You nailed this one, Kirby, and I love how you provided personal examples to illustrate the myth-busting. While my work incorporated our Memory Care building, I believe every one of these myths came out in discussions with families. The one that frustrated me most (then and now--it's still there) is that dementia and Alzheimer's are interchangeable.. I can still get riled up that doctors are repeating it. Oh, my. Thanks so much for this article and for the drive to bust myths. Way to go.
Mom is 100 years and 7 months old and has vascular dementia. She is an exceptionally intelligent woman who has always followed politics closely. She now sleeps on & off all day. She can't remember day or time or yesterday. By afternoon, she has forgotten the morning. Today she got flowers from her friend Grace. She told one of the aides that Grace sends her flowers "every day." BUT, she's wanted MSNBC on all day & a little while ago she said to me, "Explain to me, without talking so fast like they do, who these tariffs will benefit." !!!
I have to constantly check my assumptions about what she can and cannot understand. She won't remember our 5 minute conversation about tariffs. Even as I write this, she has already drifted off to sleep again. But how wonderful it is when these sparks of her fire burst through dementia's thick smoke.
Kudos to her for making it to 100! My great grandmother lived to 103. My mother is into politics but I'm not as much. Our problem is that we sit on opposite sides so we don't talk about it much. She and my brothers are on the same side of that mess, so they talk about it when they think I can't hear them :)
Dad slept a lot too in his last year or so. He'd sleep until 10 or 11 in the morning, eat breakfast and be back to sleep until he woke for lunch, then he'd eat that and go back to sleep. In the evenings, he'd sometimes fall asleep watching TV, other times he'd stay awake. Those sparks are great indeed. I hope you enjoy many more of them!
The skin picking can be anxiety. Wellbutrin is an antidepressant I believe. Statins are for blood pressure. But know that Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia and they aren’t the same thing. There are other types. We don’t know what causes dementia, but a stroke can cause vascular dementia. I would encourage you to try a different doctor, maybe in a larger town. There are things to help.
Great article again. I would add another misconception: you can handle this alone.
You cannot.
Gather friends and family around you, and your afflicted loved one, let your coworkers know what’s going on with you, and seek out; and make use of the many support structures that exist.
Here in Aus, we have Dementia Australia, Alzheimer’s Australia, Carer’s Gateway, (all of which have both state and federal structures) and they’re wonderful. Most even have 24-hour help lines and they’re there even if you just need to talk or have a cry. Don’t be stubborn or think your shoulders are broader than they are. Take the help
OH! That's a great one!!! Thank you for that! I think that's the frustration of many US caregivers. There are some resources, but not really very many and not national. Our country doesn't take care of it's elderly very well.
You nailed this one, Kirby, and I love how you provided personal examples to illustrate the myth-busting. While my work incorporated our Memory Care building, I believe every one of these myths came out in discussions with families. The one that frustrated me most (then and now--it's still there) is that dementia and Alzheimer's are interchangeable.. I can still get riled up that doctors are repeating it. Oh, my. Thanks so much for this article and for the drive to bust myths. Way to go.
Mom is 100 years and 7 months old and has vascular dementia. She is an exceptionally intelligent woman who has always followed politics closely. She now sleeps on & off all day. She can't remember day or time or yesterday. By afternoon, she has forgotten the morning. Today she got flowers from her friend Grace. She told one of the aides that Grace sends her flowers "every day." BUT, she's wanted MSNBC on all day & a little while ago she said to me, "Explain to me, without talking so fast like they do, who these tariffs will benefit." !!!
I have to constantly check my assumptions about what she can and cannot understand. She won't remember our 5 minute conversation about tariffs. Even as I write this, she has already drifted off to sleep again. But how wonderful it is when these sparks of her fire burst through dementia's thick smoke.
Kudos to her for making it to 100! My great grandmother lived to 103. My mother is into politics but I'm not as much. Our problem is that we sit on opposite sides so we don't talk about it much. She and my brothers are on the same side of that mess, so they talk about it when they think I can't hear them :)
Dad slept a lot too in his last year or so. He'd sleep until 10 or 11 in the morning, eat breakfast and be back to sleep until he woke for lunch, then he'd eat that and go back to sleep. In the evenings, he'd sometimes fall asleep watching TV, other times he'd stay awake. Those sparks are great indeed. I hope you enjoy many more of them!
My husband supposedly has Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and they say his front brain is shrinking.
I don’t know what it all means. We’ve seen the heart doctor, we’ve seen a neurologist, and other doctors.
He also had a stroke that affects his right side. Right side inattention.
He had MRI and other test. A bubble test. However, they don’t know what caused the stoke or dementia.
We were told that dementia and Alzheimer’s were basically the same thing and that doctors use the terms interchangeably.
They proscribed him Statins, Plavix, Wellbutrin, and some memory pill that made him worse so we threw that away.
I put us on a carnivore diet. He is doing better. He no longer has COPD. So that’s good.
He’s seems to have skin picking disorder that he just recently started.
We give up and are just gonna wing it. We live in rural area and can’t really travel to see all these useless doctors.
Things were different with my first husband. He received therapy and had a whole team that worked with him.
I bought my husband a rebounder for exercise and take him to church on Sunday.
And we pray… 🙏🏻
The skin picking can be anxiety. Wellbutrin is an antidepressant I believe. Statins are for blood pressure. But know that Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia and they aren’t the same thing. There are other types. We don’t know what causes dementia, but a stroke can cause vascular dementia. I would encourage you to try a different doctor, maybe in a larger town. There are things to help.
Great article again. I would add another misconception: you can handle this alone.
You cannot.
Gather friends and family around you, and your afflicted loved one, let your coworkers know what’s going on with you, and seek out; and make use of the many support structures that exist.
Here in Aus, we have Dementia Australia, Alzheimer’s Australia, Carer’s Gateway, (all of which have both state and federal structures) and they’re wonderful. Most even have 24-hour help lines and they’re there even if you just need to talk or have a cry. Don’t be stubborn or think your shoulders are broader than they are. Take the help
OH! That's a great one!!! Thank you for that! I think that's the frustration of many US caregivers. There are some resources, but not really very many and not national. Our country doesn't take care of it's elderly very well.
I’m sending this article to my siblings. Thanks for the detailed and informative read.
My pleasure! I hope it accomplishes whatever it is you need to accomplish :)
Good article. I get with your take on dementia. The myths prevent socialization, therefore the person with dementia is lonely.