Any advice or experience with advanced stages of Alzheimer's?

For what it is worth, sometimes temporary moments of profound lucidity can be triggered by playing a very familiar and deeply seated song.
For example, “You are my Sunshine”.
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I witnessed this happen in a nursing home.
After her old daughter passed away, Mrs. C became severely and profoundly affected by Alz and had to be wheeled into the venue and she seemed comatose the entire time every month. Her waking demeanor was usually distant and far away, totally out of it. There was no one left alive in her sphere who shared memories.

My band played the same songs each month. Some of the familiar songs really seemed to bring out the joviality in the crowd and many would hang out and talk as the band was packing up to leave. Eventually an orderly would roll Mrs. C back to her room.

However, one month the usual guitar player decided to play the old piano sitting on the floor off stage, and he sang a favorite hymn. From my vantage as the fiddler I could observe Mrs. C instantly wake up from the dead, all wild eyed and flailing arms. I remember thinking this was it for her she that is in the death throes and that this lady was going to die right in front of my eyes.

Then she quickly wheeled herself up to the front right next to the piano player, who never missed a beat, as Mrs. C sang song after song every verse by memory with a loud voice until they sang a song she didn’t know.

Afterwards I was able to have the most cognizant and clear conversation with her that I consider miraculous. She told me that when she was a very little girl her father would let her sit on his lap while he played the piano and they sang all of those very same songs.

A couple of months later I was visiting a friend’s parent at another nursing home that had a separate unit for Alz residents. I took a short cut through the unit and much to my surprise there was old Mrs. C along with other residents huddled around a CD player listening to old classical Christmas music.

I hope this long story gives you another tool in your arsenal.

The idea is to find something that temporarily triggers access to what is left of your loved one’s memory hole, pushing them back a stage or two, just long enough for them to enjoy your company and conversation.

Blessings

in Australia years ago, they found that using ULTRASOUND busted up the plaque that accumulates on the nerve endings blocking the signals from getting through.

it was found to be quite successful...

OP will post later this morning.

lots of experience, both with family and in work.

ask if you have questions, I can only answer based on experience and knowledge.

Smoke cigars

I'll post later at some point as well.

Saw it with my grandmother and experienced it with my pops.

It was hell but patience and understanding is paramount when caring for someone that has it.

Music seems to bring them back best from my experience, although temporarily. It can help bring them out of a episode sometimes.

They are frustrated and confused. It can cause them to lash out in anger, or just shut down completely. It's a horrible disease to watch a loved one struggle with.

This is good advice .. saw it with my dad.
He was a musician, but I think the principle could be used for things other than just music.

Reach back in their memory to their earliest days and it is there that you will find them again.

the onset is slow, insidious, and often missed.

oh, that's just the way Mom is....... that kind of thing.


It takes knowledge and courage to make the decisions that need to be made. My Mom had often had expressed that she DID NOT want to live with any of her children, ever, and the short transition time she spent with us showed she meant it.
She had liked living alone but near us before things became obvious and she got the diagnosis of advanced Alzheimer's.

In the beautiful new Memory Care wing, her choice, she seemed okay for a few weeks, then got sicker and sicker, died before two months had passed. Several hospital addmissions in this time. This was before kovid.

No matter what approach is taken, there will be downsides.

and some victories and happy moments, like with the music....



the links I provided here - now removed - don't work any longer.

The Alzheimer's Reading Room was a great resource.....

Last Edited by beeches on 01/13/2023 02:53 PM

Yes, but I already forgot!!!



No joke, tho!

All I know is I was researching... wait, it's coming back to me!!! A supplement for lucid dreaming and it's a flower extract
and it said not to be confused with the drug they make out of it for Alzheimer's!!!

So you might want to look into the flower supplement, OP.
Best of my recollect, it's called GALANTAMINE!

HiH.

Coconut oil haults it

sound...
frequencies
sound can KILL and it can HEAL..

i think its the LAURIC ACID...and this is found in only two places on the planet.

mothers milk and coconuts.

There's other stuff I did to recover my memory turned bad from bad meds (I had near zippo short term memory recall)

but as usual, I post and the lights are on but no one's home. The thanks I get? Zippo. Keeping it for my own website.

would CHELATION of the heavy metals also help>
i think so...
the metals get stuck in the brain.

We helped “transition “ an elderly aunt into care.

The doctor was sure of his diagnosis, BUT the sweet aunt was

was admitted to a hospital for tests to confirm the diagnosis

and to make sure there were no underlying physical problems causing

the mental decline.

If I am again ever in that situation, I will make sure it is not a

lack of healthy fats in the diet of the patient.

Different situation- My Elderly Mother was in a Rehab hospital

after a medical episode- and she began to exhibit some strange

behaviors- the “doctor” in charge said everyone her age had some

dementia. . .- we insisted on tests- the “doctor” was about to kill

my Mother by draining her body of potassium & other electrolytes

with the heavy doses of Blood Pressure Meds!

One of the RN’s said, said that “doctor” was usually good,

unless she was drunk !

Be aware- check every injection- in the sleepy middle of the night

a nurse was going to inject into a vein a medicine that might have killed my

Mother !

Two reasons I don’t trust you:

1. I don’t know you!

2. I do know you! (All humans make mistakes- even Great “doctors”!)

why not use that antibiotic that reverses the disease?

kind of shocking what shit treatment you get from hospitals.

they give her whatever drugs they are selling, making the most money off of, they know they don't really get sued in real life as long as they are paid up.

gave my mom olanzapine, which is generic version of zyprexa. they had a big class action lawsuit saying this fucked people up , they got diabetes and their limbs rotted off.

get this, Olanzapine is illegal in rest of the world because it causes strokes in the elderly

it does knock them out though, puts them into a drooling coma,if they are extremely agitated you can find yourself in a serious mess, with armchair quarterbacks second guessing what you need to do to handle the situation, if she's running out into the road and you have to fight with them or something or trying to burn the house down, holy shit.

you can't put them in a straight jacket so then only thing you can do is spend gazillions of dollars on nursing home care, by people who would just as soon murder her for cash as take care of her

yes tobacco smoking halts development of Alzheimer or other neurological illnesses.

Forget about it..

it prevents Parkinson's Disease for sure. This has been known for over 50 years, MANY studies over the decades have shown that the more a person smokes, the less likely they are to develop Parkinson's.

is it the nicotine in the smoke or something else? They aren't sure

It doesn't seem a bad disease to have.

Hell, I'd like to forget everything in this life if possible.

Stay away from Aluminium. It not food, simple touch is enough to make you forget.
You have to smoke marijuana so it pushes all the metal out of your brain, literally and it can take 10 years.

Moral of story: DON'T COOK WITH ALUMINIUM OR SMOKE WITH IT.

Just roll a joint...till you remember.

B12 and D3 with K. Lion’s Mane and Gotu Kola.

Great supplements

Watched my grandmother go when I was a kid. My mom tried to take care of her as long as she could but eventually wound up in a care center the last couple years as she went further and further and the “comeback” times became less and less frequent. I remember she would always put her used tea bags in our cupboards, makes me laugh still today. It’s hell and my mom never recovered from watching her mom go like that, among other tragedies we had as a family.

I work in the hospital taking care of them. Sometimes it’s necessary to lie to them. Also, you must be VERY patient. Don’t ever get frustrated. They don’t deserve your frustration. And lastly, they are dangerous. Yes, that person is still your loved one but not exactly. They are often much stronger than you think and came become violent.

Does Alzheimer exist in SHEOL?

Don’t point out things that could be painful. Play their game and live the fantasy. Repeat yourself over and over and over without frustration in your voice or on your face. Don’t tell them they are wrong unless you have to. If they get stuck on something and start to become agitated, distract them with a meal or something to get them off of that track.

Don’t be offended and hurt when they forget things or you. There might be fleeting moments when they remember but honestly they are not that person they were. This is hard to hear but it’s true. They are mostly gone. It’s very hard to cope with this but you don’t have a choice. Get over it and deal with. Don’t be offended and hurt by what they don’t remember and the things they say.

Also, there is a good chance that person will need somebody around all the time around the clock not just leave them when you work during the day or go out when they are sleeping. It depends but you should have plans for that potentiality.