Inside My Own Labs: A ReCODE Practitioner’s Strategy for Alzheimer’s Prevention
Sharing my process for Alzheimer's prevention after early detection test results.
The standard medical approach for Alzheimer’s is incredibly narrow. Patients are given the standard pills or patches that don’t stop or reverse the disease, and/or the much-hyped newer drug infusion treatments designed to clear amyloid plaques from the brain. That’s all this approach has to offer.
As a proactive person who wants to prevent Alzheimer’s, you already know that the current system is failing us. The drug companies just keep doing the same thing over and over by trying to clear amyloid-beta—a short-sighted strategy that still hasn't stopped the disease.
To prevent or treat Alzheimer’s by solely attacking amyloid is like trying to put out a house fire by just turning off the smoke alarm, while the kitchen is still ablaze.
So, what is the actual problem? At the root, Alzheimer’s comes down to two things that aren’t as simple as they sound: chronic immune activation and metabolic dysfunction. If you’re following the research on prevention, then you are hopefully already addressing your metabolic health with proactive testing, diet and lifestyle adjustments.
But what about the chronic immune activation that is mostly silent? Today I’d like to share my personal experience with this; what it is, what led me to uncover it in myself, how I did that, and what I’m doing about it. Without this type of action, it will continue and could eventually lead to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, regardless of my healthy lifestyle.
Alzheimer’s is not a single disease with a single cause. My underlying contributors may not mirror yours, but the point is to learn from the process of discovery and not assume everything is fine because you don’t have symptoms.
Connecting the dots between my functional lab results from several test panels gave me the clarity I needed. Now, I’m taking targeted action to resolve ongoing immune activation for Alzheimer’s prevention before I have symptoms.
Using my own data, I’m not guessing about what to do. I can measure my progress and adjust as needed.
Three powerful instigators of chronic immune activation, especially in combination:
High levels of viral antibodies from past or current infections. Past infections represent dormant viruses that your immune system successfully keeps under wraps—unless something disrupts that balance.
Antibody Activity from a Leaky Gut: When your gut lining becomes compromised, it lets undigested food, toxins, and microbes slip into your bloodstream. This includes wheat gluten and bacterial toxins called lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Because your immune system constantly detects these everyday invaders, it keeps firing and refuses to shut down—creating a state of endless inflammation.
Mycotoxin (Mold) Antibodies: These show up when your body is constantly battling toxins from environmental mold exposure, creating a hidden, ongoing trigger that keeps your immune system active.
Why chronic immune activation is so dangerous:
Because it causes ongoing, low-grade inflammation.
When these triggers are left unaddressed, the immune system can get stuck in the “on” position indefinitely, sending out continuous inflammatory signals as it tries to neutralize the threats.
You might experience any combination of warning signs—such as brain fog, joint pain, gut issues, or insomnia—which are usually medicated as separate conditions while the underlying immune activation continues unchecked. Or, you might not have symptoms you feel concerned about.
Eventually, these circulating inflammatory signals can disrupt the blood-brain barrier. This can allow things to get into the brain that don't belong there, and can also allow brain-derived proteins to leak out into general blood circulation where the immune system reacts to them.
This is why chronic immune activation is so often at the root of Alzheimer's. It’s complicated, but it is one of the most active areas of research right now. You can click this link to read one of many related studies: Systemic inflammation as a central player in the initiation and development of Alzheimer’s
Last week, I shared that my early detection tests showed an elevated p-tau217 (a key marker of tau damage). That result is what led me to test for chronic immune activation in myself.
The rest of this post explains:
The tests I used
Connecting the dots between results because it wasn’t straightforward
The “triage protocol” I developed because I couldn’t do everything at the same time
And what I almost missed that was directly connected to the immune activation revealed.
I’m also sharing a checklist you can use to help determine if chronic immune activation could be affecting you.