So, I've had this hunch since the very first studies pointing towards the herpes/Alzheimer's link and doubled down on it after the discovery of the "glymphatic fluid" system for essentially washing the brain during sleep. And it's impacted a lot of my social decisions to an almost unhealthy extent, but it's validating to see the research and possible payoff.
My hunch has always been: brain cleans itself. So long as brain cleans itself, infections like herpes and some of the bacteria involved in gingivitis can't trigger the amyloid domino effect that could cause Alzheimer's. But once that cleaning mechanism fails (head trauma), the body can't clean the detritus from the brain fighting the infection anymore. Apoe4's association with boosted hsv outbreaks factored in as well.
I'm oversimplifying it and am probably taking wild stabs in the dark, but I'm hoping the avoidance of high risk behaviors ends up paying off.
But the next question is whether this is all for nothing — if VZV (chickenpox/shingles) ends up having a similar effect... we're already giving our kids weakened VZV vaccines anyway. Seems like the longer term solutions will be:
1) vaccines to prevent hsv/vzv/hhv etc, but they'd end up being love and thus pose a similar but lessened risk
2) ensuring a way to excise the viral DNA from any of these
3) finding a means to rebuild the glymphatic membrane after trauma.
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My comment is a lot of wild pontification. Any MDs wanna provide a sanity check on anything I said?
I'm just wondering how we can stimulate the glymphatic waste clearing system. Like if it is CSF flowing into the brain that removes waste products what can we do to promote that.
I have found that sleeping on the left side and meditation like yoga nidra maybe possible.
But I'm really looking for something like TCDS or a specific exercise or supplement.
My hunch has always been: brain cleans itself. So long as brain cleans itself, infections like herpes and some of the bacteria involved in gingivitis can't trigger the amyloid domino effect that could cause Alzheimer's. But once that cleaning mechanism fails (head trauma), the body can't clean the detritus from the brain fighting the infection anymore. Apoe4's association with boosted hsv outbreaks factored in as well.
I'm oversimplifying it and am probably taking wild stabs in the dark, but I'm hoping the avoidance of high risk behaviors ends up paying off.
But the next question is whether this is all for nothing — if VZV (chickenpox/shingles) ends up having a similar effect... we're already giving our kids weakened VZV vaccines anyway. Seems like the longer term solutions will be:
1) vaccines to prevent hsv/vzv/hhv etc, but they'd end up being love and thus pose a similar but lessened risk
2) ensuring a way to excise the viral DNA from any of these
3) finding a means to rebuild the glymphatic membrane after trauma.
---
My comment is a lot of wild pontification. Any MDs wanna provide a sanity check on anything I said?