CoQ--how could I ever know if my endogenous supplies were depleted? I am and was supplementing CoQ at 100 mg/day) I am feeling better off the Lipitor.

Lipitor will bring down you cholesterol, but it also depletes your CoQ lab. There are laboratories in the country that specializes in functional medicine, and they will be able to measure your CoQ level. One such lab is Smokies Mountain Lab in the East Coast.

I usually am not concern with the total cholesterol level in your range, as long as the HDL, total chol/hdl, and triglyceride levels and looking good. Too low a cholesterol level is not good for you. Studies are coming out that total blood cholesterol of under 150 mg/dl is associated with brain tumors. Our body need fat and cholesterol to function. Some people perform best when their cholesterol are in the mid 200s. There is nothing wrong. Ask you doctor to look into your Homocysteine (an indication of how much inflammatory precursor ) you have that can lead to vascular system inflammation; C reactive protein , an indicator or the degree of inflammatory response), and Lipoprotein A (an indicator of the body's attempt to reduce the oxidized LDL cholesterol ). If all these numbers are normal (homocysteine under 10, CRP under 2, and Lp(a) under 14, and together with a total cholesterol/ HDL cholesterol ratio of under 3.5, then your overall cardiovascular risk , even with a high total cholesterol up in the high 200s, is very low.

Technology has allow us today to understand that cholesterol alone does not tell the whole story. Out of the 8 indicators of cardiovascular health, total cholesterol rank near the bottom of importance. Your doctor may not be up to date on this, and if you are just being treated based on limited laboratory studies, then the picture your doctor has may not be complete.

All statin drugs have side effects, and you can read more here:
articles/cholesterol_lowering_drug_kills.asp

If you do turn out to need to reduce total cholesterol, there are numerous natural supplements that can do the job well . Read more here:
articles/Cholesterol.asp