Now You See Me, Now You Don't

     Hallucinations.

     How many of those you know suffering from Alzheimer's disease have gone through a stage or continuously experienced hallucinations? Hallucinations can be seen as the "elephant in the room," since most people do not like to discuss the topic. Hallucinations are directly related to mental illness. It is scary for caregivers and loved ones to be accepting of hallucinations.

     In fact, they are very common. My great-grandmother, who I mentioned in the previous post as the one who just passed away, was plagued with hallucinations consistently before she transferred to a nursing home. We would get calls in the middle of the night for weeks, my panicked grandmother worrying about the men in her attic trying to break into her home. She called our neighbors, and even left the house in the middle of the night. Before the onset of dementia, my great-grandmother was a rational woman. Considering the fact that she didn't have an attic, we believed that she was having a rare case of an auditory hallucination. These are rare, but not impossible, for people with dementia, and she suffered from no other mental illness.

     This was years ago, but I think we finally determined that something was upsetting her. Once we corrected the issue, these hallucinations ceased.

     The most common form of hallucinations found with dementia* and Alzheimer's disease is the visual hallucinations, which I believe to be pretty self-explanatory. Other hallucinations can occur, such as tactile hallucinations, or feeling things that aren't there, and gustatory (tasting)/olfactory (smelling) hallucinations.   It is a concern that doctors have that medications given to patients exhibiting signs of Alzheimer's and dementia may increase the chances or even be the cause of these hallucinations.

     Has your loved one experienced a hallucination in any form? If so, did the doctor find a cause? Was it treated?


*Dementia is a symptom of a disease, such as Alzheimer's disease, but may not necessarily be Alzheimer's disease.

Apology

First and foremost, before I continue to blog, I apologize for not posting as I promised in the beginning, but school is completely crazy. During March, I visited Costa Rica on a mission trip, and my great-grandmother, who suffered from dementia, passed away recently.

As school winds down I hope to be more prompt with my blog posts.

My apologizes.

Laughing in the Face of Danger

     If you've seen The Lion King, you will know exactly what my title means. Simba and Nala end up in the elephant graveyard, and Simba, who is clearly putting on a brave front, says, "I laugh in the face of danger!"

     When you mention any of the most prominent diseases, people immediately become uncomfortable. Cancer. HIV/AIDS. Heart Disease.That squirm in your seat, fake a smile, type of awkwardness.

     Surprisingly, the subject of Alzheimer's brings not only the unnerved reaction, but the "Simba mentality." Many times, when talking about Alzheimer's, dementia and memory loss, I've encountered jokes and laughter.

     What?

      Honestly, it made me angry and upset. It's not a joke; this disease deteriorates the brain and spreads in a similar slow manner as an infection. S-l-o-w-l-y. And, sadly, the patients don't understand what is happening to them. If my friends jokingly refer to Alzheimer's disease (or even the memory loss evident in my grandmother), I'll admit it: I become defensive, but the more I deal with it, the more I can tolerate it with forced diplomacy. As I study psychology and do my own research: I get it.

     Everyone struggles with the "Simba mentality." Laughing in the face of a potential and scary threat.

     Alzheimer's disease is rather a newly "discovered" disease. While it has been in existence, scientists have recently determined the qualifications of the symptoms and definitions. In 1906, "Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German physician, presented a case history before a medical meeting of a 51-year-old woman who suffered from a rare brain disorder. A brain autopsy identified the plaques and tangles that today characterize Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's Foundation of America)." This was the first "documented" case of Alzheimer's disease.

     Due to this, much of the disease is still relatively unknown concerning cause and treatment (at the moment it is incurable), and can vary case-by-case. Everyone seeks to have control of their lives, and with Alzheimer's, it is beyond your control. News reports can give tips and doctors can help share their wisdom on how to attempt to either prevent the disease, or to slow down the progression, but they are not guaranteed to work. There are multiple theories on the cause of Alzheimer's disease, but scientists are not certain. Frankly, Alzheimer's scares me, too. That is one of the reasons I'm pushing forward; it helps to propel my interest in this ravaging disease.

     As my knowledge of Alzheimer's disease increases, it becomes less of the "unknown," less frightening, in a sense. Because people are so unsure and unknowledgeable of Alzheimer's disease, they must have the "Simba mentality" to cope.
     
      This is my plea for people to listen, to learn, to understand.
 
       It's no laughing matter.

Until it was a Battlecry

      "A staggering 5.4 million Americans already have the disease, and that number is expected to triple by the year 2050."

(MSNBC News, "The Fight Against Alzheimer's," May 2011)

When I was younger, "Alzheimer's disease" was relatively new to me. I watched as my great-grandfather slowly succumbed to the disease, without grasping the whole concept. His wife, my great-grandmother, was placed in a nursing home, diagnosed with dementia. Now, years have passed, and the disease has struck again.

I can't pinpoint an exact moment when I first noticed that my grandmother was losing her memory. She's not terrible, but the symptoms are evident; she has her good days and her bad. It started out as those "senior moments." Misplacing this, losing that. Forgetting an address or a phone number.

I want to stop it.

This was basically how I wrapped up my college essay. I'm planning on pursuing a course of study that will place me in a field to study Alzheimer's disease. I'm going to major in biopsychology, which will enable me to study both the scientific and psychological aspects of the disease.

But that's at least five years away! I am not just going to stand back and twiddle my thumbs until I can get out into the field. My problem was solved last Saturday, when I told everyone at my uncle's house to be quiet so I could listen to a story covering Alzheimer's. Apparently, raising awareness is extremely hard.

Finally, I had a purpose.

According to both the TV report and a few articles I've read, people can't raise the awareness for Alzheimer's to get the funds. Caretakers are too busy to promote their cause, while the patients themselves deny having the disease or, as you may assume, forget that they are battling Alzheimer's.

Elizabeth Landau, CNN, writes in one report, "the United States spends $450 million each year in Alzheimer's research money, compared to $6 billion for cancer, $4 billion for heart disease and $3 billion for HIV/AIDS research."

Compared to these other devastating diseases, Alzheimer's is not receiving the funding necessary to research a cure.

This may not work, but I hope it does.

The only thing that I can do is to share my story.