Has any of your loved ones been diagnosed or effected by alzheimers disease?

My grandmother has Alzheimers. She was diagnosed a few years ago, I think it was before I finished highschool but her memory was never truly that bad. Her memory is terrible now. It's to the point where she can't really remember too many words. Her favorite word to use is right and yeah and thing. She's terrible with names, hides things, hoards things and is aggressive occasionally.

Thankfully she remembers to eat but bathing is another issue entirely. It's hard to get her to bathe. It's quite tough seeing her that way because it's such a scary disease that makes me paranoid about my possible future and my own demise with the disease. I can't imagine being that way and it's such a terrible way to end your life.

Hi dloveli! Yes, I have been there! My mother had alzheimer's and she died in 1997. She got to where she would get disoriented a lot and not know where she was. She would say she wanted to go home but she was already at home. My sister and I would take her for rides so she would think she was going home. She got to where she couldn't feed herself any more. She also couldn't bathe herself any more. When she first started getting alzheimer's, she got to where she would get lost while driving. My brother told her she might as well quit driving because it was going to get dangerous. It kept me so upset all the time! She had to have around the clock supervision. I'm glad that I still lived with her. However, we had to hire sitters to stay with her because I couldn't be with her 24/7. I mean, I had to work. I also had to go to the grocery store, get her medicine, and run other errands. It would have driven me crazy if I couldn't get out and about some. We had home health aides to come out and bathe her everyday. I loved my mother dearly but it can be trying on your patience. We did hire one sitter that just didn't have any patience with her whatsoever but we fired her. The sitters we hired after that had a lot of patience. I don't know how they did it. She had several small strokes but she had one stroke that caused her to be bedridden the last two years of her life. I really do miss my mother. She and I were very close but she was like a different person when she started getting this disease. She was a mainstay to me.
Please know that Ido know what you are going through and I will be praying for you. Kathy.

No, i don't know but there are times now that I am starting to forget things too

It is such a devastating disease to get, & when grandma's have it, it seem's so much worse.. My heart & prayers go out to you & your nanna...... Yes my grandma got Alzheimers also.. she passed in 1992... BUT i do remember grandma didn't nwo any of us grand children either.. This also broke my hear to no end.. i fed,clothed,bathed,& took great care of my grandma till the day she passed away.. I've got to tell you thi though...you WILL GET SUCH A KICK OUT OF THIS STORY!!
Grandma did not like wearing any clothes, period, no matter the weather. So after breakfast EVERY morning, i would clean up the kitchen, & Grandma would strip down naked!!!! & when my male cousins would come over to see Grandma,which at this time was every single day, grandma would FLIRT uncontrollably with them. My cousins were so cute handsome, & grandma could NOT resist their 'charm'.. We all have great memories of taking care of Grandma in her final days. Maybe you can FIND something that will give you great memories of taking car of your nanna..It i the BEST way to deal wih this terrible disease.. Look for the smallest,simpelest thing & your hear will swel with love & kindness & honor for her still being here with you...XXXXXXlori

My grand mother was effected by Alzheimer disease.She was somebody who was very methodical in the way she lived her life.After Alzheimer struck her she would forget that she had lunch and would tell visitors that we hadn't fed her.She ultimately did not recognize my her daughter my aunt.I was in my thirties when this happened and being an arts student i didn't know much about Alzheimer and my knowledge is restricted to small informative articles in news papers and magazines.I feel this requires specialized care and professional help as at best we can be patient and understanding but we are unaware as to the way such patients have to be dealt with so their final years are made as comfortable as possible.

hi dloveli! my grandmother has alzheimer's. it's really a debilitating disease and it goes undetected for years, until it's too late. my grandmother didn't show signs of the symptoms of the disease until my grandpa died. she seemed really normal to us except for the occasional forgetfulness, which is normal for the elderly. however, when my grandfather died, my grandma lost all zest for life. it's as if her life was taken away from her too. in a matter of a few years she began forgetting things and sometimes got confused. at present, she couldn't remember the names of most of her grandchildren. luckily, i'm one of her grandchildren whom she couldn't forget so when i ask her if she recognizes me, she instantly tells me my name. i'm glad that she can still recognize me but i can't say the same for my other cousins and her children. what we usually do is to orient her to time and people so that she'll be able to remember. whenever i talk to her i tell her to recall the past and talk about things that could stimulate her mind. that way, she'll still be able to use her brain for stimulating conversations. her alzheimer's is still mild but she is indeed showing symptoms. i pray that it won't progress to the point where she's no longer sane. there are meds that slows the progress of alzheimer's. i suggest you consult a doctor.

My heart goes out to you dloveli.

My grandmother died in 1987, but as far as I was concerned, she died 2 years before that. Her memory lapses were such that by 1985, she could no longer recognize me or anyone else.

She lived with alzheimers for almost 7 years. The first 5 were the worst, as she'd move in and out of lucidity. It was those moments of clarity that were the most painful for her, as she knew she'd "lost it".

My grandmother was a very proud woman who chose her own husband (unusual for most Asian women in her time), got a degree in Europe (another unusual thing for an Asian woman in those days), and worked (you know what I'm gonna write here, yeah?).

Knowing how helpless she herself was becoming was a terrible blow to her dignity, and in the first few years, she often begged us to let her "fly"... a polite reference to suicide.

This created terrible fights in our family, between the old, who liked the old ways (death before dishonor!), and my generation, who find such things repulsive (you guys are so antediluvian!).

It was also exhausting for us (I still lived with my parents, then), between seeing to her medical needs and watching out to make sure she didn't "fly".

Things got so bad we had to have 2 nurses to attend to her full time. My grandmother spoke 5 languages, but in her last years, she couldn't speak any one of them straight, switching between English and the other 4.

Eventually, she forgot English, which made things difficult for her British nurses, but somehow they managed.

When she no longer had moments of lucidity, I think is when things became easier. No more temper tantrums, no more repeating who we were, no more clipping her wings.

She had become some baby who could walk, who wore my grandmother's body about the place.

So though her physical death came 2 years later, we had already learned to let go.

A funny thing though:

My family believes in reincarnation, so she kept a picture of a gorgeous female model in a bikini with her. This was to inspire her to reincarnate as a similar sexy woman.

"Let me fly!" She'd say. "I'm tired of this body! It's time to be sexy again!"

The day she died, she lost her vacant look, and had a brief moment of lucidity. She asked for the picture of the model (in English), but we'd lost it.

So I handed her a magazine with some model in it, but she rejected it, demanding that I find her someone better looking and who showed more skin.

Can you imagine that scene? There we were, a priest chanting (we had them drop by to chant as she found it relaxing), one of the nurses patting her (the other one dozing off somewhere), my parents and I running around looking for some picture of some undressed model, my dad yelling at me ("why can't you be normal and have some girlie stash!?").

We got her a picture she finally liked, and later that day she died.

What a woman!

dloveli, you get by as best you can.

You be there for your grandmother, even when she no longer knows who you are, just as your grandmother was there for you when you couldn't even pronounce her name.

And when she acts like a baby and annoys the bejeezus out of you, remember what she did for you when YOU were a baby, what she put up with when you were driving everyone else up the wall.

And each time you have to clean up her mess, you remember the times she cleaned up after yours.

Know your love has come full circle and all debts must be paid. This is but a small price to pay for all the years of love and laughter, all the joy and wisdom she has brought you.

And each time it gets harder and harder, be grateful for that moment, that extra day, or extra week, month or year to say goodbye, to let her know you're there, to let her know what an unbelievable wonderful being she is, how thankful you are for this extra time.

It doesn't matter that she doesn't remember from one moment to the next. That is beyond your power to do anything about.

What matters is that you know, you remember, and you are there.

And when the time to let go comes, you do so with peace, knowing you did all it was in your power to do.

That somewhere, somehow, she knows.

Hi dloveli!

I know the feeling dear as my grandma is in same condition for almost 10 years now. Though I'm living abroad and I can't see her physically my mother whom she's living with used to tell me about her on the net. She's seems to be violent when she's hungry or she wants money, she would throw everything in front of her at first no one knows what she's up to but later on my mom discovered the best way to pacify her anger is just giving her food and money. She doesn't want taking a bath but my brother who is left to take care of her would actually force her at least every other day. She doens't remember each of us in the family but she can remeber all the happenings in the past. Good thing is that she never suffers from any ailment, she's now on her late eighties but still she is in good shape physically. And yes, you're right if she only knew what is happening with her she would prefer to be out of this world earlier than her age than suffer in this kind of awful disease.

my father in law has been diagnosed with altzheimers and i have noticed a change in him over the last couple of years. he cannot be left alone and i think it will only get worse. it is a tough disease to deal with and i feel bad for my mother in law just because she is the primary care giver.

my mom has dementia.
and they say it might work into alz.
but so far not they started her on some pills back in 2004 for the dementia .
So far so good.
But she wont talk long on the phone she has lost her short term memory.
BUt she still nows every one