The topic of this article is about the effects that Alzheimer’s has on the patients, family members/caregivers. I believe there is a grave importance in this topic to help understand the effects of this disease and possibly help farther research. This might bring a few questions to the front of this discussion. How the relationship is after a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? How does this effect the family members/caregivers? What symptoms do family members experience with Alzheimer’s patients? What factors in life play a role in developing this disease? This paper will explore these questions with the respect of these news articles.
How the relationship is after a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? Bilieszner and Shifflett state there are five time periods in the relationship between the patient and family members. The first time period is the relationship before Alzheimer’s, and that both spouses and the adult children stated the major roles and activities that they shared with the patients.” (Bilieszner, R. & Shifflett, P. 1990) The second time period was the relationship through the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and that “the caregivers/family member’s reports different strategies used to clarify the changes between their relationships with the patient. This included looking at the physical change, personality change, old age, AD, problems in the married, and even menopause.” (Bilieszner, R. & Shifflett, P. 1990) This had no explanation to this time period,
the importance of relationships and interactions with others to the person with dementia, and their potential for promoting well‑being.
“Alzheimer`s disease is called a family disease” (ALZlive), because it impacts every family member who is slowly watching a loved one decline. Alzheimer’s disease has an impact on caretakers because caregivers can lead to a variety of emotions, from guilt to anger. When dealing with a client who has Alzheimer; caretakers have a huge responsibility, which can cause stress or depression. If the caretaking is a family member it might lead to finical problems, which can lead to the hard and controversial decision of putting someone in a nursing home, that is better equipped. Guilt is the main emotion that a caretaker can express “I have never spoken to my mother`s doctor, it occurs to me that other children of
Last year my maternal Aunt Kate passed away. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) about eight years earlier. My maternal grandmother also had been diagnosed with AD before her death. Later this month I will accompany my 77-year-old mother to her neurologist appointment. While she has not been diagnosed with AD, she has been prescribed Donepezil (Aricept), one of the newer drugs that are thought to reduce the decline in memory in patients that have or might be developing dementia. Opportunities to learn more about AD and the effects on the brain are welcome. The Alzheimer’s Association website, ALZ.org, is filled with a wealth of this information. Especially interesting was Inside the Brain: An Interactive Tour. I
Alzheimer’s Disease is an irreversible, genetically linked illness. This disease was chosen for the topic of this essay under the consideration that in many families the illness can be incredibly tragic, passing down for generations without mercy. It is not rare to encounter families in which each member is afflicted with a form, mild or severe, of Alzheimer’s. The disease is a progressive brain disease which comes in two separate types: Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. These will be discussed in full later on in the paper.
As the disease progress, people might slowly lose their quality of life (QOL) in term of good health, mentality, communications and abilities that are considered crucial to their life. Patients might struggle to adapt with the new changes and disabilities happened to them and feel depress as they cannot live their normal life. There are three stages of Alzheimer which are mild, moderate and late stages. The mild stage of Alzheimer will starts affecting patient’s cognitive functions in which it might impair short term memories especially the one that are recently learn such as dates, recent events and people names. In terms of behavior, patients might experience depression and personality changes that could affect social relationships and everyday routines. Due to memory loss, family member relationship especially husband-wife relationship are also affected because patients might not remember their loved ones and they also lose sexual interest with their partner. It is hard for Alzheimer patients to live in the society and they are usually isolated because the society tends to assume these patients as crazy or
The research aims at determining the affect of dementia on the lives of individuals and how it impacts on their social interactions. The research will also identify the ways in which aging individuals can refrain themselves from falling prey to this disease. It will highlight some important information for caregivers who will better understand this disease and will know how to deal with people who have this disease. As we all
Caregivers play a crucial role in the care of dementia patients. Providing care for dementia patients results in stress related health impacts to the caregiver. The caregivers go through a journey with the dementia patient and need a strong support system. The best approach to dementia care is for health care providers to provide information to and monitor the caregiver, in addition to the dementia patient, encourage the caregiver to take care of themselves, to seek support, and to work as a team to provide the best care for the dementia patient.
Alzheimer is like mental cancer. It eats away inside you stealthily, slowly destroying you before anyone knows it is even there. It oozes in like a septic tide, consuming thoughts, memory, and personality like real cancer takes your bodily organs. In the early stages it is hard to tell where personal aberrations end, and Alzheimer’s begins, but in the end one looks for anything untouched by the illness. One of the frightening things about Alzheimer’s is how the first signs of the disease make their appearance in the most benign and normal events. Things we might laugh at as silly mistakes are really signs of something much worse than we imagine. When Alzheimer’s occurs where there is no family history, people look back at events that were warning signs, and shake their heads, thinking, “If only we had known what that meant.” In families where Alzheimer’s has left a mark down through the generations there can develop an almost mania of examining family and self as every little mistake and personality quirk is put to the question of “Is that Alzheimer’s?” What are natural human failures, and what are grim portents of a terrible future fast approaching? The question becomes fraught with weight. For family, the sentence of disease is a sentence to watching as someone you love is lost to grinding humiliation and helplessness. For the victim, it is going mad, and knowing it. It is pain—a mental and emotional pain like any physical torment as what you have is torn from you, one
Disability is a broad term used to define an impairment that affects one or more aspects of an individual’s life. The types of disabilities range from mobility, medical, cognitive, psychiatric, developmental, environmental or sense based. These impairments can drastically change the individual’s life from the “normal” or average expectation level of functioning (Mallet & Runswick-Cole, 2015, pgs. 3-4). Families are a complex structure that is shaped by its members, their lives and their environment. The family systems theory defined as “the physical, social and emotional functioning of family members is profoundly interdependent, with changes in one part of the system reverberating in other parts of the system” (McGoldrick, & Gerson, 1985, pg. 5). When one family member is born with or develops a disability, it affects the other family members as well. Through the family working together as a unit, this may positively affect the individual with relation to their disability and benefit the family as a whole. This paper will analyze the medical condition, familial early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, as a disability and how it affects the Howard family based on the film, Still Alice.
Read more at” (Pratchett, 2001). Alzheimer has affect more then the person who has the disease it affects entire families. In the following essay there will be answers to the following, sign and symptoms of Alzheimer’s, treatments, and finally short and long-term effects of the disease. “Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the Unites States” (Association, 2017). With this facts scientists still haven’t figured about what cause the disease, just the sigh and symptoms.
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the brain's nerve cells, or neurons, resulting in loss of memory, thinking and language skills, and behavioral changes”(AFA 1). Millions of adults of the age 65 and older have been diagnosed with this serve diseases . Based on their condition they should be placed in a nursing home , because they're going to get the treatment they need . It also prevents the patients from hurting themselves and other members of the family. Nursing homes can benefit the patients in many ways and help, them accept their condition. Patients are able to interact with people with their same condition or have a different illness. They also provide counseling for the family members of the alzheimer's patients where they give them the support they need , and they’re able to learn more about the illness of their loved ones .
Alzheimer’s disease slowly steals a person’s dignity and erases precious memories. The “Alzheimer’s Disease Guide”, found on WebMD explains that tasks become more difficult to do often leading to confusion and behavior changes. The article further explains the progression of the disease also brings hardship to family and friends (1). To best cope with Alzheimer’s we must better understand the disease.
After Alzheimer's is diagnosed in a parent, or other elderly family member, the caregiver has the task of deciding what the best form of care for the patient is. In order to do this they have to fully understand what the disease is, and
Alzheimer’s disease affects 1 out of every 8 people in the United States. It is a long and debilitating disease that affects every aspect of a person’s life from the way they preform daily tasks, to the physical and mental abilities that are diminishing. Along with the lifestyle changes that Alzheimer’s disease presents, it also affects one’s psychological perspective as well their view on what they can offer their family and society. There are some ways to maintain a level of independence with a disease of this magnitude but there are also factors in lifestyle choices that can make it worse. Alzheimer cannot be cured, it cannot be slowed, but there are ways to keep the effected person at a certain level of comfort, independence and safety
The aim of this study is to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. It is important noting that Alzheimer’s disease does not only affect the patient but also their family and caregiver. This research was conducted at St. Josephs Hospital Medical Nursing Home. We selected 10 medically diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients. We divided the patients into 2 groups. The first group consisted of patients that had a lot of moral support and affection from their families. In this group was also the grandmother of one of the contributors to this paper. The second group consisted of patients that do not receive moral support or have not seen their family for a long time.