Alzheimers & Dementia Awareness Training
Yesterday my office put on a 3 hour training, aimed at first responders like police officers, park rangers, and ambulance services. I was lucky enough to sit and listen to the presentation.
The most interesting part for me was remembering Dunk’s Dad and how we responded to him. I think we said the wrong things. DJB died from Alzheimers which doesn’t always happen. If you are lucky a heart attack or something will intervene. DJB got to the stage where his brain could not remember how to swallow, which is the final stage. He was a very healthy man and exercised throughout his life. Very sad way to end your life. Many times I thought you could see where his behavior indicated his regression through his life. The analogy the presenters used was that the PET scan of an alzheimers patient looks like a PET scan of a newborn. So, when you are born you don’t have memories or synapses until your brain starts recording memories and like building blocks they build on top of each other. With Alzheimers you start losing the building blocks on top and so on down until you get to the most basic needs like swallowing.
I am hoping that this will not be the path for my Mom who is showing many signs of dementia. (The nurse was quick to explain that we all suffer from dementia from time to time - like after anesthesia - or losing your keys - or forgetting a name.) There are reversible dementias, like those caused by depression, use of medications, or when your thyroid isn’t working right.
An evaluation is key to figuring out what is actually going on in the body. Blood tests & serum levels?
For the police officers it was important to know how to talk to the person with alzheimers. Try to remain calm. Try to figure out what their reality is at this moment. When they say “I want to go home!” what year do they think this is and how old do they think they are and to what home do they want to go. Don’t argue or try to convince them they are wrong, because the reality they are experiencing is not your reality.
It was all very interesting and scary that so many people will get this disease. Will I be one?
The big thing to remember is that they are not behaving erratically to cause you problems. The disease that is stealing their brains are causing the behavior.
The most interesting part for me was remembering Dunk’s Dad and how we responded to him. I think we said the wrong things. DJB died from Alzheimers which doesn’t always happen. If you are lucky a heart attack or something will intervene. DJB got to the stage where his brain could not remember how to swallow, which is the final stage. He was a very healthy man and exercised throughout his life. Very sad way to end your life. Many times I thought you could see where his behavior indicated his regression through his life. The analogy the presenters used was that the PET scan of an alzheimers patient looks like a PET scan of a newborn. So, when you are born you don’t have memories or synapses until your brain starts recording memories and like building blocks they build on top of each other. With Alzheimers you start losing the building blocks on top and so on down until you get to the most basic needs like swallowing.
I am hoping that this will not be the path for my Mom who is showing many signs of dementia. (The nurse was quick to explain that we all suffer from dementia from time to time - like after anesthesia - or losing your keys - or forgetting a name.) There are reversible dementias, like those caused by depression, use of medications, or when your thyroid isn’t working right.
An evaluation is key to figuring out what is actually going on in the body. Blood tests & serum levels?
For the police officers it was important to know how to talk to the person with alzheimers. Try to remain calm. Try to figure out what their reality is at this moment. When they say “I want to go home!” what year do they think this is and how old do they think they are and to what home do they want to go. Don’t argue or try to convince them they are wrong, because the reality they are experiencing is not your reality.
It was all very interesting and scary that so many people will get this disease. Will I be one?
The big thing to remember is that they are not behaving erratically to cause you problems. The disease that is stealing their brains are causing the behavior.