InflamAging Brain Symptom List and Supports
We all have the capacity to degenerate our brain.
Inflammation from many causes is damaging our neurons which can’t easily be replaced. Causes include unhealthy lifestyle patterns, negative stress, sleep dysregulation and fragmentation, toxins, inflammation, concussion, excitotoxicity, exercise deficits and malnutrition.
As we get older this loss of neurons seems to accelerate. The healthiest elderly, however, have minimal brain function decline even into their 90’s so there is hope. Early intervention and change is EXTREMELY important. Do NOT ignore early brain degeneration symptoms because you can’t get back the brain neurons you lose!
Earliest Symptoms of Brain Degeneration
Fatigue – reading, driving, being on the computer makes me tired sooner than it used to.
Depression – often an early sign of neurodegeneration as the frontal cortex is not firing properly.
Poor Digestion – as brain degenerates, we have less signaling to the parasympathetic (green nerves) control centers that turn on digestion, blood flow to gut, healing, and repair. Constipation, leaky gut, multiple food sensitivities, too little or too much saliva, dry mouth and eyes, and swallowing problems are common early symptoms of brain degeneration.
Symptoms Related to Moderate Brain Degeneration
- Inability to focus or concentrate
- Difficulty learning new tasks
- Chronic constipation, SIBO and other opportunistic intestinal pathogen overgrowth, digestive enzyme deficiency
- Increased Sympathetic Tone (yellow nerves):
- Increased blood pressure
- Increased resting heart rate
- Stress susceptibility and sleep problems
- Loss of autonomic tone and sympathetic (yellow nerves) overactivity – cold hands and feet, fungal overgrowth of toe nails from poor blood flow.
Symptoms Related to Significant Brain Degeneration
- Inability to work professionally – business or career starts to fail
- Can’t stay on time anymore, inability to grow and learn
- Inability to appreciate life – lives in chronic depression, lose excitement and enthusiasm
- Inability to perceive neurological loss – not aware that their driving is no longer safe
- Early signs of Neurologic Disease – tremors, difficulty with directions, etc
Earliest Signs of Dementia
- Poor short term memory
- Difficulty learning
- Difficulty with directions
- Decreased brain endurance
What Can We Do?
There is hope as long as we don’t wait too long to support our brain with TLC. TLC (therapeutic lifestyle change tailored to fit our unique needs) is tender loving care to your brain – your most important organ for Wellness and quality of life.
Brain research shows 5 major causes of Brain Aging and Neurodegeneration:
1. Reduced Blood Flow and oxygen thus gas exchange to our brain neurons
2. Essential Phospholipid Imbalances – Our brain is made of 60% phospholipids
- The DHA part of fish oil (EPA-DHA) is most important for brain health.
- Phosphocholine provides a substrate for Choline to make acetylcholine.
3. Neurotransmitter System Dysfunction stops the network regulating and connecting
4. Neuroinflammation damages neurons, and activates gliosis
5. Oxidative Phosphorylation dysfunction and structural damage of the brain cells
Improve Brain Blood Flow
Brain Balance Support
- This provides greater plasma O2 concentration and increased capillary angiogenesis. Is shown to Reduce Inflammatory cytokines such as Il6, and increases tissue repair. Evidence for low Level HBOT exists showing it helps in dementia.
NOx– boost to brain and body blood flow quickly – acute effect
- Boosts brain endurance, focus, and metabolic endurance during exercise.
- Adjust dose (1 – 4 tablespoons) until “brain gets brighter” = brain fog symptoms gone. Hands and feet should feel warmer.
- Too much can create diarrhea and vomiting.
- Ideal to take before exercise.
Brain Boost – longer-term boost to brain blood flow
- Better circulation so nutrients and supplements can get to our brain
- Best taken with meals.
- Improved circulation reduces inflammation and neurodegeneration.
Improve Brain Phospholipid Balance
Brain Boost Support
- CPD choline, phosphatidylserine for cell energy and nerve signaling support and memory. Bacopa, Ginko and decaffeinated coffee bean to improve focus and concentration. With B vitamins, zinc and magnesium cofactors.
- DHA/EPA soft gels capsules. Brain-supporting DHA at a 26:1 ratio to EPA. Highest ratio to support brain cell membrane fluidity so nutrients can pass into the cell easily. This rebalance the excess omega 6 to omega 3 in diet.
- Avoid fried foods and processed foods with toxic hydrogenated fats.
Neurotransmitter System Support
- Acetylcholine System
- GABA System
- Seratonin System
- Dopamine System
- Catecholamine System
Earliest Sign of Dementia is Acetylcholine system failure with these symptoms
- Loss of photographic memory – remember what you just looked at.
- Difficulty with sense of direction – depend on navigation system
- Poor memory: constantly losing keys, phone, etc. Can’t remember where car was parked, forgetting appointments, tasks, …
- Hard time remembering words, names, places
- Slow mental speed
- Problems in muscle control, sleep, and cognition (clear thinking)
4 Types of Memory
- Working Memory –short term information holding so we can reason and make decisions. Frontal & Parietal cortex involved.
- Short-term Convert to Long-term Memory – Hippocampus involved.
- Declarative Memory – memory of facts and events so can be consciously recalled. Temporal lobe involved.
- Procedural Memory – knowing how to do things like walking, talking, and riding a bike. Cerebellum involved.
Temporal lobe still working = remember 30 years ago but can’t remember this morning if hippocampus damaged.
- Unhealthy frontal cortex = depression, then less acetylcholine which increases glial activation and neurodegeneration
- Anti-depressants have no evidence to support use for mild to moderate
- No evidence of effectiveness except for suicidal, end stage depression
Brain Balance Support
Acetyl-CH Active – focused support for Acetylcholinergic system
- Huperzine A
- Inhibits breakdown of acetylcholine so it acts longer at synapse
- Stimulates neuron branching & supports healthy nitric oxide expression
- Research shows reverses amyloid plaques and tau protein Neurofibrillary tangles that block nerve transmission in degenerated brains.
- Improves acetylcholine receptor sensitivity
- CDP Choline (Citicholine)
- An important building block for making acetylcholine
- Important for healthy cell membrane function & nitric oxide expression
- Increases glutathione production and recycling
- Decreases inflammation
- Helps remove Beta amyloid plaques
- N-Acetyl-L-Carnitine
- Supports converting fats into energy boosting brain cell energy production
- Precursor to acetylcholine
- Panthothenic Acid (B5)
- Cofactor to support production of acetylcholine
- Best taken together with other 7 B vitamins in a B complex
GABA System
Degeneration leads to increasing:
- Depression
- Loss of Motivation – get up and go, got up and went
- Inability to finish tasks
- Slow movements and slow mind
- Need caffeine to stay focused
- Crave chocolate, red meat – precursors to l-dopa
- Poor compliance/follow-through with health programs etc.
- Irritable, quick to snap at every little thing – poor neural gating
- Can’t turn off what they think but should not say
- Constipation with loss of smell and taste – even restaurant food doesn’t taste good so stay home.
Brain Balance Support
Stress Calm Gummies
- Multifactor support to boost GABA levels and GABA activity
- Theanine has activity to release GABA -powerful effect, short and term use to avoid stress doom loops
Serotonin System
Degeneration leads to increasing:
- Guilty Depression – feel bad since no good reason to be depressed
- Loss of Joy from friends, hobbies, music, food etc.
- Poor focus, lack of purpose, loss of interest in life
- Overcast weather aggravates
- Poor self-image
- Social isolation
- Cravings and overeating of sugar and starchy carbs
- Slowed reflexes and coordination
Brain Balance Support
Serotonin supports
- Tryptophan
- 5-HTP – precursor support to serotonin
- SAMe – methyl donor
- Brain Lift Gummies
Dopamine System
Degeneration leads to increasing:
- Depression
- Loss of Motivation – get up and go, got up and went
- Inability to finish tasks
- Slow movements and slow mind
- Need caffeine to stay focused
- Crave chocolate, red meat – precursors to l-dopa
- Poor compliance/follow-through with health programs etc.
- Irritable, quick to snap at every little thing – poor neural gating
- Can’t turn off what they think but should not say
- Constipation with loss of smell and taste – even restaurant food doesn’t taste good so stay home.
Brain Balance Support
Brain Lift Gummies
- Precursor support for dopamine, serotonin and enkephlinoids to protect brain areas that make dopamine, and serotonin, reduce pain, and stop relative nutrient deficiency syndromes
- Phenylalanine, Glutamine, Tryptophan,B1,B6, Zinc and magnesium for maintaining mood balance, altering pain loops, and improved muscle activation.
Catecholamine System
Degeneration leads to worsening:
- Mental speed and alertness
- Ability to concentrate
- Cognitive processing – impaired mental performance
- Easily distracted
- Need to caffeine or coffee to function
Brain Balance Support
Brain lift
- L-tyrosine to support dopa and catecholamine systems of brain
- Ginko Bioloba extract –to support catecholamine systems of the brain
- Eleuthero extract – support the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis of the brain
Creatine Gummy
- Supports Brain and mitochondrial energy production
Oxidative Phosphorylation-linked Neuron Excitotoxic Damage
- Decreased mitochondrial energy production leads to increased free radicals and excessive inflammation damaging mitochondrial DNA creating a vicious cycle of downward energy and increasing cell damage.
- Increasing mitochondrial decay triggers decline brain function and cell death.
- Decline in cellular glutathione levels central to this degeneration process.
- Low mitochondrial ATP triggers NMDA receptor activation & excitotoxicity.
- Neurons need ATP and glutathione to slow decay/degeneration
Glutathione Recycling Critical to Mitochondrial and Neuron Health
- Alpha lipoic acid
- Vitamin C
- CoQ10
- Vitamin E
- L-Glutamine
- Selenium
- Silymarin
Brain Balance Support
Detox Liver Gummy
- Protects against protects against neuronal oxidative stress
- Glutathione – neuronal and cellular mitochondrial loss and damage
- Glutathione Boost Max – bioactive s-acetyl glutathione
Neuroinflammation
Degeneration leads to:
- Brain slowing and Brain Fog symptoms
Brain Balance Support
- Vitamin D or ADK plus
- MitoVital
- NAC
- Advanced Probiotic
Methylation
Homocysteine destroys blood vessels and neurodegeneration if above 7. Elevations associated with silent brain infarcts and white matter lesions.
- 3 pathways to reduce homocysteine
- Important to support TMG (Trimethyglycine) for most people, supports digestion and methylation recycling.
Brain Balance Support
Activated B Complex
- Addresses all 3 pathways
- Rich in activated B vitamins and other support factors
Neurodegeneration and the Gut Brain Axis
- It has been claimed that all Neurodegenerative symptoms start in the gut with poor digestion, and with imbalance to the biome.
- Gut bacterial imbalance, fungus, including black mold and candida as well as parasites have all been shown to create an unhealthy environment, upregulate inflammation and interact with the GALT and vagus nerve leading to systemic and brain degeneration.
- Inability to digest Foods such as gluten dairy soy and phenols, has been shown to create symptoms of mood flattening, irritability, as well as bloating, gut pain diarrhea and constipation.
Biome dysregulation leads to:
- Digestive dysfunction and Brain Fog symptoms
- Pain and inflammation in systemic body parts.
- IBS symptoms
Brain/Gut Balance Support
- Advanced Probiotic
- Digestive Enzymes
- ADK plus
- Brain Boost
- Liver Detox Gummies
Autoimmunity in Neurodegeneration
- Role in Alzheimer’s and about 50% of all Parkinson’s patients
- Cyrex Array 5 available to measure autoimmune antibodies for brain tissues
Amyloid plaques and Neurofibrillary tangles slow and block nerve signal transmission
Create an environment to create neuron dendritic branching to decrease effect of loss of an intermediary neuron. This means that to for Neuron A to talk to Neuron C it must connect through neuron B: A – B – C
If neuron B is damaged and dies, the connection stops and our brain suffers.
Dendritic spurring means Neuron A creates branches that reaches across the dead B and connects to Neuron C. The connection still works and your brain works properly.
We stimulate dendritic branching with exercise, increased blood flow, meditation, staying mentally active growing professionally, spiritually etc., traveling, pleasure and positive emotions.
In fact, according to Robert Sapolsky, it is the total lifetime exposure to stress hormones (glucocorticoids) that best predicts the rate of neuronal death in the hippocampus and the degree of cognitive impairment. The degree of cognitive impairment is in turn a reliable predictor of mortality.
- As brain fails, under activation of parasympathetic system and overactivation of sympathetic system occurs.
- 90% of cortical output is to pontomedullary reticulospinal system that inhibits IML (intermediolateral nucleus of spinal cord) which inhibits sympathetic
Up to 30% of 60 year olds have Parkinsonian Symptoms
Laying down of alphas unclean that blocks smell and gut nerves = constipation, then dopa system on brain, then lose activation of direct pathway = slowness of movement.
Do fast movements with fingers, pronate and supinate, tap feet on floor to evaluate
Parkinsonian SX: feel like falling backwards, so lean forward to compensate
Mask face, poor handwriting, Walk slow, flexed forward = Parkinsonian symptoms
Treatment Priority For Brain Neurodegeneration
- Increased blood flow – Nitric Balance and HBOT
- Phospholipid – CDP choline, B Complex, Vitamin D, DHA/EPA
- Neurotransmitter support – can support multiple or all pathways if needed. Can support as long as necessary – no problem with inhibition or dependency
- Neuro Inflammation support Sulphoraphane, Liver Detox gummy, NAC
- Oxidative phosphorylation/Mitochondrial resuscitate support- MitoVital
Nutrient Cofactors To support Brain and Body Health in all areas.
Type 2 Nutrients:
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Iron
- Iodine
Taking care of your brain health is an ongoing journey that grows more important as we age. Small lifestyle changes and mindful habits can go a long way in protecting and supporting your brain. Remember, early action is key, and it’s never too late to start giving your brain the care it needs to thrive. Let’s make brain health a priority for a brighter, healthier future.