Excellent explanation on the difference between senior forgetfulness and Alzheimer's

Murrmurr said:
This video explains the difference very clearly, and it's only 7-minutes long:


And kind of an old video, so, it's not your eyes :p
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Teepa Snow is fantastic, I've been studying her work for years.. I wish we could have thousands of Teepa Snows' worldwide to explain exactly what the differences are.. and everything to do with dementia.. and AZ
 
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Having experienced this dreaded disease first hand with two different people it’s signs are clearly evident. Sometimes you can have a seemingly normal conversation with the person as long as it does not involve any short-term memory. But then you’ll have the same conversation a few minutes later and it’s like a new conversation with them. After the nth time it’s obvious something is horribly wrong.

The thing is if you have it you’ll never know. You’re not sitting there trying to analyze if you have a problem or not. They think everything is just fine. If they are having confusion they never seem to verbalize it. Also, trying to explain to the person they have dementia/AZ is futile.

My first experience was a neighbor who passed away from it. Now another neighbor friend is in the thick of it. She still remembers people but really is no longer functional. Her husband is still taking care of her until she no longer recognizes him. Then it will be time to put her in a home.

This is a horrible process to go through for loved ones. There has been some studies suggesting if we keep our brains active learning new things it helps. I guess it’s akin to the old phrase “use it or loose it”. Just writing about it here is a good sign you haven’t lost it.
 
1955 said:
Having experienced this dreaded disease first hand with two different people it’s signs are clearly evident. Sometimes you can have a seemingly normal conversation with the person as long as it does not involve any short-term memory. But then you’ll have the same conversation a few minutes later and it’s like a new conversation with them. After the nth time it’s obvious something is horribly wrong.

The thing is if you have it you’ll never know. You’re not sitting there trying to analyze if you have a problem or not. They think everything is just fine. If they are having confusion they never seem to verbalize it. Also, trying to explain to the person they have dementia/AZ is futile.

My first experience was a neighbor who passed away from it. Now another neighbor friend is in the thick of it. She still remembers people but really is no longer functional. Her husband is still taking care of her until she no longer recognizes him. Then it will be time to put her in a home.

This is a horrible process to go through for loved ones. There has been some studies suggesting if we keep our brains active learning new things it helps. I guess it’s akin to the old phrase “use it or loose it”. Just writing about it here is a good sign you haven’t lost it.
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There goes that oft reported totted out old statement about using it or losing it..

Some of our gratest minds, writers, Musicians, Actors ( who have to learn long complicated scripts)... scientists, Doctors, have all succumbed to Dementia in all of it's forms.. nothing to do with use it or lose it..
 
hollydolly said:
There goes that oft reported totted out old statement about using it or losing it..
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The "use it or lose it" applies to the phrase “learning new things” referring to studies such as “Can Learning New Skills Prevent Dementia?” through Neuroplasticity.

hollydolly said:
Some of our gratest minds, writers, Musicians, Actors ( who have to learn long complicated scripts)... scientists, Doctors, have all succumbed to Dementia in all of it's forms.. nothing to do with use it or lose it..
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True, but you don't know what was really going on in their lives...

No one knows what's going on. But I believe in hope & keeping my mind active learning new things won't hurt anything & may help. It certainly puts me into a better mood.
 
1955 said:
The "use it or lose it" applies to the phrase “learning new things” referring to studies such as “Can Learning New Skills Prevent Dementia?” through Neuroplasticity.


True, but you don't know what was really going on in their lives...

No one knows what's going on. But I believe in hope & keeping my mind active learning new things won't hurt anything & may help. It certainly puts me into a better mood.
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Very true...
 
1955 said:
The thing is if you have it you’ll never know. You’re not sitting there trying to analyze if you have a problem or not. They think everything is just fine. If they are having confusion they never seem to verbalize it. Also, trying to explain to the person they have dementia/AZ is futile.
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That's a good point.

But in onset dementia (I think it's called pre-dementia now), people are still cognitive enough to sense something's wrong. My mom would cry and say stuff like "I must be going crazy." It really worried her. She worried so much her doctor put it down as a personality change. It just wasn't like her to stress out like that.

Mom's dementia progressed very slowly. She was only at stage 3 (of 7) when she passed away. In some cases it progresses very quickly.
 
We lost my Dad to Alzeimer's a few years back. Well - actually we "lost him" a couple of years before he died.

As I get older I'm more forgetfull. But one thing sticks in my mind that one of my Dad's doctors said. He said that if you forget things but then remember that you've forgotten them - your ok!
 
-Oy- said:
He said that if you forget things but then remember that you've forgotten them - your ok!
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Very true.

I've never had very good short term memory. When they give you that cognition test where the doc names a list of items to remember, well, I always fail that one...
 
I've read about working memory, but this is the only explanation I could understand.

I think this might be what's wrong with me. There are so many steps involved in getting dressed, or any supposedly simple task. Meanwhile my brain is thinking many other thoughts at the same time. I do manage to get dressed, but it seems like such a big deal.

I avoid most non-essential tasks, because they just seem too complicated.
 
Back when, after my late wife's demise, I visited friends, (older than me and both since deceased), in California. (The wife, on a previous visit a couple years earlier, had expressed her concerns about his mental faculties, but we dismissed them as simply 'aging'.)

This time, since I was experiencing problems with the 5th Wheel I owned at the time, in the morning he drove me to an RV repair facility and I made an appointment for later that afternoon.

He was to follow me down in his vehicle 'just in case' - at one point I noticed he did a right turn while I was going straight ahead. I proceeded to the appointment, got the unit fixed, and.......he never showed up....(he'd returned home.)

Later his wife told me that she said to him "Aren't you going to the garage to see if Nemo2's OK?" - she said he became quite indignant and claimed that he hadn't left the house all day!
 
To add something humorous to this thread

... a floor mat that I just bought for myself, that sits in my entryway when I leave my apartment:
iu

Maintenance guy thinks it's funny .. lol
 
JustBonee said:
To add something humorous to this thread

... a floor mat that I just bought for myself, that sits in my entryway when I leave my apartment:
iu

Maintenance guy thinks it's funny .. lol
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I locked myself out of the building too many times while taking out the garbage. I got an extra key made and put it on a lanyard, which is on my doorknob. I put it on every time I leave the apartment, even if I'm just going to the laundry room. You never know, I might take a wrong turn and end up outside.

In the past few weeks, I've forgotten my purse at least half the time when I go shopping. Oh well, just means I can't spend any money that day.
 
Nemo2 said:
Back when, after my late wife's demise, I visited friends, (older than me and both since deceased), in California. (The wife, on a previous visit a couple years earlier, had expressed her concerns about his mental faculties, but we dismissed them as simply 'aging'.)

This time, since I was experiencing problems with the 5th Wheel I owned at the time, in the morning he drove me to an RV repair facility and I made an appointment for later that afternoon.

He was to follow me down in his vehicle 'just in case' - at one point I noticed he did a right turn while I was going straight ahead. I proceeded to the appointment, got the unit fixed, and.......he never showed up....(he'd returned home.)

Later his wife told me that she said to him "Aren't you going to the garage to see if Nemo2's OK?" - she said he became quite indignant and claimed that he hadn't left the house all day!
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Clearly, that wasn't just memory loss.
 
NorthernLight said:
I locked myself out of the building too many times while taking out the garbage. I got an extra key made and put it on a lanyard, which is on my doorknob. I put it on every time I leave the apartment, even if I'm just going to the laundry room. You never know, I might take a wrong turn and end up outside.

In the past few weeks, I've forgotten my purse at least half the time when I go shopping. Oh well, just means I can't spend any money that day.
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I had to get in the habit of keeping the oven light on while something's baking, otherwise I might forget to turn the oven off. Oddly, I always remember to turn that light on and off....so far.

Like the video says, cues work for people who've simply become forgetful because of their age.
 
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