“Just In Case Tomorrow”: Letter From An Alzheimer’s Patient To His Wife
Our genetics may predispose us to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and cause us to develop its symptoms. progressive way. The treatment of this disease must be personalized.
Each year is World Alzheimer’s Disease Day. Thus, multiple conferences and public meetings are organized. They aim to inform the population a little more about this pathology. Do you know someone with Alzheimer’s?
We could say that it is one of the most devastating pains, both for patients and for loved ones.
The progressive forgetfulness that leads to this disease gradually erases our identity, our roots and even the present that surrounds us.
The World Association of Genomic Medicine tells us that almost 70% of Alzheimer’s patients do not respond to the drugs given to them.
More research is needed. But also to commit more means and resources so that geneticists stop the advance of this disease. Especially once it is diagnosed.
We must also be able to prevent it, deepen studies on genes and stop the flaw that remains unknown to this day.
In this article, we invite you to find out a little more about this disease. If one of your loved ones has it, we are sure that you already know that forgetting does not take with it the sphere of emotions.
You can also find a letter from an Alzheimer’s patient.
The importance of preventive programs in an Alzheimer’s patient
The most effective way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease would be to delay its onset through preventive programs.
While it is obvious that this measure does not yet exist today, there are still many aspects to take into account according to specialists:
- From the age of 30, the brain no longer has as much plasticity as during the years of childhood and youth.
Then begins a slow neuronal destruction which, of course, can be balanced with healthy lifestyle habits. - The human genome has over 600 identified genes. One of them will cause us to develop Alzheimer’s disease slowly, silently and gradually, until the first symptoms appear in old age.
- The brain of a person with Alzheimer’s suffers from a problem between the anatomical and functional connectivity of different brain structures.
In addition, we also lose acetylcholine, a substance that allows nerve cells to communicate with each other.
- The first symptoms in an Alzheimer’s patient generally appear between the ages of 65 and 70.
- We perceive an obvious difficulty in retaining new information, we suffer from small disorientation, slip, and loss of agility in the vocabulary.
- Experts always advise individualized treatments. No patient suffering from Alzheimer’s is the same, which is why the therapeutic and pharmacological treatment must be adapted to each person.
The power of emotions in Alzheimer’s disease
If a doctor treats a patient badly, they will not remember their visit.
In addition, his inappropriate gestures, his words and the way to treat him will have a significant impact on the person.
Alzheimer’s can make you forget the number of children you have, the dates, if you just ate or if you are young or old. However, the happy moments are always present.
In addition, those affected respond to positive stimuli.
- If one makes the mistake of arguing with them, or doing something to them that makes them sad, that feeling will stay with them for a long time.
Alzheimer’s patients are very sensitive to this type of emotion, hence the need to always use positive language, and to value the power of caresses and hugs.
- Alzheimer’s patients react amazingly to music.
Indeed, it awakens in them a cerebral area directly linked to emotions, and makes them open again to the world. - The emotional life of an Alzheimer’s patient is still alive. His memory is fraying, but the marvelous power of emotions remains intact.
Specialists are advising us on something very important. If a loved one with Alzheimer’s tells us, for example, that he is going to see his mother, we should not make the mistake of saying: “But she has been dead for 50 years, don’t you remember?”
By saying these words, the person will suffer from an unnecessary emotional impact.
We must avoid provoking further suffering in her.
A letter from an Alzheimer’s patient to his wife
This letter was written in 2014 by an Alzheimer patient. Even though it was written by a journalist for a literary competition, it has spread on social media because many new Alzheimer’s patients have identified with it.
We must not forget the harshness of the experience that those who are diagnosed with this disease go through.
Knowing that time is going against us and that oblivion will be inevitable, forces us to reflect on the importance of valuing everything we have today.
It is important to remember who we love and why.
