So the first question is, is it or is it not dementia?
But we actually have a question before that.
Normal aging, not normal aging.
Because before we start assuming it's dementia, what we need to figure out is,
is this normal for this person?
Or is something changing?
If it's changing, is it necessarily permanent
or could it be something that we could fix, we could address, we could modify?
A couple of examples to keep in mind would be something like depression,
which is treatable, hypothyroid,
treatable, medication problems,
treatable or even a problem with hearing that nobody's picked up on.
Or a problem with vision
or a problem with a new medical condition, maybe like diabetes or something.
So what you want to notice first is, is there a change?
Is something changing?
And don't make assumptions.
We want to check things out.
People deserve a good workup.
We don't want to think, Oh, yeah, look, it's not normal, it’s dementia.
We want to think, hmm.
I don't know that this is normal for this person.
Something seems to be changing.
And if we notice the change we want to find out, can we do something?
And if we do that and we're still going, ooh, something's going on here.
We don't want to make the next leap, which is oh, it's got to be Alzheimer’s.
It’s bound to be Alzheimer's.
Not necessarily.
This is where there's a lot of misunderstanding about what's dementia
and what's Alzheimer's, and what does it mean?
It doesn't mean memory problems.
When we talk about dementia, we need to be thinking about a great big
umbrella term.
A great, big umbrella.
As a matter of fact, that we find underneath that umbrella
approximately 85 to 90 different conditions, forms, causes of this thing
called dementia and dementia is not maybe what you think it is.
It's more and it's different.
Alzheimer's is under there.
It's certainly one of the big boxes under there.
But it's not the only box.
And what we used to think, you know, 80 to 90% of all dementias are Alzheimer's.
Now we know they may be mixed pictures, a couple, or a different one entirely.
Things like Lewy Body or frontotemporal dementia
or maybe vascular dementia or dementia that comes with a health condition
And we think now that dementia actually isn't a diagnosis.
So if somebody has been diagnosed as having dementia, something's
not right already because you don't get a diagnosis of dementia.
When you have dementia, you have a syndrome, a collection of symptoms.
So what do we want to do?
Well, we want to know we're under the umbrella.
Well, what does it mean to be under the umbrella to have dementia?
Well, it means four things typically.
Number one, at least two parts of your brain are dying
they're changing and we can't fix them right now.
So your brain is changing on you, at least two parts.
One of them
will typically be related to memory, but not always in the way we think about.
It's not always the can't remember new things, but do remember old things.
For alcohol related dementia, I have blackouts,
but they might be a variety of blacked out or missing pieces.
For vascular, I again could have a whole bunch
of different memory issues and for frontotemporal
I may think something happened that you don't remember happening.
So with memory, it's important to recognize it's
not just the standard thing.
Now, the second thing that's true about all dementias is that right now
we currently have nothing that's going to fix it, cure it,
make it go away, or even stop it in its tracks.
So what we have to realize is
we're going to have to figure out how to help somebody live with it.
And on average, for all the dementias if we considered
all of them, we'd be talking about 8 to 12 years of symptoms
now could be shorter, could be longer,
but 8 to 12 years is a long time to endorse something
that the third thing that's true about all dementias is constantly changing.
And it's constantly changing because this is a neurodegenerative
or a progressive illness.
It's not going to stop until it's over.
And now we get to the fourth thing that's true about all dementias.
They're all terminal, but frankly, so is life.
So what we've got to stop thinking is, oh, no, and start going, Oh, huh,
I'm going to have to make some changes.
I'm going to have to do something
because I am living with someone who's living under the umbrella.
Now, let me say that again.
When one person gets dementia, it doesn't just affect that one person.
Everyone around them is going to be living with dementia one way or the other.
So this one person got chosen,
but it's not a choice they would have ever made.
You choose.
And the question is, will you pull together
and support that person or will you fall apart and walk away?
Will you wear yourself out and not make a positive difference?
The purpose and the reason I do what I do is to help you do what you do.
And that's where we can make the change happen.
I can't change the condition.
I can't make the changes stop.
But what I can do is offer you ways to start changing to better match
what they're able to do, to acknowledge
what's missing and use what they still have left.
There's life under the umbrella for all of us.
Life under the umbrella is a challenge when it's in you, but
it's also a challenge when you're living with the person who's experiencing it.
The choice is yours with dementia.
Let's pull together.
Let's change because the change is happening.