I don’t know much about Alzheimer’s, but I did have a grandmother who passed away from that disease. Am I worried about my pot use causing Alzheimer’s? No.
This research was published today in some Alzheimer’s magazine. It centers around a very expensive brain scan (not covered by insurance) which the author has been selling at his California clinic for almost a decade.
At first, I thought there might be something to this research. After all, we’re talking about a brain scan here. But I wondered how they can tell if a brain is acting abnormally when they don’t know what the brain looked like before the so-called long-term pot use.
How much did each person use every day? What kind? Was it homegrown or doused with chemicals from a dispensary? What were the ages and genders of the patients? Did any of them suffer from addiction, depression, PTSD, or chronic pain? Because you can’t blame pot when other medical conditions affect the brain.
In other words, I think this research is full of shit. Yes, we all know that pot can mess with your memory. But so can a bunch of other stuff, including pollution and old age.
So, here’s the information I found. You decide.
http://www.content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad160833
Conclusion: Multiple brain regions show low perfusion on SPECT in marijuana users. The most predictive region distinguishing marijuana users from healthy controls, the hippocampus, is a key target of Alzheimer’s disease pathology. This study raises the possibility of deleterious brain effects of marijuana use.
Authors: Amen, Daniel G.; Darmal, Borhana; Raji, Cyrus A.; Bao, Weining; Jorandby, Lantiea; Meysami, Somayeha; Raghavendra, Cauligi S.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/dec/01/psychiatrists-couch-dr-daniel-amen-md/
The Washington Post wrote that by almost any measure Dr. Daniel Amen is the most popular psychiatrist in America. He is a double board certified psychiatrist, who has written 10 New York Times bestselling books, including the mega-bestseller “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.”
I’ve never heard of this doctor, but then I don’t buy self-help books.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/shame-on-pbs/
I used to have a high opinion of PBS. They ran excellent programs like Nova and Masterpiece Theatre and I felt I could count on finding good programming when I tuned into my local PBS channel. No more.
It was bad enough when they started featuring Deepak Chopra, self-help programs, and “create your own reality” New Age philosophy, but at least it was obvious what those programs were about. What is really frightening is that now they are running programs for fringe medical claims and they are allowing viewers to believe that they are hearing cutting edge science.
Neurologist Robert Burton has written excellent articles for salon.com pointing out the questionable science presented by doctors Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman in their PBS programs…
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2008/05/caution_that_program_may_not_b.html
“It’s 10 on a Saturday night and on my local PBS station a diminutive middle-aged doctor with a toothy smile and televangelical delivery is facing a rapt studio audience. ‘I will show you how to make your brain great, including how to prevent Alzheimer’s disease,’ he declares. ‘And I’m not kidding.’
“Before the neurologist in me can voice an objection, the doctor, Daniel Amen, is being interviewed by on-air station (KQED) host Greg Sherwood. Sherwood is wildly enthusiastic. After reading Amen’s book, ‘Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,’ Sherwood says, ‘The first thing I wanted to do was to get a brain scan.’ He turns to Amen. ‘You could start taking care 10 years in advance of ever having a symptom and prevent Alzheimer’s disease,’ he says. ‘Yes, prevent Alzheimer’s disease,’ Amen chimes in.
“Wait a minute. Prevent Alzheimer’s disease? Is he kidding? But Sherwood is already holding up Amen’s package of DVDs on learning your risk factors for A.D., as well as his book with a section titled ‘Preventing Alzheimer’s.’ Then, as though offering a landmark insight into a tragic disease — and encouraging viewers to pledge money to the station — Sherwood beams and says, ‘This is the kind of program that you’ve come to expect from PBS.’
http://www.yelp.com/biz/amen-clinics-costa-mesa-4
Amen Clinics
Counseling & Mental Health; Psychiatrists
5/2/2015
Worst experience ever. Especially when you’re in a extremely depressed state of mind. I did all the tests and it came down to just an internist “reading” my results and pushing their vitamin supplements onto me. Ugh. Don’t go here. They’re no help.
3/3/2016
Beware – Amen Clinics preys on mentally ill people and the families who love them. The clinic will bleed you dry with “off label” treatments, nutrition classes, supplements, charges to fill out insurance paperwork, and routine services that cost 2x what regular providers charge. Amen Clinic’s pushes their expensive services even when they aren’t working…
11/20/2016
The cost associated with said process/treatment is staggering…
http://www.nextavenue.org/can-marijuana-save-aging-brain/
Cannabinoids, the active chemical components of marijuana, can regulate inflammation in the brain and promote neurogenesis — the growth of new neural pathways — even in cells damaged by age or trauma. As more research has indicated that brain inflammation appears to be a cause of several degenerative diseases, marijuana has been getting a closer look as a potential preventive medication.
In a 2006 study published in Molecular Pharmaceutics, a team of University of Connecticut researchers reported that THC, the chemical compound responsible for marijuana’s high, “could be considerably better at suppressing the abnormal clumping of malformed proteins that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease than any currently approved prescription.”
To be clear, most scientists investigating the link between cannabinoids and brain health are not advocating widespread casual marijuana smoking to ward off Alzheimer’s disease. Marijuana possession remains illegal and research has shown that long-term, frequent marijuana use can impair memory, focus and decision-making…
In 2007, Ohio State University researchers published a paper stating that medications which can stimulate cannabinoid receptors in the brain “may provide clinical benefits in age-related diseases that are associated with brain inflammation, such as Alzheimer’s disease.” In 2009, Italian and Israeli researchers found that cannabidiol (CBD), marijuana’s primary non-psychoactive cannabinoid, may also block the formation of the plaques in the brain believed to bring on Alzheimer’s.
Wenk believes that, in humans, “the equivalent of one puff a day” could help ward off dementia. “I have said to older people, ‘Try it,’” Wenk says. “They email me back to say it’s helping. It’s worked in every rat we’ve given it to. We have some happy, intelligent old rats.”
All Things Chronic 