BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)

Subject: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 12:22 AM

Have you seen a movie called, I think, Away from Her? Julie Christie stars as someone who descended into the disease some years before what is considered 'usual' or 'normal'. My mum was 58 when she died from this illness and had been going downhill since she was about 50 - right around the time my sister and I declared independence and she didn't have to worry about feeding or clothing us any more......It was as if she had permission to let go and she sank back into a world where all the decisions were made for her and she didn't have to worry about a thing......

I spent large chunks of the movie saying to my husband - you PROMISE if that happens to me - euthanasia will be the next step........

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: Beer
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 12:32 AM

I feel for you TRUBRIT, but don't place a promise like that on your husband, friend or anyone. I agree with you in that I sure wouldn't want to pass away like that but to ask a love one to end your like is simply asking to much of your love one. I hope you find the right answer here as there are some great members who can offer help and suggestions.
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 12:36 AM

Thank you Beer == God forbid if it ever comes to me I will be so 'out of it' it won't matter what he does and doesn't do but I am terrified of that illness - having watched my mother pass from being a charming, attractive and very pretty woman to a wizened old witch is not something I lightly contemplate.........

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: Beer
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 12:50 AM

After working 35 years in a Psy. Hospital I can relate a bit to your concerns. Truly I can.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: maeve
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 07:03 AM

There are so many variations, and although much is still a mystery about it, so much more is understood today compared to when your mum was suffering, be hopeful rather than fearful, my friend.

Even the puzzles and the music you enjoy help protect your brain!

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 11:00 AM

I watched my grandmother go down that road and my mother spend nine months totally helpless after a major stroke.

If ever someone I love is there and wants help I would consider it an act of love to do what I could. That's just my personal opinion.

If I was aware that I was going down the path of senility myself I think that I would take myself out of life, that is NOT somewhere I would want to be, for myself or my loved ones.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: maire-aine
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 11:56 AM

I watched my mother go deep into dementia-- went on for about 5 years, before she finally died of congestive heart failure at age 92.

Since I don't have a husband/partner, I don't have anybody to take care of me if I did go along that same route. I wouldn't want to live like that.

m

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 10:10 PM

I hope that I would have the ability to simply will myself dead. I'm sure it can be done because I'm certain I've seen it done. Walk out to a lovely view of the sunset and slip away as the sun goes down.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: GUEST,whatever name tonight [genuine]
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 10:38 PM

whatever side of the Atlantic,

for 2 or 3 years my family life has been completely dominated
by coping
with the needs of a much loved elderly parent
slowly eaten away decaying & devestated by dementia.

Towards the end I desparately prayed for quick release from suffering.
I'm not even religious ?
Its 6 months since the funeral
and life has slowly but surely returned to a decent
state of hope and harmony.

Too much time was wasted in correspondence and phone calls
with health and social service authority providers
trying to fathom out the best options
for long term care for our ailing parent.
Time we as a family should have spent bonding in shared need
and aversity
rather than divisive selfish pretence
to 'only wishing for the best' for dear old mum.

best wishes and god speed to all in similar emotional
and finacial desparation.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: bobad
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 10:43 PM

Some Canadian stats:

In 2008:

    * An estimated 97,000 Canadians will develop Alzheimer's or a related disease.1
    * An estimated 450,000 Canadians over 65 have Alzheimer's or a related disease.2
    * An estimated 300,000 Canadians over 65 have Alzheimer's disease.2

By 2011:

    * new cases of dementia are expected to reach 111,430 per year.1
          o 67,630 will be women
          o 43,800 will be men

By 2031:

    * over 3/4 million Canadians are expected to have Alzheimer's or a related disease.2

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia; it accounts for 64 per cent of all dementias.

1 in 13 Canadians over age 65 has Alzheimer's or a related disease.2

1 in 3 Canadians over age 85 has Alzheimer's or a releted disease.2
36 per cent of Canadians know someone with Alzheimer's disease.3
17 per cent of Canadians have someone with Alzheimer's disease in their family.3
More women are affected by the disease than men; women account for over 2/3 of all those over 65 with the disease.2 Most caregivers are also women.
Half of those with dementia live in the community; half live in institutions -- however, this balance varies from region to region across Canada.2

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: GUEST,whatever name tonight [genuine]
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 10:54 PM

ps.

I'm gonna spend as much time and energy
in strenuous physical exercise
& activity
as my health permits.

Either it will hopefully keep me fit and alert for as long as posible;
or I will just overstrain and go out
in a unexpected sudden instant !

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 02:05 AM

Rap -- I believe you can will yourself into almost anything -- I quite believe my mum chose her descent into a quiet place where she did not have to make decisions or take responsibility -- she held herself together from the day my dad died (I was 13 and my sister 15) until 6 years later when my sister married and I left home. With the need to take care of us gone am quite sure she chose her descent.......no more decisions, no more worrying about who would pay the rent............

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: bobad
Date: 07 May 09 - 08:26 AM

Trial drugs 'reverse' Alzheimer's

US scientists say they have successfully reversed the effects of Alzheimer's with experimental drugs.

The drugs target and boost the function of a newly pinpointed gene involved in the brain's memory formation.

In mice, the treatment helped restore long-term memory and improve learning for new tasks, Nature reports.

The same drugs - HDAC inhibitors - are currently being tested to treat Huntington's disease and are on the market to treat some cancers.

They reshape the DNA scaffolding that supports and controls the expression of genes in the brain.
        
We need to do more research to investigate whether developing treatments that control this gene could benefit people with Alzheimer's
Rebecca Wood of the Alzheimer's Research Trust

The Alzheimer's gene the drugs act upon, histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), regulates the expression of a plethora of genes implicated in plasticity - the brain's ability to change in response to experience - and memory formation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8033422.stm

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 May 09 - 08:45 AM

My sister-in-law visited her mother in a nursing home and sent her into a panic. She thought she saw herself walking towards her. A really sad moment.

There were some funny times too - the old lady who wouldn't leave or answer. Aunt Mid was arguing with her reflection in the mirror.
The repeatedly stolen car which she would leave in a parking lot and walk home forgetting she had driven there. The time she drove a group of ladies to visit Niagara Falls but there was no exit off the highway so they came home.

The not so funny - when she forgot her car in the parking lot mid-blizzard and was found walking in the storm along a major highway.

The making of tough decisions while being second guessed by those who didn't want to face reality.

It is a cruel disease.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 07 May 09 - 09:04 AM

As my mother's alzheimer's advanced, I implored my dad to move here so I could be helpful. They did and together my dad and I take care of her. He doesn't walk very well nor see very well. My free time is mostly spent with them these days. A time for everything. The long goodbye has been tough on my dad. I watched the movie of course, and I also recommend the book "Still Alice" to understand what the alzheimer's patient is thinking and feeling as they lose themselves little by little.

Actually, the time with my folks has been precious and special even though it consumes most of my extra energy. Music will return, I'm sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: GUEST,mauvepink
Date: 07 May 09 - 09:50 AM

I can think of so few other diseases that do to the sufferer and their loved ones what Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias do. There are some other neurological illnesses that have very sad endings but so few last as long as Alzheimer's? I think the average length of survival is around seven years from diagnosis to demise? In that time people see their loved ones memories and emotions disappear as they become a shell of the person they were. The dementia seldom kills, unless some serious accident is caused by forgetfulness as an example, but the related secondary ailments eventually overwhelm a compromised spirit and body.

Sadly I have seen it all too many times. I nursed in psychiatry for 19 years and have been a care worker for six. I, too, have said "Please never let that happen to me" but, in reality, few loved ones are in a position to be able to bring about your death in a timely fashion safe from prosecution and immune from murder charges. Some have tried and been criminalised in the process. I have seen relatives at their wits end, still loving and caring, but also guilty for their own thoughts of wishing it would end. This group of people are real heroes in my humble opinion. Carers are seldom appreciated fully by society and the system.

I believe it becomes far harder on the loved ones in the end, as they still have their faculties and have to watch it all take place, almost helpless, while still loving this poor shell of a person once complete.

And now my poor Mother has started with dementia. She got to 85 and not a sign but the transition has been rapid and I fear for her future. I fear for her future as I feel for all those who have this living death placed upon their lives - either as sufferer or carer - and I hope soon that something may be found to ease the plight of so many as numbers increase and we ourselves start to replace those who have died before us. It will become our turn in the dementia lottery eventually.

My thoughts to all those whose lives have been blighted by such things - sufferers and carers

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: Donuel
Date: 07 May 09 - 10:07 AM

Drug therapy will slow the advance even in later stages.

A discovery less than a year old shows that huge doses of Niacin not only slows but reverses the progress of Alzehiemers in rats.
Human trials have begun. An equivalent reversing dose of vitamin B1 would require many dozens of pills or one injection a day.
Meanwhile taking 2,000 units a day will increase your good cholestoral count and is normal therapy to reverse heart disease.
The flush free Niacin is inexpensive and available in large quantities.

A concentrated Niacin drug for Alzheimers is a couple years away.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: Morticia
Date: 07 May 09 - 10:45 AM

Could I just say a quiet word for those people who have dementia but who, for whatever reasons, inhabit a happy and peaceful world full of acceptance and quiet enjoyment. I am not sure that they are the minority either, but our attention gets caught on those who are loud in their despair or bizarre in their behaviours and we think that is the whole story.It isn't.

I have often wondered about my 'happy' clients.....perhaps they led a good life? Perhaps they were always happy and peaceful people? I don't know but I am not giving way to fear before I am sure there is something to be fearful about.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: Becca72
Date: 07 May 09 - 11:09 AM

Morty,
I was just going to pipe in with the story of my mother. While I was growing up she was a miserable, mean-spirited, petty woman. Very difficult to like and hard to get along with. She never had a kind word to say to anyone and seemed to thrive when bad things happened. I joke that her favorite game was 'guess who died?' but it's not really a joke.
Then about 5-6 years before she died she developed dementia (not Alzheimer's) and her entire personality changed. She was happy, she would joke around (MY mother had a sense of humor???) and basically forgot what had made her so miserable for all those years. In our case, dementia was actually a blessing.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: GUEST,mauvepink
Date: 07 May 09 - 12:09 PM

Morticia and Becca...

Yes. I have also seen 'happily demented' people too. I guess being on the wards and in the community I have seen the worse of cases come to my attentions. I do think the happy ones are fewer in number and it can stil be quite upsetting to the ones caring for them because they still can make mistakes that put themselves and others at risk. The strains on loved ones relationships can still be harsh and lead to hard choices. For some it may be release from disturbed lives and other things. For them it may well be a blessing and I apologise for being so negative in full.

I take your points :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 May 09 - 12:58 PM

Certainly Alzheimers is a cruel disease to consider and even more so to experience, along with a few other diseases such as ALS in which the body deteriorates while the mind continues to function.

One of our oldest family friends has finally died from Alzheimers after three years. There was a steady regression from a lively strong-minded woman with a great sense of humor, to someone who made life hell for caregivers, to a docile child-like person who recognized no one. There are no words adequate to express condolences in such a situation but we need to support those who are most directly involved in as many ways as we can. So sad to lose Betty.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 07 May 09 - 11:14 PM

This is where my folks live now...about three miles from me. It's not for everyone but it seems to be working for us.

Westminster Oaks

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: GUEST, heric
Date: 10 May 09 - 01:33 PM

I wasn't there to see it, but apparently Mom didn't really understand receiving a Mothers' Day card today, or even fully grasp the concept of Mothers' Day.

Today I will listen to the 40's channel on XM - I've learned the sources of so many of her songs and sayings. So many memories losing a place to stay.

Subject: RE: BS: Alzheimers disease (sp?)
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 11 May 09 - 11:09 PM

If we are close to finding a drug that will help curtail this dreadful disease,it can be nothing but good. I will never forget seeing my mother after a two year absence and have her not recognize me from the illness and me barely recognize her from the ravages of the illness.....