Aging Parents and Fish Oil Supplements for Heart & Brain Health

Time for a new blog on the subject of health this Memorial Day weekend.   There has been a lot of information about Fish Oil Supplements and Omega 3 fatty acids possibly reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.  This blog is more of a quick introduction to the topic with more to follow in the future.   For those of you fortunate enough to have your parents still living,  if they are elderly, some of what follows may be familiar.  This inspiration for this blog is my mother who was unfortunately diagnosed last August, at age 84 w/early dementia.  Her doctor prescribed Arricept to slow the progression.  In January, she was also put on Namenda, which is supposed to be a wonder drug for Alzheimers.   I must say that Mom seems to be doing quite well under the circumstances.

One of my sisters drives 120 or so miles every Monday to take her to the psychoneurologist so Mom can do "brain games", get some "brain homework" for the week and discuss coping strategies for optimizing her situation.  I have been driving 140 miles on another day every week to refill her pill boxes, as she needs to take 6 pills every morning and 2 every evening and another one every Saturday.    It takes less than half an hour now to line up all the pill bottles and organize her pills, but it does require a lot of focus, as too much of one drug would be dangerous and not enough would also be detrimental.  When I first checked in with her doctor in January about which medications she should be taking, it turned out she was only taking four of her required eight pills a day.   The doctor found that her blood pressure was up to 160 because she was only taking one of her blood pressure medications daily, not two as she needs to maintain her health.    Three weeks after taking both medications, it was down to 148 and now it is down to 132, which makes her doctor very happy.  My father is 84 and has other health issues to deal with.   I asked the doctor to write down a complete list of their medications and put the one for my mother on the outside of her pill refill box.  My father is able to manage his own medications which is a blessing.

A couple months ago, one of my sister-in-law's and my five month old niece were visiting while I was there.  She has been studying the brain for about six years, ever since their oldest child was diagnosed with autism.  Because of her research on the brain, she suggested Fish Oil Supplements for Mom, which I seconded.  I have been taking Fish Oil supplements daily ever since reading the book "Younger Next Year" by Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry S. Lodge.  They discuss how great this stuff is for optimal health, especially after age 50.

My mother asked "How does it work?" .  She had attended medical school from '48 to '50 where she met my father.  After leaving medical school, she took a year of English Literature in grad school, then worked for a year as an assistant for the famous MD specializing in pain management, Dr. Janet Travel, who was the personal physician to John F. Kennedy while he was in the White House.  The next blog on this subject will be dedicated to answering her question about how Fish Oil works towards heart and brain health.   Do you take Fish Oil supplements?  Were they recommended by your physician or do you take them on your own?