I have been hearing about volcanic ash as a way to help older people with memory loss. I have read that it removes toxins/metals from the brain that interfere with the memory.
My Mother has Alzheimer's Disease so I do not think it will help but may give it a shot as the Namenda does not seem to really be slowing down the progression of this horrible disease.
What your looking for is called: "ZEOLITE"
this is a real product that pulls poisons out of our bodies naturally;
made from volcanoes (ash) that mixes with the ocean salts and is made into Zeolites...good luck
Please look up Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction in Wikipedia for information on how endotoxins released during the death of organisms killed by antibiotics, antibacterials or even home detoxification products can result in a malaise. This is the reason I recommended that any detoxification undertaking you wish to introduce to your mother should be medically supervised.
The bentonite clay plugged me up but I should probably try some again but with lower amounts to start. I had severe digestive problems and that is when I was introduced to these products, a change in diet.
My mercury exposure was when a dentist used a vibrational tool on a mercury/silver filling that had a post in it. He didn't put a mask on me and I inhaled the dust from the grinding. It was a horrible experience and rather scary for me.
(you appear to be new to the site, so I should mention I am a nutritional consultant and para-medical esthetician for 40+ years, retired but not out of the research or counselor loop as yet)
Heavy metal toxicity is also suspect in many systemic or autoimmune conditions. In the world of natural health & healing, it is the reason that many nutritional doctors and practitioners have been recommending for over 40 years to get the "silver" fillings (mercury based amalgam - NOT silver, just silver colored) replaced by gold or porcelain.
There are several methods for heavy metal detoxification. One is medically intravenous chelating (pronounced KEY-lay-ting) infusions (this is NOT the same as chelatED minerals), and is the way to go when heavy metal toxicity or poisoning is identified as an immediate threat to your health because the detoxification is medically supervised and quantitatively controlled.
Many folks who seem otherwise healthy have subclinical amounts of heavy metal toxicity (often not discovered in blood lab work but in such things as hair strand analysis) which would not be identified as immediately life threatening. For individual home-choice cleansing, there is an array of products available through the health industry and these are also called chelating agents.
Bentonite Clay, a form of volcanic ash - I bet you thought I'd never get to your question! - has been taken internally for decades by preventative health enthusiasts to detoxify heavy metals. Diatomacious Earth has also been used in the same way. If you want to do research about this, start there.
So, there is the causal chain they're looking for. The relationship of heavy metals to memory loss to dementia to Alzheimer's to detoxification as a retardant or reversal of the brain damage that leads to AD and some other dementias.
Although there's nothing scientifically proven in the peer-reviewed DOCTOR journals, it remains a significant research path in the nutritional and physiological world. The doctor who mentioned it to you? Good for her/him! Ask more questions. You never know who's on the right or the wrong track when it comes to research.
I was exposed to a large amount of mercury several years ago. I ended up having 6 times the maximum allowed mercury in my system due to exposure mercury dust. Two days after the exposure I lost my short term memory. I couldn’t remember much after reading it. It was a very scary experience for me.
I ended up doing some IV chelation therapy, and eating lots of foods that are helpful for removing mercury from my system. Foods such as cilantro, chlorella, etc.
I still have 1.5 times the maximum allowed in my system but I did get my short term memory back. This happened when I was 48 years old. I am praying that this does not cause permanent damage and that I do not come up with dementia symptoms at an early age. It’s a scary thought.
My understanding is that dementia tangles begin many many years before the symptoms begin to show. Meaning that when someone 80 years old starts showing symptoms the damage could have started when they were in their 60s.
Can that be reversed after those disconnections have already occurred. I don’t know.
I have read that chelation therapy and eating certain foods can help to prevent metals from embedding themselves in the mitochondria of your cells.
I continue to eat chlorella and eat plenty of greens to help keep my system clear.
I would do some more research on the subject