Quite literally this word means "away mind".
More comfortable to the 21st century seeker who requires more words when those two did splendidly, dementia means:
The loss of intellectual functions (such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning) of sufficient severity to interfere with a person’s daily functioning.
Dementia is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms that may accompany certain diseases or conditions. Symptoms may also include changes in personality, mood, and behavior. Dementia is irreversible when caused by disease or injury but may be reversible when caused by drugs, alcohol, hormone or vitamin imbalances, or depression.
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CHARMING!
It is not enough that we deal with demented clients day in and out.
It is imperative to be able to handle difficult behaviours in a way that does not include harbouring ill feelings or fear. I have no such trouble with clients.
Relatives, on the other hand are trickier.
For quite a while now I have been advocating for my parent who, after a series of ailments and illnesses show signs of a progressive dementia. Since I have taken the Cadillac of courses on this topic and have in my client list virtually every dementia going excluding some rare exotic yet-to-be-named ones someone somewhere is yet to diagnosis.... I am a very well-informed advocate.
When you do not have the letters PhD behind your name, anyone with G.P. thinks they must know more than you do. All right, perhaps not ___anyone___ but certain Doctors in this area fit that remark very well. Certain meaning quite a few, more than ten I could think of right off the bat. This is not necessarily a bad thing; we all need boundaries and distance from our work. Passion and obsession are very close indeed. It is preferable however when a family doctor LISTENS to what family members are saying about their loved ones, and take the individuals on a per case basis. 6 bloody years of asking a Doctor and now finally when the symptoms are so severe they cannot be denied... now the diagnosis comes in.
Mad?
Nah.... disappointed.
There are medications that can halt progressive dementias for a time.
They cannot reverse them.... but would it not be nice to be where we were 4 years ago instead of where we are now?
I had some excellent teachers.
Some worldclass Psychiatrists and some garden-variety Nursing Instructors...
The nurses were in some cases JUST as valuable a resource as the Doctors.
It boils down to this:
An easy acronym for you to remember.
MOJIAL
M for mobility
O for orientation
J for judgement
I for intellect
A for affect
L for language.
The global consensus is that if a person has any 3 of those factors in play, a dementia is at work. Whether temporary, reversible or progressive, it is a dementia.
My parent has M in spades.
J in spades.
O in clubs... A in diamonds...
It is a strong 2.8 but the J is so strong it rates almost as two.
So sad.
This diagnosis means the end of driving.
That may not seem bad to you or I, in fact I am delighted as long ago I stopped being a passenger with my parent. I drive or the car goes nowhere.
But to my parent it represents a little death.
In the end it never matters why.
It only matters how you handle it.
Lions anyone?
