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Comment by eganist | Hacker News Reader

I remember asking whether the HSV1/Alz link was a fringe theory based on the lack of popular discussion around it (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17446016).

As someone at hopefully an early enough age who hasn't had any (known? -- since there's never any certainty with it) outbreaks, I'm wondering whether getting such a prescription based on family history at this point would be well advised. It'd also be neat exploring the side effects and seeing if that's a worthy trade, but it sounds like it probably is.

Biohacking is fun.

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> It'd also be neat exploring the side effects and seeing if that's a worthy trade, but it sounds like it probably is.

If the parent means, 'it sounds like herpes treatment will probably reduce my risk of Alzheimers', it is almost certainly wrong. That is a dangerous conclusion of amateur medical research.

The existence of a couple studies or analyses correlates very poorly with an effective treatment. Look at all the problems of the drug industry and scientists, with all their knowledge and resources, when trying to convert far more proven research into effective treatments. Even when there are effective treatments, they often need to be carefully implemented in terms of drug design, delivery, dosage, etc.

> Biohacking is fun.

That's a sci-fi fantasy. If someone reading this thinks it's "fun", they have no idea what they are talking about and should stop immediately.

> As someone at hopefully an early enough age who hasn't had any (known? -- since there's never any certainty with it) outbreaks

Not sure what you mean by “there’s never any certainty with it.” You can get tested for HSV1 as part of an STD screening. You just need to ask for it.

23andMe says my risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease during my lifetime is 5.59x the average. There are few side effects that would make me hesitate to try something like this to essentially reduce my risk back to average.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aciclovir#Systemic_therapy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valaciclovir

The less frequent side effects of aciclovir raw are interesting. Likewise for the prodrug valaciclovir (Valtrex). Some of these sound like they're a result of some level of impact on brain function. I can't help but wonder if there's any relation.

But you're right. The adverse effects here don't seem like much of a deterrent in the face of elevated risk.

Couple things: First, 23andMe is not medical advice and I don't know how they get away with supplying such advice. Second, all medications incur risk to your body, so taking something like a Herpes medication for years in the hope that it might prevent Alzheimer's is a bit insane. A doctor needs to prescribe it (in the US, anyways) so you would have to have their approval anyways.

My mother has dementia, so this issue hits home for me, btw. But I don't see myself taking some medication in order to try and prevent something I may never end up getting. Herpes medications are not vitamins, if you get what I mean.

> 23andMe says my risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease during my lifetime is 5.59x the average.

Be careful with those numbers. I would neither fully trust it nor dismiss it. But these genetic heritage companies have been known to get it wrong, a lot (and very wrong in some cases).

From what I heard those genetic tests are about as accurate as saying "You kinda look European and Europeans have a higher risk of Alzheimer's". Not wrong, but also not a guarantee.

That's not true, 23andme tests the APOE gene (and possibly some others too) which does indeed have a large affect on the risk of developing Alzheimer's.

Although having the good version of APOE doesn't mean you'll never get it, and having the bad version doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get it. The odds do shift quite a bit, though.

>Although having the good version of APOE doesn't mean you'll never get it, and having the bad version doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get it.

Well, having the bad version of the genes certainly doesn't guarantee anything if you don't live long enough too. Only 5% of all people who have the disease have developed symptoms before the age of 65 after all, while average life expectancy of men in the US is at 76. It's very well likely to be predisposed to diseases like these and not develop symptoms because something else killed you before it could show up.

That doesn't really mean much without knowing what the average is.

So you should definitely hesitate until you fully grok the numbers.

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