Lewy-Bodies Dementi A Short Story

All of the patients on my unit in my former position were in the beginning and mid stages of Alzheimer’s with one or two very alert ones. The challenge was keeping the more alert residents from rapid mental decline. The key in maintaining the resident’s dignity is providing an environment where they can participate in their level of care,

A Story About The Body is about a man who think he has fallen in love with an almost sixty-year-old woman. Both the younger man and the woman work at an artist’s colony during the summer. The woman was a Japanese painter, and the man was a composer. The woman’s art captivated the man, the way she moved her body and her hands. It states, “He loved her work, and her work was like the way she moved her body, used her hands, looked at him directly when she made amused and considered answers to his questions.” Then one night, after a concert, the woman abruptly says that she knows that the young man wants to “have her”, but she has to be honest with him and tell him that she has had a mastectomy on both breasts. Shocked, the man states that he cannot handle this and he walks away to his home. The very next morning, the man wakes up to find a blue bowl on the porch that looks like it is filled with rose petals, but when he looks deeper he find that is filled with dead bees which eggs on the audience to do a in depth analysis into what is truly meant by this.

“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

As a carer it is important how you come across to a person with dementia, they still have emotions and feelings. Your body language and facial expressions can be picked up on by the individual, if you let out a long sigh or raise your eyebrows or have a nasty look on your face then this will be abusive to them and they won’t trust you. Talk to them in a calm manner, hold their hand and smile at them, this will show the individual that you have a caring attitude and they will be better for it. If there are other people in the room who are maybe shouting or talking and laughing then this could cause a problem communicating with the person with dementia, too much noise will only frustrate the individual as they won’t be able to concentrate on any conversation.

Nurses and family members need to speak slowly and clearly, in a low pitched voice, maintaining an open friendly communication manner and also using eye contact and touch. Speaking slowly is very important as it allows patients who can’t have a conversation to understand you better, patients with dementia take longer to process information and sentences, so speaking style such as emotion, sound volume and what you say can be the difference between a patient with dementia understanding you and not. It slowly allows the patients enough time to take the words in and process the sentence. Speaking clearly and in a calm voice will help reassure the patient and help them cope with following your words. Speaking clearly and calmly will help relax the patient. A nurse should avoid speaking sharply or raising their voice, as this may distress the person even if they can't follow the sense of your words. Low pitched voice is used to calm the patient and not bring about any distress or frighten them. Low pitched tone can be used to sooth the patient if in any distress. Gaining eye contact with a patient is very important, if they are sitting down kneeling down at there level can be of benefit so they no you are there. This allows the nurse to get their attention and help them focus on the conversation without scaring them. Maintaining eye contact while speaking with the patient can also be of benefit. Love and affection can

I spoke with the family and arranged for him to have video call his son so that he can see and talk to his granddaughter. This helped the patient’s willingness to participate in activities of daily living and reenergized him.

Illnesses like Alzheimer's disease make it difficult for those who want to provide supportive care at the end of life to know what is needed. Because people with advanced dementia can no longer communicate, they cannot share their concerns. Is Uncle Bert refusing food because he is not hungry or because he's confused? Why does Grandma Ruth seem agitated, is she in pain and needs medication to relieve it, but can't tell you. As these conditions progress, they also obstruct efforts to provide emotional or spiritual comfort. How can you let Grandpa know how much his life has meant to you? How do you make peace with your mother if she no longer knows who you are? Someone who

At today 's visit he is accompanied by his mother and father. He is lying in bed, awake and alert. His parents report that he has been a quadriplegic for 39 years. Over those years he has had multiple pressure ulcers that

I don’t remember a time when my grandpa knew who I was. He had a disease that affected me and my family personally. In fact, I’m guessing that many of you sitting in the audience have also been affected by this horrible disease. The disease I am talking about is Alzheimer’s. Did you know that 1 in every 9 people age 65 or older have it? And even worse 1 in every 3 people age 85 or older are affected by it. Many of you may already know something about Alzheimer’s, but let me give you a brief run down. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s include memory loss, difficulty completing simple tasks, confusion with time or place, problems with speaking or writing, changes in mood or personality, and increased anxiety. Now I know you may be thinking, he is just describing the freshmen sitting in the back. But don’t be fooled, all they suffer from is a lack of sleep and rampant immaturity, but for older people these are symptoms of a disease that wreaks havoc on families throughout the world.

Dementia is an extremely common disease among the elderly, with 4 million Americans currently suffering from the Alzheimer’s type alone. Figures show that 3% of people between the ages of 65-74 suffer from the disease, rapidly increasing to 19% for the 75-84 age bracket, and as high as 47% for the over 85s. Therefore, it is easy to see why Dementia is such a large part of many people’s lives, whether they are suffering from the condition themselves, or have an elderly relative who requires full time care just to undertake simple day to day tasks. The disease can be extremely traumatic for the patient and their families, as the person, who may have been extremely lively and bright throughout their

Fluctuations in cognition, attention or alertness; Problems with movement including tremors, stiffness, slowness and difficulty walking; Visual hallucinations (seeing things that are not present); Sleep disorders, such as acting out one’s dreams while asleep Behavioral and mood symptoms, including depression, apathy, anxiety, agitation, delusions or paranoia; Changes in autonomic body functions, such as blood pressure control, temperature regulation, and bladder and bowel function. The symptoms of LBD are treatable: All medications prescribed for LBD are approved for a course of treatment for symptoms related to other diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease with dementia and offer symptomatic benefits for cognitive, movement and behavioral problems. (Washington) It is not uncommon, however, for early signs of dementia to go undetected. The Mini Mental Status Exam – a common screening test for cognitive impairment and dementia used by many physicians – is not able to detect cognitive impairment in early DLB. (10 things) Lewy body dementias (LBD) are the second most common form of degenerative dementia. Lewy bodies are misfolded protein deposits found in the brains of individuals with several different disorders including Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB); and the autopsy of Mr. Williams, indicated the presence of ‘diffuse Lewy body dementia’ in the brain of Mr. Williams. This is more commonly called ‘diffuse Lewy body disease’ which reflects the biological disease process in the brain. LBD is an umbrella term for dementia associated with the presence of Lewy bodies (abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein) in the brain. (Washington) Although with so much intensive research, doctors still have trouble diagnosing patients

Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects roughly 3 million families each year, including my own. Around this time three years ago my parents got a call that changed our entire lives. At 3 A.M. they received a phone call from a police department, in a surrounding town, that they had pulled over my step-grandpa, who was driving down the highway on the wrong side of the road. This was the first of many calls that my parents received in regard to my grandfather. There were instances of him showing up to work, although he was 20 years in retirement. He would go out to eat and not realize that he had been at the restaurant 10 minutes prior to eat. Quickly, my parents realized that something was off and medical assistance was needed. After some series of testing, it was very clear to the doctor that Alzheimer’s was the answer to his lack of memory and at the age of 86, he was officially diagnosed with the disease. This news was hard for my entire family, and extremely hard for my step-father. Not only did the doctor determine that Alzheimer’s was causing these events to occur, but that there was a genetic link and my step-father could also carry the gene. He has personally chosen not to test for the gene, and to continue to live his life to the fullest. As a family, this is something that has changed our lives

In the pamphlet Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease, the Alzheimer’s Association adds late onset, traditionally known simply as Alzheimer’s, targets primarily people 65 and older. The disease follows a series of steps from mild decline with little noticed changes to very severe cognitive decline where the final stage of the disease is in progress (Basic 19-21). Throughout the stages, independence becomes lost and family members will become care takers and in the later stages nursing homes or hospice may be needed. One book encourages the care giver to communicate through body language, tone, and written instructions to help alleviate as much stress as possible for those living with Alzheimer’s (Living 47). The book further adds when caring for a person with Alzheimer’s remember to maintain patience and to show respect .

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

In February of 2000, I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's disease. She was diagnosed with the disease just less than two years prior to her death. Throughout that time, I watched changes in my grandmother that made her seem like an entirely different woman to me. She gradually began losing her short-term memory and we began to see signs of her long-term memory degrading too. It began to get harder and harder to take her out into public without being afraid of what would happen next. Her emotions would fluctuate with the changing of each minute it seemed. Physically she became weaker and weaker and would often scare us with falling while she would be walking. Eventually she had to be moved into the