For anyone who has a loved one with Alzheimer's...

[burythehatchet]

The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's
PBS Apr 25 09:00pm Add to My Calendar
Special/Other, 120 Mins.


Linda Hunt narrates the stories of the struggles of three patients and their families.


Original Airdate: January 21, 2004.

[Jade Fox]

1. I have a dear friend who......

I think is getting Alzheimer's. It is very disturbing.

[burythehatchet]

3. I managed a community with Alz patients

The effects on the individual and family are devestating

[Duer 157099]

2. This might be of interest also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=19993&mesg_id=19993

[TNDemo]

4. This was an excellent series.

My mother, her mother and my FIL all got it simultaneously. It was hell for years. I am thinking this series may have Dr. Tanzi in it? I e-mailed him a time or two.

[liberalhistorian]

5. My stepdad has Alzheimer's;

it's suddenly gotten much, much worse this past year. He's only 62 now, and was in his mid-fifties when it first started (although we didn't know it at the time). It's really impossible to describe the effects to someone who hasn't experienced a family member or friend with it. I don't think I could take watching this, it would be too painful. It's painful enough watching my stepdad deteriorate before our eyes.

[TNDemo]

8. Was he very intelligent?

My mother had the early onset too. Looking back she had it in her 50s and we just thought she needed estrogen or Prozac. It got markedly worse in her early 60s and she hung on until she was 70. Only the early onset is truly genetic and it runs through her biological family (found them in the 1980s). When she was in the nursing home there were a number of early onset folks there and in talking to their relatives they were all highly accomplished and intelligent. I actually read a study that correlated early onset Alzheimer's and a high IQ. Anyway, whatever the cause, it just seems to make it that much sadder to watch because so much is lost.

I actually enjoyed this series even though I had seen as much Alzheimer's as I cared to see.

[liberalhistorian]

10. Yes, he was very smart,

he has a master's degree in English and was a teacher for over thirty years. He was an accomplished writer of poetry and short stories, and he introduced me to many writers, two of whom, Hemingway and Fitzgerald, are among my favorites. I also enjoy writing and we would compare notes on our writings and encourage each other. All of us in the family enjoyed reading and discussing writers and what we'd read.

Now, though, he can't even read anymore. He can't pay and keep attention to what he's reading, and he can no longer remember or even understand anything he reads. He doesn't remember much of his writings, doesn't remember most of the writers and books and poetry he spent his life enjoying, learning about and teaching, and isn't even interested in trying anymore. That is, perhaps, one of the hardest things to deal with in this whole mess. At least he still recognizes us, for the moment, that is.

[driver8]

6. My grandmother lived with it for 7 years...

I hated seeing her like that. It actually got to the point where I wished she would die so she wouldn't have to live like that anymore.

[burythehatchet]

7. I know what you mean

but there were some late nights, when I would sit with my patients watching old TV shows, and they would look into my eyes and for a second, there was recognition and presence. That made it all worthwhile for me.

[chookie]

9. For me the pain is still too fresh

I home-cared for my mother while she was in the ravaging final stages of the illness. It really took a lot out of me, although she died in peace at her home, which made it all worthwhile.

I couldn't watch it without wrenching sadness....

[Poiuyt]

11. I watched about three minutes - that's all I could take

My mom is getting pretty far advanced. She's in a nursing home now, but I visit her every day and enjoy the time we are together, even though I don't think she knows who I am anymore.

I think I have a different take on Alzheimer's than most people. I feel that it's a lot harder on the family than it is on the patients. I would much rather have my mother have AD than something like cancer which can be very painful. My mom is in their own little universe, oblivious to the real world. She smiles at the sunshine or the floor tiles, whatever catches her attention. I do what I can to keep her happy and stress free.

In the two minutes that it took to write this, I've started crying. Like I said, harder on us.

[chookie]

12. Here's a hug

:hug:

You have a point there -- that it may be a worse experience for those around the victim than it is for the victim. My mother did not have a gentle form of the illness -- it seems to have triggered severe psychosis; for almost two years it was like living with the girl from the Exorcist (during her bouts of Satanic possession). Then she went from this to total physical prostration and loss of consciousness in the final stage of the illness.

I was living in another part of the country when she became severely ill. When I called the local Alzheimer's chapter -- instead of being supportive of my plan to move back to care for her, they said WHOA! They also informed me that caretakers assume a terrible toll on their own lives and health, and that sometimes the victim outlives the caretaker. That certain corroborates your observation that it can be harder on the family....

It sounds as though you have a very loving relationship with your Mom, and are putting your very best into this difficult situation. That will sustain you throughout this end time, and when she moves on, you will find peace remembering the way you faced things.

You have my heartfelt best wishes.

[bdamomma]

13. it's a terrible disease

I losted my mother to it, she was a wonderful, vibrant, energetic person. It takes a emotional toll on families.