December 10, 2020 • 21 mins
If you have ever had one of “those days” where all cylinders weren’t quite firing right, then we are discussing real life experiences of feeling completely overwhelmed.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Dementia Real Talk by Karen Thrive, a podcast
to help you navigate life with dementia, presented by Blair Pharmacy.
Whether you're living with dementia or a care partner for
someone with dementia, join us to learn more about what
to expect and practical approaches to adapt your world to thrive. Now,
welcome our host Jerry Young and certified dementia practitioner and
(00:30):
trainer Judy Pritchard.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Today's episode Dementia Real Talk. We're going to talk about
too much information. I'm Jerry Young. Welcome in Judy Pritchard,
certified dementia practitioner.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Judy. We all get too much information.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Absolutely. Have you ever had those days where it just
feels like like if one more person asks one more
thing of me, it's just gonna push me over the edge.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm gone, I've redged it right now.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Having one of those days today? Absolutely, tell me what happened?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I got stopped by train tonight. Three phone calls
at the big box store while I'm trying to grab
one quick thing, you know, just just constant.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Stuff absolutely pulling everyone, pulling you in different ways, you know,
and that leaves you feeling like you're inadequate, you can't
why can't you manage this day? Or everyone just needs
to leave you alone. I need to run and hide.
What do you typically do when you have days like that?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, well, uh, I usually just close the door, in
the windows and the blinds, turn on Andy Griffith or something,
you know, just to get away from it. But they still,
you know, in today's world with electronics where they are,
they can still find you. Oh absolutely, you can go
hide in your closet. Your phone's still going to dean.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Yes, technology is wonderful, but it's also a calm problem
of people being stressed out, way stressed out, and not
being able to have the time to enjoy the moment,
not being able to have the time to accomplish something
where you feel satisfied about it. And as a result,
you're feeling overwhelmed all the time. You're feeling exhausted and
(02:18):
oh yeah, absolutely, you get irritated. You're just you know,
why is everyone demanding everything of me today? And why
do they need it at this moment? You know, I'm
kind of like you. I'll turn on a good Netflix
movie or Hallmark movie this time of year, get me
a glass of wine and then I just chill out
and procrastinate. I am the queen of procrastination. Do you
(02:40):
ever for us to.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Procrastinate seven times a day enough?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Maybe eight if you get around it that last night.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, I've judge it.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Well, you know, And that's just human you know, that's
human nature. We all have these feelings at times, no
matter how dynamic you typically are or how much. It's
not a factor of whether you're have enough energy or not.
It is just a factor. Sometimes there's just too much
being asked of people.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
And you know, a lot of times, Judy, you'll sit
around and you won't have anything to do. Okay, it'll
be one of those down times, and that's when you
procrastinate because I can do it tomorrow. And then tomorrow
is when the information overload hits you and you're trying
to do the things that you procrastinated to do the
day before, and it just doubles.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Yes. So prime example that I can think of is
this which so many people and so many people that
are listening probably are going through, is right now, with
this COVID situation, you now are whatever employment role you had,
nine times out of ten you're doing that from home. Now.
On top of if you have children, you're also being
(03:47):
their teacher, or at least they're IT specialists. And I
don't know about you, but I was not born an
IT specialist, So, you know, trying to work out kinkson
and bugs and IT systems right now when the world
is so dependent on it, even more so than ever,
it's just not my forte.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I can't even spell that to you.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Okay, Yeah, And you know there's actually a term for this.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I's going to say, so what is this?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah? This is called cognitive overload, And it's truly just
that it's when you are trying to think of so
many things and process information through and so many different
from so many different angles, that it truly is overloading
you from a cognitive perspective or from a brain perspective.
And teachers are dealing with us right now and trying
(04:33):
to how do they switch from to a virtual classroom.
Parents are dealing with this, but also people that our
care partners are dealing with us on a day in
and day out basis because they're not only trying to
figure out how to help their loved one, but they're
trying to figure out what is this disease and how
do I manage my life on top of this, And
(04:54):
that's what we want to talk about today.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, and you mentioned, you know, cognitive overla. It's also
like working memory at that moment. It's what's going on
right then, which is what so many people need help with.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yeah. So working memory is that memory area of your
brain where it's taking the knowledge that you've always had,
or taking even new knowledge, but then applying it in
a way that's actually producing an outcome. So when that
working memory is overloaded, and I'm getting technical here for
a minute, that's when we start to have problems happen. Now,
(05:29):
this particularly becomes apparent in someone in the very beginning
stages of dementia, especially those that are diagnosed later on
with young onset dementia, those that are under the age
of sixty four. And where you see it happen is
in their normal routine of their day. So whatever job
they have, whatever career path they're on, all of a sudden,
(05:50):
the roles and responsibilities they had, the deadlines they were
able to meet, the work production they had, and we're
always successful at all of a sudden becomes too complicated,
start missing things, They start getting maybe emotional outbursts where
before they had a lot of emotional intelligence, they can't.
And on top of it, you're younger, so you're not
(06:10):
understanding what's happening, and those around you certainly wouldn't think, oh,
there's a medical reason for this, but it ends up
causing a lot of stress to be at it on
when you're just trying to figure out why am I
not able to produce the work I used to be
able to produce. You find yourself working later hours, bringing
work home and it really just can't get your finger
(06:33):
on what's happening. But things just quite aren't right, and
sometimes it even ends up in people losing their employment
before a diagnosis is even sought out, let alone achieved.
You know, you finally get a diagnosis of dementia, and
it's this cognitive overload, just not being able to process
the information the same way.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
So where did this term come from all of a sudden?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I mean, I know that that there was a guy
that kind of age ye.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
An educational psychology psychologist John Sweller actually was the first
one to term to come up with the term of
cognitive load, and that's just talking about the capacity of
one's normal brain activity to handle information. So the cognitive
overload comes when you just max that out, and it's
a temporary thing typically, and so and so, as you're
(07:22):
having those stressed out days, you find your coping mechanisms
to get yourself out of it and to be able
to eventually accomplish what you need to accomplish. When you
start having dementia creep in, those episodes become more frequent,
and so as they become more frequent, you still really
don't know what's happening to you. You start to lose confidence,
(07:43):
you start to lose your your ability to rationalize how
to get through to a task and finish it to
a way that you feel good about the job you're doing,
and you get embarrassed. And what happens too many times
is people will start shying away then from their job.
They'll start shining away from deadlines, They'll start shying away
from opportunities to shine at work. They may start calling
(08:06):
off work a lot more. And even in their social circles,
if it's starting to overflow into their social life or
their family life, they start withdrawing. And it's that negative
stigma that we start talking about that as people are withdrawing.
Everyone starts to question what's going on, and then when
they get diagnosed with the term quote unquote dementia, then
(08:29):
people really apply the little bit of knowledge that they know,
which is not really functional or accurate in today's world,
around what the capabilities are with someone with dementia. It
starts that spiral of the mental health aspects downward and
it just is a situation that can be that we
can really put a stop to.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Let's talk about what causes excessive cognitive cognitive overload. I'll
get it all over, but we talk about too much
information and that comes in a lot of different ways.
You know, hits you from all aspects. But also too
much demand for information can be a problem.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Yep. So too much demand, whether you're getting a lot
of deadlines put on you, or you have a lot
of family members that have needs, You have schedules that
you have to keep up with, all things that you
may have been able to do a few years ago
but are getting more increasingly harder to do. On top
of the world changing and newer technologies are in place,
things you have to learn, it all is compounding to
(09:28):
be too many demands from too many different sources.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Especially interruptions.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Interruptions can cause even more problems. So you're working down
and you may be able to handle someone coming into
your office or calling you out of the blue and
to asking you or taking you something completely off topic.
Then that interruption, usually you're able to come right back
to it or you remember what that pressing need was.
(09:54):
But now when you're getting interruptions, you're starting to figure
out that you're forgetting things completely and it may not
come to you for a few days and it or
if it comes back to you at all, until someone
reminds you of it. Those interruptions, on top of the
cognitive overload that you're experiencing, are really starting to compound
again and impact you on a a self confidence way.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It also affects problem solving skills you can and also
your ability to self correct or self monitor yourself and
to understand what's happening right at that moment.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, it's when you walk around the house and you
may see that your loved one has started folding laundry
and the pile still half folded and half still out
in the pile in the laundry basket.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
That's called procrastination.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
But if they didn't even remember that they left it there,
and that's that's where the problems start to come in.
Now Again, not occasionally that's going to happen every now
and then, but if it's if you're starting to see
multiple tasks like this around the house, that could be
a sign that there may be something else going on.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
So what can we do? How do we solve some
of these problems?
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Well, I wish we could our heels and go back
to with those times where we felt really strong and
sharp as attack. But the biggest thing to do is
start to recognize that things are changing. Don't let yourself
get really bogged down into what's happening until you start
going to and seek out answers. But do that, seek
out answers even the most subtle things if they're starting
(11:22):
to impact your regular life. Remember we talked about that
a lot with dementia, So dementia is an overall term
for a lot of different cognitive problems that are happening.
Are problems in your brain that are happening that start
to impact your everyday life. So when these kind of
changes start to impact your everyday life, start taking note
of them, jot them down, jo how often they're happening,
(11:45):
because that's all helpful information when you go to your doctor,
and go to your doctor, start talking to them, and
especially if you're in this young onset category, because it
may be a situation where if your physician is not
as comfortable or as as informed around young onset dementia,
they may start writing it off as it's you know,
(12:06):
everyone goes through this, But keep pushing the point of
this is different, this is impacting my life. I need
to look further and see what's happening.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Some things too in our life that we think are
so important at that moment, really aren't important. I mean,
we talk about procrastination, but you know sometimes there's things
that we think are important right at that moment that we.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Really can let go absolutely. So prioritize, right, take a
look at everything you have to do today. Prioritize and
then try and simplify. Prioritize what's most important. And then
whatever those important things are, how can you go about
them in a simplified manner.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Let's talk about how you limit distractions. Now. I know
one of the biggest distractions would be noise.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Absolutely, so look at your world. Anything can cause cognitive
overload from visual stimulation, too much going on, and that
you're looking at that you're seeing even if you're not
really aware you're seeing it. If there's a lot of
distractions going on, that can cause extra inputs going into
your brain. So visual stimulations, noises, a lot of loud music,
(13:16):
so limit that. Limit distractions as far as background noise
if TVs are on or radios are on and people
really aren't listening to them. Even smells, so you can
become very sensitive to smells. So if there's a lot
going on as far as maybe supper's cooking, so you
have all the wonderful smells of supper, but then you
(13:36):
have really strong candle burning in the background, blow out
that candle. Just limit that little bit of extra input
that's going into your brain, and that can help relieve
some of the stress. And in little ways, these are
subtle things, but subtle things add up to making big impacts.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I remember my mom one time the dog was barking
at the squirrel. I know that sounds like a small thing,
but when the dog won't shut up some times because
it sees the squirrel in the backyard, you may have
to get up and put the dog in the bathroom.
For a minute just to get its mind off of
the squirrel or whatever, because that extra noise, along with
the TV own and everything else going sometimes just too much.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Yes, and that is a classic one. In our household,
We've got a dog and she is she's a little dog,
and she likes to be have a loud sound and
a loud presence, and she will go from nothing to
one hundred miles an hour in a second. And when
that happens, it's distracting and it is annerving. And that's
a classic example of find ways to limit those distractions.
(14:36):
It's the best you can do. Use your reminder systems,
Use your systems and your smartphones that give you the
dates and calendar reminders, make yourself checklists, but you have
to use them. Anything that you can do to take
a little bit of extra thought off of what you're
responsible for doing to hit them meet that task is
(14:56):
best because that will relieve just a little bit of
that cogn tip load.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And maybe do away with the iPhone when you're doing that,
maybe write it down instead of you know, I be
on my iPhone a lot of times like I want
to make a note of something to remember, and I
get four emails in two texts while I'm doing and
I keep swiping it out of the way, so it
really you know, sometimes it's just just turn the phone
off and maybe you know, use a color code or
(15:21):
something to start labeling things by hand.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Absolutely, very good point. That's another interruption. So whether you're
getting that text and you're getting that email, you are,
we're trained to stop what we're doing and look at
that phone and either even if we're not going to
address it, even if we're not going to answer it,
we still need to see who who's calling us or
texting us. And it's like a bad habit that our
smartphones have programmed us to do. But you're right, turn
(15:47):
it off. And by writing a list, it's giving you
a memory reinforcement because you've written it, you're reading it
as you're writing it, so those are extra ways you're
programming it into your memory in subtle ways. So writing
lists are great. You mentioned color coding, you know, that's
my passion around the Montessori approaches. Color coding things is
extremely important to help embed them in your memory.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Explain that more in detail, like, give me an example
of what you would color coat.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Absolutely, so let's talk about like the kitchen calendar, you know,
that centralized messaging system that you may have in your kitchen,
whether it's you know, a sticky notes put up or
a big, large calendar and everyone writes on it. Take
color coding, for instance, and every person has their own color.
So if it's something for Mom, maybe she's in pink.
(16:35):
So everything on the calendar that's specific for Mom is
in pink. So when she goes to look at it,
she's not paying attention to all the other colors. She's
looking for her color. It's easier to see. It's color coding.
It's systematic for her. Same thing. Maybe Dad's green, so
everything with Dad is green, easy to see, easy to differentiate.
It's taking By doing that, you are taking that extra
(16:58):
cognitive piece away of where you're having to search things
out that are all multiple colors and find the things
that are specific to you, and you're making very apparance.
That's color coding. Same thing with even the simplest approaches
of using baskets. And this is something that I traally
and really work with our clients in the early stages
and young onset is they don't they're not necessarily having
(17:21):
the problems where they're losing things around the house at
the moment, or that they know which way the light
switch works or which switch is for the fan versus
which one is for the light. So when we talk
about labeling and color coding their household to make it easier,
it's something that we usually have to talk about a
few times because at first they're like, I don't need that.
(17:43):
I really don't want all of our neighbors and friends
coming over and seeing the house being labeled, and you
know that's just going to bring up a lot of questions,
a conversation I don't want to have. But the point is,
if you do it now, before you have to have
the labels and before you have to have the color coding,
you're already training your brain to automatically understand what that
(18:04):
color means or what that label means. So later on,
when dementia's getting more complicated and you are having a
harder time processing information, you're already trained to know those colors.
You're already used to seeing that light switch with the
green and the red, and you know which ways on
and which ways off, or that it's labeled with fan.
It's something that takes a little bit of cognitive work
(18:25):
off your brain. So later on down the road where
you need all that extra cognitive processing and capacity just
to do the simplest things, You've already made your life
simpler by training yourself this way.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
You know, one of the things taking care of my
mom through the years, I never heard this stuff, and
that's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about people.
You know, it just seems so simple to look back
on it now and the things that you could have done.
So you know, if you've heard me talk on these
podcasts at all, you know I'm a big guy about
act and not reacting because by the time you react,
(18:58):
you've already gotten to it too far into it.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
So that's a.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Perfect example to make sure that you know now that
you have the knowledge to go ahead and act on it.
Don't take it from me from somebody that's been through
it several years that if you will act and go
ahead and not worry that you've got little green dots
on your light switches or whatever, that the excuse may
be to do these kind of things. And you and
(19:24):
I do a five to Thrive video on Facebook which
we've gone into some of this how to color coordinate
and how to bring those things out. So I recommend
people to go to that and pick up some tips
there as well.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Absolutely, and if you have any other questions, reach out
to us. We're here for you. We want to make
life easier for you. Whether you're a care partner or
you're starting to think you have signs or symptoms. Let's
get on top of it now. Let's put these things
in place proactively so we can help you live longer independently.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Okay, folks, that's this edition of Dementia Real Talk. Thank
you very much for listening. We'll see you soon on
another one right here home.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Karen Thrive.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Thanks everybody thrive On.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Thanks for listening, and be sure to follow us on
Facebook at Karen Thrive and visit our website www dot
karnthrive dot org. Subscribe to this podcast through your favorite
podcasting platform. This podcast is produced by your podcast now
dot com. Let us produce a podcast for you. When
caring for your family, your local pharmacy should be an
(20:28):
important part of your team. Blair Pharmacy in Alabaster is
a family owned full service pharmacy giving its clients personalized,
accurate service. They offer services like Nedpack, flavor RX and
free delivery. Kim and Daniel Blair are members of the
community and are here for you and your family. They
offer everyday items you would find in the big box stores,
but also support local vendors by offering unique, handcrafted items.
(20:51):
Blair Pharmacy a full service pharmacy caring for each of
our patients individual needs. Www dot Blair dash Pharmacy dot com.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform.
It is not a substitute for professional care by a
doctor or other qualified medical professionals.
Welcome to Dementia Real Talk by Karen Thrive, a podcast
to help you navigate life with dementia, presented by Blair Pharmacy.
Whether you're living with dementia or a care partner for
someone with dementia, join us to learn more about what
to expect and practical approaches to adapt your world to thrive. Now,
welcome our host Jerry Young and certified dementia practitioner and
(00:30):
trainer Judy Pritchard.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Today's episode Dementia Real Talk. We're going to talk about
too much information. I'm Jerry Young. Welcome in Judy Pritchard,
certified dementia practitioner.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Judy. We all get too much information.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Absolutely. Have you ever had those days where it just
feels like like if one more person asks one more
thing of me, it's just gonna push me over the edge.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm gone, I've redged it right now.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Having one of those days today? Absolutely, tell me what happened?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, I got stopped by train tonight. Three phone calls
at the big box store while I'm trying to grab
one quick thing, you know, just just constant.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Stuff absolutely pulling everyone, pulling you in different ways, you know,
and that leaves you feeling like you're inadequate, you can't
why can't you manage this day? Or everyone just needs
to leave you alone. I need to run and hide.
What do you typically do when you have days like that?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, well, uh, I usually just close the door, in
the windows and the blinds, turn on Andy Griffith or something,
you know, just to get away from it. But they still,
you know, in today's world with electronics where they are,
they can still find you. Oh absolutely, you can go
hide in your closet. Your phone's still going to dean.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Yes, technology is wonderful, but it's also a calm problem
of people being stressed out, way stressed out, and not
being able to have the time to enjoy the moment,
not being able to have the time to accomplish something
where you feel satisfied about it. And as a result,
you're feeling overwhelmed all the time. You're feeling exhausted and
(02:18):
oh yeah, absolutely, you get irritated. You're just you know,
why is everyone demanding everything of me today? And why
do they need it at this moment? You know, I'm
kind of like you. I'll turn on a good Netflix
movie or Hallmark movie this time of year, get me
a glass of wine and then I just chill out
and procrastinate. I am the queen of procrastination. Do you
(02:40):
ever for us to.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Procrastinate seven times a day enough?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Maybe eight if you get around it that last night.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, I've judge it.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Well, you know, And that's just human you know, that's
human nature. We all have these feelings at times, no
matter how dynamic you typically are or how much. It's
not a factor of whether you're have enough energy or not.
It is just a factor. Sometimes there's just too much
being asked of people.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
And you know, a lot of times, Judy, you'll sit
around and you won't have anything to do. Okay, it'll
be one of those down times, and that's when you
procrastinate because I can do it tomorrow. And then tomorrow
is when the information overload hits you and you're trying
to do the things that you procrastinated to do the
day before, and it just doubles.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Yes. So prime example that I can think of is
this which so many people and so many people that
are listening probably are going through, is right now, with
this COVID situation, you now are whatever employment role you had,
nine times out of ten you're doing that from home. Now.
On top of if you have children, you're also being
(03:47):
their teacher, or at least they're IT specialists. And I
don't know about you, but I was not born an
IT specialist, So, you know, trying to work out kinkson
and bugs and IT systems right now when the world
is so dependent on it, even more so than ever,
it's just not my forte.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I can't even spell that to you.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Okay, Yeah, And you know there's actually a term for this.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I's going to say, so what is this?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah? This is called cognitive overload, And it's truly just
that it's when you are trying to think of so
many things and process information through and so many different
from so many different angles, that it truly is overloading
you from a cognitive perspective or from a brain perspective.
And teachers are dealing with us right now and trying
(04:33):
to how do they switch from to a virtual classroom.
Parents are dealing with this, but also people that our
care partners are dealing with us on a day in
and day out basis because they're not only trying to
figure out how to help their loved one, but they're
trying to figure out what is this disease and how
do I manage my life on top of this, And
(04:54):
that's what we want to talk about today.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, and you mentioned, you know, cognitive overla. It's also
like working memory at that moment. It's what's going on
right then, which is what so many people need help with.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yeah. So working memory is that memory area of your
brain where it's taking the knowledge that you've always had,
or taking even new knowledge, but then applying it in
a way that's actually producing an outcome. So when that
working memory is overloaded, and I'm getting technical here for
a minute, that's when we start to have problems happen. Now,
(05:29):
this particularly becomes apparent in someone in the very beginning
stages of dementia, especially those that are diagnosed later on
with young onset dementia, those that are under the age
of sixty four. And where you see it happen is
in their normal routine of their day. So whatever job
they have, whatever career path they're on, all of a sudden,
(05:50):
the roles and responsibilities they had, the deadlines they were
able to meet, the work production they had, and we're
always successful at all of a sudden becomes too complicated,
start missing things, They start getting maybe emotional outbursts where
before they had a lot of emotional intelligence, they can't.
And on top of it, you're younger, so you're not
(06:10):
understanding what's happening, and those around you certainly wouldn't think, oh,
there's a medical reason for this, but it ends up
causing a lot of stress to be at it on
when you're just trying to figure out why am I
not able to produce the work I used to be
able to produce. You find yourself working later hours, bringing
work home and it really just can't get your finger
(06:33):
on what's happening. But things just quite aren't right, and
sometimes it even ends up in people losing their employment
before a diagnosis is even sought out, let alone achieved.
You know, you finally get a diagnosis of dementia, and
it's this cognitive overload, just not being able to process
the information the same way.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
So where did this term come from all of a sudden?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I mean, I know that that there was a guy
that kind of age ye.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
An educational psychology psychologist John Sweller actually was the first
one to term to come up with the term of
cognitive load, and that's just talking about the capacity of
one's normal brain activity to handle information. So the cognitive
overload comes when you just max that out, and it's
a temporary thing typically, and so and so, as you're
(07:22):
having those stressed out days, you find your coping mechanisms
to get yourself out of it and to be able
to eventually accomplish what you need to accomplish. When you
start having dementia creep in, those episodes become more frequent,
and so as they become more frequent, you still really
don't know what's happening to you. You start to lose confidence,
(07:43):
you start to lose your your ability to rationalize how
to get through to a task and finish it to
a way that you feel good about the job you're doing,
and you get embarrassed. And what happens too many times
is people will start shying away then from their job.
They'll start shining away from deadlines, They'll start shying away
from opportunities to shine at work. They may start calling
(08:06):
off work a lot more. And even in their social circles,
if it's starting to overflow into their social life or
their family life, they start withdrawing. And it's that negative
stigma that we start talking about that as people are withdrawing.
Everyone starts to question what's going on, and then when
they get diagnosed with the term quote unquote dementia, then
(08:29):
people really apply the little bit of knowledge that they know,
which is not really functional or accurate in today's world,
around what the capabilities are with someone with dementia. It
starts that spiral of the mental health aspects downward and
it just is a situation that can be that we
can really put a stop to.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Let's talk about what causes excessive cognitive cognitive overload. I'll
get it all over, but we talk about too much
information and that comes in a lot of different ways.
You know, hits you from all aspects. But also too
much demand for information can be a problem.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Yep. So too much demand, whether you're getting a lot
of deadlines put on you, or you have a lot
of family members that have needs, You have schedules that
you have to keep up with, all things that you
may have been able to do a few years ago
but are getting more increasingly harder to do. On top
of the world changing and newer technologies are in place,
things you have to learn, it all is compounding to
(09:28):
be too many demands from too many different sources.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Especially interruptions.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Interruptions can cause even more problems. So you're working down
and you may be able to handle someone coming into
your office or calling you out of the blue and
to asking you or taking you something completely off topic.
Then that interruption, usually you're able to come right back
to it or you remember what that pressing need was.
(09:54):
But now when you're getting interruptions, you're starting to figure
out that you're forgetting things completely and it may not
come to you for a few days and it or
if it comes back to you at all, until someone
reminds you of it. Those interruptions, on top of the
cognitive overload that you're experiencing, are really starting to compound
again and impact you on a a self confidence way.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
It also affects problem solving skills you can and also
your ability to self correct or self monitor yourself and
to understand what's happening right at that moment.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, it's when you walk around the house and you
may see that your loved one has started folding laundry
and the pile still half folded and half still out
in the pile in the laundry basket.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
That's called procrastination.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
But if they didn't even remember that they left it there,
and that's that's where the problems start to come in.
Now Again, not occasionally that's going to happen every now
and then, but if it's if you're starting to see
multiple tasks like this around the house, that could be
a sign that there may be something else going on.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
So what can we do? How do we solve some
of these problems?
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Well, I wish we could our heels and go back
to with those times where we felt really strong and
sharp as attack. But the biggest thing to do is
start to recognize that things are changing. Don't let yourself
get really bogged down into what's happening until you start
going to and seek out answers. But do that, seek
out answers even the most subtle things if they're starting
(11:22):
to impact your regular life. Remember we talked about that
a lot with dementia, So dementia is an overall term
for a lot of different cognitive problems that are happening.
Are problems in your brain that are happening that start
to impact your everyday life. So when these kind of
changes start to impact your everyday life, start taking note
of them, jot them down, jo how often they're happening,
(11:45):
because that's all helpful information when you go to your doctor,
and go to your doctor, start talking to them, and
especially if you're in this young onset category, because it
may be a situation where if your physician is not
as comfortable or as as informed around young onset dementia,
they may start writing it off as it's you know,
(12:06):
everyone goes through this, But keep pushing the point of
this is different, this is impacting my life. I need
to look further and see what's happening.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Some things too in our life that we think are
so important at that moment, really aren't important. I mean,
we talk about procrastination, but you know sometimes there's things
that we think are important right at that moment that we.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Really can let go absolutely. So prioritize, right, take a
look at everything you have to do today. Prioritize and
then try and simplify. Prioritize what's most important. And then
whatever those important things are, how can you go about
them in a simplified manner.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Let's talk about how you limit distractions. Now. I know
one of the biggest distractions would be noise.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Absolutely, so look at your world. Anything can cause cognitive
overload from visual stimulation, too much going on, and that
you're looking at that you're seeing even if you're not
really aware you're seeing it. If there's a lot of
distractions going on, that can cause extra inputs going into
your brain. So visual stimulations, noises, a lot of loud music,
(13:16):
so limit that. Limit distractions as far as background noise
if TVs are on or radios are on and people
really aren't listening to them. Even smells, so you can
become very sensitive to smells. So if there's a lot
going on as far as maybe supper's cooking, so you
have all the wonderful smells of supper, but then you
(13:36):
have really strong candle burning in the background, blow out
that candle. Just limit that little bit of extra input
that's going into your brain, and that can help relieve
some of the stress. And in little ways, these are
subtle things, but subtle things add up to making big impacts.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I remember my mom one time the dog was barking
at the squirrel. I know that sounds like a small thing,
but when the dog won't shut up some times because
it sees the squirrel in the backyard, you may have
to get up and put the dog in the bathroom.
For a minute just to get its mind off of
the squirrel or whatever, because that extra noise, along with
the TV own and everything else going sometimes just too much.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Yes, and that is a classic one. In our household,
We've got a dog and she is she's a little dog,
and she likes to be have a loud sound and
a loud presence, and she will go from nothing to
one hundred miles an hour in a second. And when
that happens, it's distracting and it is annerving. And that's
a classic example of find ways to limit those distractions.
(14:36):
It's the best you can do. Use your reminder systems,
Use your systems and your smartphones that give you the
dates and calendar reminders, make yourself checklists, but you have
to use them. Anything that you can do to take
a little bit of extra thought off of what you're
responsible for doing to hit them meet that task is
(14:56):
best because that will relieve just a little bit of
that cogn tip load.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And maybe do away with the iPhone when you're doing that,
maybe write it down instead of you know, I be
on my iPhone a lot of times like I want
to make a note of something to remember, and I
get four emails in two texts while I'm doing and
I keep swiping it out of the way, so it
really you know, sometimes it's just just turn the phone
off and maybe you know, use a color code or
(15:21):
something to start labeling things by hand.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Absolutely, very good point. That's another interruption. So whether you're
getting that text and you're getting that email, you are,
we're trained to stop what we're doing and look at
that phone and either even if we're not going to
address it, even if we're not going to answer it,
we still need to see who who's calling us or
texting us. And it's like a bad habit that our
smartphones have programmed us to do. But you're right, turn
(15:47):
it off. And by writing a list, it's giving you
a memory reinforcement because you've written it, you're reading it
as you're writing it, so those are extra ways you're
programming it into your memory in subtle ways. So writing
lists are great. You mentioned color coding, you know, that's
my passion around the Montessori approaches. Color coding things is
extremely important to help embed them in your memory.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Explain that more in detail, like, give me an example
of what you would color coat.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Absolutely, so let's talk about like the kitchen calendar, you know,
that centralized messaging system that you may have in your kitchen,
whether it's you know, a sticky notes put up or
a big, large calendar and everyone writes on it. Take
color coding, for instance, and every person has their own color.
So if it's something for Mom, maybe she's in pink.
(16:35):
So everything on the calendar that's specific for Mom is
in pink. So when she goes to look at it,
she's not paying attention to all the other colors. She's
looking for her color. It's easier to see. It's color coding.
It's systematic for her. Same thing. Maybe Dad's green, so
everything with Dad is green, easy to see, easy to differentiate.
It's taking By doing that, you are taking that extra
(16:58):
cognitive piece away of where you're having to search things
out that are all multiple colors and find the things
that are specific to you, and you're making very apparance.
That's color coding. Same thing with even the simplest approaches
of using baskets. And this is something that I traally
and really work with our clients in the early stages
and young onset is they don't they're not necessarily having
(17:21):
the problems where they're losing things around the house at
the moment, or that they know which way the light
switch works or which switch is for the fan versus
which one is for the light. So when we talk
about labeling and color coding their household to make it easier,
it's something that we usually have to talk about a
few times because at first they're like, I don't need that.
(17:43):
I really don't want all of our neighbors and friends
coming over and seeing the house being labeled, and you
know that's just going to bring up a lot of questions,
a conversation I don't want to have. But the point is,
if you do it now, before you have to have
the labels and before you have to have the color coding,
you're already training your brain to automatically understand what that
(18:04):
color means or what that label means. So later on,
when dementia's getting more complicated and you are having a
harder time processing information, you're already trained to know those colors.
You're already used to seeing that light switch with the
green and the red, and you know which ways on
and which ways off, or that it's labeled with fan.
It's something that takes a little bit of cognitive work
(18:25):
off your brain. So later on down the road where
you need all that extra cognitive processing and capacity just
to do the simplest things, You've already made your life
simpler by training yourself this way.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
You know, one of the things taking care of my
mom through the years, I never heard this stuff, and
that's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about people.
You know, it just seems so simple to look back
on it now and the things that you could have done.
So you know, if you've heard me talk on these
podcasts at all, you know I'm a big guy about
act and not reacting because by the time you react,
(18:58):
you've already gotten to it too far into it.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
So that's a.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Perfect example to make sure that you know now that
you have the knowledge to go ahead and act on it.
Don't take it from me from somebody that's been through
it several years that if you will act and go
ahead and not worry that you've got little green dots
on your light switches or whatever, that the excuse may
be to do these kind of things. And you and
(19:24):
I do a five to Thrive video on Facebook which
we've gone into some of this how to color coordinate
and how to bring those things out. So I recommend
people to go to that and pick up some tips
there as well.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Absolutely, and if you have any other questions, reach out
to us. We're here for you. We want to make
life easier for you. Whether you're a care partner or
you're starting to think you have signs or symptoms. Let's
get on top of it now. Let's put these things
in place proactively so we can help you live longer independently.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Okay, folks, that's this edition of Dementia Real Talk. Thank
you very much for listening. We'll see you soon on
another one right here home.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Karen Thrive.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Thanks everybody thrive On.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Thanks for listening, and be sure to follow us on
Facebook at Karen Thrive and visit our website www dot
karnthrive dot org. Subscribe to this podcast through your favorite
podcasting platform. This podcast is produced by your podcast now
dot com. Let us produce a podcast for you. When
caring for your family, your local pharmacy should be an
(20:28):
important part of your team. Blair Pharmacy in Alabaster is
a family owned full service pharmacy giving its clients personalized,
accurate service. They offer services like Nedpack, flavor RX and
free delivery. Kim and Daniel Blair are members of the
community and are here for you and your family. They
offer everyday items you would find in the big box stores,
but also support local vendors by offering unique, handcrafted items.
(20:51):
Blair Pharmacy a full service pharmacy caring for each of
our patients individual needs. Www dot Blair dash Pharmacy dot com.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform.
It is not a substitute for professional care by a
doctor or other qualified medical professionals.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.