A New Approach to an Old Disease

Confusion, memory loss, an inability to communicate, misplacement of belongings; these are all symptoms one may experience when diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

However, forgetting where you left your car keys or having trouble remembering the final item on your grocery list does not mean you are developing Alzheimer’s. In fact, memory lapses are common in people as they increase in age.

Instead, the safest way to know if you have Alzheimer’s is via a set of memory and cognitive tests that will accurately determine your diagnostics.

In America, there is currently an estimated 5.8 million people living with this terrifying, cryptic and discouraging disease.

This number, according to www.alz.org, includes 5.6 million people over the age of 65 with Alzheimer’s disease and 200 thousand under age 65 diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer’s.

Unfortunately, there is no current remedy to curing Alzheimer’s disease, but there are various forms of medication that can slow down the disease.

Yet, throughout the years, researchers have been led to the idea that a healthy diet, daily exercise, and consistent social and educational activities can keep Alzheimer’s and dementia at bay for some time.

This is something that Long Beach-based doctor, Susan Sklar has focused her study and practice on.

“I began to learn more about hormones and decided I did want to focus my professional career on what was then called anti-aging medicine,” said Dr. Sklar. “And as I got deeper and deeper into the anti-aging medicine field, I learned a lot of how lifestyle, hormones and supplements can slow down the aging process in ways I never thought possible.”

Dr. Sklar is a Harvard-trained gynecologist who has over 20 years of practice in the medical field.

From the Boston University of Medicine to Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital, Dr. Sklar’s health journey and expertise led her to take a different approach on how the body and all its system’s work together.

In 2007, Dr. Sklar established the Sklar Center for Restorative Medicine to focus on the need for functional medicine in the community.

“The field I’m in is called functional medicine, it’s a somewhat pioneering field and a lot is not recognized by mainstream medicine so it’s one of the challenges we have,” said Dr. Sklar.

However, everything not being recognized by mainstream medicine hasn’t been too much of a toll for Dr. Sklar.

She was one of the first trainees of Dr. Bredesen, a neurologist at the University of California Los Angeles, who wrote the book “The End of Alzheimer’s.”

Dr. Bredsen also recognized that Alzheimer’s is not one disease, it can have a number of causes and if you can figure out what those causes are you can do something about it.

The work Dr. Sklar does is scientifically based so she doesn’t do anything where there isn’t any research to backup her practices.

“We look at the whole person not just different body systems,” said Dr. Sklar. “Because a lot of what’s wrong with people has to do with multiple body systems and not just one in particular.”

And that is how Alzheimer’s is being tackled in the Sklar Center for Restorative Medicine.

Some key factors for optimal cognition include, a healthy diet, daily exercise, stress reduction and consistent sleep.

All these factors have benefits that aren’t stressed enough. A healthy diet which involves vegetables and fruits, reduces sugar and refined carbs that can damage brain issue and cause inflammation.

Exercise stimulates Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), an important protein that grows new brain cells. Consistent sleep helps with amyloid removal, neurological sanitation and waste products being removed.

“We target the root cause, not the symptoms, for a deeper approach and for more lasting solutions,” said Dr. Sklar.

For more information on restorative medicine, visit www.Sklarcenter.com or call (562) 596-5196.

francisco@beachcomber.news