Understanding Alzheimer

Dealing with a terrible illness can be as devastating to the sick as it is to the close relatives. However, there are cases when people deal better with their illnesses than others.

Now, talking about one in particular that affect many people, Alzheimer, it is a popular belief that this degenerative disease drags the same side effects to all the patients. But that's far from reality after having knowing very well the patients before they got the illness.

I don't intend this post to be an exact or expert, medical interpretation. But if we observe carefully, we can realize that not all patients act similarly.

Because... considering that the behavior change completely, and the relatives have a hard time watching out for them, everything lies on the customs and forms of the patients. And what I see is that the illness taps on that and amplify it.

Personality

What I refer about is the personality, which has so much to do with the eventual change of behavior. As I inferred, if a person suffering the illness acts too extremely in a certain way, he or she is just projecting the shaped personality.

And this is particular to each person. Though some behaviors can share some traits, they're not completely the same. There are noticeable variations from patient to patient.

So, we don't have to put everyone in the same sack. Though Alzheimer affects nerve cells along with the brain mass, and main manifestation is a progressive deterioration, the personality of the patient is essential to deal with the illness.

What they don't say

Another important thing that has always caught my attention is the explanation from general doctors. They tell the relatives the same thing over and over as if they were just reading a script.

When a relative inquires about a particular behavior, the physician normally says "that's the illness talking or so." And this gives the relative a wrong perception about something they really want to comprehend... because, I stress, this is also hard for the people around. And they want to understand. So, it is unbelievable that the personality aspect is put aside; I mean, rarely mentioned.

I think that doctors don't deepen on it because it is easier for them to generalize everything. They focus mostly on the medical aspects of the illness, and don't wish to get too personal in other matters, which are equally important.

Keeping yourself active

We see old people who have aged so well in terms of health. And one thing that we observe is that they keep active. They could have spent many years working, and when they reach a certain age, they don't retire completely. In other words, they don't retreat to inactivity when they're seniors.

We watch actors Christopher Plummer and Clint Eastwood (both actors 88 years old), who are still very lucid. They maintain themselves working and doing what they like. Such activity help them stay mentally healthy, which is very helpful for the whole organism.

Thus, to keep yourself active also enables you to reduce the possibility to get other similar diseases. We all know that leading a sedentary life can influence dramatically on how well we could age. In addition to it, I'd also add the personality aspect, which we should change a little a bit in time if we feel that we must give ourselves some virtues.

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As I've implied in the beginning, it is not my intention to explain here how the illness works. What I try to do is put in a canvas some facts that not everyone touch.

@edave

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