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Also, what’s with the counting back w serial 7s on Mental Status tests? I’m not sure I could do that easily and I know I don’t have dementia. I could see someone getting stressed out, freezing up mentally and screwing that up without having dementia.
Someone could easily get stressed about performing any aspect of the test.
Counting backwards by sevens would be a good one for assessing me because numeration is a strength of mine. I'd likely do better with this compared to repeating a list of several words.
Momma Mussolini! Clever. Damn, that would be quite unpleasant.
Ok, but you know that there is no treatment for early and middle stage kidney disease, except lowering blood pressure (hers is already low-normal) and adopting a healthy life style (she is already a health nut). Late stage kidney disease would have other symptoms.
"Israeli Study Shows it is Possible to Rejuvenate Damaged Kidneys."
This is but one study and not the only way to go about it. I personally know two people who were stage 3 and went to stage 2. One is the nurse at the office where I go for checkups. The other is a neighbor. And they didn't use the above study, which seems a bit extreme to me.
The first study I came across said that Kidneys have the ability to repair themselves and will do so if given the chance, but it depends on what ones concept is of a healthy diet. Get yourself a book written by a nephrologist and/or kidney specialist and see what foods they say put an unnecessary or extreme burden on kidney filtering ability. If she likes going to doctors, why not suggest she go, even to a family doctor, to get the basic kidney test? All it takes is a blood and urine sample.
Last edited by LongevitySeeker; 08-08-2022 at 10:07 AM..
Most of her life, she has been a fiery ball of eccentricity, truth-telling (as she sees it), meanness, narcissism, controlling behavior, fear, ....
Well, nobody is perfect.
You're getting a lot of flack from all these Karens who are experts because they once read an article in Lady's Home Journal. Let them walk a mile in your shoes before spouting off.
Subtracting serial 7s: 100 -7 = 93, 93 - 7 = 86; 86 -7 = 79 etc; It is tough to do in your head. In dementia, really tough. It's not so important how far you can carry it-- it's how you do when repeated in 6 or 12 months.
While drugs like Arricept can work miracles in the occassional pt, most don't benefit by it enough to be worth the cost or risks of side effects. It got licensed because the research showed less deterioration on the MSEs than the control group.... While of scoring a miserable 15 out of 20 on the first test, the drugged pts only went down to 13 instead of 11 after a year of treatment-- statistically significant, but not clinically. If you can't remember your address this year but didn't forget your phone number by next year, are you really "better?"...Really, really rare for a pt to actually improve the score with treatment.
The really difficult period when dealing with the failing pt is that when they still think they are competent and resist help...I always told families that if Ma or Pa is going to act like a child, then treat them like a child-- sometimes you just gotta take control and dictate what's gotta be done. Take away car keys; hire a full time baby sitter; move 'em into your house' etc
Maybe it's a time to be supportive and less judgmental? This isn't about what you want or your body. It's about what mom wants for herself and her body. She may need to feel secure in her decisions and speaking to a professional is what she needs to feel secure.
I spoke with my 87 y.o. mother on the phone last night. She said she is having memory problems and so made an appointment to see a neurologist. As she is the one in charge of her body and still mentally competent as far as I can tell (although I do think she is having some problems w memory) I just listened without interfering.
What I would have like to have said, but did not say was: And what would be the point of that? As far as I know there is no effective cure or truly effective treatment for age-related memory loss or any of a variety of dementias.
At best, she risks getting an official diagnosis which may come back to bite her in the butt. (She is really really keen on maintaining her independence as long as possible).
What am I not seeing here?
RISKS? Why in the world would you NOT want a diagnosis? HOW does this "bite her in the butt".
My guess is you don't know anything about dementia and what a nightmare it can be for the patient and their associates.
The good news is 87 yo is not typically the onset age so it's probably not the "bad" demential.
EDIT: OH I see. it's not even about her choices.
A NORMAL person with a NORMAL relationship with a loved one here would be SO HAPPY to have a potential dementia person PLAN HER CARE IN ADVANCE including home health care giver.
WHICH if you knew anything you'd see that it's probably the MOST important thing a person can do absent going to live in a Continuing Care Community where that's all part of your arrangement. BEFORE they get to the point where they REFUSE TO EVEN TAKE A SHOWER.
Last edited by huitrecouture; 08-08-2022 at 02:36 PM..
You're getting a lot of flack from all these Karens who are experts because they once read an article in Lady's Home Journal. Let them walk a mile in your shoes before spouting off.
Subtracting serial 7s: 100 -7 = 93, 93 - 7 = 86; 86 -7 = 79 etc; It is tough to do in your head. In dementia, really tough. It's not so important how far you can carry it-- it's how you do when repeated in 6 or 12 months.
While drugs like Arricept can work miracles in the occassional pt, most don't benefit by it enough to be worth the cost or risks of side effects. It got licensed because the research showed less deterioration on the MSEs than the control group.... While of scoring a miserable 15 out of 20 on the first test, the drugged pts only went down to 13 instead of 11 after a year of treatment-- statistically significant, but not clinically. If you can't remember your address this year but didn't forget your phone number by next year, are you really "better?"...Really, really rare for a pt to actually improve the score with treatment.
The really difficult period when dealing with the failing pt is that when they still think they are competent and resist help...I always told families that if Ma or Pa is going to act like a child, then treat them like a child-- sometimes you just gotta take control and dictate what's gotta be done. Take away car keys; hire a full time baby sitter; move 'em into your house' etc
KARENS? How ignorant.
Then again, CLEARLY it's you who has no experience. The collective experiences on the Caregiving sub are HUNDREDS OF YEARS more than any you claim to have.
HAHAHA "dictate what's gotta be done"???? You know NOTHING. But yeah...try that. Make sure you take a pic of the reaction you get as you're running away from the patient chasing you with a crowbar.
Last edited by huitrecouture; 08-08-2022 at 03:22 PM..
Maybe it's a time to be supportive and less judgmental? This isn't about what you want or your body. It's about what mom wants for herself and her body. She may need to feel secure in her decisions and speaking to a professional is what she needs to feel secure.
Who says I’m not going supporting her? You do realize that it is possible to disagree with someone and still recognize their autonomy? Also, it is possible that the way I interact with her and what I write on an Internet forum are not the same?
BTW, even if I told her that she was an idiot and shouldn’t run to her neurologist (which is absolutely not what I said or even implied in any conceivable way), she would just ignore me and go anyway. Not everyone needs their hand held and needs to be supported all the time (actually, that is one of her good qualities).
BTW this post and replies belong in CAREGIVING where you can learn what reality is.
Then again, I assume you would have already read the decades of nightmare stores over there if you really cared.
I have zero intention of ever being her caregiver. Not only was she an abusive parent, she was aware that she was abusive and was proud of the fact. Nope, sorry. Not ever going to be her caregiver.
But as regard to caring in general, as in do I care what happens to her? I would say, yes, somewhat, but not a lot.
The guy at NutritionFacts.org, Dr Greger is good in that his articles and videos always have the science presented behind his advice. I believe I read on his site that turmeric is supposed to be good for dementia and also choline is supposed to be good too but go to that website and do a search. Most of the videos are short and there are transcripts and papers cited on tabs underneath the video.
Western medical researchers went from village to village in India and did not find any Alzheimer elderly,they think it has to do with tumeric since they use it in their cooking daily.
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