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When Mom was diagnosed with AD, she was really just experiencing memory loss, a bit of confusion and occasional odd behaviour. If there was treatment that guaranteed her not getting any worse, everything would be so different. At the time of her diagnosis, she was still able to take care of herself.
I directly all of the memorial gifts I received after my husband died of dementia to the Michael J Fox Foundation, because my husband's dementia doctor is very impressed by the brain research they support. And my husband donated brain tissue for dementia research. (I am now awaiting the autopsy report.)
I think that donnacecilia is exactly right. Medical science was leaps and bounds ahead of social science. Our institutions have no idea how to deal with all these elderly people! So in addition to research to help the elderly stay healthier and avoid the cruel disease of dementia, we also need to work on public health care policies, retirement plans and pensions, social security, etc. etc. I'm afraid at the present time we are putting more effort into the medical research than into the social issues. We need both!
we are an educated generation
spiritually, intellectually and wealthy in research
find a way to prevent this and be proactive
IMO, the problem really is that science has enabled the average person to live longer. However, they never imagined the repercussions involved. It appears they didn't take into account the diseases that go with aging.
It's feared the baby boomers will inundate the healthcare system. There won't be enough long term care facilities or doctors to accommodate and treat them.
And I don't believe there is any way to prevent it. My mom has AD and she was always a quick witted, active woman. There's a plethora of intelligent and health conscious people who suffer from some form of dementia.
Our only hope is finding either a cure or successful treatment that will halt it in its tracks.
What you have written here is so very true:
'''I see people moving to the beat that are otherwise immobile, tapping a bit, picking there heads up, smiling, singing, or just being quiet but you can tell they are in a moment of joy. The files stored wherever music is logged/saved in our brains must be saved in a different way. The words of songs are not forgotten, it triggers good moods, it brings you back to a time and a place.""""
My Mom used to sing and raise and wave her arms back and forth to the beat of the words and song of this old song that she sang with one of the CNA's at hospice. Everybody was shocked that she could do that and remember all of the words and even raise her arms with the beat of the music. Remember that old song by Tennessee Ford? =
"" You load 16 tons,
And what do you get?
Another day older,
And deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don't you call me,
Cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store""
My Mom used to sing that song with her all of the time and it shocked me that she would just remember it after decades and decades and decades of not singing it or even remembering it. AND if made her sooo happy to sing it too!!!!! Just as you said it does.
It made her sooooo happy to sing it and it made me want to cry every time in happiness when she sang it. I regret not taking a video of her and the CNA, I had planned to the next day or the next, but unfortunately, Mom passed within 4 days and was partially unconcious and too weak to sing it. So, yes, I believe you that music does wonders and we do not know why. But my Mom is proof of that. I always had the radio on in her room constantly even when she was sleeping to a Christian radio station. I wanted her to hear God's Word even in her sleep.
lot of difference things, kept active and busy and he has dementia. His mom had it
and his aunt on his Dad's side had Alzheimers. I think it is in the genes.
My point LOL I am trying to make is, maybe if we (science) could figure out these connections, how the brain records/downloads music, and why music usually has a strong tie to memory.
We do know or have pretty good ideas how to promote good health. Being healthy helps maintain quality of life. It is better not to have dementia and also have other health problems.
The current theory is also that building "reserves" in the brain by constantly learning new things and having new experiences can help minimize the symptoms, at least for a while.
It is the great goal of international research to figure out ways to prevent the various kinds of dementia. We're not there yet.