September 6, 2023 • 20 mins
Have you ever wondered why your elderly loved ones seem more forgetful or exhibit changes in behavior? This episode is your compass, guiding you through the winding path of dementia and Alzheimer's progression. We kick off World Alzheimer's Awareness Month by unpacking dementia, a comprehensive term for memory loss that can be a symptom of Alzheimer's. We underline how crucial it is to recognize early signs in our aging loved ones and understand when it’s time to get professional help. We assure you, though, that not all memory loss is cause for alarm—it could just be a normal part of aging.
As we delve into the details, we dissect the various stages of dementia from the first whispers of forgetfulness, heightened anxiety, and behavioral changes to the more advanced stages. We tackle the potential repercussions of not having a family member accompanying the patient to the doctor's appointments and why knowing your family's health history is vital. We also probe into why insomnia is a common plight among dementia patients. This episode offers a comprehensive understanding of dementia and Alzheimer's progression, shedding light on this significant issue affecting millions globally. Tune in and equip yourself with the knowledge needed to navigate this challenging terrain.
If you or a loved one are noticing signs of dementia, please visit our website for more information: https://www.comfortkeepers.com/offices/florida/davie/
or contact: (954) 947-7954
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Comfort Keepers Davy podcast,
where we elevate the humanspirit.
Here's your host, ChristyGrulay.
Jeremy (00:12):
Hello everyone and welcome to episode number four
of the Comfort Keepers Davypodcast.
I'm your co-host, jeremy Wolf,and I'm joined with, of course,
your host, christy GrulayChristy.
Kristi (00:25):
The one and only.
Jeremy (00:26):
Hello, it's always a pleasure to be in your company,
so how have you been since thelast time we've had the pleasure
of crossing paths?
Kristi (00:38):
It's been busy.
I don't know about you, butkids are back to school, so
there's a lot of schedulingchanges that happen around that
time of the year, A lot ofchanges that just you know
happen in the home.
A lot of new things, a lot ofhomework.
There's a lot more homeworkthese days than what I remember
when I was in school, so theystart them out younger and
(01:01):
younger with the homework.
Jeremy (01:02):
So yeah, yeah, homework is so fun.
I love homework.
I love sitting down with thekids and going through.
I mean my son's in fourth gradeand I'm anticipating getting
lost, as per usual when it comesto homework.
I'm my daughter.
She's in.
She just started middle school.
Thankfully, she does reallywell in school and she doesn't
ask for help.
(01:22):
But I fear that when she doesask for help I'm going to be
completely checked out at thispoint.
I don't know what's going on insixth grade.
Kristi (01:30):
Well, this is my first year of helping with Latin.
So, there's that at our sixthgrade level, yeah.
Jeremy (01:37):
Check please.
Yeah, no, thank you.
Kristi (01:40):
Maybe I shouldn't complain, I'm just saying so,
yes, I was not prepared for theLatin studying that this school
year has a lot of things thatI've always thought was brought,
so it's an adventure always inthe Grille household.
Jeremy (01:58):
I hear you on that.
So you told me it is NationalAlzheimer's Month, is that right
?
Kristi (02:06):
Yes, it's World.
Jeremy (02:08):
Alzheimer's Month.
Kristi (02:09):
So you'll find in the health field, anywhere that
there are.
There are days, there aremonths, there are seasons,
no-transcript.
Ultimately, the goal foranything, regardless of what
it's called, is just to bringawareness to whatever that
specific disease is.
And, yes, september happens tobe World Alzheimer's Awareness
(02:32):
Month.
There is a walk that happens onthe 21st, which is the World
Alzheimer's Day, but throughoutthe year the National
Alzheimer's Association holdsdifferent events to raise
awareness and funding forresearch for Alzheimer's.
So I felt like it was a goodopportunity to start talking
about this disease that impactsmany, many people and I've
(02:55):
personally had an experiencewith my own family with this
awful disease and just to easeus into a new topic of things
that we encounter regularly withcomfort keepers and the
families that we help, yeah, forsure this is a real tricky one.
Jeremy (03:14):
Right?
The topic of Alzheimer's I alsohave had the unfortunate
experience of seeing mygrandmother go through the
various stages of Alzheimer'sand it was quite the frightening
process.
So I think it's a good time forus to talk a little bit about
this and I know obviously you'renot a doctor so we can't really
go into all the scientificstuff around Alzheimer's and
(03:37):
what's going on in the medicalcommunity.
But I think we can kind of keepin with the overarching theme
that we've had so far on theshow, which is this idea of
signs to look for in yourelderly loved ones that there
could be something going on.
I think this kind of is anatural progression of that.
Let's talk a little bit aboutdementia to start off with, and
maybe the stages of dementia,and kind of go from there.
Kristi (03:58):
Yeah, definitely so.
A lot of times people will hearthe term dementia in
Alzheimer's interchangeably, butI think it's important to
realize that dementia is more ofa general term for overall
memory loss, which is often asymptom of Alzheimer's, which is
a specific disease, and thereare a lot of different Alzheimer
(04:20):
diagnoses.
So dementia, alzheimer'stogether dementia is more of the
symptoms that familiesexperience.
I think it's also worth notingthat Alzheimer's is ranked as
one of the top six diseases thatend in death and that's so sad
to realize that here we aretoday and people are still
(04:42):
battling this disease.
So it all comes down to thestages of dementia, and there
are seven, and depending onwhere someone's loved one is in
that stage, in those sevenstages, will really depend on
how we can help in the home, howwe can provide additional
assistance to that family.
(05:02):
So you ready to get into thestages.
Jeremy (05:07):
Absolutely.
I wanted to ask, before we getinto the stages, something that,
because I sit all the time, I'mgetting older.
I'm 43, I'm still young, butI'm not, you know, I'm not too
young anymore.
And as I get old, it's like Ifeel this happens to everybody
as human beings.
I think, like you lose yourtrain of thought, you'll be
doing some things, will justdrop out and you'd be like, oh
(05:28):
man, and then usually it comesback to you.
But at what stage or what level?
And I guess we could talk alittle bit more about this, the
whole idea of the stages.
But at what level does thatbecome a point of concern where
you're like Wait a minute,because I mean it's kind of
freaky if you think about it.
Kristi (05:43):
Yeah, and I think that the most important thing is that
every day, right there, wecould just have our head in the
clouds.
One day, maybe we didn't sleepvery good the night before
because you're learning Latinwith your sixth grader.
I'm just saying that there aredays that are harder than others
, but we can't go into a fullblend panic, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, and justassume that, oh gosh, my loved
(06:05):
one, my mom, my dad, they're allof a sudden just forgetting,
maybe this one time or two times.
We don't want there to be thishysteria.
There are this progression, andevery single person experiences
the stages differently.
So a lot of times you'll see thememory loss as being in the
pre-Dementia stage.
(06:27):
So when this starts to happen,this is like the very, very
beginning of Dementia stage onethrough three.
This is when we get theintermittent memory loss.
We're not to the point of notremembering someone's name, but
we're forgetting, maybe, wherewe placed something, we're
forgetting specific details.
Or you know, if I told you,jeremy, that we had a plan last
(06:49):
week and today I asked you totalk to me about that plan, and
you forget it, like that kind ofthing.
So memory recall starts tobecome trickier during that time
too.
It's also a time where therecould be enhanced anxiety, both
from the family and from thatindividual experiencing these
symptoms.
(07:09):
So sometimes you'll see someonestart to have behavior changes
where there may be a little bitmore irritable nothing crazy,
but just like on edge.
So stage one through three isreally where we start to see
some decline.
But again, it's something thatyou and I would even experience,
you know today, on a weeklybasis and we can't panic about
(07:32):
it, right.
Yeah yeah, I think that that'swhen most family members will
start to make calls, becausethey get anxious If there is a
family history of it.
Sometimes I think that alsoheightens the awareness too.
But really the most importantthing that I could tell anyone
is get your loved one into theirprimary care physician and have
(07:53):
a really honest, honestconversation about some of the
things that are happening.
I think that it's hard with ourpride sometimes to swallow that
and admit that we have forgotthings more easily.
And when we leave our lovedones in their own care and they
go to the doctor's appointmentby themselves, sometimes the
whole story isn't quite shared.
(08:15):
So it is nice and it'sencouraged too.
Join your loved one, you know,at the doctor's appointment.
It definitely progresses fromthere.
Once we get to around stage four, we're getting into the mild
dementia, and mild dementia isreally where we start to see a
person that used to love beingaround family, family gatherings
(08:38):
outside in the backyardbarbecue.
Now they're more withdrawn,they're staying inside, they're
not actively coming out to wantto engage in different things,
and truly it's because all ofthose symptoms that we talked
about in the first one throughthree are now heightened and
that anxiety is there.
So they're withdrawing so thatthey're not putting themselves
(09:01):
in a position where they'regoing to be fearful or stressing
anybody else out.
So, with social withdrawal isreally common in stage four.
Stage five is all of what Ijust said, and then we have to
now step in to help with alldaily living activities.
(09:21):
Okay, now I just want to keepthis in mind that this is a
general, but they're the sevenstages, right?
So this is generally speaking.
At this stage we're coming into help them with cooking their
meals.
They can still take care ofmost of their personal care
needs.
They haven't lost the abilityto do that.
But we're going to help themorganize, grab their mail,
(09:42):
everything else that we would doon a daily basis, the
housekeeping, making their bed,simple, things too, like making
sure that spoiled food is thrownout of the refrigerator, all of
those things we come in or afamily member comes in and
they're helping their loved onewith more and more.
It's also the stage where someof the more important details,
(10:05):
like your birthday, your address, those things really start to
slip and they're intermittent,so it becomes a lot more
noticeable at this point.
If a family hasn't discoveredit, you know from the very, very
beginning.
Stage five is really whereadditional assistance to the
family and to this individualcome into play.
Stage six is just.
(10:28):
Again, the progression is bad,but six is moderate to severe
dementia and this is where ourfamily members, our loved ones,
start forgetting the names oftheir family loved ones.
This is where there isdefinitely a social withdrawal.
There may be a memory recallfrom old childhood memories that
(10:52):
they're now mixing in withtoday's current events,
confusing whether you knowthey're their spouse.
Maybe have passed, hasn'tpassed A lot of just general
confusion, which can alsoheighten and cause a lot more
anxiety and emotional outburstsbecause they're becoming fearful
.
This is when most people withAlzheimer's will will discover
(11:18):
that sleeping, sleeping is verydifficult.
It's a term in our industrythat we call sundowners, so
people that have this stage willget up and start wandering
around because they cannot sleep.
They become.
It really is a risk tothemselves.
This is where we come in andwe're staying overnight with
your loved one to make sure theydon't leave the house because
(11:40):
they're confused about wherethey're going.
Jeremy (11:42):
Do you know I was gonna say I know, I know we promised
not to talk too much about thescience behind this, but I'm
curious do you know what'sbehind that, why they have a
hard time sleeping?
I'm just trying to, because youwould think that the mind would
be more, I guess, more quiet,like if you can't recall
anything, if you just detachyourself from that.
You're kind of lost.
(12:04):
That would be the hope, right,if you're in that position, that
you're just not, you're notaware, so you're like ignorantly
blissful of what's going on.
But that would be the hoperight, Disassociating and just.
But the terror.
The other side of that would bethat you kind of are you're in
and out of that right.
You're aware and you'reconstantly grasping for the
thought and you can't get it,and that's terrifying, right.
Kristi (12:26):
So I'm not the expert right, but the term sundowners
like truly is because of thelight, and when the light goes
out a lot of things will changechemically in the brain.
There's a lot of really amazingstudies that have been done
about this, but it does havesomething to do with the
delusional thoughts that anindividual with this disease may
(12:46):
have at this time and just thefact that they're not sleeping
and without that light theiractivity level changes.
I know from experience workingwith many families that have
dealt with this that this is atime where your sweet, loving
individual might actually becomecombative, like it's literally
(13:08):
like a light switch.
Your loved one can have anamazing day but have awful
nights, and so the general termsundowners it's a very
interesting thing to read intomore and more.
This is just the stage wherethat begins to happen, not to
say that it can't start prior tothis stage, but this is that
general stage where you'll startto see just a complete change
(13:31):
in your loved ones overallbehavior, and nighttime just
tends to be one of the worst.
Honestly, at this time we stepin because we're also starting
to help with personal care.
They can still get up, we canstill help them into the
restroom, but they're needing alot more help with it.
And the final stage, stage seven, is just.
(13:53):
It's sad because at this pointmost of the loved ones that we
know that have this.
They're now nonverbal, they'renot speaking at all and there's
just an overall sense of loss oftheir willpower.
Right, we're doing everythingfor them, we're helping them
with everything, because theyphysically cannot, they verbally
(14:15):
cannot, and this is the saddest.
The whole thing is sad.
But this is the end stage ofAlzheimer's.
There's not coming back fromthat.
We're keeping them ascomfortable as we can at that
point.
Jeremy (14:30):
Yeah, as you walk through these various stages.
I feel emotional connection tothat Because, again, I witnessed
my grandmother go through thesevarious stages.
I wasn't with her all the timebut when I did go visit her I
would see things like herwandering around the house naked
, not knowing where she was inthe closet, and then, towards
the end of the progression, whenshe was in assisted living care
(14:51):
, like you said, nonverbal, shewould just sit in bed and just
mumble and it was just really,really frightening and
depressing to see.
Kristi (14:57):
It is.
They call it the family diseasebecause it impacts everybody
that this person is involvedwith and also having a personal
experience with this horribledisease.
Yes, it does.
It's hard to think that thelast times you had with this
loved one is that.
And so when we come in and weare helping a family get through
(15:23):
this, it's just another waythat I can confidently say that
I can empathize with you and Ican feel the confusion and the
pain that you have, bothemotionally and physically, and
all the stress that comes aroundit.
But rest assured, the peoplethat I have on my team are
trained and understanding and,remember, we hire for empathy,
(15:45):
so it's not a frustrating thing.
When your loved one is throwinga fit and they're really having
a moment, we're able to come ingently to redirect, to be kind,
to speak to them softly, tobring them back into the reality
that they are and again to justprovide that overall comfort
for both you as the familymember, and them who's going
(16:07):
through this terrifyingexperience.
Jeremy (16:09):
Yeah, for sure, and I got to imagine that, and again,
I'm certainly.
You said you're no expert inthe science behind this.
I'm certainly no expert, butjust thinking out loud here, I
have to imagine that a lot ofthis dementia I don't know about
Alzheimer's can be combatedsomewhat to some degree by
keeping an active mind as you gothrough life, constantly
(16:30):
engaging, reading, eating goodfood, exercising.
If you do all of those things,I'd imagine it's a lot less
likely that you'll fall intothis downward spiral of dementia
.
Kristi (16:44):
And also slowing it down .
That's exactly what peoplewould recommend, what the
Alzheimer's Associationrecommends.
It's just like any muscle yourbrain can't just not be active,
and so word puzzles, coloring,art, word searches there's so
many different things that wecan introduce too, just as a
(17:05):
part of your daily regimen.
Like, maybe you don't like wordsearches, but it's really good
to have you focus on something,even playing cards.
Again, there's so many thingsthat we can do to activate our
brain on a daily basis, and aswe age, it's just that much more
important.
You think about people who loveto read, and as we age, our
(17:26):
reading, our eyes tend to change, and reading doesn't become as
easy or as enjoyable as it usedto.
So, again, finding somethingthat we can do at the stage that
we're in to keep us active bothmentally and physically is the
best.
So I know that's the approachthat doctors and everyone in
(17:47):
this field would say the earlieryou start those regimens, the
better, so that it is not aspiral like you just mentioned.
Jeremy (17:56):
Yeah, and it seems to me anyway from what I'm looking at
, we're on a slippery slopenowadays with social media and
everything, because sitting allday and watching shorts on
TikTok or YouTube of a mindlessdribble that cannot ultimately
help your mental capacity.
I mean, it's just being fedinstant bursts of dopamine and
(18:18):
things like that.
It's exact opposite of reallywhat you need to be doing to
stay sharp.
So it's so important to remainvigilant, trying to educate
people to constantly take careof themselves and do things that
are.
Because I look at my daughterall the time she's on her
devices.
I try to explain to her youneed to do other things besides
that to train your mind andengage your mind.
Life is not going to get easier.
(18:39):
It's going to be harder andharder the older we get, and if
you just constantly supplyyourself with quick fixes and
instant gratification, you knowwhen you do face challenges
later on, it's gonna be very,very difficult.
Kristi (18:52):
So, yeah, no, it's so true, being actively engaged,
that is just the biggest thing.
So games can happen on phones,right.
There's a lot of differentthings that technology can bring
to us, but there's nothing likea good old fashioned, you know,
paper and pen in front of youif you're going to actually do
something, cause again, writingsomething out is.
So powerful Is activating yourbrain too.
(19:14):
Yes, it is so powerful.
Jeremy (19:16):
Yeah for sure.
All right.
Well, let's end there.
We could talk about this allday.
Obviously, we'll pick it uplater on another episode.
We'll talk a little bit moreabout these types of topics.
So, unless there was anythingelse you wanted to share before
we close, I think we could wrapit up.
Kristi (19:30):
No, I mean, I think that this is a great segment into
discussing this disease andthings to look for and how to
react when you may come, likeyou said, into the home and
discover your loved one in astate that you've never seen
them in.
Jeremy (19:46):
All right, sounds good.
Christy, always a pleasure.
Looking forward to seeing younext time and to our listeners.
Thank you for tuning in andwe'll see you guys next time in
the next episode.
Thank, you, the Comfort Keepers.
Davy podcast.
Everyone have a great day.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Thank you for listening to the Comfort Keepers
Davy podcast.
For more information, visitcomfortkeeperscom or call
954-947-7927.
Welcome to the Comfort Keepers Davy podcast,
where we elevate the humanspirit.
Here's your host, ChristyGrulay.
Jeremy (00:12):
Hello everyone and welcome to episode number four
of the Comfort Keepers Davypodcast.
I'm your co-host, jeremy Wolf,and I'm joined with, of course,
your host, christy GrulayChristy.
Kristi (00:25):
The one and only.
Jeremy (00:26):
Hello, it's always a pleasure to be in your company,
so how have you been since thelast time we've had the pleasure
of crossing paths?
Kristi (00:38):
It's been busy.
I don't know about you, butkids are back to school, so
there's a lot of schedulingchanges that happen around that
time of the year, A lot ofchanges that just you know
happen in the home.
A lot of new things, a lot ofhomework.
There's a lot more homeworkthese days than what I remember
when I was in school, so theystart them out younger and
(01:01):
younger with the homework.
Jeremy (01:02):
So yeah, yeah, homework is so fun.
I love homework.
I love sitting down with thekids and going through.
I mean my son's in fourth gradeand I'm anticipating getting
lost, as per usual when it comesto homework.
I'm my daughter.
She's in.
She just started middle school.
Thankfully, she does reallywell in school and she doesn't
ask for help.
(01:22):
But I fear that when she doesask for help I'm going to be
completely checked out at thispoint.
I don't know what's going on insixth grade.
Kristi (01:30):
Well, this is my first year of helping with Latin.
So, there's that at our sixthgrade level, yeah.
Jeremy (01:37):
Check please.
Yeah, no, thank you.
Kristi (01:40):
Maybe I shouldn't complain, I'm just saying so,
yes, I was not prepared for theLatin studying that this school
year has a lot of things thatI've always thought was brought,
so it's an adventure always inthe Grille household.
Jeremy (01:58):
I hear you on that.
So you told me it is NationalAlzheimer's Month, is that right
?
Kristi (02:06):
Yes, it's World.
Jeremy (02:08):
Alzheimer's Month.
Kristi (02:09):
So you'll find in the health field, anywhere that
there are.
There are days, there aremonths, there are seasons,
no-transcript.
Ultimately, the goal foranything, regardless of what
it's called, is just to bringawareness to whatever that
specific disease is.
And, yes, september happens tobe World Alzheimer's Awareness
(02:32):
Month.
There is a walk that happens onthe 21st, which is the World
Alzheimer's Day, but throughoutthe year the National
Alzheimer's Association holdsdifferent events to raise
awareness and funding forresearch for Alzheimer's.
So I felt like it was a goodopportunity to start talking
about this disease that impactsmany, many people and I've
(02:55):
personally had an experiencewith my own family with this
awful disease and just to easeus into a new topic of things
that we encounter regularly withcomfort keepers and the
families that we help, yeah, forsure this is a real tricky one.
Jeremy (03:14):
Right?
The topic of Alzheimer's I alsohave had the unfortunate
experience of seeing mygrandmother go through the
various stages of Alzheimer'sand it was quite the frightening
process.
So I think it's a good time forus to talk a little bit about
this and I know obviously you'renot a doctor so we can't really
go into all the scientificstuff around Alzheimer's and
(03:37):
what's going on in the medicalcommunity.
But I think we can kind of keepin with the overarching theme
that we've had so far on theshow, which is this idea of
signs to look for in yourelderly loved ones that there
could be something going on.
I think this kind of is anatural progression of that.
Let's talk a little bit aboutdementia to start off with, and
maybe the stages of dementia,and kind of go from there.
Kristi (03:58):
Yeah, definitely so.
A lot of times people will hearthe term dementia in
Alzheimer's interchangeably, butI think it's important to
realize that dementia is more ofa general term for overall
memory loss, which is often asymptom of Alzheimer's, which is
a specific disease, and thereare a lot of different Alzheimer
(04:20):
diagnoses.
So dementia, alzheimer'stogether dementia is more of the
symptoms that familiesexperience.
I think it's also worth notingthat Alzheimer's is ranked as
one of the top six diseases thatend in death and that's so sad
to realize that here we aretoday and people are still
(04:42):
battling this disease.
So it all comes down to thestages of dementia, and there
are seven, and depending onwhere someone's loved one is in
that stage, in those sevenstages, will really depend on
how we can help in the home, howwe can provide additional
assistance to that family.
(05:02):
So you ready to get into thestages.
Jeremy (05:07):
Absolutely.
I wanted to ask, before we getinto the stages, something that,
because I sit all the time, I'mgetting older.
I'm 43, I'm still young, butI'm not, you know, I'm not too
young anymore.
And as I get old, it's like Ifeel this happens to everybody
as human beings.
I think, like you lose yourtrain of thought, you'll be
doing some things, will justdrop out and you'd be like, oh
(05:28):
man, and then usually it comesback to you.
But at what stage or what level?
And I guess we could talk alittle bit more about this, the
whole idea of the stages.
But at what level does thatbecome a point of concern where
you're like Wait a minute,because I mean it's kind of
freaky if you think about it.
Kristi (05:43):
Yeah, and I think that the most important thing is that
every day, right there, wecould just have our head in the
clouds.
One day, maybe we didn't sleepvery good the night before
because you're learning Latinwith your sixth grader.
I'm just saying that there aredays that are harder than others
, but we can't go into a fullblend panic, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, and justassume that, oh gosh, my loved
(06:05):
one, my mom, my dad, they're allof a sudden just forgetting,
maybe this one time or two times.
We don't want there to be thishysteria.
There are this progression, andevery single person experiences
the stages differently.
So a lot of times you'll see thememory loss as being in the
pre-Dementia stage.
(06:27):
So when this starts to happen,this is like the very, very
beginning of Dementia stage onethrough three.
This is when we get theintermittent memory loss.
We're not to the point of notremembering someone's name, but
we're forgetting, maybe, wherewe placed something, we're
forgetting specific details.
Or you know, if I told you,jeremy, that we had a plan last
(06:49):
week and today I asked you totalk to me about that plan, and
you forget it, like that kind ofthing.
So memory recall starts tobecome trickier during that time
too.
It's also a time where therecould be enhanced anxiety, both
from the family and from thatindividual experiencing these
symptoms.
(07:09):
So sometimes you'll see someonestart to have behavior changes
where there may be a little bitmore irritable nothing crazy,
but just like on edge.
So stage one through three isreally where we start to see
some decline.
But again, it's something thatyou and I would even experience,
you know today, on a weeklybasis and we can't panic about
(07:32):
it, right.
Yeah yeah, I think that that'swhen most family members will
start to make calls, becausethey get anxious If there is a
family history of it.
Sometimes I think that alsoheightens the awareness too.
But really the most importantthing that I could tell anyone
is get your loved one into theirprimary care physician and have
(07:53):
a really honest, honestconversation about some of the
things that are happening.
I think that it's hard with ourpride sometimes to swallow that
and admit that we have forgotthings more easily.
And when we leave our lovedones in their own care and they
go to the doctor's appointmentby themselves, sometimes the
whole story isn't quite shared.
(08:15):
So it is nice and it'sencouraged too.
Join your loved one, you know,at the doctor's appointment.
It definitely progresses fromthere.
Once we get to around stage four, we're getting into the mild
dementia, and mild dementia isreally where we start to see a
person that used to love beingaround family, family gatherings
(08:38):
outside in the backyardbarbecue.
Now they're more withdrawn,they're staying inside, they're
not actively coming out to wantto engage in different things,
and truly it's because all ofthose symptoms that we talked
about in the first one throughthree are now heightened and
that anxiety is there.
So they're withdrawing so thatthey're not putting themselves
(09:01):
in a position where they'regoing to be fearful or stressing
anybody else out.
So, with social withdrawal isreally common in stage four.
Stage five is all of what Ijust said, and then we have to
now step in to help with alldaily living activities.
(09:21):
Okay, now I just want to keepthis in mind that this is a
general, but they're the sevenstages, right?
So this is generally speaking.
At this stage we're coming into help them with cooking their
meals.
They can still take care ofmost of their personal care
needs.
They haven't lost the abilityto do that.
But we're going to help themorganize, grab their mail,
(09:42):
everything else that we would doon a daily basis, the
housekeeping, making their bed,simple, things too, like making
sure that spoiled food is thrownout of the refrigerator, all of
those things we come in or afamily member comes in and
they're helping their loved onewith more and more.
It's also the stage where someof the more important details,
(10:05):
like your birthday, your address, those things really start to
slip and they're intermittent,so it becomes a lot more
noticeable at this point.
If a family hasn't discoveredit, you know from the very, very
beginning.
Stage five is really whereadditional assistance to the
family and to this individualcome into play.
Stage six is just.
(10:28):
Again, the progression is bad,but six is moderate to severe
dementia and this is where ourfamily members, our loved ones,
start forgetting the names oftheir family loved ones.
This is where there isdefinitely a social withdrawal.
There may be a memory recallfrom old childhood memories that
(10:52):
they're now mixing in withtoday's current events,
confusing whether you knowthey're their spouse.
Maybe have passed, hasn'tpassed A lot of just general
confusion, which can alsoheighten and cause a lot more
anxiety and emotional outburstsbecause they're becoming fearful
.
This is when most people withAlzheimer's will will discover
(11:18):
that sleeping, sleeping is verydifficult.
It's a term in our industrythat we call sundowners, so
people that have this stage willget up and start wandering
around because they cannot sleep.
They become.
It really is a risk tothemselves.
This is where we come in andwe're staying overnight with
your loved one to make sure theydon't leave the house because
(11:40):
they're confused about wherethey're going.
Jeremy (11:42):
Do you know I was gonna say I know, I know we promised
not to talk too much about thescience behind this, but I'm
curious do you know what'sbehind that, why they have a
hard time sleeping?
I'm just trying to, because youwould think that the mind would
be more, I guess, more quiet,like if you can't recall
anything, if you just detachyourself from that.
You're kind of lost.
(12:04):
That would be the hope, right,if you're in that position, that
you're just not, you're notaware, so you're like ignorantly
blissful of what's going on.
But that would be the hoperight, Disassociating and just.
But the terror.
The other side of that would bethat you kind of are you're in
and out of that right.
You're aware and you'reconstantly grasping for the
thought and you can't get it,and that's terrifying, right.
Kristi (12:26):
So I'm not the expert right, but the term sundowners
like truly is because of thelight, and when the light goes
out a lot of things will changechemically in the brain.
There's a lot of really amazingstudies that have been done
about this, but it does havesomething to do with the
delusional thoughts that anindividual with this disease may
(12:46):
have at this time and just thefact that they're not sleeping
and without that light theiractivity level changes.
I know from experience workingwith many families that have
dealt with this that this is atime where your sweet, loving
individual might actually becomecombative, like it's literally
(13:08):
like a light switch.
Your loved one can have anamazing day but have awful
nights, and so the general termsundowners it's a very
interesting thing to read intomore and more.
This is just the stage wherethat begins to happen, not to
say that it can't start prior tothis stage, but this is that
general stage where you'll startto see just a complete change
(13:31):
in your loved ones overallbehavior, and nighttime just
tends to be one of the worst.
Honestly, at this time we stepin because we're also starting
to help with personal care.
They can still get up, we canstill help them into the
restroom, but they're needing alot more help with it.
And the final stage, stage seven, is just.
(13:53):
It's sad because at this pointmost of the loved ones that we
know that have this.
They're now nonverbal, they'renot speaking at all and there's
just an overall sense of loss oftheir willpower.
Right, we're doing everythingfor them, we're helping them
with everything, because theyphysically cannot, they verbally
(14:15):
cannot, and this is the saddest.
The whole thing is sad.
But this is the end stage ofAlzheimer's.
There's not coming back fromthat.
We're keeping them ascomfortable as we can at that
point.
Jeremy (14:30):
Yeah, as you walk through these various stages.
I feel emotional connection tothat Because, again, I witnessed
my grandmother go through thesevarious stages.
I wasn't with her all the timebut when I did go visit her I
would see things like herwandering around the house naked
, not knowing where she was inthe closet, and then, towards
the end of the progression, whenshe was in assisted living care
(14:51):
, like you said, nonverbal, shewould just sit in bed and just
mumble and it was just really,really frightening and
depressing to see.
Kristi (14:57):
It is.
They call it the family diseasebecause it impacts everybody
that this person is involvedwith and also having a personal
experience with this horribledisease.
Yes, it does.
It's hard to think that thelast times you had with this
loved one is that.
And so when we come in and weare helping a family get through
(15:23):
this, it's just another waythat I can confidently say that
I can empathize with you and Ican feel the confusion and the
pain that you have, bothemotionally and physically, and
all the stress that comes aroundit.
But rest assured, the peoplethat I have on my team are
trained and understanding and,remember, we hire for empathy,
(15:45):
so it's not a frustrating thing.
When your loved one is throwinga fit and they're really having
a moment, we're able to come ingently to redirect, to be kind,
to speak to them softly, tobring them back into the reality
that they are and again to justprovide that overall comfort
for both you as the familymember, and them who's going
(16:07):
through this terrifyingexperience.
Jeremy (16:09):
Yeah, for sure, and I got to imagine that, and again,
I'm certainly.
You said you're no expert inthe science behind this.
I'm certainly no expert, butjust thinking out loud here, I
have to imagine that a lot ofthis dementia I don't know about
Alzheimer's can be combatedsomewhat to some degree by
keeping an active mind as you gothrough life, constantly
(16:30):
engaging, reading, eating goodfood, exercising.
If you do all of those things,I'd imagine it's a lot less
likely that you'll fall intothis downward spiral of dementia
.
Kristi (16:44):
And also slowing it down .
That's exactly what peoplewould recommend, what the
Alzheimer's Associationrecommends.
It's just like any muscle yourbrain can't just not be active,
and so word puzzles, coloring,art, word searches there's so
many different things that wecan introduce too, just as a
(17:05):
part of your daily regimen.
Like, maybe you don't like wordsearches, but it's really good
to have you focus on something,even playing cards.
Again, there's so many thingsthat we can do to activate our
brain on a daily basis, and aswe age, it's just that much more
important.
You think about people who loveto read, and as we age, our
(17:26):
reading, our eyes tend to change, and reading doesn't become as
easy or as enjoyable as it usedto.
So, again, finding somethingthat we can do at the stage that
we're in to keep us active bothmentally and physically is the
best.
So I know that's the approachthat doctors and everyone in
(17:47):
this field would say the earlieryou start those regimens, the
better, so that it is not aspiral like you just mentioned.
Jeremy (17:56):
Yeah, and it seems to me anyway from what I'm looking at
, we're on a slippery slopenowadays with social media and
everything, because sitting allday and watching shorts on
TikTok or YouTube of a mindlessdribble that cannot ultimately
help your mental capacity.
I mean, it's just being fedinstant bursts of dopamine and
(18:18):
things like that.
It's exact opposite of reallywhat you need to be doing to
stay sharp.
So it's so important to remainvigilant, trying to educate
people to constantly take careof themselves and do things that
are.
Because I look at my daughterall the time she's on her
devices.
I try to explain to her youneed to do other things besides
that to train your mind andengage your mind.
Life is not going to get easier.
(18:39):
It's going to be harder andharder the older we get, and if
you just constantly supplyyourself with quick fixes and
instant gratification, you knowwhen you do face challenges
later on, it's gonna be very,very difficult.
Kristi (18:52):
So, yeah, no, it's so true, being actively engaged,
that is just the biggest thing.
So games can happen on phones,right.
There's a lot of differentthings that technology can bring
to us, but there's nothing likea good old fashioned, you know,
paper and pen in front of youif you're going to actually do
something, cause again, writingsomething out is.
So powerful Is activating yourbrain too.
(19:14):
Yes, it is so powerful.
Jeremy (19:16):
Yeah for sure.
All right.
Well, let's end there.
We could talk about this allday.
Obviously, we'll pick it uplater on another episode.
We'll talk a little bit moreabout these types of topics.
So, unless there was anythingelse you wanted to share before
we close, I think we could wrapit up.
Kristi (19:30):
No, I mean, I think that this is a great segment into
discussing this disease andthings to look for and how to
react when you may come, likeyou said, into the home and
discover your loved one in astate that you've never seen
them in.
Jeremy (19:46):
All right, sounds good.
Christy, always a pleasure.
Looking forward to seeing younext time and to our listeners.
Thank you for tuning in andwe'll see you guys next time in
the next episode.
Thank, you, the Comfort Keepers.
Davy podcast.
Everyone have a great day.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Thank you for listening to the Comfort Keepers
Davy podcast.
For more information, visitcomfortkeeperscom or call
954-947-7927.
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