GETTING VACCINATED FOR SHINGLES ALSO REDUCES THE RISK OF DEMENTIA!

 First, on Trump and War.

• Ukraine-Russia War has not been solved in one day.
• Israel-Hamas War is getting worse and worse.  Trump's attempt to convert the Gaza Strip into an American resort was taken by the Middle East to be a big joke.

• 
  He has initiated a global trade war.
• The bear market woke up today.
• Dow Jones:  - 1630  3.9% drop
• S&P 500:  -274  4.84% drop
• Nasdaq composite:  -1050  -6.97%
• Countermeasures and retaliation will of course occur.

• 
  Ordinary households will be most affected, for they will be hurt by higher prices on everything, with a higher unemployment rate.
• Stagflation, inflation and recession are looming.
• Read this article released today in The Economist, President Trump's mindless tariffs will cause economic havoc.

Shingles can be terrible, and could be hurting you for up to a month.  I was tempted to show a few photos, but will save you the horror.

Early Symptoms: 

• Burning, tingling, or shooting pain in a specific area of the body, usually on one side
• Numbness or sensitivity to touch
• Itching 

Later Symptoms: 

• Red rash with fluid-filled blisters
• Blisters that may break open and crust over
Fever
Headache
Chills
Nausea or upset stomach
Fatigue 

Other Symptoms: 

Sensitivity to light
Weakness in the affected area (rare)

Worse:

Shingles can lead to serious complications. The most common complication of shingles is postherpetic neuralgia, or severe pain in the rash area that lasts for months or years. Approximately 10%–18% of people will experience this complication, and the risk of the complication increases with age.1

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Shingles (herpes zoster).

Many elders avoid taking the vaccine, Shingrix, for there is a risk of contracting Guillain-Barré syndrome, a terrible ailment.  Here is the story.

• Chicken pox is not common today (4% rate) because children are vaccinated to prevent this from happening.
• In my day (I'm old), this percentage was closer to 80%.
• My brother took the shingles vaccine, got G-BS and almost died.  However, the odds of this happening are only 3 in a million.
• But more than 10% of those who earlier had chicken pox, go on to have shingles.  Another source indicated that 1 out of 3 people in the U.S. will develop shingles.
• Or a million cases of shingles/year in the U.S.
• The chicken pox vaccine only became available from 1995.
• Thus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all adults age 50 and over receive two doses of Shingrix to prevent shingles.  
• This shot is recommended even if you never had chicken pox.  
• Even more so if you have any kind of weakened immune system.
• Also for those as young as 18 with immunodeficiency or immunosuppression caused by disease or medication.

I purposefully am covering this subject because only today, a new study found that the SHINGLES VACCINE COULD BE THE NEXT BEST TOOL TO PREVENT DEMENTIA!!!

• In Nature, Stanford Medicine reported about research on Welsh older adults who received the shingles vaccine, and they found that they were less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years than those who did not receive the vaccine.
• Actually, only 20% less likely.
• However, senior author Pascal Geldsetzer thought this finding was striking, and that women had more pronounced protection from dementia than men.
• Of course, two-thirds of all those with dementia are female.
• The researchers further said that those adults who take the shingles vaccine also tended to have other healthy habits that helped prevent dementia, such as exercising and eating a healthy diet.
• Why the connection between shingles and dementia?  Both ailments are related to viruses that affect the nervous system.
• Interestingly enough, if you actually get stricken by shingles, this will raise your risk of dementia by 20%, from an earlier finding last year published in Alzheimer's Research and Therapy.

I'm thinking, does this mean that by my taking Shingrix, I actually am 40% less likely to get dementia?  First for just taking the vaccine.  But also, for lowering my chances of catching shingles, which would tend to increase the risk of dementia.

About dementia, would you take a blood test to find out if you will someday have Alzheimer's?

• There are now two new treatments for Alzheimer's disease.  Both would help if taken before symptoms appear.
• But tests to detect the coming of this disease lags.
• PET scans can pick up amyloid plaques, the clumps of protein that are found in the brain, but only after the onset.
• 
  Nature Medicine reports that the Bateman Lab at Washington University in St. Louis revealed promising results of a blood test they developed to detect a different form of tau than the one shown in a PET scan.  Said Randall Bateman:
• This crystalized form of tau can be detected earlier, and blood is a convenient target rather than the brain or spinal cord.
• Further, their research is proceeding to develop new strategies for controlling and slowing the progression of Alzheimer's.

Finally, 15 Craigside will have another mass inoculation for the latest COVID-19 vaccine.  Unfortunately, I will be away on a trip.  So I went to Long's down the road and got vaccinated.  My health plan apparently covers this shot.  I mention this because Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning people over 50 to do this now!

• According to the CDC, COVID-19 infections increased 5% last week.
• If your last booster was four months or longer ago, Fauci says go now.
• This is especially important for those 65 and older, or if 50 and older with underling health concerns.
• What is Dr. Fauci now doing?  After 38 years at the National Institutes of Health, he is now a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Medicine and McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown.

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