The causes of Alzheimer’s disease are likely multifactorial, but one plausible culprit is aluminum. The hypothesis linking aluminum consumption and Alzheimer’s disease, although highly controversial, has been supported by several epidemiological studies.[i][ii] In cases where aluminum has been identified as a cofactor in cognitive decline, measures must be taken to rid the body of aluminum. Enter silica. Below is a discussion regarding a current phase with an Alzheimer’s patient, a phase that has progressed to the use of silica.
Ruth is in her mid 60s. She originally came to me for chronic diarrhea, with the secondary complaint being memory loss, a condition from which her mother and father both eventually passed. “Acupuncture,” here a general term referring to Chinese medicine theory and herbs, holds a close relationship between cognitive function and gut health. This connection is gaining acceptance within biomedicine as well. At the outset then, the primary treatment strategy for Ruth was to boost digestive fortitude by stopping the diarrhea. Only after the bowels functioned correctly on a consistent basis could attention be directed to some of the other cofactors, since the gut should be viewed as the principle culprit in cognitive disorders. If by resolving the gut problem the memory also improves no additional steps need be taken. Here, steps addressing the gut and brain were taken concurrently.
Regarding the brain, Ruth has been taking for the better part of six months a formula that is typically prescribed for stroke. It contains 33 different herbs, the chief being astragalus, known to help cognitive function. Incidentally, her radiological tests discovered an infundibulum. Precipitating the test was an an event where she completely forgot which key unlocked which door at work, keys she’d used for 20 years. However, there was no evidence of stroke, the caveate being that the scans were not sensitive enough to detect such events. It is conceivable that her positive response to the prescription was due to some stroke-like event, though it is possible to deduce that a significant aspect of her condition involved accumulations in the cerebral vasculature that would be likened to phlegm in acupuncture, in addition to the functional ability to move blood.
Ruth is satisfied with how her condition has stabilized and improved (sometimes markedly), but when she stops the herbs lost memory episodes recur within just a few days. This should not be the case, as benefits should build over time. This is where consideration of cofactors like aluminum come into play.
Always looking to use what I have on hand and is cost effective., I decided to look into silica, since I have a huge bag of diatomaceous earth sitting about. I found this site, run by a Harvard professor of chemistry. In one of his YouTube videos he talks about the role silica plays in chelating (expelling) aluminum. He provides a simple recipe for releasing silica into solution for easy absorption by the body. He also relates how his treatment protocol has helped stop and reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s for his mother.
To determine the role that aluminum affected Ruth’s condition, I decided to muscle test her on diatomaceous earth and horsetail, an herb used in acupuncture to treat silicosis, but which is also high in silica content. She tested much stronger for the horsetail than she did the diatomaceous earth. The differences might be attributed to bioavailability, though there is no real way of knowing. The thing is that we’ve received sufficiently positive results from testing in the past and already know that silica has a positive effect on chelating aluminum, so here we’re only looking for her body’s preference. She can always follow the recipe of the Harvard chemist if she chooses.
Conclusion:
The causes for Alzheimer’s is multifactorial. Here, the on-going case with Ruth demonstrates how acupuncture approaches cognitive disorders on multiple levels, i.e., digestion, blood dynamics, and toxicity, in this case aluminum.
[i] Rondeau V., Iron A., Letenneur L., Commenges D., Duchene F., Arveiler B., Dartigues J.F. Analysis of the effect of aluminum in drinking water and transferrin C2 allele on Alzheimer’s disease. Eur. J. Neurol. 2006;13:1022–1025. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2006.01339.x.
[ii] Inan-Eroglu E., Ayaz A. Is aluminum exposure a risk factor for neurological disorders? J. Res. Med. Sci. 2018;23:51.