Dementia Goes By Many Names

Spreading the word about Lewy Body Dementia I've often explained the difference between LBD and Alzheimers as a line that's drawn like stair steps for Alzheimers and a scribble on a piece of paper with no visible beginning and no recognizable end for Lewy Body Dementia.

It's important we all stand up and speak out to raise awareness for Dementia and understand when we separate into "camps" of "types" we lose the ability to wage the major war necessary to stop its effects or even possibly end some or all of these Thiefs of Life.

Long Term Care Facilities and others need to step up and recognize the majority of their residents have some form of Dementia.

The tools we currently use to recognize Dementia are obsolete and the general population and even some medical professionals still believe the disease has to be overtly obvious.

This means the person has to demonstrate visible and possibly audible affects showing their mind is not capable.

My story, Her Story, is one of waging a battle against the status quo to move society into the brave new world of recognizing and realizing Dementia can be managed, can probably to some degree be detoured and may be handled without severe medical intervention but most importantly, MUST BE SEEN AND MUST BE RECOGNIZED.

ACCEPTANCE.  Key #1

Focus on the person, where they are, with communication and compassion. 

Understand the first line of defense is a community of support, a family that works with rather than administers or directs relationships along the way of life.

Those who listen, those who actively learn, make their path and the path of their loved ones less challenging and more rewarding.

LEARN ABOUT DEMENTIA.  Key #2

We can learn more from networking and collaborating with agencies and organizations who have shown over the years to be "forward thinking" and effective in their ability to work with people with mental and emotional limitations.

TAKE/MAKE TIME. Key #3

Give your loved one and yourself time. In today's push-me-pull-you challenged society it's difficult but it's critical to a balanced life for them and for you.


UN-ISOLATE.  Key #4

Dementia isolates. The person from themselves and the person from the family/care giver(s).

Sitting alone. Laying in bed. Staring out a single window.

Rights are important. Decisions should be honored.

Dementia is a medical challenge and with that comes responsibility to interact and assist.

DON'T DIRECT. INVOLVE. Key #5

Take cues from what you observe, listen to your tone of voice and move slowly and ensure you're in their line of vision, hearing and/or at their level and remember these "senses" may be affected by the Dementia and may vary. 

The same great methods taught by leaders in the field of child and personal psychology can be applied with Dementia.

It's not an "I win" situation, it's a "we all win" plan.

LEARN AND PASS IT ON KEY #6

It's not easy. It takes time. You're busy. You have "a life". It's too far in the future. It may never happen....

We make time in life for what we value.

Qualify of life through the ages and stages is important to living together and living the solitary life.

We share this world and we affect what's been given to us by those who came before us.

Honor those going forward and moving quickly into the last of their time. 

Push Forward in Social Media   Key #7

Facebook, Twitter, whatever you use, wherever you post or speak out, add a line, a phrase, connect with an article.

The need to recognize DEMENTIA in all its forms is critical as is the focus and the collaboration of the organizations already established: Alzheimer's, Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinsons, etc.

Reach out and raise your voices to include those among the dozens of other types of dementia. Here's a list from the Alzheimer's Association of a few they recognize: 

• Alzheimer's disease
• Vascular dementia
• Lewy Body Dementia (LBD)
• Mixed dementia
• Parkinson's disease
• Frontotemporal dementia
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Normal pressure hydrocephalus
• Huntington's disease
• Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

Here's a resource I like to pass along. 

Feel free to copy and paste it when you help raise awareness and provide insight to:

Discover and Defeat Dementia

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/types-dementia

Run, Run As Fast As You Can . . .

Funny how many in their "middle ages" today run or bike or physically push themselves in sports chosen not as much for socializing but to try to stand out or show they can and will endure.

Are they running from something or towards something???

You can see personalities more clearly in those who push themselves to achieve . . . not just participate..

Could it be setbacks, disappointments, unplanned or planned life decisions not found to be as positive as expected are often the hidden challenges, the reason behind pushing for running longer, faster?  

Running after a life where personal recognition through pushing just a little harder, just a little longer, just a little more can make the difference in self satisfaction and recognition by others of achievements missed in other ways, in other places, other times?

This passion for running longer and longer distances or faster and faster times or against their own "personal record" gives them a focus, a means to an end, a way they can express their "need" to achieve while life is usually pushing them backwards or sideways.

They live as other generations have, they acquire and find themselves with memories from a lifetime growing in length and depth and believe they're not as "possessive" as their parents and grandparents because they don't "collect" or "assemble". 

It's fascinating how each generation believes they are so special, so different, so unique. 

Realization often comes when they've moved down the road of life into the final years how similar, how much alike, how they've followed in the footsteps of those who came before them even if they walk the same paths, share similar experiences and see the horrors of "war", each generation believes -- it's different.....this time.

The newest two generations, Millennials and those who follow closely behind are  experiencing the horror of unrecognized warfare in their homeland cities and states -- as the Baby Boomers did when three cities burned in the late 1960's.

Baby Boomers watched friends conscripted for a War that was undeclared, friends return without any "Welcome Home" as they were not the Heroes of their fathers' generation. . . IF they returned . . . and too many did not.

Broken apart by the mental and physical losses sustained by their brothers, cousins, friends, never to know or understand "why" and to watch as more challenges broke out, more losses were incurred.

Then there  were the "wars" on the home front. The economic crisis that seemed to come regularly, once a decade, and not just minimize but destroyed savings, plans, the present and the future.

And now, this aging population is being "blamed" for NOT saving enough, NOT planning well enough. Some of their predecessors and a few among them have "Pensions" but this "benefit" became a historical feature only available to certain categories and in fewer numbers.

Every decade from the 60's onward brought another severe financial challenge and many losses of the small amounts of "wealth" many accumulated.

Ask anyone who's had a child or family member with medical challenges how long their "savings" lasts. 

The Greatest Generation struggled through not having food, clothing, places to live and The Great Depression. Society went through times where they supported one another. Sacrifices were commonplace and most did not regret what they "willingly" gave to parents, siblings and others.

Baby Boomers saw, heard and experienced corruption within which was harder to live through than the corruption in a common enemy beyond our borders because we could not see, could not affect and had no voices on cell phones or the internet to raise, to share and to lead in other directions.

They demonstrated and raised voices. Women went out to work to be turned away, turned down for upward mobility and simply told, as I was "I want a man in this position."

Have Times Changed?  Or have they moved forward wearing different identities carrying the same challenges for another generation.

Run, run, as fast as you can but most will not be able to outrun LIFE, the unpredictable, the unplanned, the unwanted.