Recently, I interviewed Dr. Joshua Helman, a Harvard-trained physician, who exposes how dementia and Alzheimer’s stem from multiple interconnected triggers: environmental toxins, chronic stress, inflammation, infections, poor sleep, and even thyroid imbalances. He explains how cutting-edge brain imaging and comprehensive functional testing can identify the true mechanisms driving memory loss. If you would prefer to listen to the interview you can access it by Clicking Here [1].
Dr. Eric Osansky:
I am super excited to chat with Dr. Joshua Hellman. We are going to be talking about dementia, Alzheimer’s, tying it into thyroid health a little bit. Let’s go ahead and dive into Dr. Hellman’s impressive bio here.
Dr. Joshua Hellman is a Harvard-trained physician, licensed in 14 states. He holds two degrees in biochemistry, a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in the UK. His medical degree is from Harvard Medical School and MIT. He is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.
He is the former and current medical director of Hippocrates Health Institute as well as Chief Medical Officer of two different Alzheimer’s reversal centers, Brain Power Clinics and Alzheimer’s Treatment Centers of America. He also worked at True North Health Center with a focus on fasting, so we’ll talk about fasting as well. Also, he recently launched a podcast called Alzheimer’s Breakthrough, which is wonderful.
His areas of interest span longevity, regeneration, vitality, toxins, mold, Lyme Disease, energy medicine, and breathwork. With a passion for applying biochemical knowledge to real-world challenges, he embraces a holistic approach that emphasizes the importance of diet and lifestyle for optimal health. Welcome, Dr. Joshua.
Dr. Josh Hellman:
Thanks, Eric for the great introduction. I really appreciate being here. We met over a year ago, and it’s cool to actually be doing this now.
Dr. Eric:
I’m glad we connected here. It’s an important topic. When I invited you on the podcast, I mentioned that we haven’t had anybody focus on this yet. We might have mentioned it, tying it into other topics, but we haven’t had a dedicated episode on dementia and Alzheimer’s. I’m glad we have you here.
I definitely want to get a little more into your background as far as why you started focusing on dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Josh:
Sure, that’s easy. When I was a teenager, my grandmother Eileen got Alzheimer’s. I saw how it was devastating not just for her, but for my parents’ generation. Now, they’re thinking, wait, this is Grandma Eileen today. What’s going to happen to us in 20-30 years? That left an imprint on me as a teenager.
I was a nerdy teenager who was interested in studying biochemistry. What is actually really good is the basic fundamentals I started learning as a teenager, most of those have not changed. I can actually go back to that core knowledge and apply it to a complicated disease process like Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Eric:
Awesome. My grandmother dealt with dementia, and my aunt currently is dealing with Alzheimer’s. It’s something that affects many of us. How common is it? Is it something that has been increasing over the years? Have you seen a higher prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer’s?
Dr. Josh:
Unfortunately, unlike most other chronic diseases, it’s going straight up, the amount of Alzheimer’s. I think that’s because there are between 30-200 root causes for Alzheimer’s. Many of those have to deal with people’s lifestyles. People are not metabolically healthy like they were 40 years ago.
Dr. Eric:
Up to 200 causes?
Dr. Josh:
Yes, between 30-200 root causes. Anything from genetics to toxins to infections to hormonal issues like low thyroid, high thyroid, to not enough deep N3 sleep to head trauma. There are so many.
The reality is that in most cases, it’s not just one thing, which is why it’s been so challenging to come up with a cure or treatment if you will restrict it, like this one treatment or medicine is going to fix everyone. It’s such a diverse, heterogeneous disease process.
Dr. Eric:
I imagine it’s complex. Similar with what I work with. Graves’ and Hashimoto’s patients and non-autoimmune thyroid conditions, but especially the autoimmune patients, there is not usually one trigger or cause. It’s multifactorial, so it’s complex on my side as well.
What is the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s? Is Alzheimer’s a more advanced case of dementia?
Dr. Josh:
What I would say is dementia is a larger umbrella. Within dementia, you’ve got some cases of Alzheimer’s. Actually, in the United States, about 75% of adults with dementia, it turns out to be Alzheimer’s.
When I am speaking to the general public, I often use the terms interchangeably, but they’re not. To be specific, if you get a stroke or major head trauma or cancer that spreads to the brain, all those things can cause dementia, but they’re not Alzheimer’s. That’s the distinction.
Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s, the numbers are growing. We have seven million people in the United States with Alzheimer’s. The good news is there is hope. That’s frankly why I am glad to be on this podcast with you because there is hope. Unfortunately, most physicians in the general public don’t understand that there are specific things you can do to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s at any stage.
Dr. Eric:
Glad you mentioned that. Even if someone has had it for many years, and it’s advanced, it’s possible to reverse it?
Dr. Josh:
It is. it will take longer and be more difficult because you are trying to regenerate a lot more as opposed to with prevention, it’s a much earlier in the process. The key information is that there is hope. It really upsets me when I hear people who have gone to their doctor, who said, “I’ll try you on this drug, but there’s really not much we can do.”
Dr. Eric:
Similar with Hashimoto’s. In most cases, they go to an endocrinologist and are told to take thyroid hormone replacement. Not to say there is not a time and place for that, but that’s the only treatment: take the thyroid hormone, even if it’s an immune system condition, not a thyroid condition.
Same thing with Graves’. It’s either antithyroid medication, radioactive iodine, or thyroid surgery. Absolutely nothing is done for the immune system.
Similar as you mentioned for Alzheimer’s or dementia. They don’t do anything for the cause, just manage the person’s symptoms. Thankfully, there are practitioners like you who actually look into the root causes. There is up to 30-200 root causes.
The foundations. I know you mentioned sleep as being one of the-
Dr. Josh:
It’s not just one. It is the number one. When we analyzed thousands of different patients, the biggest risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s is not enough of this deep N3 sleep.
Dr. Eric:
Wow. Just focusing on sleep will help to prevent Alzheimer’s from developing. Obviously, if someone is already dealing with it, you try to do everything you can to help them with sleep. This must be a challenge. What is the average age of someone with Alzheimer’s? I imagine it’s in the 70s or 80s. Sleep declines with age to begin with.
Dr. Josh:
The scary thing is we are seeing it at younger and younger ages now.
Dr. Eric:
Wow. What is the youngest patient you’ve seen?
Dr. Josh:
I saw a woman in her 40s. It was a genetic case. Even the non-genetic cases, I am seeing it starting at the age of 50.
Dr. Eric:
How do you know? If someone has poor memory and is forgetting things, how do you come up with a diagnosis of dementia and/or Alzheimer’s?
Dr. Josh:
It’s really cool because when I went to Harvard Medical School 30-40 years ago, at that time, the only way to diagnose Alzheimer’s was an autopsy. You had to wait until the person died. The autopsy, you will harvest the brain and look at some of the cells and see the changes.
Today, we have all these different technologies. There are different types of PET scans, imaging tests that can tell you. There are blood tests that can look at amyloid and tau. Those are the two that have revolutionized.
To be clear, if someone is listening to this now, and they have, for themselves or a loved one or a friend, they’re noticing their brain isn’t right, one of the first things I would do is get an imaging test of the brain. You want to rule out that this isn’t from a stroke or a bleed or cancer.
Dr. Eric:
Makes sense. I have to put you on the spot and ask about thyroid because low thyroid hormone can also affect cognition. Before inviting you, when we were talking about this, I’m pretty sure you said you run a thyroid panel on everybody.
Dr. Josh:
100%. Exactly right. Because the thyroid hormone is important for every organ in the body, including the brain, if for some reason you have a very low thyroid level or a very high one, unfortunately, metabolically, the cells aren’t going to be acting well. If we are talking about the brain, the brain cells are normally metabolically very active. If they don’t have the thyroid hormone they need in the right range, there can be problems.
Dr. Eric:
Makes sense. Whether you have low thyroid hormone or elevated thyroid hormone, again, hypo is more common than hyper, but a lot of people also have hyper. Either way, you want the thyroid hormones to be in balance. Glad we discussed this since most listeners have a thyroid or autoimmune thyroid condition.
How about inflammation? Is that one of the root causes?
Dr. Josh:
Definitely. I would say that the inflammation is almost like a super umbrella. Many of the things I mentioned will cause inflammation, whether it’s infections, toxins, trauma. Almost all these things will cause inflammation. The really exciting thing is I have been offering an FDA-approved drug for compassionate use that turns down the amount of inflammation in the brain. We’re seeing improvement after just one dose. If you had to pick one category, definitely inflammation.
Dr. Eric:
I’m sure you’re familiar with this marker, quinolinic acid. Sometimes, I run an organic acids test, or the DUTCH test looks at it, too. I know there are other markers, too, but if you see that elevated on an organic acids or DUTCH test, it doesn’t automatically mean the person has dementia or Alzheimer’s. But is that a risk factor?
Dr. Josh:
It is. What I like to do is a specific test looking at active brain damage, specifically antibodies against different neurotransmitters or receptors in the brain. For example, you can find auto antibodies, antibodies against some of the dopamine receptors in the brain. Frankly, dozens of different ones. There are so many different tests.
What I am normally looking for is evidence of active damage. If you have what’s called an IgM immunoglobulin, that normally goes along with active damage in the last couple months.
Dr. Eric:
If someone has IgM compared to IgG antibodies, kind of like an infection. If someone has Lyme IgM, that’s an acute infection, compared to IgG. It’s not the best comparison because chronic Lyme- Acute Lyme is better than chronic Lyme in a way. With the brain, it sounds like if you have those IgM, that’s not a good thing.
Dr. Josh:
Correct. It just gives you information. Hold on, there is evidence that this person’s immune system is attacking itself. Let’s take a step back and figure out how to fix this.
Dr. Eric:
What are some of these tests? Is it Vibrant Wellness that has the Neural Zoomer? Cyrex Labs also has a test that looks at antibodies against the brain.
Dr. Josh:
I like the Vibrant Neural Zoomer Plus. There are other ones, too.
Dr. Eric:
If you are suspecting someone has dementia/Alzheimer’s, do you automatically do it? Do you do it on all those patients?
Dr. Josh:
I offer it. What I find is some people want every test, and some people are like, “Just treat me.” It’s a test I like getting. To be up front, there are some people who just want to limit how much they’re spending. Of course, unfortunately, insurance often doesn’t cover these autoimmune tests.
Dr. Eric:
Makes sense. How about diet? We spoke about the importance of sleep. How important is it to eat an anti-inflammatory diet?
Dr. Josh:
It’s extremely important. You basically stay away from processed foods, foods that have added salt, oil, and sugar because those highly processed foods will cause damage to your blood vessels, including the blood vessels of your brain. We know the brain is a highly vascular organ. If you eat a meal that is high in salt, oil, and sugar, there is damage right after that meal that is happening to those blood vessels.
Dr. Eric:
Okay. Now you personally follow more of a vegan or plant-based diet. I am not a carnivore, but I eat meat. I eat a lot of plant-based food. As well. I am in favor of plant-based foods. Is there any research showing the benefits of any type of certain foods, like cruciferous vegetables or others, in brain health?
Dr. Josh:
There are. Specifically, if you are eating animal products that are on top of the food chain, there is normally higher levels of toxins, whether we are talking about heavy metals, plastics, pesticides. The concentration goes up as you go up the food chain. If most of your diet is meat or milk or fish, you are getting a much higher dose of these toxins.
There is a huge benefit to decreasing inflammation if you have a high amount of fiber in your diet. There is zero fiber in animal products. If you’re eating plants, you are getting a huge amount of fiber.
Dr. Eric:
I agree with that. I am not a huge proponent of carnivore diet long-term. I know there is some potential benefits short-term in dealing with autoimmunity. I have had others come to me and say they follow the carnivore diet for their autoimmune condition and got great benefits.
I agree, as far as the gut microbiome, the long-term impact of not having fiber-rich foods is a concern with carnivore and ketogenic diets. I think we’re on the same page.
One thing I do want to bring up though, especially for those who are vegans and vegetarians, omegas are very important for brain health, too, especially DHA. What do you recommend for vegetarians/vegans? Algae oil? What sources do you recommend for omegas?
Dr. Josh:
Sure. I normally recommend DHA, EPA source from algae. That is my favorite.
Dr. Eric:
How important is stress management? What impact does cortisol imbalances have on the brain and potentially dementia?
Dr. Josh:
It’s huge. What I find normally when I am meeting with a patient is the story is things were going well until this stressful thing happened in their life, whether it was divorce or death or a new job or something like that. Then all of a sudden, their brain went downhill. Stress kills. We are designed to be around other people in communities.
Here is a funny statistic. Obviously, smoking, and alcohol for that matter, is not good for you. If you are socializing while you’re smoking, and that is basically the only way you socialize, the benefit of socialization outweighs the downside of smoking. I am not recommending anyone smoke, but we are wired to be a part of a small community. If you find someone highly stressed, by themselves, with no outlet, that is a huge danger.
Dr. Eric:
Makes sense. What are some of your favorite stress management techniques? Is it just as simple as deep breathing, yoga? Are there any apps you recommend?
Dr. Josh:
I like deep breathing. I like meditation. I like exercise. Exercise will often relax you. I like New Calm. It has an app. That definitely helps calming. There are supplements, whether it’s lavender essential oil. There are a lot of choices. Just try some of these and find out what works for you. Not all of them will work. The ones that work definitely do. There are guided meditations. So many choices.
Dr. Eric:
I agree. I tell people whatever you are willing to do. If someone prefers doing meditation, that’s great. If you want to do yoga and meditation, rotate. If you want to do New Calm or Headspace or Calm. There are so many options.
In autoimmunity, in the conditions I deal with, stress is a big factor. When I dealt with Graves’, stress was a big factor. It wasn’t just emotional stressors but overtraining as well. The physical stressors also could have a big impact.
Getting back to diet. Let’s talk about fasting. Intermittent fasting, I imagine you recommend that. I’ll let you take over. What type of fasting are you recommending for brain health?
Dr. Josh:
What I would say is wherever you are on the fasting spectrum, start there. If you have never fasted before, intermittent fasting is very reasonable. Just skip breakfast. Have a limited feeding window, say from noon until 6pm, or whatever you can tolerate, whatever fits into your lifestyle. From there, the next progression might be eating only one meal a day.
From there, I would say water fasting. At True North in California, we would do water fasting for up to 40 days under medical supervision. I don’t recommend people water fast on their own, certainly not for more than a few days.
Dr. Eric:
40 days? Wow. Have you done a 40-day water fast?
Dr. Josh:
No, I haven’t done 40. I have done 12 days. It was amazing. If you’re talking about stress, all my stress melted away. I thought that I was going to be super hungry, but actually, hunger normally goes away after the first two days.
Here is another exciting thing. After a few days, you are super ketonic because your body is now burning fat for energy supply. People talk about a keto diet. To me, the best keto diet is just water fasting. You’re going to get very high levels of ketones.
Dr. Eric:
It might contradict what we mentioned before a little bit with fibers, but this isn’t meant to be a permanent diet. You do it for a period of time for therapeutic purposes. If someone is doing it for 40 days, after that, you would gradually reintroduce the plant-based foods? Can they right away go back to the same diet that they were on before?
Dr. Josh:
No. The refeeding part is the most important part. You can’t just go back to eating rich, fatty foods. Think about your GI tract, your stomach like a muscle. You have let it relax for a very long time. All of a sudden, you say, “Hey, I want you to start exercising really hard.” It won’t work. You go low, you go slow. You start with juices and some raw fruit. Easy things. Then you gradually introduce more complicated things to digest.
Also, as a warning. If you have someone who is super skinny, doesn’t have excess body fat, they are not going to be able to water fast because they don’t have the fuel. What happens if you take someone like that and they water fast is they will break down muscle for fuel. You don’t want to break down muscle normally.
Fasting is a very powerful way to optimize your body metabolically. I will say that historically, if you go back thousands or even hundreds of years, most of our ancestors had time periods where there was famine. Our body biochemically is designed occasionally to not have calories.
That is why something called autophagy, where while you’re fasting, “autophagy” is Greek for eating yourself. Your body will recycle proteins that are deformed. I view fasting as a renewal state. Like anything else, it takes practice. If you have never fasted before, don’t feel bad. Try skipping one meal a day to start.
Dr. Eric:
Like you said, either skip breakfast or dinner. It’s not too bad when you do it that way.
For those who might be listening and might be intrigued by a water fast, you would recommend medical supervision. If they are wondering about doing a juice fast for a week or 12 days or a month, does that have close to the same benefits, or not the same as a water fast?
Dr. Josh:
I don’t think it has quite the same, but it’s still extremely beneficial. Let’s be up front. Some of the people who stated planning to do a 40-day water fast, after say, day 13, their body is like, “No, I need some calories.” We will shift them to juice for a few days, and then see if we can get them back to water. This is a dynamic process.
To answer your question, I find if you’re doing a very long-term juice fast, it really depends on your medical issues. If you have medical issues, if you’re on a diabetes medication, you need to do it with the guidance of a physician who knows how to adjust things. The last thing I want to see happen is a diabetic who stops eating, and then their blood sugar falls. That’s really dangerous.
Dr. Eric:
Consult with a doctor. Probably not your primary care doctor because they probably won’t have the experience with long-term fasting. Someone like you or someone else who has experience with these types of fasts. Very cool.
I can’t say I have done a prolonged water fast. I have done intermittent fasting. I have done 24-hour fasts. With both the juice fast and water fast, you are not getting protein. Is the justification risk versus benefits? It’s not meant to be a permanent diet. You’re doing it for therapeutic purposes for metabolic disease or brain health or something else?
Dr. Josh:
Great point. It turns out that the average American is not protein-deficient today. it was different 100 years ago. Today, for most people, they are not protein deficient. It really shouldn’t be a concern if they are just drinking some juice or water for a period of time.
There are a few people who have had gastric bypass or for some reason with mold toxicity, they can’t absorb calories. They are already starting off protein deficient. No, I wouldn’t recommend fasting in that scenario.
Dr. Eric:
When I dealt with Graves’, I probably wasn’t a good candidate because I was down to 140 pounds. I lost a lot of weight. In that situation, for people listening who have hyperthyroidism and are losing a lot of weight, maybe not a good candidate.
I am not asking for specific advice. For Hashimoto’s patients, have you had them do prolonged fasting?
Dr. Josh:
Yeah. The exciting thing is while they’re fasting, often, their symptoms go away. The tricky thing is when you start refeeding them, if you’re giving them things like gluten or high inflammatory foods, the symptoms can come right back.
To me, learning from that is some of this inflammation is actually determined in the gut. If you cut out the food, there is basically nothing in your gut to support your microbiome. It’s amazing how your microbiome in the gut determines so many different things, including the brain and hormones, etc.
Dr. Eric:
Environmental toxins. You mentioned mold. There are mycotoxins from mold. There are so many other toxins and toxicants, like microplastics and heavy metals and glyphosate. We could go on and on.
Dr. Josh:
Sure.
Dr. Eric:
I imagine those are also playing a role in the increased prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Josh:
They are. Just to put a magnifying glass on a few of those areas. It turns out many of the toxins you mentioned are fatty toxins. This means that once they get into your body, they like going to fatty tissues, not just around your belly or bottom, but also the brain’s extremely fatty. Even fattier is the myelin sheath, which is responsible for nerve conduction. It turns out that it’s worrisome, these fatty toxins.
#2, plastics. As you mentioned, we are seeing higher and higher amounts of plastic in people’s brains, especially with dementia and Alzheimer’s. We don’t know exactly how the plastics are getting into the brain and why they preferentially want to get into the brain.
One theory is that there is something special about the nose and what’s called the olfactory or first cranial nerve that goes from the nose back into the brain.
Stay tuned, but for that reason, I strongly recommend people try to cut out as much plastic exposure, including clothes. Most of the clothes out there, unless it’s organic, natural fabrics, it’s made out of polyesters and other plastics. Unfortunately, how long do we wear our clothes for? 10-12 hours a day or longer? That is a perfect way to maximize exposure into your body. Some of the plastics end up in your brain, which is not a good thing.
Dr. Eric:
Good points. Sometimes, we overlook the basics, like the clothing we wear. Just wear 100% cotton, and that would solve that. Easier said than done when you already have your wardrobe. You might have to make some changes. Even if you do those gradually, from this point on, try to buy cotton and not polyester. Like you mentioned, that could make a big difference.
Dr. Josh:
Agreed.
Dr. Eric:
Years ago, I don’t hear as much these days, so I don’t know if it was more theory than what was in the research. When talking about toxins, specifically heavy metals, at least in the past, they spoke about a relationship between aluminum and Alzheimer’s. Now I don’t hear a lot about toxins, but the type 3 diabetes that is more blood trigger-related. Is there that relationship as far as you know between heavy metals such as aluminum?
Dr. Josh:
Terminology. Aluminum on the periodic table is way at the top. It’s a metal, not a heavy metal. It’s still super toxic to the brain. Specifically, we find aluminum in amyloid plaques. Where do people get aluminum from besides aluminum foil? Unfortunately, one of the largest sources is drinking water. The very last step in most public water purification systems is to add aluminum to the water to remove the particulate matter, like leaves and other things. Great, you got rid of the leaves, but now you put in a neurotoxin, aluminum. There is also aluminum in some vaccines and other things like that.
Dr. Eric:
I did not know that. It’s not considered a heavy metal, but just a regular metal.
Dr. Josh:
I would call it a light metal, like lithium.
Dr. Eric:
It’s still a neurotoxin. Are all heavy metals health concerns?
Dr. Josh:
They are, but some are worse than others. Mercury and arsenic are more concerning. Cadmium. It’s pretty scary.
Dr. Eric:
Is arsenic considered a heavy metal?
Dr. Josh:
Oh yeah.
Dr. Eric:
Just want to make sure since I thought aluminum all along was a heavy metal. You have two degrees in biochemistry, so I will trust what you said.
Dr. Josh:
It’s still toxic regardless of where it is on the periodic table.
Dr. Eric:
Good to know. We know in order to prevent it, a lot of the things that we already discussed, incorporate those foundations, diet, stress management, making sure you are getting sufficient sleep and regular movement and exercise, reducing your toxic burden.
When someone is dealing with a more advanced case of dementia or Alzheimer’s, they still need to do what we mentioned. In that case, would you recommend for them to see a practitioner like yourself? How much can they actually do on their own?
I know in the case of my aunt, it would be my cousins who would be taking care of her. The person who has the dementia/Alzheimer’s wouldn’t be taking responsibility for their own health in that situation. What kind of advice would you give to someone who is more advanced in dementia or Alzheimer’s?
Dr. Josh:
What I would advise is get more than one opinion. Unfortunately, many doctors out there will just say, “This is so advanced. Sure, we can start you on a medication like Aricept. It will start the descent downward a little bit, but there is no hope.” I always say, “No. Because it is so advanced, we just need to work harder.” You need to find a doctor like myself who is willing to work harder, someone with functional experience who is willing to look at every strategy, not just a narrow, this is what the FDA says, or this is what the Alzheimer’s association recommends, so that’s what I’m going to do.
Dr. Eric:
There is hope, even in advanced cases of Alzheimer’s. I know you mentioned earlier when I asked if it was possible to reverse it even in advanced cases. Coming back to that, it sounds like no matter what stage you’re in, like you said, it will take longer if someone has been dealing with it for many years. No matter what stage they’re in, there is hope.
Dr. Josh:
Just to be clear, many doctors won’t even enroll people in studies if they’re advanced. “You’re too far gone to even try a drug that could decrease inflammation or other therapies.” That’s why I think it’s important to get more than one opinion.
Dr. Eric:
With your approach, obviously you want to do what you can to address the root causes. You’re also mentioning there is a time and place for medication to reduce inflammation. I agree. When I dealt with Graves’, I was able to avoid antithyroid medication and took an herbal approach. Quite frankly, I work with people who need to take antithyroid medication for whatever reason. It’s one of those risks versus benefits. Same thing with any health condition.
Dr. Josh:
It has to be personalized. For example, if you happen to have high levels of toxins, then often what we will do is something called total plasma exchange, where we will filter the blood, remove the toxins in the blood, and put human albumen in the other arm. It’s a personalized approach.
Dr. Eric:
Do you recommend any functional medicine testing, like stool panels? I mentioned earlier the organic acids test or the toxins test. Do you just assume people have a high toxic burden? What is your approach here?
Dr. Josh:
I like doing them. As I mentioned, they’re expensive. If someone is willing to do it with me, I’ll not just test for heavy metals, but also for infections, whether that’s Lyme, herpes virus.
As an aside, it turns out that if you have an active herpes infection, that will increase dramatically the amount of tau tangles in your brain. Tau tangles are one of the risk factors that we see in Alzheimer’s.
I will look at infection panels. I will look at forever chemicals. Like you mentioned, glyphosate or roundup. I will often do an advanced genetic panel because it’s not just APOE or APOE 4. There are many other mutations that will either decrease or increase your risk of getting Alzheimer’s.
The cool thing is depending on where that mutation is, often there are medications or supplements that can be tailored directly to you based on your own unique genetic background. There is only one way to do that. You have to have your genetic data first.
Dr. Eric:
That is a different type of genetic testing than what’s out there. There are other genetic panels?
Dr. Josh:
To be clear, it seems like most neurologists or primary care doctors are just testing for APOE or APOE4. That’s important data, but it’s ignoring 100+ other important genetic mutations that will affect your risk for getting dementia.
Dr. Eric:
You do like comprehensive genetic testing that looks at those risk factors. Also, they look at genetic variations related to detoxification for example. You’re doing a comprehensive genetic panel, is what I’m getting at.
Dr. Josh:
Exactly, for the patients who are willing to do it. It’s an expense, but yes.
Dr. Eric:
You mentioned herpes being a risk factor. You’re talking about herpes simplex then?
Dr. Josh:
Yes. Herpes simplex, herpes complex, specifically an active herpes infection, whether you have a cold sore. Sometimes, people can have a herpes infection in their brain and not realize it, or other parts of the body. These herpes viruses or even chicken pox, they’re tricky. They can hide in nerve cells and only come out to play when your own immune system gets shut down.
Dr. Eric:
Epstein-Barr and cytomegalovirus, they are members of the herpes family. They can also be a problem?
Dr. Josh:
Exactly right. It’s a similar thing. Most people already have exposure to those viruses, and they’re latent. They’re hiding in nerve cells throughout your body. They normally don’t come out to play unless and until your own immune system has trouble working. When your immune system can’t keep these viruses under control, they’re like, “Hey, the coast is clear. Time to play. time to spread and multiply.”
Dr. Eric:
All right. Lyme and bartonella. I know you mentioned Lyme briefly. Those could be potential factors, too?
Dr. Josh:
Yes. Sometimes, we find Lyme present within Lewy body dementia. It is my belief. Again, I can’t prove it unless we do autopsies. It is my belief that infections are one of the important causes.
Dr. Eric:
We covered a lot. Often, I’ll ask if there is anything else I should have asked you that I didn’t ask you. I asked you a lot of questions. But still, anything else you’d like to cover before we start wrapping this up?
Dr. Josh:
Sure. In terms of hope, we have many other treatments besides decreasing the inflammation or getting rid of toxins. We also have IV therapies, light therapy, oxygen therapy, many different therapies. Because we are dealing with more than one process, normally, it’s a gradation, like an orchestra. You put it all together.
I understand people out there are hearing this one supplement or this one magic thing will help. No, it normally is not just one thing.
For example, omega 3s. I definitely recommend people with dementia supplement omega 3s. I like algae oil, up to 3g. I also like lion’s mane. You can find on my website some of my favorites.
The key thing is it normally is not will be just one thing. That is what you hear often. People promote their one supplement. That’s not going to be enough normally.
Dr. Eric:
You mentioned oxygen. Were you referring to hyperbaric oxygen?
Dr. Josh:
Yes, hyperbaric oxygen. You could also use ozone to bust up biofilm if that is present in the brain. We use nano bubbles, basically really small oxygen bubbles that will get in through the skin if we put your feet in the nano bubbles, or have a bathtub-type situation. Oxygen is your friend.
Another thing that has been really helpful is exercising with oxygen. There is something about that seems to strengthen and release something called BDNF, brain derived neurotropic growth factor. What BDNF does is it establishes new neurons and neural connection synapses.
Don’t stop at just one or two therapies or options.
Dr. Eric:
All right. Thank you for this conversation. This was awesome. Where can people find out more about you, Dr. Josh?
Dr. Josh:
It’s easy. DrJosh.com. My email address is just DrJosh@DrJosh.com [2]. I’m on social media under GreenBrainsMD. It’s probably easiest to find me at my website. I have a weekly podcast on reversing Alzheimer’s. If you want to hear from lots of other experts on this topic, that’s a good place to go.
Dr. Eric:
Awesome. I’m glad we had this conversation. Definitely check out Dr. Josh’s website, his podcast. If anybody listening knows someone dealing with dementia or Alzheimer’s, feel free to reach out to Dr. Josh as well to schedule a consultation.
One other thing: I imagine for something like this, would they have to come in person? Do you do telemedicine? How does this work?
Dr. Josh:
I do telemedicine. Obviously, there are some procedures like filtering someone’s blood with total plasma exchange. Have to do that in person. I have many clients in the states I am licensed in or coaching using telemedicine. That’s powerful.
I’m not looking to replace anyone else’s doctor, but I am here to provide help and hope. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, this information really hasn’t gotten out yet. That’s why I’m grateful that you’re willing to host me today.
Dr. Eric:
It was a pleasure. It was wonderful having this conversation. I’m sure many of the listeners will find it to be beneficial. If you didn’t catch on, I learned some things as well. Thank you so much, Josh. Appreciate having you on. Looking forward to spreading the word and sharing this episode with my followers.
Dr. Josh:
Awesome. Peace and plants.
Dr. Eric:
Thanks again.