Health O.C. doctor manages to stop Alzheimer's progression
Saddleback Valley NewsJun 16, 2017
Like his father before him and millions of others,
Plaque was building up. Part of his brain was starting to shrink. Although invisible to everyone including himself, the first stages of Alzheimer's disease were beginning to take hold.
But following a program of healthy eating, exercise,
Now 64, Esau is doing so well he co-manages a team of more than 100 people in the complex world of finance investment.
Sitting in his Santa Fe-style home in Mission Viejo, Esau smiles and gives credit to Dr.
Shankle is extra careful to point out that Esau is fortunate - and unusual. His patient made sure to get tested before the usually progressive disease had a chance to make a significant dent.
Shankle has researched Alzheimer's for more than three decades, is on the
for Alzheimer's Research and Treatment at
The
Growing disease
Esau and his wife are private people with two adult children and five grandchildren. They are going public to shine light on a disease that is often misunderstood and hidden in shame in the shadows.
Some 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's, a number that will grow to 7.7 million within the next 13 years, according to the
Alzheimer's affects at least 1 in 10 people over the age of 65. It kills more people than breast and prostate cancer combined. And 1 in 3 seniors will die with Alzheimer's or other dementia.
There is no cure. There is no way to reverse Alzheimer's. But as Esau suggests, there are rays of hope.
More than anything, Esau hopes to encourage people to be tested for Alzheimer's and that if they test positive, they follow medical advice. "I want to put others on this path."
Esau works for the global accounting firm
Esau's dad was a West Point graduate, a Harvard MBA and a retired
But that was a quarter-century ago, a time when relatively little was known about Alzheimer's.
Scientists today continue to unravel why older adults suffer from the disease, the impact of things in the brain called plaques and tangles, how age is related to hippocampal shrinkage, the connection of genes known as apolipoprotein E.
Shankle allows that Esau's gene type included apolipoprotein E genes from both parents. That made his risk for Alzheimer's 10 times higher than for someone without the markers.
Still, there is progress.
Treatment helps
Shankle reports that with early treatment, 45 percent of patients have what he calls "a curable condition, they can go on with life as before."
With simple changes in lifestyle, some people can reduce risk by 30 percent. With medicine and a healthy lifestyle, the doctor reports 33 percent to 60 percent of patients can delay symptoms for 15 to 20 years.
Esau volunteers he takes
"I'll get Alzheimer's if I live long enough," Esau chuckles wryly, "but hopefully I'll live long enough to die of something else."
Esau offers three golden rules that also are endorsed by the
The accountant says his father was a three-sport athlete at West Point, but admits that later in life he was more sedentary. "Dad was a meat and potatoes guy."
Second, stay active. Esau skis and plays rigorous racquetball three days a week for as long as three hours.
Third, keep your mind active. Don't retire into the couch and stare at television all day.
Shankle explains that such things as the state of someone's marriage, their friendships and even their occupation can affect Alzheimer's. He says the greater the stress level, the greater the risk of disease.
"There also are very good studies that show that lifelong learning helps increase connections in the brain," Shankle says. He says he's found that active minds in middle age can mirror brains of people in their 20s.
During a two-hour conversation, Esau shows no hint of forgetting anything. At all.
I wonder about the difference between normal forgetfulness and Alzheimer's. The accountant warms to the question. "Walking into a room and wondering why you are there is normal.
"Walking into a room, picking up a set of keys and not knowing what they are for is Alzheimer's."
I will add for you worrywarts that science confirms that spacing out walking into a room is no big deal.
A study by a team of scientists at the