Tag Archives: alzheimers
Dealing with Dementia: 'My dad was treated like lost luggage on a carousel'
Special report: When her father was diagnosed with dementia, Arifa Akbar embarked upon a journey through an abusive and negligent care system. In the first of a four-part series on the illness, she asks why, if we’re all living longer, we still treat long-term sufferers as though they were the living dead
My father turned 81 in May, but in a weary mood he will insist he is anywhere between 85 and 150. Sometimes he thinks he is living in a submarine off the shores of Norway, other times in Shimla, India, where he was born, or Lahore, where he was raised.
In reflective moments, he looks up to the ceiling and says it’s going to rain, as if he can see storm clouds gathering there. He tells me his father is watching him from the other side of the room, pointing to the small shaving mirror, at his own reflection. When he’s agitated, he shouts for hours at a time.
There are periods when he is lucid and warm; he’ll tell me that I need to eat more, get more sleep. “What’s the name of the newspaper you work for?” he’ll ask. Then, as I’m about to leave, he’ll say, “Am I dead? Did you bring my death certificate?”
Alzheimer’s disease drug shelved after trial failure
Two US drug firms say they will stop development of an Alzheimer’s drug because it failed in two late-stage clinical trials.
Bapineuzumab, made by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, was designed to halt build-up of plaque in the brain.
But it failed to improve cognitive or functional performance compared with a placebo in certain patients.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, as well as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
Dementia’s link with stress and a relaxing way to deal with it
Guest Blog – Ross Stevens Organic Development
Until psychological or drug-based treatments for dementia come along, the medical and residential care community is working on the basis that the disease may be related to stress and, therefore, anything which relaxes sufferers may help them cope better. In its latest initiative, the Alzheimer’s Society is funding a research project being led by Professor Clive Holmes at the University of Southampton. The plan is to monitor 140 people aged over 50 and with mild cognitive impairment for a period of 18 months.
