Dementia Prevention is possible. Solidarity HealthShare Chief Medical Officer joins Brenda Aikin of Mater Dei Radio to discuss more. Listen to the full interview or read the transcript below.
Brenda Aikin (00:00):
Alzheimer’s is degenerative brain disease. It’s responsible for 60 to 80% of dementia cases. Joining me to shed a little bit of light on this is Dr. John Oertle. He is the Chief Medical Officer for Solidarity HealthShare. Good morning, Dr. Oertle. Thanks for joining us again today. First, let’s talk about these two words I said in the open Alzheimer and dementia, and I think we tend to use those words interchangeably, but they’re kind of distinctive from each other. First, explain the differences for us.
Dr. John Oertle (00:35):
Yeah, so essentially, I mean, most dementia cases is a general wide sweeping term of just cognitive deterioration and Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of dementia. There’s other reasons why people get dementia or those cognitive decline, but Alzheimer’s is a disease process, specifically unique by the way, in which plaques form on the brain.
Brenda Aikin (00:59):
So what’s the process for Alzheimer’s disease? I think there’s probably very few of us who have not known or been affected by a family member who suffers this. What are some of those characteristics that point to this degenerative disease?
Dr. John Oertle (01:16):
Yeah, so I think it’s really important that, well, not everybody, if you’re just missing a word ever so often or you forget where your keys are, this is not dementia or Alzheimer’s, but it can be concerning and we can also improve in our mental health as far as this goes. But at Alzheimer’s is really where you start having difficulty with, say for instance, it starts affecting your life. You start forgetting to pay the bills altogether instead of just a single bill one month, or you completely forget what month it is or year it is. These are going to be some of these drastic cognitive declines that start to affect your life. And so this is where it’s important to be able to just acknowledge and not have this concern like, oh, if I just miss a word or I forget a name, that that’s somehow going to be that you’re on the path of Alzheimer’s. And yet it’s a concern that many have because as you mentioned, so many of us have experienced loved ones or individuals in our lives who have suffered from this disease because it is quite, it’s a disease in a lot of developed countries that are very common to be able to actually experience as we get older.
Brenda Aikin (02:32):
Dr. Oertle, so with Alzheimer’s disease, and we learn more and more about this every year, is this something that is just part of your genetic makeups, meaning that your genes are just, you either have it or you don’t? Or is there something that we do throughout our lives that leads to us developing?
Dr. John Oertle (02:51):
Yeah, so it’s actually both. And so there is genetics and there’s family histories that are tied to the development of and puts you at a higher risk. But when we talk about genes, it’s really important that our genes, they don’t define us. And I think this is really an important thing that just because you have a gene does not mean that you are going to develop the disease. It doesn’t create a curse for you in your life. One of the things that it does do is that it puts you at a higher risk, but we can work with our genes if we know them or if we know this information to be able to make better decisions for our lives. And being able to see that if you have a family history, then it’s possible. Or if you have a specific gene that it puts you at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s in the future, then it’s important that you take proper steps and proper information and decisions to be able to make sure that you are prioritizing being able to protect yourself from the disease.
(03:49):
Specifically as we’re talking about here, Alzheimer’s, one of the things that was recently published just last month out of the Landset, which is a peer reviewed, really reputable peer reviewed journal, that they actually showed that if you do these various lifestyle preventative measures, we can actually reduce our Alzheimer’s risk close to 50%. Meaning that, again, if you take these lifestyle precautions and you shift those dietary and lifestyle habits, that we can actually avoid the Alzheimer’s diagnosis altogether by 50%, which I think that’s pretty neat and can be really empowering to people to say, listen, this is something I don’t want to deal with, and if I’m going to be a good steward of my healthcare, I’m going to be a good steward to allow myself to live fully and accomplish God’s full plan that he has for me. He gives us brains to be able to make good decisions so that we can actually make these good decisions to be able to protect ourselves in the future. And so that’s where I don’t want it to be a cursor. It’s not fearful. It just it’s knowledge and we can make good decisions to be able to live the life that God has planned for us accordingly.
Brenda Aikin (04:56):
Dr. John Oertle is the Chief Medical Officer joining me today from Solidarity HealthShare talking to us today about Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Oertle you brought up kind of a subject there and that people who would have this diagnosis, and maybe somebody’s listening now who is finding this out and is starting to come to grips with what this means and maybe thinking, how could God allow this to happen to me? How important is it to have a spiritual life and the support of a family to embrace what path awaits before them?
Dr. John Oertle (05:33):
Well, ultimately, our destiny is all held in God’s hands. So that’s the first thing is that fear doesn’t help anybody. And so trust in the Lord as far as, because he has our paths, he’s guiding us and he’s leading us, but at the same time, he does give us that ability to be able to make good decisions for our lives. And he’s given us a brain with consciousness and awareness and that ability to make good decisions. And so really, again, my thought is, and my counsel that I always give to patients when they’re faced with difficult diseases is the fact that it’s important to be able to trust in God’s plan for your life. The one that is, as long as you have breath, he has his plan, awaits you. But at the same time, we can make these decisions for ourselves, and this is really what I was alluding to, is some of these decisions that we can make can actually impact our outcomes. And I do believe the Lord wants us to live long health, healthy life. That’s the blessing in our prayers and our blessings that we want to live to see our children’s children and that his desire is good for you and that we can make good decisions united with his plan for our lives.
Brenda Aikin (06:47):
And then lastly, Dr. Oertle, with a diagnosis like this, how important is it to ensure that still the other areas of our physical health are looked after so that way they don’t maybe lead into an Alzheimer’s diagnosis becoming worse than maybe it could have been if we are not seen to our cardiovascular health or even our vision or other types of health issues?
Dr. John Oertle (07:11):
Well, let’s talk about these things because if you have the actual early onset diagnosis, or if you are just looking at prevention, the things that have been highlighted in this study first is cardiovascular health. So making sure that your blood pressure’s in check, your cholesterol’s in check, making sure if you’re smoking or if you discontinue smoking, because these are all things with our cardiovascular health. We want to have good oxygen and perfusion in vascular health to get to our brain. That helps. But we can also, there’s other things that also help, as you mentioned, hearing and vision, one of the things that’s incredibly correlated is the way, if we have cataracts and we can’t see, then removal of the cataracts or being able to help with our vision, or if we can’t hear being able to actually have hearing aids placed, it actually is strongly correlated with prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s and memory loss.
(08:06):
And it’s one of these, I believe it’s one of these, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Or it also provides, as we’re talking about too, if we need to be involved in our community, that social isolation is another determinant that’s factored into Alzheimer’s and dementia, that if we’re isolated, we’re not involved in community. And so again, that vision and hearing is critical piece to be able to make sure that that’s in check and in line. And then also that we’re involved in our community life, that we’re going to church on a regular basis to be able to involve ourselves with our community and not just go to church but actually have good social relationships and interactions. There’s actually a study about blue zones across the world about people who live over a hundred with good quality of life, and they’re studied these areas and they actually find that the social commonality amongst these groups is that they all have amazing socialization and deep relationships within their community. And I love this as a part of Catholics and a part of us as Christians. We belong to a community. We are a body, not meant to be isolated, but to be involved with other human persons and those relationships. And so that’s a critical factor as well.
Brenda Aikin (09:22):
Ah.
Dr. John Oertle (09:23):
The other things that are helpful too is staying continually learning with your mind. If we don’t just retire and then turn on the television and veg out, it’s important that we’re engaging our mind in different activities and staying active. And so this can be something as simple as doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku and mental challenges. I always encourage, or it could be something where you’re learning a new skill or a talent like learning a new instrument for the first time. It’s not easy sometimes, but being able to help challenge ourselves and to stay learning and stay educating on something, one, it’s helpful because it allows us to stay engaged, but that actually really pays dividends when it comes to our own healthcare and staying well and keeping those neurons healthy and engaged long into our old age.
Brenda Aikin (10:16):
Oh, I love that. And just a wonderful and prayerful enjoyment of life. What a beautiful memory that our faith gives us, that well, no matter what our state is in life, God always is there to provide and look after us. And Dr. Oertle what a fantastic blog and article that you’ve written, and thanks so much for your time today.
Dr. John Oertle (10:36):
Oh, you’re very welcome. It’s a pleasure to be able to help share this news.
Join The Movement
Solidarity HealthShare is a non-profit healthcare sharing ministry rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Established in 2016, we operate on the Catholic principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, in accordance with the Church’s commitment to promoting life-affirming, faith-based healthcare.
We strive to provide an ethical, community-driven alternative to traditional health insurance. Through direct Member-to-Member sharing, Members are able to access quality healthcare services while preserving their family’s financial, physical, and spiritual health, all at once. Members never need to worry about their healthcare dollars funding immoral medical procedures. We promote a holistic approach to healthcare, emphasizing the importance of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
At the heart of our ministry’s mission to restore and rebuild an authentically faith-based healthcare culture in America is the recognition that every single person has inherent human dignity. We seek to promote healthcare that honors the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.
To learn more about our community and how to join our fight against abortion on demand, click the banner below!
