Tag Archives: alzheimers
It helped to realise we were not alone
THE strains of being a carer fall to many people as an elderly parent reaches infirmity, just at the time they’re supposed to be taking things a little easier themselves.
For Yvonne and Geoff Daniell, it came as the Whitchurch couple were preparing to take retirement in April 2010.
They found themselves faced with the responsibility for caring for Yvonne’s mother Ellen, 91, as she was gradually overcome with dementia.
Visits became necessary three or four times a day, with Yvonne’s chores including bathing her mother, shopping, cooking and dressing her.
By the time 68-year-old Yvonne was referred to the Carers’ Support Centre for Bristol, she says she was close to suffering a nervous breakdown herself.
Alzheimer’s gene ‘diabetes link’
Scientists say they have identified a possible genetic link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
It has been known for some time that people with diabetes have a much higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s, but not why this is so.
Now US researchers writing in Genetics say a study of worms has indicated a known Alzheimer’s gene also plays a role in the way insulin is processed.
Dementia experts said more work in humans was now needed.
How dementia can turn our loved ones into strangers
Most of us think of dementia as a disease of the elderly, where you just get forgetful.
DEMENTIA Awareness Week was from May 21 to 27 and I was saddened to notice that the media did not rise to the challenge to do their bit to promote and highlight the daily problems encountered by those touched by this very cruel disease.
Unfortunately it coincided with, and got buried under, coverage of the Olympic Torch, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Leveson Inquiry and the pasty and caravan tax U-turns.
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CRUEL DISEASE: Sandra Pember, right, lost her mother to Alzheimer’s a year ago.
It seemed shameful that the price of a pasty or caravan should have generated more coverage than promoting the plight of those suffering from dementia and those supporting them.
Most of us have heard the name dementia, and will know someone who has got it but until you have had personal experience of exactly what that diagnosis means, the full impact upon the lives of that person, their family and close friends cannot be fully appreciated or understood.
