BISMARCK, N.D. (KX News) – Alzheimer’s is genetic, and one North Dakota woman has had her fill of the disease after watching multiple generations of her family go through it.

She shares her unexpected solution in holding onto, and improving memory.

Pam Kostelecky lost her sister to Alzheimer’s in 2016. She has an Aunt suffering from it and has lost an uncle as well.

Now that her mother has developed dementia, she started researching solutions with her own daughter, and they found out, CBD could have the answers they’ve been looking for.

Pam Kostelecky says she began to experience a decline in her own memory.

She shares, “I had become really concerned because I was having an issue with words and not being able to find my words, which is what happened to my sister.”

So, she turned to CBD. She said she wasn’t really expecting a change when she started.

Kostelecky adds, “I just felt if I could maintain what I have with memory and brain clarity, which wasn’t so ‘brain clear’, I would be happy as long as I didn’t go down that road.”

She says three days later she felt mentally sharper.

Kostelecky explains, “My vision was sharper. My thoughts were connecting the dots.”

KX News spoke to a physical therapist who says she has been recommending it to her patients.

Dakota Physical Therapy Owner April Bergan shares, “I have more people asking me than I tell them.”

She explained how our bodies naturally produce some cannabidiol. But she says we’re now deficient because it’s not in our foods like it used to be.

Bergan explains, “The cows were eating it, we were consuming more of it, and now we’re not. So, we’re deprived of it and that’s the issue. It’s not that we’re taking something we’ve never had before and introducing it. It’s actually something we need.”

After finding success for herself, Kostelecky started sharing the wealth with her mom.

She adds, “She began having conversations with me, and great conversations and funny. And it’s like her personality came back too.”

It hasn’t been a perfect journey, and her mom was taken off CBD due to other medications.

As for Kostelecky, she says her confidence is back, and she’s no longer as worried about losing her train of thought in holding a conversation.

She says, “We can’t say that it cures, treats or mitigates any type of disease. But we do see in personal lives and testimonies of incredible changes.”

Kostelecky says it took a lot of research. Even with hemp-derived CBD being legal now nationwide, under the 2018 Farm Bill, research is in its early stages, and it’s important to know what you’re getting.

Last month I shared advice from the owner of a Bismarck health store about what to look for when buying CBD products. For a link to that information, click here.