An individual noticed their urine sample take a suspicious turn on Jan. 13, a Canadian BMJ peer review review paper notes, leading to a subsequent test that revealed muscle tissue had come into contact with a form of DNA carrying Alzheimer’s, causing COVID-19 to show up. Although the individual had no history of any health issues, the risk of head, neck or spine trauma also was higher, something the authors agree with.
Though usually seen in older adults, the 62-year-old is one of 200 individuals in the U.S. who has been diagnosed with the disease, and among more than 800,000 nationwide. Now, the authors write, all brain imaging tests have been stopped.
The follow-up has been very different from the original diagnosis, Adams wrote. Adams described how even as a child in “pyjamas and dirty clothes, and wearing an old pacifier,” he would always “have to go to the restroom and stand in line to do it.” After undergoing the health tests, his bladder “felt very tight.”
“Needless to say, in the early days of diagnosis, no amount of persuasion could sway me to share this new information with my family and friends. As you can imagine, I was unsure of how to inform my baby brother,” Adams said in a statement on Facebook.
“Then I realized that the tiny amount of extra brain chemicals and blood in my urine could point towards Alzheimer’s Disease. I know that if I had waited any longer to share this news, my brother may not have discovered it on his own. The good news is that from this experience, the doctors at CIUSSS St. John’s-Hopkins found a way to slow down the progression of my brain disease.”
“I am not doing this for attention. In fact, I actually hate it when people ask me to talk about this publicly. I would much rather focus on how the universe works and what we can do to build a better future and to make the world a better place for all of us. I believe that healing begins when we accept our personal imperfections, believe in ourselves and work to improve ourselves through a more active lifestyle.”
Adams has also started a fund to encourage others to live healthy lifestyles and change their attitudes and perceptions about aging and disease.