Coping with Alzheimers'

With the average lifespan of people going up all over the world, more and more people are being affected by this disease.  For the ignorant about this ailment, it is a problem faced by elderly people who face a medical problem referred to as “dementia”.  Basically, the patient begins to imagine and think about things that don’t exist, they become anxious or aggressive, and others repeat certain questions or gestures.  

For a family that has a person suffering from Alzheimers (“ALZ”), the problem is doubly difficult.  First and foremost is the fact that the patient is a loved one and the current behavior of the person doesn’t match up with what he / she was previously.  The second and equally important one is that everyone in the family is on high emotional pressure and strain.  What makes the situation even worse is that the family knows that the patient doesn’t mean even a single thing of what they are saying!

So what does one really do when they are faced with such a situation!  People try many different things to overcome this situation ranging from admitting the patient to Retirement Homes/ Home for the Aged to cases where a family member would sacrifice a career to take care of the aged patient.  

Taking care of a loved one suffering from ALZ is one of the toughest tasks that one can think of, and the sad bit is that there is not much medically possible to correct this behavior of the patient.  Most of the time this cycle rubs off on the behavior of the family.  

Okay so we have elderly at home who are suffering from ALZ, can’t be treated and life needs to go on.  But what’s for the people who are still young and active.  Can something be done to make sure that we don’t get into this?  Well the solution comes from the roots of the problem itself.  Most of the time, ALZ hits people who have been immensely active in their life, accomplished a lot and have been a guiding force to all in the family.  

Stay Fit …

Most of us think about being fit only from the neck down.  Well that’s not the case right now people.  A healthy brain will go a long way in helping us in our careers and at the same time also equip us to combat this problem and reducing the risk of ALZ or any other form of dementia.  Couple of tips that I have gathered from a bit of reading about the disease:

Stay active for as long as you can.  Whenever you hear your parents talking about retirement and stuff, convince them of moving the retirement age bar a wee bit higher.  May be they could move to a social cause or something like that.

Social activity, back to Class II – Social Studies, Man is a social animal! But come to think of it, this is one of the best ways to keep ALZ at sea.  Most of dementia strikes when you are lonely and your mind begins to take over the real happenings.  

Physical Fitness and Proper Diet, as simple as it sounds, may not be the easiest to apply though ;) I speak for myself on this one.  

For the families that are going through this, talk to people around you.  Exchange ideas with people who are in the similar situation.  Most importantly, never think of the patient as a burden.  Get over your emotions and tackle the situation as you would in a business scenario.  Don’t take anything that they say personally … chances are that that person doesn’t even know what they are talking about.  Try being patient and most importantly … PRAY  - it works !