Dementia: Can We Talk?
By Dr. Sharon Kelly West –
There are estimated to be 5.4 million people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (a type of dementia).
Dementia is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a group of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. For every person diagnosed, there are at least 10 people affected: parents, spouses, siblings, friends, or work colleagues.
Difficulties and disparities
We each know of someone who is actively experiencing the torment of dementia. It is very likely that your path crosses with a caregiver of a person with dementia each day without realizing it. Some are vocal about their journey and some are silent. Sometimes verbalizing the pain of caring for one with dementia brings one into a reality of knowing there is no cure.
Dementia is no joking matter. These are the words of the caregiver of a person living with dementia: “Try imagining your soul and sanity is the ring your dying mother gives you as she is breathing her last breath. Then, imagine being in a truck stop, and you accidentally drop it down a clogged broken toilet, and the only way to retrieve it is by putting your bare hand down the toilet up to your elbow. You fish around for 30 seconds only to come up with a pull top from a can. On the second and third try you get everything imaginable but the right thing … that ring. In fact you may never get that ring, but you don’t give up, you just keep on trying!!!! That’s what it’s like living with someone with Alzheimer’s.
African Americans are twice as likely as whites to be diagnosed with late-onset Alzheimer’s, and they are less likely overall to have a diagnosis of the disease. As a result, treatment begins much later in the process for African Americans as a group.
Diverse causes
There is more than one type of dementia. Dementia is not of the Alzheimer’s type only. Some dementia can be illness-induced, and some can be treated with medications and resolved. Types that cannot be reversed are Parkinson’s-related dementia, alcohol-related dementia, vascular dementia, and multiple sclerosis-related dementia. For these types, there is currently no cure; the dementia progresses until death.
Preventive measures
However, what we know is very encouraging to delay the onset of dementia:
- Take Vitamin D daily
- Eat a low-fat diet
- Add Omega-3 essential fish oil (daily supplement)
- Women—keep your waistline at 34.5 inches and below
- Men—maintain your waistline at 39 inches and below
- Get a good night’s sleep every night
- Good music—listening is good but singing or playing an instrument is better
- Exercise most days of the week (ask your doctor if there are limits on the type of exercise)
It’s also important that loved ones encourage participation in Caregiver support groups. For information and guidance, call Memory Care at (828) 771-2219.
Caregivers do not suffer in silence. Reach out.
