Page 50 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2020

OPINION: What help is vailable for people with
Alzheimer’s Disease & their families?
By Alyson Azevedo
One of the five leading causes of death is Alzhiemer’s disease which
affects cognitive functions and memory loss. Clinical trials, medicines, and healthcare services fail people with AD because no one can find a cure.
Anyone whoever met my grandmother knows she had a pure heart. She was the most loving person I knew, and one day, everything changed. My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Pandemic: Good New / Bad News
AD not only affects the person,
Loved ones have to spend more
time caring for them, and worry for their safety. Whenever I was at my grandmother’s house, there was always laughter, and a special type of warmth that felt like home.
With a certain irony, they seem to be interdependent, seem to need each other -- if only as a wake-up call about other things.
Memory Loss
Social Withdrawal
Disorientation in Time & Space
Decline in Judgement
Misplacing items
Difficulty with Tasks
Challenges problem- solving & Planning
Mood Changes
Visual Spatial Difficulties
Decrease in Rational Communication
Many patients with AD do not get enough financial support unless their healthcare provider deems it necessary. Imagine wanting to put a loved one with AD into a nursing home, and finding out your healthcare insurance and Medicare will not help cover nursing home expenses. Alzheimer’s disease is a growing epidemic. Families need funding to help!
It’s a little trite to revisit those old adages like every dark cloud has a silver lining. But, like it trite or not, there is more than a modicum of truth therein. Old adages can be downright maddening when they pan out and seem to taunt: I told you so!
So, here we are, again, in a huge national emergency, with an invisible adversary -- and I cynically search for the up-sides.
but also their families.
My grandmother always had food ready for my sisters and I once we got home from school, and would crochet blankets while we spent time with her.
Actually, there are many. Let’s start with one of glaring significance:
After successfully embarrassing himself with stupid platitudes, unfounded Pollyanna-ish assessments and unbelievably naive statements that “all is well,” our grand national charlatan finally shut up and (OMG!) deferred to the experts. His gravely dangerous egocentric alacrity has been moved over and center stage has been reluctantly handed to people who know what they are talking about. (Wish it could last beyond the pandemic.)
As time went on, she forgot to turn
off the coffee pot, or ask me the same question every five minutes. Researchers say that 13 percent of men and women over the age of 65 have AD, and need their family to take care of them. How can that happen if family members have to work to make ends meet?
When a true disaster threat shows up on our personal doorsteps, our real priorities have a magical way of identifying and revealing themselves -- because the heat’s on. Things that truly terrify us are clearly defined when we suddenly realize there is a stranger in our midst that we cannot see and that needs us as hosts for its own awful survival! That can get your attention.
Caregivers need education and counseling on how to provide for patients with AD. If they do not, there is a caregiver burden which can result in depression, anxiety, and even more mental health issues. They should be able to take care of themselves without feeling guilty.
Military men and women in combat zones understand that life-or-death thing. Women in hard birthing labor see it clearly. Those of us who have barely squeaked by, escaping death by the Big C, get it. Anyone who escaped a head-on collision literally by inches knows the feeling.
If caregivers do not take care of themselves, it negatively impacts their patient with AD. Loved ones of a family member with Alzheimer’s disease can become frazzled and feel as if they are alone.
First responders to fire, to physical injury and to crime know. Having escaped, we tend to take stock of things.
The bad news doesn’t need much help defining its impact. The good news, however, slips in – often unnoticed – and a little self-conscious.
For instance, my dad would come home from work to take care of my grandmother. It was as if he was still on the clock, and did not take the time to wind down. I would help as much as I can to alleviate some of his stress.
We are supposed to only focus on the darkness; and -- for shame! -- if
you try to point out advantages in the midst of tragedies. But, wait a minute! Don’t families suddenly cling closer – soberly reconsidering what’s important in the face of imminent threats of loss? Don’t communities take great leaps of action on issues that would otherwise limp slowly through “the process?” Legislators at all levels can somehow suddenly and easily accelerate all kinds of stuff, producing needed help – and lots of money!
What can healthcare providers do to try to get more funding?
It’s a damn shame that the quality and speed we manage to muster during a crisis (in just those few examples) doesn’t seem to appreciably change our norms. Regrettably, as creatures of habit, when all is well we tend to take it all for granted again, slipping back into our self-focus, and losing some measure of our vigilance.
The medication my grandmother was taking had side-effects. She became aggressive and mean. The sweet lady I enjoyed was not there anymore. How can a medication that was approved change someone’s personality?
After a big scare, we might just contact family a bit oftener, shop food and essentials with a little more thought to preparedness, network more with neighbors and (maybe) better appreciate our good health. A good dose of fear is an efficient motivator, and I do believe that when our comfort zones get turned upside down there is a proportional effect that does move us a bit closer to a better norm.
The number of people withAlzhiemer’s disease will continue to climb as baby boomers get older. No one in the medical world is prepared for more people to have AD.
Right now, there is no cure for AD, but there needs to be. Researchers are continuing to create more drugs and clinical trials. There is hope that Alzheimer’s Disease will be cured; maybe the upcoming generation
Consciously or unconsciously, something changes in our outlook – like noticing and appreciating the symbolic courage of a scrawny weed in bloom, pushing through a crack in the sidewalk, somehow surviving; somehow.
can find the cure, giving families a happy ending.
Then, there are the science and research labs that get “emergency” financial infusions (without even having to beg...) and produce medical answers and preventive solutions with amazing efficiency and expertise!
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