Optimizing lifestyle habits with Friedreich's ataxia
George Wilmot, MD, PhD, shares about the value of guiding Friedreich’s ataxia patients to refine lifestyle habits that can support long-term health with the disease.
About George Wilmot, MD, PhD
George Wilmot, MD, PhD, is a board-certified neurologist affiliated with a few hospitals, including Emory University Hospital. He also serves as an associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology and adjunct associate professor at the the school’s Department of Pediatrics. He is an ataxia clinical researcher and he started the Cooperative Ataxia Registry.
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Transcript
Lifestyle in Friedreich’s, and dietary and everything, I just think it’s important in every neurodegenerative disease where the disease is going to progress. And even with Skyclarys, which is great that we have that now, there still is progression of the disease that we’ve seen in the study.
So things are gonna get worse in the long run, even on medicine. So I think it’s really important to basically tune up the body in as many ways as you can and keep as healthy in general as you can.
And diet is an important part of that. Avoiding the high-sugar foods and high-fat foods and all the kind of commonsense approaches to overall healthiness applies in Friedreich’s just like it does for anybody. But it maybe even applies more when there’s the neurologic disease, because that’s a modifiable thing that you can do.
Exercise is really important. When you’re limited physically, you have to work on the physical manifestations in a way that’s safe, maybe guided by therapists and a good bit of common sense. But staying very active, eating well, avoiding tobacco use and overindulgence in alcohol or any drug use — all of that is just very, very important.
David Lynch, MD, PhD, is the director of the Friedreich’s Ataxia Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.