Aging, a subject that needs to be dealt with great care and sensitivity. With progressing age people undergo lots of troubles that affect them mentally and physically. Ranging from psychological problems like loneliness, feeling of becoming a burden, sense of being left out; then physical troubles like joint disorders, respiratory ailments, heart problems, all these things make the lives of the elderly full of agony.
Among all these issues there is a disease whose impact goes beyond our ability to manage it properly. Such a disease is Alzheimer’s. Speaking medically, it is a disease of the nervous system where the nerve cells start undergoing degeneration. Causes can be many, but one of the leading and the commonest cause is senility. In this disease people gradually lose their memory. It may start from small, unimportant things like forgetting dates or any undone task left. This harmless forgetfulness is present in almost 99% of the human population and is completely negligible. But it becomes troublesome when the forgetfulness crosses the normal levels. They start forgetting the reason for which they stepped out of their homes. People come to a stage where they forget their address, relatives, even their own name. It then becomes a major concern for their family members and the elderly people are themselves so helpless that they don’t even remember the fact that they are suffering from a particular disease with such serious consequences.
It takes a good amount of time for the relatives to understand that the patient is suffering from such a disease. As forgetfulness in daily life is not something to be bothered about, people hardly pay any attention to it unless it starts troubling everyone around. The worst part being that the patient neither understands, nor accepts the fact that he is ill. Especially at an age where people consider themselves wise enough, where they think they know a lot more than the present generations, it becomes difficult to convince them. They are always in a denial mode, unable to recognize their weakness. Even if we make them believe the fact, they won’t be able to remember the same the very next day.
Somehow unintentionally, these patients become a burden for the family. Someone needs to be around them constantly to take care of them. They need to be looked after every waking hour. They can’t be allowed to go for a walk alone, they may never be able to return back home. They even may forget if they had a meal or not. Even if they had, they may think that they did not. And without asking others if they offered her the meal or not, they will think that no one in the house loves them or no one is really bothered about them. Indirectly this would lead to a bout of emotional over activity. Their children who were actually doing their best in order to ensure that the diseased parent lives hale and hearty then get pissed off. It induces a feeling in them that even after doing so much for them, leaving no stone unturned, what they are getting in return is an emotional torture. The children may try up to a certain level to bear with them, not to over react, but then a time comes when they are unable to take that anymore. And that frustration becomes evident in their behaviour with their parents. Neither the diseased parents are at fault, nor the children.
Similarly, these patients become a trouble for the people around them. They won’t be able to remember the prescribed medicines and the dosage they need to take. The dietary restrictions that are imposed on them are also not followed well. It is practically impossible to accompany an elderly person all the time, not just by the children but also it is difficult for a nurse to do so. Thus the aim of treatment is totally forfeited, they miss the medications, ignore the restrictions. In case they get an injury, they won’t be taking care of the site of wound properly, a diabetic patient will take sweets which may worsen his health or lead to complications.
Although lots of trials and researches have been done, still hardly anything could be done to prevent the occurrence of the disease or to reduce the progress of the disease. Certain medical interventions have been made to delay the progress but without much success. Trials are going on, researches are carried out, several experimentations have been undertaken to discover the exact cause for the disease and methods for preventing its occurrence. Scientists across the globe are trying their best to find out a solution for this problem. The only thing could be done is to take care of the patients, give them proper attention and care. The children and society needs to be sympathetic to them. People have to empathise with them and understand the agony they are going through. One positive way to deal with them would be to agree with them and just let them be. Instead of arguing with them, telling them that they are wrong, we need to make them understand about their condition. We should support them emotionally and stand by them. They are not just aged people like so many around; they have a disease which demands extra care and attention. The care taker of the patient has a huge responsibility towards the patient. It can be anyone, spouse, children, grandchildren, some relative or a medically trained nurse. Whosoever it is, the person has to remain active always, he should treat the patient as his topmost priority. He will be required to be around the patient every single minute of the day. He will not just be a caretaker but more of an emotional support to alleviate the sufferings of the patient.
REFERENCES
Alzheimer’s disease Research Centre
Retrieved from: http://www.mayo.edu/research/centers-programs/alzheimers-disease-
research-centre/overview
National Institute on Aging
Retrieved from: http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers
UCI MIND Home
Retrieved from: http://mind.uci.edu/
