Did the person you knew who had Alzhiemers see through your love and affection.?

Question

I am on the elderly person's side. I want them to be well. Most of you are going way out of your way to convince them they are sick. If you are doing that here you are doing it there. The elderly person is smarter than you think. Of course you can see old age on an xray. But you can't bill Medicare for it.

Answer 1

Alzheimers is not 'aging' or dimentia. You're basing your sympathies on a mistaken thought that Alzheimer's patients have more of a mind than they actually do. In the very beginnings of the disease, yes, they do know they are loved because they still have themselves but usually it's then that they fight you when you try to help them the most. But soon it ravages the mind from all its memories and everthing we are is our memories.......all our daily behaviors, including our hygiene, our reasoning, our cognitive skills, all our learned behaviors and skills (sewing, dressing, driving, cooking, shopping, housecleaning, reading,taking our meds, etc,) our critical thinking to make lists, pay bills, feed the pets, water plants, do laundry, cook, eat,etc., our emotional being (recognition of ourselves and others and ordinary things in the world like tv's and music and books and magazines and cars).
They become like giant wasting babies before your eyes and to the extent that a baby will cry in pain, that's what they dissolve into. They really don't know the concept of love anymore than they understand the concept that they are ill. They are just caught in the moment and you move with them the best you can, with a broken heart, in a blur of exhaustion, as they make they're way through their lives. There will be millions in a few years and not enough places to go to or people to take care of them.
Not everybody has the luxury and blessing of family and certainly not the astronomical price of putiing them in a facility which most of the time is not where any of us wants to go but many will have no choices when age dictates that we can no longer care for them ourselves or there just is no one left.

Whenever the person is diagnosed, plans should be made to put a trusted member of the family, in charge of the person's assets, properties, etc.,(as in an Executor of a will) so that all the assets can be transferred out of the patient's name. When the person has no assets, then Medicare will pick up the bill. It is perfectly legal. You can contact community services attached to aging centers and they will tell you how to do this.

Answer 2

Maybe on a rare occasion. But , the times were few and far between. the look of recognition happened at rare times, and at those few moments there was almost a radiant look of pleasure , as if the person had been desperately searching ,and had found something , and then , it was gone. I'm not going to sugar coat for you what you want to hear , for it would be lying and would serve no good purpose. I do pray that you never have to face the reality of it in yourself or a loved one. For losing , a person , that you see everyday,but can not longer communicate with is a very heavy loss to bare.

Answer 3

I'm not quite sure that I understand this question. I'm sure that it is admirable that you want an Alzheimer's victim to be well....we would all love that to be so. Just as we would like cancer sufferers to be well, and any other sick person.
But Alzheimer's is a disease. Its not just "old age". Its not some kind of condition that we inflict upon people. If only it was ! I look after people with Alzheimers disease....it robs them of their intellect, their memories, their knowledge of who they and their families are.

I don't understand why you would imagine that "you are going out of your way to convince them that they are sick".

An Alzheimer's victim's brain ends up like a piece of Swiss cheese - full of holes where the brain cells used to be. This is not some sort of "scam" , its a real disease. I only hope that you never find out for yourself how devastating it is. Only then would you realise that it is a real condition. You are, for some reason, deluding yourself about this disease. Please go and visit at a facility for Alzheimer's sufferers. Talk to them and their relatives.

Maybe then, you will be able to climb down from your soapbox and discus this condition with reason and knowledge instead of going off half-****** about it with your unreasoned theories.

Answer 4

you can't convince a person with alzheimers that they are sick--their mind is gone, in the beginning they are right and you are wrong no matter what it is. Later no matter how well you want them to be it is not going to happen. Billing medicare I do see as an issue if you truely care for the person.

Answer 5

One of the first things I learned to do when going into the field of mental health was to concentrate on the well parts of the person, try to preserve the well parts and expand upon them so they might grow. Those who dwell totally on the sickness do a great disservice to the patient.

Answer 6

I have a lady at work that plays with her dolls. I am not sure what form of dementia she has but I can tell you this much. I get close to her and look deep in her eyes and I see a good, loving person behind those eyes. She will read to me and I always cherish these connections.

Answer 7

No..my Mama didn't know who she was much less who I was. i went for 7 years just praying my Mother would say my name once before she died. But she called me Nurse most of the time.

Answer 8

No. He was like a small baby and couldn't even feed himself. At the end he didn't even recognize his wife, and just laid on his bed crying in the fetal position.