Alzheimer’s Association News

Having loved and lost my dad to Alzheimer’s disease I can honestly say that it is a disease I would not wish on my worst enemy. To see someone you love slowly degenerate into someone so helpless and lost it scares me. And there by the grace of God go I. As we baby boomers age the chances of us coming down with this disease is very high. Some people say one in ten, others claim three in ten. Even if you look at the least amount it is still ten percent of the population. There is a way to cure this disease and the way to do it is to speak out on it, talk about it, and if you can afford to do so, donate to the people that want to fight it head on at the Alzheimer's Association.

Check out the links below and if you can ACT on the issue of Alzheimer’s then you are looking out for the one in ten that could be you. We will never know what causes this debilitating disease if we keep it and our loved ones afflicted with it in the closet. The time to fight and beat Alzheimer’s disease is now.

Thank you for your support in defeating this terrible disease. Please check out the links below and ACT accordingly to your heart’s desire.

10 Signs of Alzheimers

Alzheimer Myths

Related Dementia’s

Diagnosing Alzheimer's

Papamoka

Alzheimer’s Disease Breakthrough

For my Dad... to the left aka Grampa Jack

From the point of view from someone that actually has Alzheimer’s disease it must be frustrating to know that you are slowly losing everything you know that is you. You will forget who you wife or husband is and fear them. You will forget who your own children are and be cautious and accusatory toward them. Eventually, you will forget everything that ever mattered in your life and find yourself crying because you will know that you are lost. Having seen my own father go through it, it would terrify me to think that there but for the grace of God go I. This debilitating disease robs your mind of all of the memories that were your life and as we baby boomers get older and more fragile we better start to care more about the research that is needed to make it the Small Pocks cure for our generation, and the next, and the next.

Researchers are now finding new answers to old questions by looking at the reverse angle of Alzheimer’s Disease. Beta amyloid build up in the brain otherwise known as plaque was thought to be the body building to much of the needed chemical in the brain but current thought is looking at it as the body not being able to dispose of the beta amyloid properly. Amazing stuff if you care to read about it over at the New York Times…

Alzheimer’s researchers are obsessed with a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid, that clumps into barnaclelike balls in the brains of patients with this degenerative neurological disease.

It is a normal protein. Everyone’s brain makes it. But the problem in Alzheimer’s is that it starts to accumulate into balls — plaques. The first sign the disease is developing — before there are any symptoms — is a buildup of amyloid. And for years, it seemed, the problem in Alzheimer’s was that brain cells were making too much of it.

But now, a surprising new study has found that that view appears to be wrong. It turns out that most people with Alzheimer’s seem to make perfectly normal amounts of amyloid. They just can’t get rid of it. It’s like an overflowing sink caused by a clogged drain instead of a faucet that does not turn off.

That discovery is part of a wave of unexpected findings that are enriching scientists’ views of the genesis of Alzheimer’s disease. In some cases, like the story of amyloid disposal, the work points to new ways to understand and attack the disease. If researchers could find a way to speed up disposal, perhaps they could slow down or halt the disease. - New York Times

When you think about all of the programs in America where mentors that are retired are helping the younger generations to avoid the mistakes they made in business and in life it is such a waste to see so many brilliant minds lost to Alzheimer’s disease. There is no greater loss in the world than knowledge and inside each one of these senior citizens minds is a wealth more valuable than gold.

This disease should be on the fast track to cure and yet it is just one of those old people problems that nobody thinks about till it actually punches you in the gut and it is someone that you love that is affected. Then it never leaves your conscious thought even after your loved one is long gone. And I’m not talking about dead and buried.

Papamoka

Lost and Confused from Dementia

Taking care of my dad (Jack) for so many years I know the fear that can plague your mind when it comes to being a caregiver for someone with Dementia or Alzheimer’s. Dad was constantly wanting to walk or go somewhere but he didn’t know where he was going or why. And for a 68 year old man he could make good time when he started his walking adventures.

His last adventure from his home he managed to be found by the local Shrewsbury Police lost, confused and certain that he lived in Boston. Dad, nor anyone we knew ever lived in Boston? And because I had taken the preventive measures to simply write my phone number and address on a piece of paper in his wallet, the police contacted me right away. I met the Shrewsbury Police at dad’s house and that was when it was decided that he could no longer live by himself. Jack did however enjoy the ride in the cruiser because they ran the siren for him a few times. Dad aka Grandpa Jack was moving in with me and the girls.

Dad eventually needed more care than we could provide and we found a nursing home that specialized in residents with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. If you have ever been to that kind of nursing home you can not help but notice that many of the residents are walking non-stop, checking every door, and seem to be on a mission to go somewhere but they don’t know where.

Over at the New York Times they have a great article about lost or missing elderly loved ones that managed to get out into the world undetected by their care givers. It is becoming such a common event that many police agencies are undergoing new training on locating and dealing with lost elderly people that suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's.

Rising numbers of searches are driving a need to retrain emergency workers, police officers and volunteers around the country who say they throw out just about every generally accepted idea when hunting for people who are, in many ways, lost from the inside out. “You have to stop thinking logically, because the people you’re looking for are no longer capable of logic,” said Robert B. Schaefer, a retired F.B.I. agent who cared for his wife, Sarah, for 15 years at home through her journey into Alzheimer’s. He now leads two-day training sessions for the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. Mr. Schaefer told his class of mostly police officers here in northern Virginia that unlike the ordinary lost child or hiker, a dementia wanderer will sometimes take evasive action to avoid detection, especially if the disease has made them paranoid about authority figures. - New York Times

This article had me thinking about the fears I had when my dad was at home. We could lock all of the doors but he knew how to unlock a door. And if he were determined enough then he could unlock any of the windows and be off at any time he wanted. If he ever managed to get out then where would I look? Where do you start when you don’t know when, where, how, or even if they are dressed for the weather conditions?

There are GPS Tracking devices available for people with dementia that tend to wander. I don’t know all the facts on them but here are a few websites you can check out. Most of them offer a service that you can access from your home computer to find your lost or missing loved one instantly.

Rocky Mountain Tracking
GPS Geo
Buddi - GPS Tracking

I hope this information helps. It’s a large responsibility to take care of someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s and having the peace of mind to be able to locate someone instantly if they wander off is priceless.

Papamoka