Hello
Thanks for opening my June Newsletter. My name, just in case you haven’t already guessed it, is Richard and I have been living with the slowly and relentlessly increasing symptoms of Dementia, probably of the Alzheimer’s type for the past seven years.
Every month I being preparing for this mailing with the best of intentions. I want to share with you the fascinating people, places, and ideas I have run across in my travels for the month. Unfortunately, I do not always get around to those reports. I write almost every day, even when I am on the road. Writing is close to an obsession with me. Writing, and especially reading it and understanding it the next day confirms for me I am still okay.
Of course I will always be okay, I will just be different. But there I go drifting away from my intended focus.
My travels, my speaking, my listening have given me the gift of feeling not only that I am not alone, I’m actually a part of a large group of like-minded (in many senses of the words) wonderful, interesting, vibrant human beings. I like that feeling. I want others living with the symptoms of dementia to feel “included.”
Please see if you can help make that happen to someone you know who lives with failing cognitive skills.
“The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” –G.B. Shaw
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Trust me! I’m here to change your culture for the better!
Hello!
“I’m a trained, certified, over-educated, compassionate, knowledgeable, experienced, and well intended Culture Change, Change Agent. I know what I am doing is good for you! And you’ll know it too after successful completion of this two and a half hour workshop by all the members of your domestic support staff!”
“Oh!? Do I need a new culture? Do I need to pay someone to come to my home to tell my domestic staff what I need? Do they need to learn about defining, creating, maintaining and evaluating the culture in which I live, and in which they work?”
Culture Change - Person Centered Culture Change -is not about changing for the better (or at least ” better” in the minds of the “change agent”) the culture of someone else. It’s about empowering, enabling, reabling others (especially elders, especially people living in assisted living  communities, especially everyone who has in some form been disabled from being all they deserve to be by virtue of their birth) to define the new culture in which they want to live. It’s about taking their needs and wants as they expressed them, and making them happen with the inhabitants and users of the “new” culture acting as co-agents.
What follows are words from an “Ad” for a model of culture change and a workshop to make it happen.
“With this program, the soil is warmed by involving everyone, right from the start, in your culture change commitment. Work out a schedule that allows every single employee (and interested families and residents) to participate in a two to four hour workshop over a two to three day time period. The results are powerful:
· Everyone feels rewarded and attended to;
· Everyone comes away with the same understanding of why culture change is worth all the trouble;
· Real issues and concerns are brought out and discussed;
· New team skills are learned that will immediately benefit the facility
· Excitement is channeled into real possibilities.“
Notes: The desired outcome seems to be a changed culture for employees that will immediately be of great benefit to the facility. The assumption being what’s good for the facility is good for the residents. And, what’s good for the residents, is good for me!
Families and residents are invited to participate if they are “interested.” If they aren’t interested…stay home and we will post a notice on the bulletin board telling you the changes in the culture we have decided are “must haves” for you. Culture change is characterized as “worth all the trouble.”
What trouble? Who are the troublemakers? How do you already know we need to change my culture, and how do you already know what needs to be changed?
The “real issues and concerns that are brought out and discussed” - are these worker’s issues? Management issues? Compliance issues? Budget issues? Or resident issues? And if they begin and end with resident’s issues how do you discover/know what they are without first asking us and then inviting lots of us to be at the table/in the room while you discuss them?
I believe every culture change agent cares about the people whose culture they want to change. After all, that is probably why they do what they do with such enthusiasm. They care, but they can’t know. They aren’t us.
So they about read us. They go to graduate schools and conferences where others who are not us, talk about us. They have studied us. They have personal experience with their own families visiting us, having us stay a few days at the holidays, maybe even taking a vacation to visit us. The younger change agents know us through their grandparents.
They certainly do not know us well enough to speak for us at the change agent strategic planning session for our community (however, community is defined). They don’t know us well enough based upon the number of letters they list after their name, or the number of CEU hours they have earned in the past two years, nor even after observing many of us and speaking with a few of us. All of these efforts are okay, but that is all, just okay. It beats a stick in the eye.
But I want my culture to feel and be mine. I do not want you to own it and manage it as if you own it. When you or I think and feel it’s time to change my culture and your work rules and on the job behaviors lets listen, talk, plan, implement and evaluate as partners.”Real issues and concerns” seem to be work related rather than customer related.
Person centered culture change takes two vague processes and ties them to each other in the hope of clarifying both. In fact it creates a third term which needs yet another term to explain what it really means, why and how it really happens.
Enough with the words already. Some change agents ignore the trees (the recipients of their change efforts) in favor of attending to the tress they themselves have planted. Before you start planting more trees to replace my trees that you are cutting down, please, please let’s work on this together.
Richard
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A Saving Grace
Hello!
Several weeks ago a couple came up to me after I had spoken and all had gone home except the three of us and my “ride.” They told me a story worth repeating, worth reading, and worth remembering, and therefore worth writing down.
Several years ago his Mother came to live with them. She was deep into the symptoms of dementia, probably of this or that type and had not conversed with anyone for several years. However, she did say aloud a brief grace at every meal. She frequently conversed with herself in a language no one was able to figure out, so she was mostly ignored in conversations.
 One morning as the couple was working on their income taxes his Mom came and sat by them and started to “mumble” to herself. It soon became distracting to these two citizens hard at work on their obligation to their country, to file/pay their income taxes. They each repeatedly asked “Mom” to “please be quiet while we are working on our taxes.” “Mom” continued to mumble. Soon it became more than distracting, it became annoying.
When they completed their task it was time for lunch. Before going in to eat lunch one of them told “Mom” how distracting her mumbling had been and asked her to remain quite for two minutes before she could come to the kitchen and have lunch with them. They watched their watches as the mom sat quietly in her wheel chair for two minutes, and then she wheeled herself into the kitchen.
As they all sat around the table holding each other’s hands for “grace.” Instead of say “Bless this food…” Mom said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
My response to hearing the story was to say “A men.” Richard
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I know what I see, or do I see what I know
Hello!
Last year a promising Nation-wide Imaging Initiative was funded by the National Institute of Health. Most everyone who owns a PET scanner, MRI, and/or Polaroid camera volunteered to spend some of the money. The goal was to discover, track, map, and measure the earliest of changes in the brains of persons who were in the early stages of dementia probably of this or that type, were at genetic risk of dementia, were in “mild cognitive decline (whatever that means).
But what if I don’t know what I am looking for? What if I’m just looking because I can look? What if I know I am seeing something (that much I know - I think therefore I am?! I see therefore I know?) And what if I don’t know what it looked like yesterday or a year ago, and I can’t know what it will look like tomorrow, or in a year into the future?
Turns out a picture is not worth a thousand words, these pictures produce thousands of words as everyone tries to explain what they are looking at and what it means - what at the same time having no basis of facts, no agreed upon consensus of what constitutes dementia, probably of this or that type.
All I really know is because of advances in technology (unmatched by human understanding) I can now see something(s) today, I could not see yesterday. If I was only looking at one thing, it might be easier to know what I am looking at. If I knew if I was looking at a cause or an effect, it would be helpful.
It is turning out that 20 million dollars was not near enough for me to be sure. Let me have 20 million more (and while you are at it, what about another 20 million for the stimulus funds) and I’m pretty sure then I will know for sure what I am looking at, what it means, and how that new knowledge is useful to the 10 million citizens who are living with and in declining cognitive skills.
Better imaging, more color, 3-D (perhaps even 4-D!), additional brains to slice and dice - these are what is needed so we can all benefit from more of the above. Maybe “yes,” but I think “probably no.”
Is it a gift from Alois that I can see the absurdity, the contradictions, the scrambling for after the fact, therefore because of the fact logical fallacies - and others don’t/can’t/won’t?
Richard
A person living with the diagnosis of dementia, probably of the Alzheimer’s type.
“Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.”
- Will Rogers: (1879-1935) US actor, lecturer, humorist
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Speaking about my mind, by speaking from my heart
Hello!
This is the reaction from a person living with the diagnosis of Dementia of the Alzheimer’s type to several of my reflections in Alzheimer’s From the Inside Out. He now frequently “stands up and speaks out”
“Richard wrote in his book if he had a dollar for everyone who told him “you can’t have Alzheimer’s disease (AD)” he would be a very rich man. The same is true of me.
I have it. I wish I did not, but I do. I am blessed having had it diagnosed early while in the very early stages of the disease. My Early Diagnosis has given me the opportunity to maintain a better quality of life. It further contributes to prolonging my stay in Early Stage.
Every curse has its blessing. Mine is in having this terrible disease I have, caught early. I am positioned better to do something of value with it, co ntribute to my sense of self worth as a result. It is an altogether new volunteer activity for me the doing of which give me purpose and a very good feeling.”
This was my response to his reaction:
We are all victims of our own making, in that we all have participated in the development and maintenance of the culture in which we all now live.
Now that some time has passed in our lives, we bump up against the values, the politicians, the policies, the budgets that we helped to create.
What irony! What goes around truly comes around. Just how we can stop this selfish, self-centered culture of ours is a question that might be answered long after I have returned to cosmic dust.
I’m not optimistic, but neither am I willing to pass the burden on to the next generation of elders to fix us all.
Stand up, speak up!
It’s not just all we can do, it’s ALL we ALL should/must do.
Richard
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Yes, Yes and Yes
Hello!
So, if I cannot always say what I mean and/or I have trouble meaning what I say, can I find other forms of self-expression to let what is inside me out? Out, so others may better appreciate me and perhaps even understand me? Out, so I feel better about myself?
The answers are yes, yes, and yes. Those diagnosed with early stage dementia can slow their physical, mental, and psychological decline by taking part in therapeutic programs that combine counseling, support groups, researchers report. Some of the benefits of this approach are comparable to those achieved with anti-dementia medications! Close the pill bottle and open the paint cans!
The findings are detailed in the American Journal of Alzheimer’s disease and Other Dementias.
“Most of the research on dementia and most of the dollars up until this point have gone into pharmacological interventions,” said Sandy Burgener, a professor of nursing at the University of Illinois and lead author on the study. “But we have evidence now from studies like mine that show that other approaches can make a difference in the way people live and can possibly also impact their cognitive function.”
 In the study, 24 people with early stage dementia participated in an intensive 40-week program. The intervention included biweekly sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy and support groups, along with three sessions per week of traditional Chinese martial arts exercises and meditation, called qigong (chee-gong) and Taiji (tye-jee).
A comparison group of people with early stage dementia did not participate in these programs for the first 20 weeks of the intervention.
Researchers are discovering that multi-disciplinary approaches - those that address patients’ physical, mental, and psychological dimensions - show the most promise in treating people with dementia, Burgener said.
“There’s a lot of support for multi-modal therapies for persons with dementia, especially those with early stage dementia,” she said.
Nursing professor Sandy Burgener
Earlier studies have shown that such programs can work as well as anti-dementia drugs, Burgener said.
Qigong and Taiji combine simple physical movements and meditation. Qigong is a series of integrated exercises believed to positively affect the mind, body and spirit. Taiji is a type of qigong that melds Chinese philosophy with martial and healing arts, said Yang Yang, a professor of kinesiology and community health and a co-author of the study. He is a master Taiji and qigong instructor whose research focuses on the efficacy of Taiji and qigong for older adults.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy that seeks positive alternatives to the beliefs and behaviors that can undermine a person’s health and happiness. Research has shown that cognitive behavioral therapy and support groups aid those who struggle with depression and other physical or mental health problems.
Participants in the program benefited in a variety of ways. After 20 weeks, those in the treatment group improved in several measures of physical function, including balance and lower leg strength, while those in the comparison group did not. There were also positive cognitive and psychological effects, Burgener said.
“We saw gains in self-esteem in the treatment group and pretty severe declines in self-esteem in the comparison group,” she said. “Those in the treatment group also had sustained and slightly improved mental status scores, which meant we were impacting cognitive function.”
Both groups saw increases in depression, Burgener said, but the increase for those in the treatment group was a fraction of that seen in the comparison group.
No additional benefits were seen after 40 weeks, but participants were able to maintain their initial gains.
The program was so popular that she and her colleagues have kept it going for more than three years, with many of the first participants and their caregivers still engaged.
“The clinical findings, from my perspective, go far beyond the statistical findings,” Burgener said. “People were happier when they were in the treatment group. Two men came in with walkers and left without them. One is in our Taiji group three years later and is still not using a walker.”
Burgener is an advocate for further research into non-pharmacological interventions for people with dementia, which she sees as co-therapies to the drugs that are given to many people when they are first diagnosed. We need to clone her, or at least encourage other researchers to speak up and out about the need to fund more psychosocial research for people with dementia.
“Funders and insurance companies are willing to put money into drugs, but it’s been a hard sell to get money for these kinds of programs,” she said. I agree, said Richard Taylor!
Richard
“It is what we think we know already that prevents us from learning.”
- Claude Bernard: (1813-1878) French physiologist
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Links
New Site Helps Elders Share Their Life Stories
The Life Story Center at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute National Resource Center in Portland, Me., recently launched a new interactive site for sharing life stories. The site enables elders and others of all ages to join in creating what is planned as the world’s largest fully searchable life-story archives on the Web.
An easy-to-use format guides users through the steps of telling their own life stories — or helping others do the same. The site also makes it simple to contribute a life story to the online archive.
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This is an interesting training video for professionals on art and dementia. It’s free (my favorite type of site), it’s interesting, and it seems objective and up to date.
MetLife MindAlert Lecture Series: Art and Dementia
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Join this group of world renowned gerontology and dementia care experts on July 31, 2009 for this conference on the UNCG main campus!
The purpose of this full day conference is to provide innovative best practice methods to maintain an active lifestyle despite the cognitive, emotional and physical disabilities older adults with memory loss so often face. A balance must be found between medical and lifestyle approaches. This conference will highlight the latest research along with best practices from around the world. The target audience is recreational therapists, nurses, rehab professionals, long term care administrators, and advocates for older adults. [Download a Flyer]
5.5 CEU’s will be available for Nurses
5.75 CEU’s will be available for Recreation Therapists and Nursing Home Administrators
A certificate of completion will be given to all in attendance.
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The Alzheimer Research Forum, founded in 1996, is the web’s most dynamic scientific community dedicated to understanding Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Access to the web site is free to all. Our editorial priorities are as diverse as the needs of the research community. The web site reports on the latest scientific findings, from basic research to clinical trials; creates and maintains public databases of essential research data and reagents, and produces discussion forums to promote debate, speed the dissemination of new ideas, and break down barriers across the numerous disciplines that can contribute to the global effort to cure Alzheimer’s disease.
The ARF team of professional science writers and editors, information technology experts, web developers and producers all work closely with our distinguished and diverse Advisory Board to ensure a high-quality of information and services. They welcome our readers’ participation in all aspects of the web site. I post comments here from time to time. They need to read more voices of people with dementia reacting to their research, their interpretations, and their discussions.
The Alzheimer Research Forum is an independent nonprofit organization. They are supported by grants and individual donations. The web site does not endorse any specific product or scientific approach.
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StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project
whose mission is to honor and celebrate one
another’s lives through listening. By recording the
stories of our lives with the people we care about,
we experience our history, hopes and humanity.
Since 2003, tens of thousands of everyday people
have interviewed family and friends through
StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free
CD to take home and share, and is archived for
generations to come at the Library of Congress.
Everyone has a story to tell.
In 2006, StoryCrops launched an initiative to reach
out to people affected by memory loss with an aim
to support and encourage those affected by sharing
their stories. The project is guided by an Advisory
Board of nationally recognized leaders in the field of memory loss, and all interviews are facilitated by
their specially trained staff.
Millions listen to the award-winning broadcasts on
public radio and the Internet. StoryCorps is one of
the largest oral history projects of its kind, creating
a growing portrait of who we really are as
Americans.
Although this service is free, a donation of $25 to
help cover costs of recording, archiving, and
preserving each interview is appreciated.
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Where’s Richard
I’ll be speaking at a conference for the Alzheimer’s Society of Durham (Canada) on June 23rd. I am speaking at the New Authors Conference at the University of Waterloo from 1-3pm and in classroom BMH 2703 on June 24th from 11-12pm. Contact Loretta Tanner (ltanner@alzheimerdurham.com) and Leah Sadler (lsadler@healthlylivingwaterloo.ca) for more information.
I hope to organize some of my writings I have produced since Alzheimer’s From the Inside Out was published in 2006 in July and August. My brother has volunteered to work with me
on this project. I won’t be doing that much traveling these two months.
I will be speaking in Houston on July 21st at the opening of Autumn Grove in Atascocita. Please contact Amanda Bailey
(amanda@autumngrove.org) for more information.
I will be speaking for the Alzheimer’s Alliance of Arkansas program August 10th and 11th. On August 10th I will be speaking in Hot Springs from 9:30-11:30am and the Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock from 2:30-5pm. On August 11th. I will be speaking in Heber Springs from 10-11:30am. Please contact Janet Nelson (janet.nelson@alzark.org) for more information.
I will be speaking at the 9th Annual Pioneer Networking Conference on August 11th,
12th, and 13th in Little Rock, Arkansas. Please contact Karen Stobbe (karenstobbe@charter.net) for more information.
I will be speaking September 12th at Sun City Huntley in Huntley, Illinois from 1-2:30pm. For more infromation please contact Nancy Turngren (NTurngren@centegra.com).
I will be speaking September 19th at Warwick University in the heart of England. Please contact Sarah Heseltine (SHeseltine@alzheimers.org.uk) for more information.
I will be speaking in Scotland September 21st-23rd. For more information please contact Andrew Ketteringham (Andrew.Ketterinham@
alzheimers.org.uk)
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“I’m an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
Mark Twain
Mark Twain, I am not
Hello!
But that does not stop me from viewing the world, especially as it relates to people living with the symptoms of dementia, as at times absurd, at times insensitive, at times well intended but badly off the mark, and almost out of touch with the reality of any one human being living with a diagnosis of dementia probably of this or that type.
Folks who run memory and assisted living communities are willing to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to improve their ability to manipulate our behavior by (buy) adding this, repainting that, buying this or that - manipulating the environment in which we live - so we will live healthier, happier, contented, under control lives.
Here, eat off this red plate and you will eat more than if we gave you a white plate. Eating more is good for you. Here play with this dog or cat or worst of all this doll, it is good for you. The act will distract you from dealing with yourself, with today, with yourself. We don’t have the time and/or inclination to better understand your needs and wants - maybe this animal, vegetable, mineral, plant, or doll will.
Here, fold these clothes, even if they don’t belong to anyone in particular. Being busy with your hands keeps your mind at rest, and a sleepy/sleeping mind frequently produces a non-agitated resident. If you want to live here you can’t act agitated, even if you feel like it.
“The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain’t so.” -Mark Twain
Comes now the snoezelon room. According to those “in the know” Snoezelon is an alternative treatment approach in which people who have Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia are offered opportunities to become more aware of their surroundings. This allows them to react better to their environment and to the people who are part of it, and to experience inner peace and contentment.
“Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”
- Mark Twain
The theory is that overstimulation of the senses can help people who find it difficult to connect with their world. Snoezelen is painless and, in many cases, has been getting positive results in people who have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, as well as in children who have autism.
Sensory stimulation
History of Snoezelen
In the 1970s, a psychologist named Ad Verheual observed how his disabled patients reacted and interacted with their surroundings, and found that introducing them to the five senses in a focused way helped to both calm and activate them.
Verheual shared his findings with a colleague, Jan Hulsegge, and they published a book called “Snoezelen,” named for a combined Dutch word that means “seek out” (”snuffelen”) and “relax” (”doezelen”). From this humble start, the Snoezelen concept was born, and today multi-sensory rooms known as Snoezelen Sensory Rooms are used in a variety of settings, including nursing homes and facilities that treat autism.
A Snoezelen sensory room is designed to challenge the senses of the participants in a nonthreatening way and to encourage them to interact with it. This can be achieved by providing huge comfortable pillows, playing soothing background (e.g., cascading water, birds singing, wind through trees), placing bowls of berries in the room, offering an interactive panel where patients can project colored lights onto a blank wall, hanging colorful and touchable mobiles from the ceiling, and filtering in pleasant smells such as lavender and cinnamon.
“Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thought that is forever flowing through one’s head.”
Mark Twain
Now who can be opposed to “inner peace and contentment?” Who can be opposed to sitting a room full of bowls of berries, birds, wind, cascading water; a light show; and everything smells like cinnamon toast in the morning?
I’m not opposed to it, but I am suspicious of it. Much of the effectiveness research comes from groups of folks who have mental illnesses. Dementia is not a mental illness! Some of its direct and indirect symptoms mimic mental illness. Sometimes dementia can lead to or come from forms of mental illness. But it is not a mental illness.
“One learns through the heart, not the eyes or the intellect.”
Mark Twain
The Medical model treats the symptoms of dementia as if they sprung from a mental illness. Folks are (over)medicated and their symptoms seem to go away. But, does the dementia go away? Of course not, just the behaviors that are annoying and threatening others go away. I am still trying to figure out today, figure out who I am. You just made it harder for me. Now you want to over stimulate me in order to under stimulate me. You want to pretend that I have the ability to understand and talk/think my way out of dementia if only I can get myself calmed down.
Others want to believe if only they could discover the impact of my environment on me then they could change it - changing me at almost the same time - and it all would be for the better. If only they knew the S (stimulus), they could alter, control the S (response).
“The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole life - time, if not asked to lend money.”
- Mark Twain
Don’t stop building snoezelon rooms; buying red plates; and importing kids, plants, and pets into my community. Just get your priorities straight. Don’t let yourself believe new is better, more is better, different is better. Some new, more, and different may be needed, but what is needed first, last and always is:
“What about me?” Yes, I just wrote the words that keep many mental health professionals in business. It is a question we ask, an answer we want/need/seek at least seven times a day. Some of us are so good at repressing this question we only whisper it to ourselves, but in the end it is our own happiness we all seek. Persons with dementia need more help with this nearer- end-of-life quest than do 20 or 30 somethings. They can still drive. They still have a job (some of them at least). Most importantly they still have a purpose or possess the skills to discover and create a purpose for themselves.
Who wants to spend some time, some money, some more staff time getting to know me? Is it not faster, cheaper, better to attempt to shape my behavior by shaping my environment? It is slower, expensive, and better in deeper ways than any environmental manipulation can produce to turn out the lights, turn down the music, leave the berries, cats, dogs, plants, and red plates in the hall, and come into my room (you call it my home) and sit with me, talk with me, listen to me, be fully with me.
Richard
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The spark of life - is life.
It is the light in the eyes of every baby born on the planet. It produces heat as well as laughter. It lights up the lives of others, and provides the light for all human beings to see and be seen in their full wholeness, in their full humanity. The symptoms of dementia cause the spark to flicker, at least it appears that way to others who look in our eyes, and sometimes it feels that way for those of us who look through dementia-dimmed eyes. But the spark is there.
Where life is, so is the spark. All it takes to brighten itself is others who believe there is always a spark in all of us. All it takes for the spark to reveal itself (most times) is patience, love, and support. And for those deep into the symptoms of dementia whose spark appears to others to be out for all practical purposes - all it takes is lots and lots of patience, love, and support - for that is all we have to give, and it must be all we need to receive - even though we cannot thank you for it.
“Brighten the corner where you are.” advises an old hymn. “Someone far from harbor may need help across the bar.” Well, I’m not worried about getting across “the bar” I’m still focusing on today. Please, believe and behave as if we all have the same spark, the same “life”, the same human needs even though we live with a cognitive disorder. Show us your spark. Believe in our spark. Together we are always more of ourselves when we are surround by others who believe in us, and ultimately in themselves.
The Spark of Life movement/approach/method can be/should be a part of every carers life, everyone who is living with dementia, and indeed everyone on the planet. But for now lets all concentrate on the caregiver/dementia segment of the population.
Richard
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Its not OMG, its Ohmmmmmmmm - - or if I tell you my Mantra will I disable one of the tools I use to slow down the appearance of my symptoms of dementia?
Mediate first, and then think. It could help your brain resist the onslaught of symptoms of dementia.
Ohmmm! Long ago, and far away, when I was an aging hippie I stumbled into transcendental meditation. I was sure, as were lots of other meditators ,that if I was living in a community in which more than 2% of my neighbors were meditating on a daily basis the group synergy would somehow lower crime, reduce the divorce rate, and perhaps even reduce tooth decay in my community . It worked! Crime went down!! (Bloomington, Indiana) Ignoring the fact crime always went down in the Summer when there fewer students in town (Bloomington is the home of Indiana University), it made me feel better about myself because I was making a difference in my community.
Comes now research to suggest meditation may not only lower the crime rate it may actually help brains being overwhelmed by dementia of this or that type cover up, slow down, create work-a rounds for the symptoms of dementia. I do not think it is accurate to say it slows down the progress of the disease, we do not know that. What we do know is it slows down the impact of symptoms. Personally, I believe a meditating (meditated?) brain is somehow better able to muster what remains of its natural defenses to keep me from having to deal with the symptoms by creating temporary cognitive solutions to the symptoms.
But, whatever meditation does, however it does it, it seems to help! A University of Pennsylvania study shows that mediation slows Alzheimer’s.
Richard
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We are still missing lots and lots of missing links
Hello!
Plaques, Tangles in Brain Don’t Always Lead to Alzheimer’s. Study raises questions about possible link
New British research provides more evidence that the bits of gunk in the brain known as plaques and tangles don’t necessarily lead to Alzheimer’s disease, as many experts have long believed.
In fact, the study found that many people over the age of 75 had signs of significant clogging in their brains but still managed to avoid senility.
“The findings don’t have immediate ramifications for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, which remains incurable and only somewhat treatable. But in conjunction with other studies, they could redirect ongoing research,” said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.
“A lot of what is out there that’s focusing on reducing the formation of amyloid plaques and tangles may just be off the mark,” Kennedy said.
Amyloid plaques are globs of protein that form outside brain cells and stick together. Tangles are bits of protein that develop inside brain cells and create havoc of their own. Both have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
In the new study, British researchers examined the brains of 456 people who had donated their bodies to science. The subjects were 69 to 103 years old when they died.
The findings appear in the May 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The team found a strong link between clogging in the brain and Alzheimer’s in 75-year-olds, but the connection lessened by the time people were 95. In other words, plaques and tangles developed in very old people just as in their younger counterparts, but the very old weren’t as likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
The picture is not perfectly clear, however. “At all ages, there are some people who don’t become demented before they died — despite having a lot of plaques and tangles,” said study co-author Dr. Paul Ince. “We do not know what would have happened if they had survived.”
“It’s possible that Alzheimer’s disease shortens life, so people who are susceptible to it simply don’t make it into the older age group,” reasoned Ince, a professor of neuropathology and head of the Academic Unit of Pathology at Sheffield University Medical School in the U.K. Also, he added, the study suggests that people who become senile at a very old age may be affected by another factor — shrinking of the brain.
As for future research, “we need to take account of the ability of some people’s brains to withstand Alzheimer’s better than others,” he said. “If we knew why, it might help us with strategies to delay the onset of dementia.”
“For now, doctors are very limited in how they can treat Alzheimer’s,” Kennedy said.
“Medications can treat symptoms, much as painkillers help some people tolerate arthritis, but they don’t cure the disease,” he said. “And” he added, “in many cases, the drugs simply don’t work”.
Richard
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